Ivy’s face had gone pale, but the doll itself barely registered as a shock.
She gave Hazel calm, clipped instructions.
“That’s almost certainly Tyler’s doing.
I’ll have the hotel handle the cleanup.
Go pack your things and cooperate with the police when they arrive.”
Hazel privately marveled at her nerves.
A death threat sitting right there on the table, and Ivy hadn’t so much as flinched.
Maybe having Nathaniel around just scares off anything trying to mess with her.
“Alright, boss, I’ll go find someone from the hotel to deal with this.
Don’t worry about it yourself.
These people have no shame at all.
You should really stay close to Nathaniel these next few days.
I’d feel a lot better knowing he’s around, honestly, given what these people are capable of.” With that, Hazel retreated to the next room, still visibly rattled, wisely leaving the two of them alone.
Ivy wanted to stop her before she said too much, but it was already out.
She set the doll down on the table calmly, leaving it as evidence for the police.
Catching the storm building on Nathaniel’s face, she worried he might do something reckless, and got ahead of it.
“Tyler’s the old plant manager’s nephew.
From what I’ve dug up, he’s got real influence around Ironbridge, probably some kind of arrangement with Desmond.
He wouldn’t be this bold without backup.
Even someone with your reach can’t just steamroll local ties like that.
Let’s handle this by the book.”
Nathaniel had spent years in this business and seen every flavor of dirty tactic imaginable: professional threats, amateur thugs, all of it.
A stunt like this wasn’t going to rattle him.
If anything, it woke up something sharper and hungrier in him.
Ivy hadn’t yet pieced together the full picture, what exactly connected Desmond to Tyler, or how deep it ran.
And now, with Nathaniel apparently ready to deal with both the factory and Tyler personally, it would only hand Desmond exactly the reaction he’d been fishing for.
Nathaniel’s expression darkened.
“You’re still worried about Tyler right now?”
Under normal circumstances, someone that insignificant wouldn’t register on his radar at all.
Her bringing him up specifically irritated him more than it should have.
Ivy didn’t dance around it.
“I’m worried you’re about to fall right into Desmond’s trap.”
Speak of the devil.
“What did you do to deserve a stunt like this?” Desmond appeared in the doorway, feigning astonishment, trailed by hotel staff visibly shaking, apologizing profusely and refusing to touch anything until police arrived to process the scene.
Just the sight of Desmond sent a fresh wave of nausea rolling through Ivy.
This baby apparently can’t stand either Wolfe brother.
Takes after its mother, I suppose.
A shadow moved fast beside her Nathaniel lunged forward, fists clenched, closing the distance on Desmond like something predatory.
“Nathaniel, what are you doing?” Desmond froze, genuinely thrown.
He hadn’t expected his composed, controlled brother to actually throw a punch over Ivy, out in the open like this.
He braced defensively on instinct.
Ivy’s stomach dropped.
This wasn’t like him at all.
“Nathaniel, don’t take the bait!”
If this actually turned into a fight, he’d be the one in the wrong with his family, with the police, and Desmond would milk it publicly for months.
Nathaniel’s mouth curved into something sharp, and instead of throwing a punch, he reached out and pulled Desmond upright, arms open like he meant to deliver nothing more than a warm, brotherly hug.
Desmond, still braced for an attack, flinched backward instead and his foot caught the pooled blood on the floor, sending him flat on his back.
He came up drenched, reeking, gagging on the smell.
He scrambled up, furious.
“Nathaniel!
That was deliberate!”
Nathaniel looked at him with open contempt.
“You went through all this trouble to send us a gift.
I only wanted to thank you properly.
Why so jumpy?”
Something in Ivy’s expression soured.
Who exactly agreed we’re still playing husband and wife here?
Didn’t we settle on one month, no funny business?
Are we untangling this marriage or not?
“You” Desmond looked ready to throttle him.
He genuinely hadn’t seen that coming, his own guilt and nerves had done half the work for Nathaniel, and it had worked flawlessly.
“You’re a coward.
Not even as brave as vermin in a gutter.” Nathaniel “accidentally” put his heel down on Desmond’s hand, and only lifted it, visibly disgusted, once he’d heard him yelp.
His voice dropped low, all warning.
“Stay away from her.
If you put your hands on what’s mine again, this won’t be where it ends.”
Desmond hissed through the pain.
“Nathaniel the more you care about something, the harder I’ll go after it.
Ivy’s going to be the thing that finally takes you down.
Mark my words.”
Ivy wanted to get a few kicks in herself, but he was too disgusting to get near without gagging.
“Help him up.” Nathaniel instructed the hotel staff to escort a still-cursing Desmond out, his tone all quiet threat.
“Watch his step.
Wouldn’t want him to fall again and end up paralyzed.”
Ivy found the whole scene deeply satisfying.
She’d never actually wanted to confront Desmond head-on before mostly because she’d assumed she’d be out of Nathaniel’s life soon enough, and picking fights felt pointless.
But this time, Desmond had used her specifically to get at Nathaniel, and sent someone as vile as Tyler to humiliate her in the process.
Pretending that hadn’t made her furious would be a lie.
Nathaniel’s little performance, though genuinely well done.
The police arrived not long after and found the corridor’s security cameras had been disabled the hotel had nothing usable on file.
Ivy could identify Tyler by name, but without hard evidence, the case stalled at “pending further investigation.”
Once the police left, hotel management showed up in person to apologize, arranged an elaborate meal by way of compensation, and promised repeatedly to overhaul security.
By the time all of it wrapped up, Ivy was running on empty, barely upright.
Nathaniel couldn’t stand watching her push through it any further.
He redid the dressing on her cheek himself, carried her to bed over her protests, and took over handling the rest personally.
Something about the low, steady sound of his voice settled her more than she expected, and she finally lost the fight to stay awake, slipping under fast.
Whatever occupies the mind by day finds its way into sleep by night.
Worry about her mother’s surgery.
Fear of the pregnancy being discovered.
All of it collided in a nightmare that came on without warning.
She was standing outside an operating room with everyone else, waiting, when the news came through, the surgery had failed.
They wheeled her mother out under a white sheet, and grief crashed over her all at once.
“Mom!
Don’t go don’t leave me”
The dream shifted.
The baby was gone too.
Nathaniel’s voice, cold and flat.
“You’re just a stand-in.
You were never going to be worthy of carrying my child.”
“No!
Please, no” Ivy fought against the dream, desperate to surface.
“Mom.
Baby.
Don’t leave me alone.”
Somewhere between sleep and waking, something warm and unfamiliar pressed against her chest, an itching, burning sensation pulling her the rest of the way out of it.
Her eyes flew open to find Nathaniel’s face hovering directly above hers.
How is he in my bed?
And why is he
“Nathaniel, have you lost every shred of decency?” Ivy shoved him off instantly, yanking her clothes closed, fury flooding in fast.
“We agreed.
Separate rooms.
Nothing physical until the divorce is finalized.
Are you seriously trying this again?”
Nathaniel didn’t bother explaining that he’d only climbed into bed because he’d heard her crying out in her sleep, and had ended up pulled into her nightmare right along with her, held in a grip she hadn’t loosened even once.
Instead, his voice came out low, steady, and focused entirely on one thing.
“Who’s Baby?”