Scandalized Ivy Owens Novels & Stories

"Vivian, please listen to me. It's not what it looks like. I swear, I was just...just trying to..." But Vivian wasn't interested in hearing Ivy's excuses. She turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Ivy and her lover behind. Vivian's heart was heavy with sorrow and anger, and she knew that things would never be the same again. Vivian's eyes blurred with tears as she drove away from Ivy's house, her mind reeling with emotions. She felt disgusted and betrayed by Ivy's infidelity, but more than that, she felt ashamed of herself. She had been so blinded by her desires and ambitions that she had made terrible decisions, hurt the people she loved, and lost sight of what truly mattered.

“Renowned Lawyer, Dahlia Hayes, reveals how she built her career by sleeping with married judges and sending them explicit photos of herself to win her cases.” Some even claimed I had an exclusive OnlyFans account. Before I could recover from the shock, my boss barged into my office, his eyes blazing with fury. “Miss Hayes. To my office. Now!” I followed him, eyes straight ahead, body stiff as if under a spell. I didn’t dare look around, but I could feel the stares burning into my skin, judging and condemning me. I held back my tears, even though I was breaking inside, because I knew once I started crying, I wouldn’t stop.

Not when her own father had stormed out, jaw clenched, a storm behind his eyes, one she didn’t yet understand. She should feel guilt. But all she felt was fire. They wanted to shame her. Brand her. Reduce her to a scandal, a problem to fix. They forgot who she was. She is a ivy Lancaster. And whatever that name had meant before tonight, it meant something different now. It meant survival. Ivy peeled the engagement ring from her finger. Her skin was raw beneath it. She set it on the vanity like it was cursed. Then, she did something she hadn’t done in years, she opened the drawer in the corner, the one where she kept her old paints, her brushes, her sketchbooks filled with dreams.

Ethan stepped between us. “That will never hold in court.” Ivory smiled wider. “We don’t need it to. We just need the chaos. The headlines. The scandal. The delay. While we make the next move.” “Which is?” Ethan asked. Ivory’s smile turned knife-sharp. “You’ll see.” And with that, she handed over a thick envelope. “To be opened together,” she added, eyes flicking to me. “It concerns your past.” Ethan didn’t take it.

“But if he was serious about her, he’d have made it official by now. We’re all still waiting for that announcement to prove the story true.” I stood slowly, smoothing my skirt with trembling hands. None of this surprised me. That’s the price of fame — even if it’s the wrong kind. I pushed the stall door open and stepped out, meeting their eyes. I recognized them instantly. Alice and Laney. Of course. The IT department’s resident gossip. Alice’s lips curled into a smirk. “Oh, speak of the devil.” She leaned against the sink, studying me like I was her afternoon entertainment. “Well, well,” Laney drawled, her eyes glinting. “Didn’t mean to talk behind your back. Guess it’s better when you hear

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see him. Why don’t you come back inside?” “Ugh,” Ivy mutters, but she comes with Eleanor back into the restaurant. What Ivy doesn’t know is that Eleanor is already plotting something. No one is allowed to speak to her this way, not even Ivy. Because Ivy is out of it, Eleanor manages to bring her back to the table that Melissa and Ross abandoned. Eleanor hands her the glass of drugged wine that’s supposed to be for Melissa, and Ivy drinks it all. “I’m basically offering Zane everything,” Ivy whines. “And he’s insulted that I want him? What kind of man is that?”

It seemed something in that reply had set him off, and he fired back with another long comment. [Rumors? Are you kidding me? I've seen it with my own eyes. She hooked up with someone in broad daylight. Didn't even bother going to a hotel—they just went at it in a corner. She only fools the freshmen with her innocent act. Everyone knows her scholarship and outstanding student titles were earned by improper means.] My hands trembled as I read the comment. The phone slipped out of my grasp and hit the floor. "Yvette, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," my roommate asked, picking up my phone. Her eyes scanned the screen before she gasped.

I expected her to turn and leave, or even try pleading by saying that she didn’t know what got over her, but Ivy stayed rooted in her position. “Well then, there is something about you that is worse than a broken engagement scandal, Mark Ronaldo,” Ivy stated. “What could there possibly be?” I asked, chuckling in disbelief even as I got more upset. Ivy then brought out her phone and showed me a video. At first, I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I didn’t need to look too hard to know that it was me with a strange woman in the video. A sex video. “What the heck is this?” I queried Ivy angrily.