Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,43
in that direction, ready to tackle the bitch to the ground, if necessary.
Heading outside, I expect to find Ivy somewhere in the driveway, but after searching high and low, there’s no sign of her.
Fucking hell. Where could she possibly have gone?
Yes, the property is massive, but I highly doubt she’d crawl under a bush or scale the side of the house to escape me.
Then again, this is Ivy. When she’s mad, there’s no telling what she’s capable of.
Judging by the threats she made and how loudly she made them, she’s not just mad, she’s dangerously psychopathic.
Knowing that, I walk out to glance down the street, the neighborhood quiet for the most part, only a lawn crew working a few houses down and a delivery truck in the opposite direction.
I turn back to the house and lift my gaze up to the roof, just in case she’s up there with something heavy to drop on my head.
A honking horn grabs my attention a second later, my body spinning in place in time to see Emily’s car pull to a quick stop and Ivy come running out from behind a neighbor’s large hedge, barefoot with her heels in hand.
I’m not surprised to see Ivy’s fire-crotched sidekick coming to the rescue.
She climbs into the car before I can take the first step in pursuit, not that I’d tackle her in front of witnesses.
Flipping me the finger, Ivy narrows her eyes on me just before the car takes off with screeching tires.
Fuck.
I hadn’t planned on this, but I laugh about it regardless. I should have expected nothing less.
It’s fine, though. Prey is always more fun when you have to chase it down. And it’s not like Ivy can do much to fix this. I have safety measures in place, surprises that ensure she won’t be able to smooth this over.
Smiling as the car turns a corner and disappears from view, I tuck my hands in my pockets and tilt my face to the grey sky above my head.
It looks like it might rain in the next few hours.
Let’s hope it’s not the freezing type that has the nasty habit of slicing a person to the bone.
Ivy
“I need you to take me to my dad’s house right now. And fast. Don’t even stop for red lights. Just slam the gas pedal down and go.”
My voice is shaking as I tell Emily what to do, the anger I feel so strong that my teeth are grinding together, and my hands are fisting.
Gabriel has done a lot of fucked up things to me through the years, but I never once thought he’d stoop so low and do something like this.
“Girl, I saw the articles this morning. I tried calling you because I knew there was no way in hell they were true.”
Emily’s long red hair partially hides her face as she races down the road. Both our bodies slide in our seats as she cuts the wheel left to take a sharp corner, the wheels of the car sliding over the cement before the engine roars to speed up again.
“I saw your calls, but I couldn’t answer them. I was in the process of getting abducted by Gabriel.”
I’m in tears at this point.
How Gabriel knew to do something like this is a mystery to me. While my mother would love to see me with one of the Inferno boys because of the status of their families, my father had secretly forbidden me from having anything to do with them.
Their families are criminals. Everybody knows it, but nobody is brave enough to do anything about it. And while my dad isn’t exactly squeaky clean, he is a lot quieter about the shit he does.
No wonder he cut me off without bothering to call me.
I saw the photos while scrolling through social media, saw the links to the articles and then read the bullshit lies about me.
It all looks perfectly real and legitimate. I’m not surprised, though. With Taylor in that group, those assholes can pull off just about anything.
“Your dad is bound to understand, Ivy. Just as soon as you tell him what happened, I’m sure he’ll fix this for you.”
Emily is trying to calm me down and assure me that everything will be all right, but I don’t believe her. I know my dad. It won’t matter if the photos are fake. Just the thought of a public connection between him and any of the Inferno members is too much for him to handle.