Ivory’s PovI grabbed the stranger's hand, and he followed me. "Careful," he said, "Don't trip." Something about that sounded funny and I let out a soft laughter. I didn't realize how drunk I was— too drunk to walk without staggering. "Okay, let's stop and think for a moment." Alec said"What's there to think about?" I asked, "Don't you wanna make a baby?""Oh, I want to.” He replied with a smirk, “I just don't think we can make it to bed if you trip and fall." "I can walk just fine, look." Letting go of his hand, I took a few unsteady steps, trying to prove him wrong. But before I could get far, I lost balance, falling backward— straight into Alec’s arms.He laughed. "I can't help it, are you always this cute?""I'm embarrassing," I replied, the weight of my reality crashing back into my mind."I'm weak, and shy, and vulnerable, and embarrassing..." Before I could finish, I felt a hand on my arm, tight and firm, yanking me away from Alec. I snapped my gaze up to find Arlo sta
Arlo’s POVWhat do you do when your heart plays games on you? What do you do when you’re losing your mind? When Lori texted—the real Lori— I feared I might drop dead from excitement of seeing her again. I feared I wouldn’t be able to look at her without wanting to kiss her. Hold her. And tell her how much I missed her. Because of those fears, I sought for Ivory’s help. I married her to keep me in check. To remind me that Lori was wrong for me.Those were my thoughts. Those were my reasons. But when I saw Lori, seated on my couch across the room; when she finally resurfaced and our eyes met for the first time in four years. I realized I’d feared for nothing.I hated the way she sat on my couch. I hated that she looked down on Ivory. I hated her cunning and deceitful smile. I hated her brazen attitude, the way she carried herself like she still owned me. I hated her hair, her indecent clothes, her poise— the lack of warmth in them. Hated her audaciousness to waltzed back into
AUTHOR’s NOTEThank you for following the story up to this chapter. I will now be using third POV for the story and only interchanging to Arlo and Ivory’s POV when necessary. Thank you for understanding.AUTHOR’s POVThe one disadvantage of being human is our inability to know what the other is thinking. The inability to understand the real reason for some silences, some frowns and some gazes. Arlo had it all— the fame, the money, the respect, not to mention the beauty. He had it all. The one thing he lacked was the ability to decipher his feelings before it was too late. Perhaps it was the way he grew up. Losing his mother at a young age to grow up with a father who basically buried himself in work to suppress his grief, Arlo had little to no knowledge of his own emotions.And there, right there was his flaw. The one flaw Lori could manipulate to her advantage. Just as Arlo could see through her fierce facade, Lori could see through his eyes. She knew when his heart was playi
Meanwhile, Ivory had also come up with her own plan. The next morning, the mansion awoke before its master as usual. While Arlo Covelli slept on, Ivory Hollis… now Ivory Covelli arose as early as dawn and began to prepare for the day ahead. Her plans for the day were neatly arranged in her mind. She was going to kill her feelings for Arlo Covelli. “Having this feelings isn’t doing me any good,” she thought to herself, “If I don’t have them killed, they’ll kill me.” With that thought, she intentionally turned on the cold water shower as if she expected the cold water to wash off whatever tingles remained from their passionate time last night. She wanted the flutters that came with the memories of last night gone. She wanted them all gone. But every time she got close to suppressing them, his voice echoed in her head. “You take me so well Lori.” “The fuck?!” She spat, “I took him well, and he was praising Lori?” Sitting at the mirror in the room, applying the finishing to
His mind was made up. Without fully understanding why the need to find her consumed him. He grabbed his infamous Tommy Shelby hat— a classic piece that complimented his mission of the day. He slipped into his tailored double breasted black suit, the material smooth and rich, hugging his frame like it was made for him only. The black shirt underneath added a sleek, dangerous edge to his appearance yet remained effortlessly classy.As he stepped out of his room, Willis was already waiting, dressed in a grey suit of an equal luxurious degree. Both men exuded an air of elegance, completely overdressed for a simple mission of going and grabbing.However, Arlo was surprised to find him already waiting and ready. In the past, Willis made no offer to follow him to find Lori. He flatly refused. “You don’t need to come with me,” Arlo urged, “I can find her myself.”“What if she refuses to go with you. From our recent experiences, she hasn’t exactly been eager to follow you home.”Arlo scoff
Chapter 33Ivory froze at the threshold, her heart skipping a beat.“Honey?” The word echoed in her mind. Damian never called her honey so he couldn’t be talking to her. The unspoken question was answered when a woman’s laughter rang from inside the house, light and familiar— painfully mocking too.The hairs in Ivory’s neck stood up, a feeling of disgust churning her stomach.For a moment she considered turning and leaving, but she wasn’t here for closure. She was here to retrieve what belonged to her.She hesitated for a bit, then forced her feet to follow Damian inside. Her heels clicked differently here, it was no longer the confident echo it had been at the office. It was now filled with uncertainty and an unfamiliar rush of memories. There she was. The woman Ivory once called her best friend— the same woman who had cheated with Damian, shattering every dream she had.“What’s with them and sitting on the couch legs crossed?” She scoffed, remembering a similar scene with Lori
The absurdity in thinking that a simple phone call was enough to threaten her made Ivory laugh.She was going to stay away from Arlo mot because she said it, but because he wasn't good for her. As she thought about it, the anger she was trying to ignore kept gnawing at her. "So they realized I left, yet no one has called? Not even Willis?"Every day, Arlo worked hard to prove that Julian was right, which means he fired her for speaking the truth."I guess he's like that," Ivory shrugged, "He hates to face the truth."But she wasn't going to be like that, she was in fact already facing the truth. "If no one loves me, I will love myself." That was her resolve. That was the resolve that brought her to Greenville. She needed her degree for work, but ehat would she do if those bastards won't let her have it?Arlo's father finally opened his after what seemed like forever. He was surprised to find his son, seated by his side, hopelessly staring into his phone."What's wrong, son?" The ma
Both Willis and Lori were taken aback. Lori blinked in disbelief, the words lingering in the air as it sank slowly to her mind.“Me…?” She pointed to herself as if she couldn’t believe Arlo was talking to her.“Is there any other person in this room, Lori? Yes, you. Now go get dressed.” He bit back.As Lori stormed out of the room, her hate for Ivory increased. “Arlo found her cheap ass and now thinks he can order me around?”As she shut the door behind her, the pale room made her even more upset— a reminder of her displacement in Arlo’s life.She used to live in the room next door, now it was off limits?“Huh,” she scoffed angrily, “I’m going to make her pay. I’m going to take back my place…”She paused, a new idea striking at the same time. “This is an opportunity to take back my place…”But did she really want the place? “No,” she shrugged, “This is an opportunity to make money.”With that, she stormed back to the study where Arlo was seen pacing around like a caged animal.“Wha
Ivory leaned against the back of her bedroom door, fingers curled tightly around her phone. Her knees still trembled, not from physical exhaustion, but from the kind of emotional dizziness that came with standing too close to a cliff she swore she’d never look over again.She didn’t know how long she sat there, cross-legged on the cold marble floor, eyes fixed on her last message to Willis. Maybe she expected him to call. Maybe she wanted him to come knocking, to pull her out from the storm inside her own head.But he didn’t.And she knew why.Because he was a good man. And good men don’t come running into messes they can’t clean up.Ivory inhaled deeply, rubbing her temple to relax. She thought she was healing. She thought she could stand across Arlo and not feel anything. But today proved otherwise.It wasn’t just his face, or the way he effortlessly lifted Marvin into his arms—it was the ease. The way he folded himself into their morning like he’d never left. Like heartbreak, bet
Willis sat up, phone pressed to his ear. Ivory’s voice echoed softly on the other end of the phone. “You were right,” she whispered. “Everything about him triggers me.”He could hear the crack in her voice. The final admittance. He wasn’t surprised. He knew Ivory still thought about Arlo sometimes. He knew he still affected her in many ways than she chose to admit.Her decision not to pursue anything with him was probably the only way to protect herself from falling back into the arms of the one person who hurt more than anyone else, yet his arms were probably the only place she wanted to be. “Help me move on, Willis,” her voice broke the silence, “I’ll do anything to be free from this hurt.”“Okay,” Willis finally answered, “We uh… we will figure out a way.” When the call ended, Ivory put her phone down and tears flooded her face. Tears of sadness, and heartbreak. Tears of a new beginning. When she had shedded enough tears to find solace, she slowly gave in to the rest her body
The city moved at its usual pace—fast enough to feel like a blur, slow enough to remind Ivory of the days that kept slipping through her fingers. Three months had passed since the hospital incident, but the memory of that hallway kiss, the tension, the heartbreak—it all still lingered like a ghost, silently questioning her decision to end things with him. Ivory stood by the window of Hollis Atelier, coffee in hand, watching the street below. Her brand was thriving. What had started as an answer in time of desperation had grown into a recognizable name, whispered across fashion boards and praised by editors. Yet despite the success, there were quiet moments like this, where she found herself wondering about things that had nothing to do with fabric or runways.She smiled when she saw Willis crossing the street toward her building, brown paper bag in hand. Right on time. Ivory walked to the door and opened it before he knocked.“You always ruin my dramatic entrances,” Willis said, s
The city was quieter now. Or maybe it was just the way life had settled—less urgent, less argument, less hurting. The air had that firm clarity of a season on the edge of turning, but no one spoke of time. No one counted days. And Ivory preferred it that way.Three months. Maybe more. No calls in the middle of the night. No request to get back together and, no Arlo. Well, he came every other weekend for Marvin, always punctual, always polite, but he never lingered, never asked how she was doing. At first, Ivory had been suspicious of the silence—expecting him to beg, to fight, to push again. But Arlo never did. He had stopped chasing her the moment she made it clear that there was no future for them. Her words still hung over Arlo’s head. “You’re right,” she had said, “Our past was ugly, so a future without you is the only thing I can imagine right now.”Now, they were just… two people who shared a child. Two people whose love had turned poison. Ivory stood in front of the floor-
Chapter 74“How could it be for show? You kissed me first!” Arlo insisted. You see when you are desperate for something, you want to hold on to anything that gives you hope. It may have been pathetic but holding on to that kiss, clinging onto that gesture was Arlo’s only hope. “I was only proving a point,” she shot back, walking past him. But Arlo was not having. Before she could pull the door open, he pulled her by the arm, pinning her to the wall. His gaze lingered on her eyes before dropping to her lips. “You’re driving me crazy,” he confessed, “You don’t know what you’ve just done.”Ivory wriggled from his hold, aching to be free from his suffocating presence.“You drove me to prison, I guess we are even now.”At that accusation, Arlo narrowed his eyes shut, clenching his jaws.“Would I ever be forgiven of that sin?” He asked, his voice barely audible. “I don’t know, Arlo. Would you forgive me if the cases were reversed?”If he said yes, then he would have been lying.But he
Ivory clenched her fists, suppressing all the emotions brewing within. Arlo was unconscious from his own heart injuries, and Marvin was hooked up to machines but all they could think about was whether or not the child was Arlo’s.What happened to the kind-hearted Mr. Luca Covelli who accepted her with kindness on the first day? What happened to the warmth she felt with him? Was it a Covelli thing for them to show kindness only when it was favorable?“I pray the DNA results show that Marvin is not a Covelli. I will single-handedly take care of my son.”Just then, the ward door opened slowly and Ivory raised her gaze to find Arlo staring back at her. His gaze on her was firm and unwavering. “Arlo!” Crystal and Mr. Luca Covelli chorused, taking his side quickly.Arlo slowly pulled away from their grip, closing the door behind him before stepping into the doorway fully. His gaze remained on Ivory, unwaveringly.“What did I just hear you say?” Even though his voice was still weak, his
Chapter 72Ivory was shocked that the first thing that popped into her mind was if Marvin was dead or alive. Maybe it was that incident five years ago, she began to think the worst case in any scenario. She wasn’t certain what she would have done if Marvin was reported dead, but again, why was the first question on her mind? Too shocked to move, or to cry, the phone had slipped from her ear, even Arlo couldn’t get himself to hang up. He was more shocked than everyone concerned. For a minute he thought he was doing a good job with Marvin. He thought being a dad came naturally, so he allowed himself to bask too much in the pleasure of how easy it was and then lost it all. As he stood there in the emergency room with his son connected to beeping machines and all, another thought that devastated him completely would be the look on Ivory’s face. How would he face her? What would he say to her that would make her forgive him?His phone still pressed to his ear, the silence between them
There was no denying that Ivory would rather punch him in the gut than live with him, so he trashed the idea as soon as it came.From a few feet away, he could see the cabin— the only color in an expanse field of green. As he stepped out of his vehicle, his son followed closely behind him, with no idea that the property he stood in was his. Arlo looked down at him, smiling to himself. His father had passed down the Covelli name to him, but he, he was going to pass down properties all of over the world to Marvin. He was sure of it.As they ventured into the woods, headed for the stream Marvin was so eager to see, Ivory was venturing into a world of possibilities. “I’m going to host a fashion show… we are going to host a fashion show!” She announced, her excited gaze flicking from Miranda to Denise.Miranda tilted her head, taking in both her excitement and the feeling behind her excitement. For the past couple of days, Ivory had been on an energy burst. She was planning one even
TWO WEEKS LATERClenched his jaw.Grabbed her ass a little. A smirk formed on his lips. Damn. He thought. He wished this was real. He’d been having wet dreams from the day he kissed her. A kiss should end a curse. In this case, a kiss became his curse.He dreamt of her every night, her form flashed in his eyes every time he blinked them close and he didn’t mind. No he didn’t mind it at all He went to bed every night, expecting to be tortured by her lingering presence, woke up the next morning tired from doing things to her no one else knew about.The door creaked open and Marvin’s light footsteps echoed as he neared his father’s bed.Some days, he stayed with his mom. Other days he stayed with Arlo. Today was one of those lucky days he got to spend with his father.Without a word, he slid into the bed next to him, and Arlo’s arms wrapped around him. He pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Morning, buddy.”“Good morning daddy,” Marvin replied. He and his son had gotten closer. Over t