LOGIN~ Ivy ~Ethan knocked on the guest house door just as the orange sun began to drop below the trees. He carried a heavy brown paper folder under his arm. His face was pale, his strong jaw clamped shut, and his usual warm blue-gray eyes looked dark and tired.I opened the door and took a step back, wiping my hands on my paint-stained apron."Ethan? What happened?" I asked, my voice barely louder than a whisper. "You look like you've seen a ghost.""Ivy, we need to talk," he said quietly.He walked inside, his tall frame filling the small living room. He sat down heavily on the soft green sofa, setting the thick folder on the wooden coffee table between us. I closed the door, the click of the latch echoing in the quiet cottage. My heart beat fast against my ribs like a trapped bird. My hands began to shake, so I squeezed them together in front of my apron."What is that?" I asked, pointing a trembling finger at the table.Ethan looked at me with a painful mix of anger and gentleness. "I’
~ Ethan ~The white LED light on the corner of my desk was the only thing cutting through the dark. Outside, the night was dead quiet, but inside my office at Knight Medical, the quiet felt heavy. It felt like the air right before a thunderstorm hits.My eyes were glued to the tablet screen propped against a stack of medical charts.It was a single email, pulled straight from a private server by the investigator I’d hired three weeks ago. The timestamp on the header read two days after the gala. Two days after Ivy had been rushed to the emergency room bleeding, terrified, and screaming for a baby that was already gone.I read the words again. I didn't want to, but I couldn't look away.The fat cow lost her baby, the text read, written in Chloe Bennett's neat, airy font. I gave her a push, and nature did the rest. Now Julian is mine. Every. Single. Bit. Of. Him.I stared at those six sentences until the letters blurred together into black smudges.A loud, sharp crack echoed through the
~ Ivy ~I sat on the edge of my bed, watching the dark shadows stretch across the white rug. The guest house was quiet, so quiet I could hear the wind brushing against the glass, but inside my head, everything was loud.My hand rested on my stomach. It was flat now, completely empty.I picked up my pencil, trying to draw the outline of a leaf, but my fingers trembled so much that the tip snapped against the paper. The tiny click sounded like a gun going off in the silent room.I sucked in a sharp breath. My heart started beating fast, hitting my ribs like a trapped bird.Get a grip, Ivy, I told myself, squeezing my eyes shut. You are fine. You are safe in Ethan's guest house. You had a good day at the art show. People actually bought your paintings.I tried to focus on that. I tried to remember the woman at the gallery who held my hand and told me my work was beautiful. I tried to remember the check sitting on my desk, proof that I was finally making my own money.But the good thought
~ Ivy Monroe ~The dark wooden floor of the guest house cottage felt cool under my bare feet. A warm morning breeze drifted through the wide, curtainless window, carrying the smell of cut grass from the Knight Manor gardens.I sat at the small round dining table with my laptop open. On the screen was the homepage of a major online art marketplace. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, shaking so hard I had to press my hands flat against the wooden edge of the table to steady them.In my lap lay three finished paintings and two charcoal sketches. For weeks, Ethan had been encouraging me to put my work online."You can reach people all over the world, Ivy," he had told me just two nights ago over dinner. "You don't need a fancy gallery to tell you what your art is worth. You can sell prints, original pieces, even custom work. You can build something that is entirely yours."I wanted that. More than anything, I wanted to prove to myself that I could earn a living on my own strength. But
~ Ivy Monroe ~I held the cool glass of water in my hand, but my fingers shook so hard the water sloshed over the rim, wetting my knuckles. I set the glass down on the small wooden side table before I dropped it.Across the room, the morning sun hit the white screen of my laptop. The little black arrow hovered over the refresh button on my email inbox."Ivy, you are going to stare a hole right through that screen," Ethan said, his voice quiet as he walked into the kitchen of the guest house. He carried two white porcelain mugs, the steam rising in thin, gray swirls. He set one down in front of me and pulled out a chair. He wore a simple navy sweater with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows."I can't look, Ethan," I said, my voice barely a whisper. I tucked my dark brown hair behind my ears, clutching the edges of my oversized gray cardigan around my waist. "If it's a rejection, I don't think I can handle it today. I really don't.""It won't be a rejection," Ethan said gently. He reach
~ Ivy ~The room smelled like lavender soap and soft leather, but my chest felt so tight I could barely breathe. I sat on the far edge of the grey couch, my fingers twisting the hem of my sweater around and around until my knuckles turned white.Across from me, Dr. Wells set her notepad down on the small glass table. She didn't look at me with pity. She just looked at me like I was a real person, someone who mattered."Ivy," she said softly, her voice quiet and steady. "What do you want to say to the people who hurt you? Not what you think you should say to be nice. What do you actually feel right now?"I stared down at the dark blue rug under my feet. My mouth felt dry, like I’d been swallowing dust. For a whole year, I had kept everything locked up inside a tiny, dark box in my chest. If I let a little bit out, I was scared the whole world would break. Or worse, that people would see how ugly my feelings really were and run away."I... I don't know," I whispered. My throat hurt."Tr






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