28.Ivy's POV.I thought I knew what it felt like to be humiliated, to feel powerless. Demi had made sure of that, treating me like I was disposable, something to be used and discarded whenever he felt like it. But this? This was worse.This was my future.My entire life’s work, every late-night study session, every extra credit assignment, every moment I had sacrificed just to make sure I made it out of here, all of it was now at risk because of one video. One carefully planted, perfectly timed move by Brandon.And the worst part? He didn’t even care.While I was drowning, and gasping for air, he walked through the house with that same arrogant ease, that same air of control. His world remained untouched, unshaken, while mine crumbled beneath my feet. He had thrown my life into absolute chaos, and he didn’t even spare me a second glance.I wanted to hate him. I did hate him. More than I had ever hated anyone. But hate felt useless when he had already taken everything from me.And I c
29.Ivy's POV.The air in the room was suffocating. The fluorescent lights buzzed faintly overhead, but all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart. My hands were clammy, gripping the hem of my sweater so tightly my knuckles ached. I kept my eyes fixed on the table in front of me, too ashamed to look anywhere else.My mother sat beside me, silent but rigid. She hadn’t spoken a word to me since we arrived. Not on the drive here, not while we waited. Nothing. But she didn’t have to. The disappointment radiating off her was enough to make me feel like I was being suffocated from the inside out.Across from me, the disciplinary committee sat in a row, their expressions unreadable. Principal Gladstone sat at the center, her hands neatly folded on the table, eyes steady and assessing."Evelyn Hughes," she began, and my stomach twisted violently.I forced myself to meet her eyes."There is no excuse for what you did," she said, voice firm but not unkind. "No reason that justifies acade
Ivy's POV.Blackmail?I stared at them, completely lost, my mind scrambling to make sense of what I was hearing. My heart pounded in my chest, but my thoughts couldn’t catch up. Blackmail? The only blackmail between me and Demi was a one-way ticket to expulsion, something I had been desperately trying to avoid.So why was everyone looking at me like I was the victim?I turned to Brandon, my confusion morphing into something colder, sharper. He was watching me with a lazy, triumphant smile, completely at ease like he had just won some twisted game.What the hell had he done?The principal sighed, folding her hands on the desk like this was some kind of heartfelt intervention. “Ivy, you should have told us that Demi was blackmailing you with your tapes.”My stomach dropped. My mouth went dry.Tapes? What tapes?She softened her voice, like she was speaking to someone fragile. “We have a counselor here. You didn’t have to deal with this alone. If you had come to us, we could have handled
Ivy's POV.I barely hesitated before shoving the door closed, aiming to shut Brandon out entirely. But he was faster. His hand shot out, catching the edge before it could slam in his face. His grip was firm, unyielding, and with what looked like minimal effort, he pushed the door back open, forcing his way in as if my resistance was nothing more than an inconvenience.“Wow,” he mused, stepping forward with the kind of arrogance that made my skin crawl. His lips curled into an easy smirk, as if he had all the time in the world, as if he had already won whatever twisted game he was playing.“This is the thanks I get? I expected at least a little bit of gratitude. Maybe even a heartfelt ‘Oh, Brandon, thank you for saving my life!’” His hand pressed against his chest in mock sincerity, his expression dripping with amusement. “Instead, I get an attempted door to the face. Feels a little unfair, don’t you think?”My fingers tightened around the edge of the door, my knuckles aching from the
32.Ivy's POV."Brandon…"It was meant to come out as a warning, something firm, something that would push back against whatever this was. But it didn’t.It came out as something else entirely.A breathy whisper.What the fuck?His smirk deepened instantly, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes like he had just won some kind of game. "Must've been fantasizing about me touching you since you watched me fuck Amari." His voice was low, taunting, laced with that cocky self-assurance that made me want to slap him, and maybe kiss him, too. "Because all it took was me staring at your tits to get you wet."My entire body jolted with mortification. Heat rushed to my face, a sharp, burning thing, and I swallowed hard, shaking my head. "That’s not true."Brandon tilted his head slightly, his expression almost pitying, like he found my denial adorable. "I can smell it, Ivy."My mouth opened, then closed. A rush of panic flickered in my chest, and I scrambled for something, anything, to throw back
33.Brandon's POV.Ivy had no idea what she was doing to me. She didn’t know that every sound that fell from her lips, every little shudder of her body, every slow roll of her eyes when pleasure took over, ruined me. It didn’t just turn me on; it consumed me, swallowed me whole, left me teetering on the edge of something dark, something uncontrollable.I watched her, my fingers barely moving, but she was already trembling, already lost in that haze of pleasure only I could pull her into. Her breath hitched, her back arched, her mouth parted in that perfect little moan that made my stomach clench painfully. I felt the tension in my body coil tighter, my cock throbbing against my zipper, the pressure unbearable. It was Ivy. It was her. No one else had ever done this to me. No one had ever made me feel like I was losing control just by reacting to my touch.The way she whimpered, hips twitching, her hands fisting so tight like she needed something to hold on to, like she was drowning i
34.Ivy's POV.I tried to think of a reason, any reason, not to ride with Brandon, but every excuse I came up with sounded pathetic, even in my own head.I could say I wasn’t feeling well, but my mom would fuss, checking my temperature, asking too many questions, and that would only make things worse. I could pretend I forgot something and stall, dragging out the time until I missed the ride altogether.I could ask to take the bus, but that would raise too many red flags. Why would I suddenly refuse the convenience of a private car when I’d been using it for months?All in all, I couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse to avoid riding with him.So instead, I stayed in my room, deliberately wasting time. I moved at a snail’s pace, hoping that Brandon would get impatient and leave without me. That he’d finally get tired of waiting, slide into the back seat, and tell the driver to go.He always did, so nothing should stop him from doing it again.But when I finally forced myself to go
Ivy's POV.I stood among the crowd of students gathered in the assembly hall, barely paying attention as Principal Gladstone stepped up to the podium. She tapped the microphone, waiting for absolute silence before she spoke."Before we begin today’s announcements, I want to address an issue that has caused a great deal of misunderstanding and unnecessary harm," she began. The room went impossibly still, every student suddenly paying attention."As many of you are aware, there was a recent disciplinary hearing regarding Evelyn Hughes." My name carried through the speakers, sending a wave of shock and anxiety through me. This was about me."Due to new evidence brought forward, we have determined that Ivy was a victim of blackmail and coercion."A murmur rippled through the crowd, heads turning in my direction, but I was too stunned to react."The accusations against her were false. Any speculation, any rumors, end here. We will not tolerate the harassment of a student who was manipu
94.Ivy's POV.I was not prepared for this.The second Brandon opened the door, my mind just blanked. Completely.He stood there, freshly showered, damp hair falling messily over his forehead. Water still clung to his skin, glistening in the dim light, dripping down the sharp lines of his collarbones, trailing over the hard ridges of his abs before disappearing beneath the loose waistband of his sweatpants. Every inch of him looked like something out of a damn magazine, and I couldn’t stop staring.My throat felt suddenly dry, my grip tightening around the tray in my hands.Brandon smirked, clearly amused. “Are you just going to stand there gawking?”His voice snapped me out of it. My eyes jerked up to his face, and heat rushed to my cheeks so fast I thought I might combust on the spot.“I—no, I—” I stammered, struggling to gather a single coherent thought.His smirk deepened.I swallowed, trying to shake off the embarrassment. “I brought you food,” I muttered, shifting the tray in m
93.Ivy's POV Brandon had been gone for two days. Not that I was keeping track, or that I cared.I wasn’t noticing how quiet the house felt without him. I wasn’t catching myself glancing at the door of my room every night, half-expecting to hear his footsteps. I wasn’t wondering where he had gone or why he had left without saying anything. It wasn’t any of my business.I kept telling myself that. Over and over again.But by the second night, the silence was gnawing at me.I finally gave in while helping Mom clean up after dinner. She washed the dishes and I dried, with the warm scent of dish soap filling the air. I tried to keep my voice casual, like I wasn’t fishing for information.“Mum, where’s Brandon?”She hummed as she rinsed a plate. “Oh, he went on a weekend getaway with Amari.”My fingers clenched around the dish towel. “Oh.”Just like that, my mood shifted.Mom didn’t notice. She kept talking, smiling as if it was the sweetest thing in the world. “It’s nice that they’re spe
92.Brandon's POV Amari spun around the second I stepped inside, her face instantly paling.She looked startled, like a kid caught sneaking out past curfew, like she had been in the middle of something she didn’t want me to see. Her hands twitched at her sides, fingers curling slightly as she took a small step back.“W-what are you doing here?” she asked, her voice unsteady. Her wide eyes flicked from me to the hallway, like she was already calculating an escape route.Before I could answer, her father turned to me, wearing a warm, practiced smile. Completely unfazed.“Brandon,” he said with an approving nod. “Amari told me you two went on a weekend getaway. That’s good. It’s nice to see you both spending quality time together.”I didn’t respond.I was too focused on her. The way she wouldn’t meet my eyes. The way her shoulders were drawn tight, her stance stiff like she was waiting for something, dreading something.Her father didn’t seem to notice the tension radiating from her. Or
Chapter 91My mind was a tangled mess, thoughts twisting in every possible direction, colliding and unraveling all at once.The witch’s death wasn’t some freak accident. Someone had killed her, ripped her heart out before she could finish the ritual. That wasn’t just a coincidence. That was deliberate. That meant there was something to find, something someone didn’t want me knowing.If the mate bond was real, there would be no reason to stop me from checking it. No reason to go as far as murder just to keep me from questioning it.Which meant there was something off about it.I exhaled through my nose, gripping the wheel a little tighter. This should have unsettled me, should have made me feel worse than I already did. But beneath the frustration, beneath the questions and the chaos, there was something else.Relief.Because if this mate bond wasn’t real, if it had been manipulated, then I wouldn’t have to be bound to Amari. I could sever it completely. I could be free of it.The thou
90.Brandon's POV Amari didn’t say a word for the rest of the drive.She just sat there, arms crossed, staring out the window. Her expression was unreadable, but the way her fingers gripped her sleeves told me enough. She was holding something in, whether it was anxiety, anger, or fear, I wasn’t sure.By the time we reached Hex Hollow, the town was draped in mist, making the narrow roads seem endless. It was smaller than I expected. The trees by the road side weren’t normal. Their trunks twisted like they were in pain, and their bark were covered in strange carvings.What the hell is this place?The witch’s house sat at the very edge of the area, partially hidden behind some trees. It was old, the wood had darkened with age, and the windows concealed by heavy, dust-coated curtains. The place had a presence, something subtle but undeniable, like the house itself was watching us.I knocked once.The door creaked open just enough for a woman to peer out from the shadows. Her face was s
Brandon's POV I didn’t even have to think twice.The moment I stepped out of my father’s office, my decision was already made. I was going to Hex Hollow. No second-guessing, no hesitation. It didn’t matter how far it was or how much of a pain in the ass the trip would be. I needed answers.For days, I had been reading up on manipulated mate bonds, digging through every scrap of information I could find. The more I read, the more the pieces started falling into place.Black magic had been bound centuries ago, forbidden and sealed away. But that didn’t mean it was completely inaccessible. There were still ways to tap into it. And the ones who could were those who had given themselves over completely, souls already claimed, corrupted beyond saving.Those people were the only ones capable of forging a mate bond.And my gut told me that was exactly what had happened to me.The day I decided to leave came faster than I expected. I had smoothly lied to Amari that we were going on a weekend
Brandon's POV I found my father in his study. The heavy scent of old books, leather, and his colonge filled the air, a smell I had long associated with him. The fireplace crackled softly in the background, casting flickering shadows along the walls. He barely looked up when I stepped inside, his eyes scanning the documents on his desk with focus, the soft scratch of his pen filling the silence.I shut the door behind me. “Dad.”His pen paused mid-signature, then he set it down carefully beside the paper, finally lifting his gaze to meet mine. “Brandon.” He gestured toward the chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”I walked further into the room and sank into the chair, leaning forward slightly, resting my elbows on my knees. “I need to talk to you about something.”His expression remained unreadable, but he leaned back in his chair, interlacing his fingers over his chest. “About?”“The mate bond.”For a brief second, something flickered in his gaze, mild amusement, maybe, but
87Brandon's POV.The entire day was shit.It felt like something had burrowed under my skin, clawing at me from the inside, refusing to let go. No matter what I did, training, schoolwork, anything, I couldn’t shake the feeling off.Ivy’s words kept playing in my head, over and over, like a damn broken record.She had said it so firmly, so convincingly, like she actually believed it. Like she could just walk away from this and pretend none of it had ever happened.It pissed me off more than it should have.I tried to focus. Tried to let it go. But my punches in the gym were off, my movements were sluggish. School was even worse. I barely heard a word any of my teachers said, staring blankly at my notes only to realize I hadn’t written a single thing down. Every little thing irritated me, the scraping of chairs, and the way the clock seemed to drag on endlessly.And, of course, Amari noticed.She had been watching me all day, her gaze sharp and calculating, waiting for the right momen
Ivy's POV.Dinner was quiet, the only sounds filling the space were the soft clinking of cutlery against porcelain plates. It was just the three of us. Brandon, my mother, and me. I pushed a piece of chicken around my plate, watching as the sauce smeared across the white ceramic. Then something clicked in my mind, a memory from yesterday that I hadn’t fully processed until now. Setting my fork down, I glanced up at my mother. “Hey, Mom,” I said, keeping my tone light, casual. “Were you at the carnival yesterday?”She froze.For a split second, I saw it, the way her expression flickered, a flash of something almost like panic before she smoothed it over, replacing it with her usual warm, easy smile. It happened so fast that I might have imagined it."The carnival?" She let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head as she reached for her glass of water. "No, sweetheart, of course not. Why would I be there?"I frowned, studying her face carefully. There was nothing there now, no trace of th