A marriage deal with billionaire stone (Ivy and Silas)

Chapter 36

"What was that?" Ivy muttered to herself as soon as she was back in the room. This time, she remembered to lock the door and double- checked it before heading to her bed.

Kicking off her heels, she sank into the mattress. The boxes of clothes were now on the floor beside her bed. She stretched out on the bed.

What a day it had been.

She hadn't even begun to process everything. Sitting upright, she craned her neck and ran a hand through her hair. She was tired, but the only thing occupying her thoughts was her anticipation of a move from Silas.

"Stupid," she muttered under her breath as she walked to the window.

When his eyes had landed on her, her chest had tightened, her stomach knotting in anticipation. She'd thought-hoped-he would walk over and kiss her.

"Ivy, get a grip!" she scolded herself.

Everything was wrong, yet it felt so right. She hadn't even uncovered whether Thomas was behind her mother's demise, and here she was, yearning for his brother's touch.

There was Mason, Martha, the media-everyone wanting a piece of her. She strolled back to her bed and noticed that Monica had left her Dior bag at the foot of it. Digging inside, she retrieved her phone and began scrolling.

She knew this was a dangerous path. She knew that seeing a cruel publication about herself would break her heart, yet she scrolled.

Her dinner pictures with Silas were still trending, alongside stories about Martha Hunter. The media was buzzing with lies, claiming she had hit Martha. One site even alleged that she attacked Martha because Mason had publicly revealed her affair with Silas.

She shook her head at the lie, but she kept scrolling. Another site had uploaded an old picture of her with Mason at one of Martha's events, suggesting it was taken mere months before she started dating Silas.

"All lies," she said aloud.

They didn't know the picture was from months ago. Mason had posted it the night she told him she wanted a divorce. He had begged and cried before uploading it, thinking, by some miracle, that being more public about their marriage would suddenly change her mind.

His first mistake was thinking she cared about public validation. He'd rarely spoken about her publicly during their marriage, and she'd been fine with that.

His second mistake was posting the picture at all. It only proved the fact that he knew he should have been more public about their marriage in the first place.

article, it was a quote from Mason himself. He claimed to have had no idea she was involved with Silas and lied that their divorce had only

from the pit of

to hand it to Mason, though-he was making good

clothes Silas had gotten for her, any activity

trust. No one was on her side, and the thought filled

her thoughts. She

"It's me."

the door for Silas, her heart pounding at the thought that he might be here to do something... dangerous. And yet, she had just

he entered, she saw the sadness in

her mind had wandered

good?" she asked

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Chapter 36

convinced. "I... something came up. I have

had come to tell

trying her best to conceal her surprise. Then she remembered the white car and her new

eyes twitched with surprise, and he nodded. "Yeah. Do you like them?"

some things to discuss," he said in

She had no idea what he was going to say, but she nodded, keeping her voice

split second, she saw him paused.

cleared his throat and

as she locked the door behind him. What was wrong with her? What was she anticipating his touch? She had no idea. She She wasn't supposed to be this

as

realized it was getting cold. Quickly, she returned to the room to strip out of her clothes when her phone

ignored the call, not because of Silas's

and entered the bathroom. She entered the tub, the cold water calming her. For a second, she sat still,

unsteady nerves.