Obsessed: Part Three (The Obsessed Series)
Read Obsessed: Part Three (The Obsessed Series) Online
Authors: Deborah Bladon
OBSESSED
Part Three of
The Obsessed Series
By: Deborah Bladon
Copyright
First Original Edition, March 2014
Copyright ©
2014 by Deborah Bladon
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and situations either are the product of the author's imagination or are used factiously.
All rights reserved.
No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.
The daisies. They're strewn everywhere. They look like a scene from a highway crash when vehicles are thrown about from the sheer force of the impact. Some are bent, others are broken. I have to pick up the daisies.
I slam the laptop shut and drop to my knees in silence. I don't flinch when a piece of the broken vase wedges into my knee. The crimson line that mars the water on the floor breaks its flawlessness. There's no pain. I can't feel anything. My chest is tight. It's as if my heart has wrapped itself up inside a cocoon.
"Ivy, stop." Jax's voice is faint. It sounds muffled. I can't hear.
I pick up one of the daisies and hold it between my fingers. It falls over. The life has suddenly been heaved from it. It can't be saved.
"You're bleeding. Get up." He's closer now. He's standing over me. I can't look. "Say something." He's reaching for my hand. My voice isn't there. I can't pull it from me.
"I'm going to get a towel for your leg." There's a crunch of glass as he pads over the vase crushing the fragments of it, mutilating the remaining daisies.
I push myself up off the floor, the daisy still dangling from my fingers. I reach for my phone on the desk. My eyes fasten on the flash drive. I pull it from the side of the laptop and clench it firmly in my fist.
"Let me see your leg." He's there at the door again, a white towel hanging from his hand.
I walk past him. My leg is wet. I look down and there's blood. I have bandages at my apartment. I need to go home.
"You're cut. I have to fix it." He's pulling on my shoulder. I don't turn. I keep walking.
"I can explain what you saw." There's desperation in his tone. Not like the tenderness that was there when he was talking to Brooke. Mark was right. There was a Brooke. Liz was right. They did work together to take the company. Nathan knew. They all knew.
"I'm going home," I whisper. I think I whisper. My voice is barely audible. It's echoing in my ears.
"You can't. You're not going anywhere," he says.
"Home," I repeat. I move through the door of the bedroom. I pull my suitcase open and throw the flash drive in. I flinch when I realize he's on his knees, dabbing the towel against my leg. I drop the daisy to the floor when I pull my leg back harshly.
The suitcase slams shut. His hand rests on top of it. "You need to sit down. You're bleeding. You're upset," he says hoarsely. "It's not how it looks."
I pull my chin up. My eyelids are heavy. I look past him to the bedroom wall. "Home, now." I tug the words from somewhere deep within me. I slip my feet into my shoes that had fallen next to the bed when he gave me so much pleasure earlier. So much pleasure then and so much pain now.
"Please stay," he pleads. "You don't understand."
I pull the handle of the suitcase. His hand falls away. "I understand," I mutter as I jerk the zipper shut.
His hand glides through the air. He's going to touch me. I pull back and the suitcase falls to the floor with a dense thud. He stops.
His shoulders slump forward. "No, you can't understand. I have to explain."
"I understand," I mumble as I turn to walk out of the room, the suitcase's wheels haphazardly skidding along the hardwood floor. "Brooke and you. I understand. You…"
"Brooke means nothing to me," he cries. "Just stop and listen. There's more on that flash drive. Come back to my office." He's begging now.
"No." I feel defeated. I don't have the energy to care. "She belongs to you. Only you," I murmur.
"You belong to me." He exhales loudly.
I shake my head violently from side-to-side. "You make me sick."
"She means nothing to me." He blocks my path. "You don't understand what you saw."
I close my eyes. I can't comprehend what he's saying. He thinks I'm that naïve. He thinks I'll believe him over what I saw with my own two eyes. "I know what I saw." I push on his chest with one hand.
"No, you don't," he hisses. "You didn't see it all."
"I saw more than enough." The shock that overtook me after hearing the conversation between Jax and Brooke is now rapidly being replaced by anger. "Get the hell out of my way. I'm done."
"Come with me now, Ivy." His hand is pulling on my forearm. "You're going to watch it. All of it."
I pull my hand back so violently that it slams against his chest. "Fuck you, Jax." I swing open his apartment door and pull my heavy suitcase through. "You're disgusting."
He falls to his knees in the doorway. "Don't do this." His voice is breaking. "You can't leave me."
"Watch me." I turn to step into the hallway.
"I love you," he whispers through sobs.
"How dare you?" I turn back around to glare at him. I follow the path of his eyes to my chest and my fingers settle on the necklace he gave me. The beautiful necklace I stare at in the mirror each morning as I brush my teeth and put on my makeup.
"I do." He reaches to wrap his arms around my legs.
I take a step into the hallway. "You're such a fucking liar," I scream the words at him. I twist my fingers around the pendant. I feel the cut of the delicate chain into the back of my
neck, as the metal breaks free. "It's all been a lie." I launch the pendant and chain into the air before turning towards the stairs.
***
"I'm leaving New York." I trace my index finger along the inner seam of the jeans I'm wearing.
"You're going to have to explain that decision." Nathan motions towards me with a bottle of water. "Thirsty?"
I nod and sigh. "It's complicated."
"Does it have to do with your boyfriend?" His eyes dart up from his computer.
I pause before I answer. "I don't have a boyfriend."
"What are you calling him now? Your lover?" If he's attempting to hide the amusement in his voice, it's not working.
I clench my teeth together and let out a puff of air. "A self-absorbed, malicious, son of a bitch?"
"Ouch." He feigns grabbing his chest in mock distress. "That's harsh, especially for you, Ivy."
"He's an asshole." I unscrew the top of the bottle and take a heavy swallow. I know that if I'm going to get what I want I have to confide at least a little in Nathan. I'm hoping that I won't have to share all of the sordid and ugly details of Jax's underhanded plan to take over Mark's company.
He peers at me for a few moments before he speaks. "You didn't call this emergency meeting to tell me Jax is a prick, did you?"
I shake my head slowly from side-to-side. "The deal hasn't been finalized, has it?"
"All that's left is your signature on a few stacks of papers and you're home free." He picks up a manila folder that is stretched well beyond its limits with assorted documents.
"I want to see what Mark will offer for my shares." I say it calmly even though I can hear the constant pounding of my heart echoing in my ears.
His eyes jump from the papers he's hunting through to my face. "What do you mean you want to see what Mark will give you? Jax gave you everything asked for."
"It's not enough." I pull a deep breath from my lungs. It's only been two days since I saw the video of Jax and Brooke. I've been teetering on the edge of an emotional abyss since that moment and I'm going to do everything in my power to pull myself back from that ledge. The dozens of calls and texts from Jax that I've ignored haven't helped. "I want Mark to make me an offer."
"The deal's been finalized." He leans back in his office chair, gripping his hands on the armrests. "Why would we bring Mark in now?"
"He should have a chance to buy my shares." I uncross my legs and stand. "I don't care who owns the company. I just want to get as much out of this as I can."
He turns in his chair to follow me to the bank of windows. "You're saying you're willing to sell your shares to Mark if he offers you more than Jax?"
"Yes." I lean against the windowsill. "I just want the best possible deal so I can start a new life in Boston."
"Ivy. What the hell is going on?" He stands now wrenching his hands together. "You're not telling me everything."
"I'm the pawn in an ugly and bitter war between Jax and Mark." I bite my lip trying to pluck the last bit of remaining strength I have from within me. "Neither of them cared about me. Why should I care who wins their battle?"
He studies my expression. His eyes scan mine looking for a clue. I know he's searching for any hint that may explain my hasty decision to involve Mark.
"You can contact Mark's attorney, can't you and find out if he's interested?" My gaze falls to the floor. I want to get through this meeting without the humiliation of having to admit I have a flash drive in my purse that contains a near naked confession from Jax admitting he and his lover tried to manipulate Mark's company away from him.
"Of course." He tilts his head to the side. "What about Veray? You were dead set on getting that away from Jax. Mark can't offer you that."
"I don't care about that anymore." I try to ground the words in sincerity but his expression speaks of his doubt. "You can tell Jax and his attorney I don't want it."
"Now, that I know is a bold faced lie." He taps the tip of his finger to my nose. "You're a lousy liar, Ivy. Why give up on Veray at this point?"
I pull back so I'm out of his reach. As charming as he is, I don't want the constant reminders that he views me as a child who can't make her own decisions. "I'm going to talk to Madeline today. With any luck I can reason with her and she'll release me from that exclusive contract she's been hanging over my head for years."
"And if that doesn't work?" He cocks an eyebrow. "Then what?"
"Then you'll sleep with her." I smirk as the words leave my lips.
He chokes on the swig of water he's just taken. "I'll what?" He coughs.
"All the woman ever talks about is how she can't get laid." I laugh as I reach for my purse. "She'd definitely release me from my contract if you made her happy in that way." I wink and pull up my shoulder.
"I've met the woman." He chuckles as he lowers his body back into his chair. "You can't pay me enough to touch that."