Ivy walked furiously into the restoration room and sat down at her workstation. The long table held many pieces of broken pottery in three large velvet lined trays. The earthy orange pottery shards were clean but jumbled like a jigsaw puzzle. Ivy couldn’t concentrate on sorting the pieces right now. She was furious. Heath threatened to take Geoff away from her again. Now he’d added that he wouldn’t leave her alone. It wasn’t fair; she thought after a night in her apartment, he’d happily leave. She felt like a fool. Ivy told him he couldn’t have women over last night. She figured he’d leave after hearing that or stay away when he had a date that he wanted more from. How could she have missed this revelation? He thought she would cave yet again and act like they were married. “Alice. Please come to my office. We need to talk about something. Bring coffee and something sweet. Really sweet.” That was their sign when Ivy needed a shoulder or ear, but didn’t want to advertise h

Ivy looked at the executives having lunch and hoped they hadn’t heard about the article yet. It was barely lunch hour. She didn’t know if she should be worried, or not. Then she realized she was holding onto Heath’s arm like he was her lifeline. Ivy let go of his arm and looked up at him. That’s when she wished she hadn’t. Heath’s face hardened into that cold imperial look he got when he thought he’d have to deal with some confrontation without an outburst. “Afternoon gentlemen. Did I miss a memo or some such thing?” “Oh, no, Mr. Allan, you haven’t. We just sat down for a social lunch. Are there any problems we should know about?” “We’ll have to speak about it later. I need to speak with Dr. Smythe about a personal matter first before we can speak. I’m afraid my ex-wife is making up fairytales that involve Dr. Smythe and myself. So, I fear I will have to set the matter straight publicly, and I hope this will not reflect on Dr. Smythe neg

“What do you mean the journalist won’t speak to me? I have information that he’ll want about an ongoing article. He missed information in his last expose about the drama happening in the Allan family.” Monica couldn’t understand why the journalist was so existed when she first contacted him. Now he wasn’t taking her calls. There’d been so many things he’d missed to report within his article. “Miss, you won’t leave your name of give evidence for your claims. Our journalistic staff can only do so much before our legal team steps in and says we can’t print the information. It’s all about being sued. They tied our hands until you can come back with some evidence to back your claims. We are not in the business of putting our business at risk with a libel suit.” Monica didn’t get past the receptionist and her attitude stank. How did this woman keep her job? “I can’t believe he’s pulling this. I won’t believe it. Heath Allan has a bastard child wi

Ivy stepped off the elevator, and as soon as the doors closed, she dug her cane out of her bag. She couldn’t use it in front of Heath, or that would admit her weakness. Ivy knew she couldn’t let that happen because she feared he’d see her as no longer worthy of his notice because of her long-term injury. Ivy lost several projects because of it, so far. The people funding them didn’t want to run the risk that she could do the job.“Well, what happened? What did he have to say?” Alice asked when they were finally in ivy’s office.“A lot and nothing. Or should I say a lot of nothing? He weaselled an extension on his invitation to stay, and he may have persuaded me to give our relationship another try. But here’s the worst thing her did. There were a few board members having lunch at the same time as we were. He walks up to them and, as bold as brass, threatens them that if they release me from my contract and don’t do the same to him. Oh, and he knows they won’t punish him. W

Ivy entered the main lobby of the executive floor, and Parker instantly spotted her. “Mr. Allan is in his office awaiting you, Dr. Smythe. Please go right in, and good luck. The last meeting, I think, ended on a sour note.” Parker gave her a thumbs up sign as she passed.“Thank you, Parker, for the warning. It’s duly noted.” Ivy rolled her blue eyes with a sigh and continued into the office. “If things have changed little, I will know how to deal with him.”As the door closed behind her, several eyes swivelled from the closed carve hardwood to look at Parker. “What? How should I know? I don’t know everything about his past, and I know what you’re thinking, Mary, and I’m not snooping.”Ivy stood there with the door closed behind her, shutting out all the office sounds on the other side of the hardwood door. It came as a noticeable relief as her shoulder muscles noticeably relaxed. “So, I hear something went south at the end of your last meeting.”Heath looked up and gave he