Chapter 2

IVY’S POV

I’m not sure what hits me first — the sting in my foot or the unbearable betrayal I had just witnessed. I look down, and a shard of glass from my award had sliced my big toe, and it is bleeding.

I don’t move. My body is frozen, my breath shallow, and my chest feels like it’s being ripped open.

Suddenly, I feel a dull throb in my head, followed by ringing in my ears, and for a terrifying second, I think I’m going to faint. From a distance, I hear a sharp blare of a taxis horning on the street below, and it yanks me back to reality.

I manage to lift my gaze, and they’re both still there, half naked, their faces blank and cold, like they’re waiting for me to catch up.

“Why?” The words finally leave my mouth. “How? When?”

They look at each other, and then with no consideration whatsoever, they offer me a cold smile.

“It’s been going on for years, Ivy.” Viv shrugs, stepping down from the table and adjusting her skirt.

“Years?” I step back in disbelief, the pain in my foot catching up with the rest of me. My heel slips slightly on one of the shards, and I nearly fall, but I manage to steady myself with the door handle.

I push open the door and storm out to the open workspace, my breath coming in quick, unsteady bursts. I find the nearest chair and collapse into it, pressing my palms to my thighs to stop them from shaking, but it’s useless.

They follow right after and tower over me.

Harry’s shirt is still undone, and he is holding something — an envelope— immediately, I can tell it’s something to do with this.

I take a slow, shaky breath and tilt my head to meet his eyes, Viv still in her bra, looking very comfortable with this whole situation.

“How could you do this to me?” I swallow hard. “How could you disrespect me like this… our marriage? Our vows?”

Harry meets my gaze without blinking, his expression unreadable, his eyes colder than I’ve ever seen them. “Because I don’t love you, Ivy, that’s how.” He blurts flatly. “I never have.”

My stomach drops, and I feel my insides giving way.

“No,” I shake my head in denial. “That’s not true. You love me. You’ve always loved me. This... this is just some kind of breakdown. A slip. You’re just angry, I..”

Harry lets out a dry laugh, cutting me off. “Jesus, Ivy. Did you hear what I just said?” He crouches down in front of me, his voice suddenly quiet but somehow sharper than before. “I don’t love you. Never have. You were a means to an end. That’s all.”

I flinch, his words landing like blows to my chest. I turn my head, trying to focus, to breathe, and my eyes dart to Vivienne. Her expression is smug, her arms are crossed over her breasts like this is some power move.

I turn back to Harry, my voice trembling now, but I feel a fire begin to stir somewhere deep inside me. “Is it because of her?” I point at her. “Do you love her now?”

He straightens and walks over to Viv, his hands sliding to her face like it’s the most natural thing in the world. “She’s the love of my life,” he says with a smirk, his voice louder now. “We’ve been seeing each other behind your back for years. I just thought it was about time we filled you in.”

Viv’s lips curve into a smile as she adds, “Sorry, Ivy.”

“But we were happy,” I whisper, more to myself than to them. “We were building something together. I thought… I thought you were happy, too, Harry.”

He laughs again, his hands flying to his waist. “You were happy Ivy. I was surviving.”

“What?” I clutch my chest, not understanding.

“You were perfect, actually,” he adds. “You played your part like a queen. Graceful, poised, and successfully. I just happened to be the one controlling the chessboard.”

“Wait.. You saying you’ve been playing me?” My voice hardens. “All this time?”

His expression shifts again — not angry, just bored now, like this conversation is beneath him. “Well.. I kept your empire afloat, didn’t I?” he sneers. “Viv and I are the reason you were on that stage in D.C. tonight.”

I blink hard, trying to focus, trying to understand how someone I love could stand in front of me and tear me apart with so little emotion, but then it clicks. The motive.

“Let me guess.. You did all this… for my money?” My voice quiets, but razor sharp now. “You stayed with me, lied to me, pretended to love me… for money?”

Harry scoffs, like I just said something beneath him, and shakes his head. “Please. This was never about money, Ivy. I am no amateur.” He steps closer, cool and composed, like this is a boardroom and I’m just another quarterly report. “I needed to make a name for myself. To step out of the shadow of that failed company that was once mine and reinvent myself.”

He turns to Vivienne, reaching for her hand like I’m not standing right here, shattered. “And now that that’s achieved thanks to you, Viv and I can finally live happily ever after, like we have always planned.”

A laugh bubbles in my throat, but it’s the kind that borders on a scream. I blink at them, my face burning, skin crawling as I take in the image of them together. It all seems and feels unreal. Like a scene from one of those ridiculous dramas where the audience yells at the screen. Only this time, the betrayal isn’t fiction. It’s mine. All mine.

My gaze locks on Vivienne, and she smirks, tilting her head like she’s amused. “You,” I breathe, the air thin in my lungs, “you were my friend. I treated you like family. How could you—?”

Viv rolls her eyes and looks at Harry. “Is she always this slow?” she mocks. “How many times do we have to spell it out for her?”

“But I helped you. I gave you both everything.” I look directly at Viv, my voice breaking. “You were fresh out of law school, Viv. No one would hire you, and I brought you into House of Valemont. I gave you your first desk job and made you my sole counsel.” I wipe a tear trailing down with my thumb. “Even when your father was disbarred and the media hounded him like vultures, the board begged me to cut ties, but I stood by you. I fought for you. And this… this is how you repay me?”

Vivienne’s expression tightens, but she doesn’t flinch. Instead, her hands fly to her waist, leaving her cleavage exposed. “Wipe those alligator tears, Ivy,” she sighs, bored. “You didn’t help me because you wanted me to succeed. You just liked having a puppet. Someone to fawn over you and nod like you were some divine gift.”

“That’s not true,” I shake my head as tears stream down my cheeks. “I believed in you.”

I turn to Harry, my voice rising with every word. “And you… I gave you a chance when no one else would when your company went under. Your name was toxic in the business world, but I risked my board’s wrath by bringing you in as CFO. I defended you. I loved you with everything in me.” My voice cracks. “Why would you do this to me?”

His eyes turn cold and detached, his jaw clenching. “When I met you, Ivy, you were just a wide-eyed twenty-two-year-old with a fashion house and zero leadership skills. You inherited a name. That’s it. I was the one who did the hard work behind the curtain while you played CEO for the press.” He steps closer, his words sharper now, venom in his tone.

“I made you. You should be bowing at my feet, thanking me for making you the number one fashion house globally.”

A beat of silence follows as I let his words sink in, letting them burn in my chest.

“You made me?” I jolt up, my voice no longer shaking. “You think you built me up?” I step forward, my eyes blazing between them. “Do you even hear yourself?” I wipe the tears from my face, not delicately but violently.

“Who is the last person to leave this building and the first to come in every day? You?” I laugh bitterly as I step towards him, closer and closer. “Who flies across the country weekly to check on our suppliers? Who goes into every department, checking and making sure every employee is doing their job effectively? You?” I jab my finger toward the office door, my voice rising.

“I am here because I show up every day. To every deal.” I inhale sharply as I meet both their smug gazes. “You don’t get to play a hero here after betraying me, you fucking scumbag.”

They exchange glances, surprised.

“Get out, both of you,” I order flatly.

They don’t move.

“I said—get the fuck out of my building!” My voice thunders across the top floor.

Harry shifts, almost threatened by the force behind it, but they still linger like cockroaches that refuse to scatter.

Vivienne shrugs and begins clapping slowly, her lips curling into a sneer. “Wow. That’s dramatic. I never thought you had that in you Ivy. Good job!”

Like preplanned, Harry drops the envelope he is holding, and it lands softly beside my foot. “Take a look.”

I glance down at it, frowning, and lower myself to pick it up, but before my fingers can reach it, Vivienne’s heel lands hard, crushing it beneath her foot. “Look,” she hisses. “The queen’s finally on her knees.”

I look up at her and tilt my head towards Harry and I see how he stares at me like I’m some pathetic loser. I yank the envelope from under her heel with a force that makes her stumble slightly, and I tear it open.

I pull out the document inside, and what I see makes me feel like a rug has been pulled from under me because staring back at me plain and unforgiving, are divorce papers, Harry’s side already signed.