Billionaire's Bounty Cost Of Love And Revenge novel Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Ivy’s POV

“Hello, Babe.”

I swallowed. “What are you doing here, Max?”

n

When I rushed to my apartment that morning to get some alone time, I didn’t think Max and I would meet that day. Heck, I didn’t think we’d ever meet again. That day, outside on the beach, when Asher told me he didn’t want me to have anything to do with Max, I had taken him seriously. Even though I wanted to argue then, I didn’t. The way he said it left no room for questioning, so I did as he said.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again, folding my arms across my chest.

He dangled the key card in front of me, and I cursed under my breath. I remembered giving it to him after a night of lovemaking. I was so lovesick that I handed him a key to my private apartment. A place even my parents didn’t have a key to. And now, it had come back to haunt me.

“I got in with my card,” he replied.

I exhaled, already feeling frustrated. I made a mental note to have the key card to my apartment changed, or maybe move apartments. “You have to leave now, Max.”

He chuckled. “I’m not going anywhere, Ivy.” He crossed the distance between us.

I took a few steps back. “Max…”

“You’re not seriously trying to get away from me, are you?” He asked in disbelief.

“Leave my apartment, Max. I’m going to yell.”

He chuckled and shrugged. “Do that, then. I think they’ll just assume we’re fucking. Your moans are usually loud.” He smiled maniacally. “Oh, how I’ve missed hearing your moans. They were always like music to my cars.”

I glared at him. “Leave! Now!”

He clicked his tongue. “You used to be really happy to see me,” he sighed, plopping down on the couch. “Now, you’re looking at me like I’m a fucking serial killer who charged into your home unannounced.”

I was infuriated at this point. I knew it was futile to keep talking to Max- he would never see reason. I couldn’t physically drag him out of the room, and yelling at the top of my voice wasn’t going to solve anything. My best bet to get out of this situation was to engage him calmly. That meant we finally had to have the talk.

I folded my arms across my chest and scratched my brow. “What do you want, Max?”

He sat upright. “It’s a good thing you asked that. One, I want to punch that son of a bitch you call a husband until his eyes pop out of his sockets. Two, I’m tempted to choke you…”

I swallowed.

He closed the distance and lightly brushed his fingers against my cheek. I looked away. “I’m afraid it’s just going to turn into something hot, and it wouldn’t even be a punishment in the end…” His lips curled into a smirk.

Listening to him speak had me wondering if he had always been like this, and I was the one who just didn’t notice. He was infuriating, and I didn’t know how I managed to put up with him all these years.

1/3

8:29 pm D

Chapter 26

“I saw your loved–up pictures. The son of a bitch kept posting them with stupid love captions too” he continued, “I bet you really like your new man. He has a lot of money to take you out on vacations…”

“You know it was never about the money…”

“Then what was it about?” he yelled.

I couldn’t believe my ears. Max acting like he didn’t know what he did?

“You cheated on me, Max! I caught you in bed with my best friend, and that was why we broke up!” I screamed in frustration. “I was coming to see you that night. I dressed up to see you. It was our favorite hotel… I thought…” I blinked back the tears. It was hard to admit, but I had to. “I thought it was going to be a proposal.” I smiled sadly at the irony of it. What I thought would be a new stepping stone in our relationship became our undoing.

I hated the look I saw in his eyes. It was pity. He pitied me. He probably thought I was pathetic,

“The receptionist happily handed me a key to our room. That was our room…” My voice broke, and I cupped my mouth to stifle the sobs. He reached out to comfort me, but I moved away. “That was the room we spent our first night as a couple. That was the room we would go to…” I trailed off. “That was the room you took her to.”

“Ivy…”

“You cheated on me with her, and I caught you.” I spelled out the words.

“She never mattered to me…”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to hear your excuse…” Up until that point, I had thought I needed to hear it. I thought it would make me feel a lot better, give me closure. Now, standing across from him, I realized nothing he could say would matter. He didn’t have any reason. There couldn’t be a worthy reason to explain why he did what he did to me. His only game plan was to gaslight me, to make it seem like it was my fault somehow. “Nothing you’re going to say will matter,” I said, the words freeing.

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