Page 44 of B.D.E
“What?”
“I haven’t told him ye?—"
“I heard that part, fool. I’m just trying to figure out why the hell not.”
“I don’t even know what we are, Tori. We haven’t had the conversation. We never actually put a title on what we’ve been doing. I mean, we’ve been through some things... he’s protected me, provided for me, made me feel safe. But I still don’t know if I’m his girlfriend or just some situation he’s keeping around.”
“Do you love him?”
My stomach twisted. “I think I could. I know I’m falling in love with him. I’m scared that once I tell him, everything changes. What if he says it’s too much too soon? What if he disappears?”
“You already halfway in, Ivy. Hiding this baby isn’t gonna make him stay, and it damn sure won’t make him leave if he’s real about you. But you won’t know unless you talk to him.”
“I haven’t even heard from him,” I muttered. “Not today. Not even a ‘thinking of you’ text. I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing. I’m just... waiting.”
Tori’s tone turned serious. “If he don’t show up or call by tomorrow, I need you to get your black ass on a bus or an uber and come home. This fairy tale shit only cute until it’s not. You got a baby to think about now.”
“I know.”
“I mean it, Ivy. You’ve always been the soft one between us, but I’ll come snatch you outta there myself if you keep letting silence speak louder than actions.”
I wiped a tear before it had the chance to fall. “Thanks, Tori.”
“Anytime. Bitch, you need me to pull up with a shotgun or a plan B?”
I let out a small, tired laugh. “Let’s just wait one more day.”
“Fine. But if he don’t show, I’m coming right back out there and we doing a damn intervention. Got it?”
“Got it.”
We stayed on the phone for a few more minutes, catching up on nothing and everything, until her voice softened and she said, “I love you, Ivy. And you deserve a man who don’t make you question where you stand.”
“I love you too.”
We hung up. I sat there a moment longer, holding the phone, wondering what the hell I was doing…waiting for a man who could be anywhere, doing anything, while I held on to something he didn’t even know existed yet. But still, my heart hoped. Just one more day.
CHAPTER 23
Ghost
I hadn’t been backto the safe house since the night I held Specs in my arms while she slept. That was two days ago. She was probably wondering where the hell I was, but I couldn’t think about her right now. I couldn’t risk bringing death to her doorstep again. I was in kill mode and every second I stayed away was a move closer to tying off the last loose end…Gideon.
It all made sense now. When I slipped into Gideon’s estate earlier that morning, I’d already mapped out his security rotations. I’d taken my time, memorized every creak on the floor, every blind spot on the cameras. I came for blood, but curiosity led me to his office first and that’s when I saw it. A thick, leather-bound folder sitting inside his desk drawer, locked but not enough to keep me out. Inside were records… prison files, DNA matches, crime scene photos. My father’s name scribbled across a murder report I’d never seen before. And on the victim line? Isabella Delano. His wife. Marcus’s mother.
The date matched the robbery that ruined Gideon’s life. The twist was that my old man’s DNA had just been linked to it last year. It took decades and a covid death to get that final confirmation, but Gideon had waited, then plotted and let thatrage fester. He couldn’t get to my father, so he came for me. Blamed me for sins I didn’t commit like I wasn’t just a fucking kid when it happened. None of that mattered to him, though. He raised me… only to set me up to die. So yeah, I’d planned this shit out carefully. Right down to the bottle of twenty-year-old bourbon he loved to pour at sunset. I slipped a slow-acting poison into it while he was out at some business lunch. I knew he wouldn’t notice, not when he sipped the same drink every damn evening like clockwork.
I stepped out of the tree line; silencer already fitted on the barrel. There were three guards posted around the front and back of the estate. I took each one out with quiet, practiced precision. One behind the greenhouse. One on the back porch. One near the garage lighting a cigarette that he never got the chance to finish. By the time I reached the main door, I’d already used Gideon’s phone to text Marcus.Get here. Now.It wouldn’t raise suspicion. That nigga would come running, still chasing his father’s approval, desperate for crumbs of attention.
Inside the house, I moved quick. I knew the layout, hell, I helped him remodel half this damn compound. I kicked his office door open, gun drawn, aiming straight at the back of his fucking head.
He turned slow, like he couldn’t believe it. “Ghost.”
“You look surprised,” I said, stepping inside, door clicking shut behind me. “Didn’t think I’d survive the second hit?”
His face tightened. “So, you know.”
“I know everything,” I murmured. “I saw the file on my father. The shit he did to your wife… the DNA match to prove it… and how you plotted revenge on me for it.”
