LOGINIVY’S POV
“With me,” he said, voice brushing my ear a promise and a threat all at once.
My heart flipped. My stomach coiled and tightened.
I pulled back just enough to see his face,those cold, steel-blue eyes glittering in the haze of the club lights. My throat went dry.
“I don’t even know your name,” I said, my voice barely audible over the music.
“Asher.” He said
“Asher, what?” I questioned
He smiled, slow and wicked. “You’ll find out.”
That should’ve sent alarms blaring in my head.
But instead, all I felt was heat.
Dangerous heat.
He turned to the bartender with a nod. “Another for her. And one for me.”
“I didn’t ask for another,” I said, swallowing down nerves as the drink was slid toward me.
“But you need it.” He raised a brow. “You’re running from something, remember?”
I hesitated, then took the glass. The first sip burned down my throat, and I welcomed it like punishment.
He watched me closely. Too closely.
“Tell me what happened,” he said.
I blinked. “You don’t want to hear about my problems.”
“Try me.”
“My boyfriend cheated on me,” I blurted before I could stop myself. “I lost my job. I went back to an apartment I haven’t been to in a year just to cry in the dark with no food in the fridge.”
His expression didn’t change. “And now?”
“Now I’m here,” I murmured, “trying not to fall apart.”
My phone buzzed again. Loud. Insistent. The vibrations traveled through the counter and into my spine.
He glanced at my purse. “You’re not going to get that?”
“No.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Ex,” I said quickly. Then I hesitated. “I think.”
He tilted his head. “You’re unsure?”
“I’m unsure of everything right now,” I whispered.
Another buzz.
I let out a shaky breath and silenced it without looking.
“You know,” he said, setting down his glass, “sometimes the people who break us don’t deserve to put us back together.”
That hit harder than I expected.
I stared at him. “Why are you being nice to me?”
He smirked. “Who said I’m nice?”
The lights shifted again. Blue now. Softer. Intimate.
And then he leaned in, brushing a knuckle along my jaw.
“I have two friends here tonight,” he said. “I was thinking about inviting them over. If that’s okay with you.”
I hesitated.
“Friends?” I asked, already suspicious.
He smiled. “The kind of friends who like to share.”
My breath caught.
I should’ve said no. I should’ve grabbed my bag and run. But instead, I asked,
“Share what exactly?”
“You.”
The word hit me like a slap and a caress at the same time.
He didn’t give me a chance to respond. Just turned his head slightly and nodded toward the corner of the lounge.
Two men approached.
Both tall. Both devastating.
The first had dark brown skin, close-cropped hair, a jawline that looked carved from stone, and eyes like thunderclouds. His presence was pure danger,casual, confident, and unapologetic.
The second was leaner but just as lethal. Blond curls, a silver ring on his lip, tattoos crawling up his neck. He had the look of someone who’d kiss you while making you cry.
They flanked him, my mystery man,like predators closing in on prey.
I was the prey.
“Ivy,” he said smoothly, “this is Levi…” he nodded to the dark one, “…and Kai.”
Kai gave a wicked grin. “She’s even prettier up close.”
Levi just looked me over once, slow and deliberate, before saying, “She looks like she needs to be ruined.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
They were looking at me like they already owned me. Like they were sizing me up for destruction.
“What… do you want?” I asked, though I already knew.
“We want you,” Kai said simply. “All of you.”
“Right here?” I breathed.
“No, baby,” Levi replied, stepping closer.
“Someplace private.”
“But only if you say yes,” my mystery man added, his voice low and velvet-smooth. “This isn’t a game. We won’t chase. We don’t beg. You say no, we walk away.”
I looked at each of them—three men who looked like they stepped out of a forbidden fantasy and into my broken little life.
I should’ve walked.
I should’ve said no.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I whispered, “What happens if I say yes?”
All three stepped in, boxing me between them like I was already theirs.
And then, in perfect sync, like wolves circling their prey, they leaned in.
“We’d love to make you ours,” Kai murmured.
My heart stopped.
And then it started again faster than ever.
IVY’S POVThe morning of the launch arrived not with the frantic alarm of a woman in hiding, but with the soft, persistent glow of a sunrise that felt like it belonged specifically to me.Standing in front of the full-length mirror in my new dressing room, I smoothed out the fabric of my tailored ivory suit. It was a sharp, commanding look, softened only by the silk camisole underneath a perfect representation of the woman I had become. I wasn't just Ivy the survivor anymore. Today, I was Ivy the founder.My house, now fully lived-in, felt vibrant. There were fresh lilies on the console table and the faint scent of the espresso Kai had insisted on making for me before he headed out to "handle the logistics" of the event. Every corner of this home was a testament to the peace I had fought for."You look like a queen, child."I turned to see Nana leaning against the doorframe. She looked elegant in a deep plum dress I’d had delivered to her cottage. She still refused to move in, but sh
IVY’S POVA week had bled away with the kind of frantic energy that usually precedes a storm. But this wasn’t a storm of danger; it was a storm of creation. Between signing the final lease papers for the brownstone in townwatching the massive down payment leave my account with a mixture of terror and triumph and packing the life I had built inside Kai’s mansion and my old house into cardboard boxes, I barely had time to breathe.Standing in the center of my new foyer, the air smelled of fresh white paint, expensive floor wax, and the faint, lingering scent of the cedar trees surrounding the property. It was quiet. A different kind of quiet than Kai’s. His house sounded like history and power; mine sounded like a blank page."It’s too big," a voice grumbled from behind me.I turned to see Nana standing by the marble kitchen island, her arms folded tightly over her chest. She was squinting at the high-tech appliances as if they were alien artifacts."It’s not too big, Nana. It’s exa
IVY’S POVThe drive back from the city was painted in the soft, amber hues of a setting sun. Through the windshield, the horizon looked like a canvas of bruised purples and burning golds, a stark contrast to the sterile grey skyscraper I had spent the morning navigating. Inside the cabin of the car, the atmosphere was thick with a contentment I hadn’t known was possible for someone like me.For years, my life had been a series of tactical moves and guarded breaths. Every person I met was a potential threat or a chess piece; every room I entered, I looked for the exits first. But now, leaning my head against the cool glass of the window, watching the familiar silhouettes of the trees lining the highway, I felt... settled. It was a terrifying word. Settled meant vulnerable. Settled meant I had something to lose.But as I looked at Kai, those fears felt like echoes of a different life.Kai had insisted on driving back together. He’d even gone so far as to hire a driver to bring his ow
IVY’S POVThe glow from the photo on the easel seemed to linger in my mind even after Kai led me out of the studio. The house was quiet now, the chaotic energy of Ella’s laughter and Nana’s sharp observations still vibrating in the air like the hum of a struck tuning fork. We walked down the hallway toward the master suite, but my feet felt heavy. Not with sadness, but with the weight of a realization I’d been avoiding since I first stepped through these gates.Kai was already unbuttoning his shirt, the movement fluid and relaxed. He looked like a man who had finally conquered a difficult peak. He had won over Nana; he had charmed Ella; he had integrated my world into his fortress.“Tonight was perfect,” he said, his voice low and satisfied. He turned to me, his eyes softening. “Nana is formidable. I think I’ve finally been vetted by the highest authority.”I sat on the edge of the vast, silk-covered bed, tracing the intricate pattern of the duvet. “She loves you, Kai. She wouldn’t
IVY’S POVMy car felt like a spaceship as I navigated the familiar, potholed streets leading toward the florist district. Usually, I was hyper-aware of every person on the sidewalk, every car that idled too long at a red light. But today, cocooned in leather and the faint, lingering scent of Kai’s sandalwood cologne, the city felt different. It felt like I was watching a movie of my old life from a safe distance.I pulled into the small, gravel lot behind Petals & Prose. My coworkers were already there, unloading a fresh shipment of lilies from the back of a van. I killed the engine, and the sudden silence in the cabin was heavy. For a second, I just sat there. I looked at my hands no longer stained with the ink of three different ledgers, but soft, with a pale pink polish I’d applied for the gala.I took a breath, grabbed my bag, and stepped out.“Holy mother of...” Sarah, the lead florist, dropped a crate of ferns with a dull thud. Her jaw didn't just drop; it practically hit the
Pophands was tucked under her cheek, while the other rested unconsciously on my forearm, as if even in sleep, she was making sure I hadn't disappeared.I leaned down, pressing a slow, lingering kiss to her shoulder. She stirred, a small, sleepy hum vibrating against my skin."Morning," I murmured, my voice thick."Is it?" she whispered, her eyes fluttering open. She squinted at the sunlight and then smiled, that lazy, private smile that I was quickly becoming addicted to. She shifted, rolling onto her back and pulling me down with her. "You are awake early.""Hard not to be when you’re taking up all the covers," I teased, though I didn't care. I could have given her the whole world, let alone a silk sheet. I propped myself up on one elbow, tracing the line of her collarbone. "I have to head out for a bit. I need to see Asher and Levi."The softness in her eyes dimmed just a fraction. "About yesterday?""About everything," I said honestly. "The transition. The business. And the fact t







