THREAT (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 5) (2 page)

BOOK: THREAT (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 5)
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Ivy felt tears starting to well in her
eyes, and before she knew it they were pouring down her cheeks, and she hated
it.
 
She hated that Lucas was seeing
he’d gotten to her, just as intended.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this to
me,” Ivy said softly.
 

“You might just be unlucky,” Lucas said,
standing up.
 
“You got caught up
with the wrong guy at the wrong time.
 
Personally, I don’t care what you did or didn’t know about the man when
you started fucking him.”
 

Her shoulders shook.
 
“You’re evil,” she whispered, but her
words were barely audible.

Lucas continued, as if he was discussing
the weather.
 
“I’ve told you that
he’s a bad guy and the United States Justice Department is trying to stop him,”
Lucas said.
 
“You’re going to help
us from now on, or you’re going to go down with Cullen Sharpe and the rest of
his sinking ship.
 
Understood?”

She didn’t look at him.
 
She just closed her eyes.
 
“Leave me alone,” she whispered.

Lucas stood there for a long time.
 
“Don’t test me, Ivy.
 
Cullen Sharpe might seem like a powerful
dude with big connections, but I promise you that the U.S. government is much
bigger than him.
 
Think about that
before you do anything stupid.”

When she opened her eyes again, Lucas was
walking back into the building.

 

***

 

She spent the rest of the afternoon
floating, as if her mind had somehow snapped loose from its moorings.

Knowing that Lucas was watching her, knowing
that she was now part of his monstrous web of lies and manipulations that were
far beyond her ability to comprehend.

Ivy could hardly concentrate on her data
entry.

She was so exhausted when the clock hit
5:00 p.m. that she nearly cried in relief.
 
As she hustled out of the cubicle farm, making sure to stay far ahead of
Lucas, Ivy passed by Emma Marks’s office.

“Ivy,” Emma called, waving at her.
 
“Could you come in here?”

Ivy sighed.
 
She felt pain in her stomach and her
chest, and a weariness that was nearly indescribable.
 
But she entered the office, trying to
smile like everything was just fine.
 
“Hey,” Ivy said.
 
“Anything
wrong?”

Emma sat back and twirled a fancy black
pen in her fingers as she watched Ivy with cold eyes.
 
“Your numbers are falling,” she
said.
 
“Falling behind the
targets—your errors are climbing and your speed is dwindling.”

“I know, but Cullen—I mean, Mister
Sharpe—he said that he told you I had errands to run and…”

Emma held up a hand to silence her.
 
“I’m not talking about that,” she
said.
 
“Even accounting for the time
away from the office
running errands
,
your numbers are becoming unacceptable.”

Just the way Emma said the phrase ‘running
errands,’ as if the idea was absurd, allowed Ivy to know that the woman wasn’t
buying that excuse for even one second.
 
Ivy felt embarrassed and exposed, yet again.

“I’ll do better,” she said softly.

“I should hope so,” Emma told her,
“because don’t think you can get away with this forever.”
 
Her hate-filled eyes bored into Ivy
relentlessly.
 
“Cullen is a very
mercurial man with evolving tastes.
 
One day he might find someone interesting, exciting, intriguing, and the
next—“ Emma snapped her fingers.
 
“Poof.
 
All of that interest
is gone.”

Ivy glared at her.
 
“I don’t know what you’re even talking
about.”

“Sure you don’t,” Emma replied with a
smirk.

“If you have something to say to me, then
say it.”

“I just did,” the blond woman shot
back.
 
“This is your first official
warning.
 
Hit your targets or you’ll
get another.
 
And another.
 
And then you’ll be gone.
 
I have a feeling that by the time you’re
getting warning number three, perhaps Cullen won’t be so keen on defending your
poor work any longer.”

Ivy turned on her heel.
 
“Message received,” she said.

“Bye, bye!” Emma called after her in a
singsong voice that made Ivy’s shoulders rise in frustration.
 

But Ivy just kept walking, knowing that
to engage would only give the bitchy supervisor exactly the confrontation she
was looking for.

Ivy’s nerves were frayed and she felt
completely numb, as if the world around her wasn’t even completely real.
 
The people passing by and the sounds out
on the street didn’t seem like they had any substance.

How
can this be happening?
 
Was I really
just threatened by an FBI agent today?
 
Am I really in this situation?
 

She felt like a fly ensnared in a
spider’s web, only there were three spiders surrounding her and no possibility
of escape or help.

As she was walking, hardly looking where
she was going, a car pulled alongside her.
 
The window rolled down.
 
It
was Cullen looking out at her.
 
“Where are you going?” he said.

“Home.”
 
She tried not to stare into those eyes
that seemed to see right into her soul—eyes that could read her every
emotion.

“Let me take you,” he offered.

“No, thanks.”

“Ivy.
 
Get in.”

She wouldn’t look at him.
 
She kept walking, hoping he’d go away
but also perversely wishing he’d stay close.
 
Wishing he’d somehow figure out what was
wrong and tell her he was going to make it all okay.

Ivy knew that was never going to happen,
but somehow, the thought of losing him completely was even more unthinkable.

She watched her feet moving along the
sidewalk, refusing to look up to see what was around her.

After a time, she assumed he’d driven off
and left her alone.

And then she bumped into a strong body
standing in front of her.
 
Looking
up, she saw it was Cullen.

She crumpled, sobbing, into his arms, and
he held her tightly.
 
“What
happened?” he whispered in her ear.
 
“Tell me.
 
Tell me and I’ll fix
it,” he said.

That made her sob even harder, because it
was exactly what she wanted to hear, exactly what she needed him to say.

Except that she knew she could never tell
him the truth.

Cullen stroked her hair.
 
“It’s going to be okay,” he
whispered.
 
She could smell his
cologne, and his scent, and she melted into him, relishing the feel of his suit
against her cheek, and his hands in her hair.

His body felt warm and strong and real.
 
How could he be capable of all the
terrible things people were saying about him?

“I don’t think it’s going to be okay,”
she admitted.

“Come on,” he told her, taking her by the
hand and leading her to his waiting car.

She dutifully got inside and sat there,
while he went around and got in the driver’s side.
 
As he slid into the driver’s seat and
shut his door, Ivy stared straight ahead.

Cullen began driving, not speaking for a
time.

After a few minutes, he glanced at
her.
 
“Tell me what happened.
 
Was it something to do with that guy you
were talking with in front of our offices?”

She couldn’t believe he’d so quickly
landed on the truth.
 
Ivy shook her
head.
 
“I don’t…I don’t know what
you’re even talking about,” she lied.

“Don’t pretend, it’s beneath you,” Cullen
said.
 
“I saw you out there having a
bite to eat and chatting with that guy on the bench across the street.”

“Were you spying on me or something?”

Cullen shrugged ever so slightly.
 
“I always keep track of those I care
about.
 
And yes, I watched you
talking to that guy.
 
I recalled you
were with him at the bar the other night, too.
 
What’s going on?
 
Are you interested in him?”

“God no,” she muttered.
 
“He’s disgusting.
 
A pig.”

“That’s pretty strong emotions for
someone you hardly know,” Cullen told her.

“I really don’t appreciate being
cross-examined like this.”

“You sound guilty.”

She froze.
 
“Don’t accuse me of things.”
 
But the truth was, she did feel guilty,
just not for the reasons Cullen thought.

Tell
him now.
 
Tell him the truth about
Lucas.
 
Tell him about the
email.
 
Tell him everything and be
done with it.

She opened her mouth, but couldn’t bring
herself to do it.
 
Lucas had gravely
frightened her with his threats of retaliation if she spilled her story to
Cullen.
 

Lucas worked for the government and he
was telling her that Cullen Sharpe was bad news.
 
How could she possibly know whom to
trust?
 

Could she be dumb enough to go against
the FBI?
 
That would almost
certainly ruin her life.

Cullen sighed.
 
“It’s as if you want to make me angry.”

“I don’t,” she said, clutching her hands
together as she watched the traffic out her window.

“Then why won’t you tell me what’s
wrong?”

He sounded genuinely wounded, and it hurt
Ivy to know that she was the cause.

“Lucas is a fool,” she said,
finally.
 
“He was just chatting
about nothing,” she continued, hating the sound of lies coming so easily out of
her mouth.

“But he’s interested in you,” Cullen
pressed.

“I suppose, in a way,” she admitted.
 
At least that had the ring of truth to
it.
 
Lucas was interested in
her—interested in using her to get information about Cullen.

“Why are you giving him the time of day?”
the CEO asked, sounding flustered.
 

“I’m not,” Ivy replied.
 
She took a deep breath and looked up at
him.
 
“Listen, I can’t do this right
now,” she said.

“You can and you will,” Cullen told her.
 
“I need answers.”

She glared at him, her pain and sadness
and fear transforming into anger.
 
“How dare you,” she said.

He glanced at her, brow furrowed, cool
blue eyes analyzing.
 
“How dare I?”

“You want to grill me about my life and
what guys I do or don’t talk to.
 
Meanwhile, you’re a hypocrite.”

“Watch what you say,” Cullen warned her.

“You haven’t told me one thing about
yourself, not one single thing.”
 
Her hands curled into fists as she thought about it.
 
“Maybe if you’d been honest with me
about yourself, I wouldn’t be in this fucking position right now.”

“What position is that?
 
What have I
lied
to you about?”

She shook her head, knowing she was
straying perilously close to giving the truth away.
 
“I’m helpless,” she shouted.
 
“I’m sitting here like a fool, waiting
to see what chess piece you decide to move.
 
Waiting to see how it effects me.”

He pulled the car into an empty lot off
the street, behind an old, abandoned building, and parked.
 
“I don’t know what you think I should be
telling you about my life,” he said.
 
“But that isn’t part of the deal, and
I’ve been upfront with you on that score.”

Ivy laughed wildly.
 
“I guess that makes it okay, then.”

Cullen turned to face her.
 
“Makes what okay?”

“That little bitch, Emma Marks, called me
into her office before I left work and gave me an official warning for missing
my data entry targets.”

“She did?” he asked, frowning.
 
“Well, I’ll have a talk with her about
that,” he muttered.

BOOK: THREAT (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 5)
5.41Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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