Determined

Ivy’s POV

“What in the world took you so long?” I spat as my assistant, Jacob Hill, walked in, clutching his briefcase.

“It was the rain, Miss Carter. I'm sorry, I promise to do better next time,” He said, and I scoffed.

“Useless fool, you have been saying the same thing ever since I employed you. I am only pardoning you because of your jobless wife and tha battalion of children you have,” I spat. “Can you imagine? Are you salt that would dissolve under the rain or what?”

I could never understand how and why poor people wallowing in penury always had a lot of kids.

Jacob and his wife lived in a two bedroom apartment, with their four, soon-to-be five children, as his wife was currently pregnant.

From what I knew, he got her pregnant when she was nineteen and him twenty one, fresh out of prison for stealing from an old widow.

“Please pardon my shortcomings, ma'am. I won't do that again.” He bowed, and I rolled my eyes in disdain.

“Save it, where's the stuff I asked you to get?” I asked.

Opening his bag, he removed a brown envelope and handed it to me.

“I was able to get all of her information in a day,” Jacob said, to which I snorted aloud.

“So? Do you want me to throw a party because you did your job well for the first time?” I snarled, and he clasped his hands together as he shook his head in negation.

“Don't mind me, ma'am.”

Since Jacob was an ex-convict, no companies or organisations were willing to employ him, both for formal and informal, menial works.

I had saved his life my employing him.

Him and his family lived in one of my mum's buildings, and it was there I met him four years ago when my mum went to give them an eviction notice.

I had returned the next day to offer him a job as my assistant, and in return, I would pay his outstanding rents.

He had agreed instantly and had proven to be quite useful to me a number of times.

Three years ago after Niccolo and I ended our relationship, I made Jacob go after every single one of his escorts and beat them black and blue.

Niccolo didn't know about that of course, because he always dumped them after a night and never saw them again.

I had only stopped stalking him a year ago, when I saw that he wasn't hanging out with random women anymore and seemed to be focused on his business.

Only for me to see him with a useless slut at the charity event I attended with my best friend, some days ago.

Niccolo ended our relationship after catching me in bed with one of his close friends at the time, Phillip Myer.

In all honesty, it wasn't entirely my fault that I slept with him. Niccolo would always prioritise his business, sending me bouquets of flowers and bundles of money instead of spending time with me.

Whenever I told him to take time off work, he would pretend to listen to me, and the next day, he was off to another continent on a work trip.

Initially, I had even thought he was cheating on me but realized he wasn't after hacking into his phone, and going through it one day.

It was spick and span, with boring apps and messages.

Some would call my behaviour creepy and borderline insane, but I couldn't care less.

Niccolo was mine and mine only, not some ugly random brunette's.

“You’d better be sensible if you don't want to be replaced,” I hissed, as I removed the paperwork containing the slut’s information, from the envelope.

“I will, ma.”

“Very interesting,” I said, perusing the contents of the paperwork. “So she's just a twenty one year old college student and she's already stealing other people's men, huh? Such an ugly bitch.”

The whore lived with Niccolo at the moment, she had been staying with him for the past five weeks.

Just the thought of it was enough to make me burn with vengeful ire.

“Talia,” I muttered. “What sort of a stupid name is that?”

“I have no idea, ma'am.” Jacob replied, and I threw him a glare.

“Did I ask for your input?”

“I'm sorry, ma.” Jacob apologized for the umpteenth time that day.

“Ah, I see the reason why she's a man stealer now. Her mother died during her birth and her father couldn't do a good job of keeping his whore of a daughter in line,” I hissed, anger coursing through me. “I will teach her the lesson her father forgot to give her that stealing people's men is an unforgivable sin.”

“What do you intend to do now, ma'am?” Jacob asked, as I flung the paperwork and envelope at him then sat down on the couch.

“I don't know yet,” I replied. “I can't send you after her. I want to carefully plan her punishment.’

“Alright then.”

“You can leave now and let me know if you get additional information on her,” I said.

“I will. Goodbye, ma.” Jacob replied, before taking his leave.

Thereafter, I went upstairs, peeled off my clothes and got under the shower.

My mum and I were meeting at a spa downtown in a hour, so I couldn't keep her waiting.

We were all each other had, after she divorced my poverty-stricken father when I was a baby, to raise me in New York, where I eventually became a top model for various luxurious brands.

+

Niccolo's POV

“I have sent the minutes of yesterday's meeting to your email, sir,” Zach said, as I flipped through the paperwork on my desk.

“Good job. I will check it out,” I replied. “That should be all for now.”

“Alright, sir.” He replied, before trekking out of my office.

I was about to open my MacBook to view the email Zach sent, when my phone vibrated with an incoming call from Alexander.

Swiping across the answer button, I pressed the phone to my ear. “Good morning, Alexander or is it Afternoon over there in Ireland?”

“It's evening here in Dubai,” He chuckled. “I came here to seal an important business deal and will be leaving in three days.”

“Alright, that's great.” I replied.

Although a great amount of time had passed, I still felt immense gratitude toward Alexander for helping eighteen-year-old me when I first took over my family's business.

Instead of overlooking me like everyone else did, he had helped me brainstorm ideas and goals, and for that, I would forever be indebted to him.

“Yes. How's Talia? I hope there are no troubles.” He uttered, and I chuckled, reminiscing the eventful night we had in the car three days ago.

I didn't feel guilty anymore about the fact that Talia and I were fucking.

“Of course not. Everything has been blissful. She's a very well-mannered young lady,” I replied.

“That’s a relief. I have to go now. My business partners have arrived,” Alexander said. “We will talk later.”

“Most definitely.” I replied, before he ended the call.