Page 36 of Ivy’s Poison

Ivy took a bite of her bowl of rabbit food. “He’s impossible.”

Leaning in, I growled, “Ya know, according to you two, it’s a miracle I have survived this long without your guidance. I’m just trying to get some milk. Problem?”

My attention went back to Jade as she reached for my burger. “Sorry, kid, they’re being a pain in my ass.” I picked it up and offered her another bite. Then I started laughing all over again. Ketchup, mayonnaise, and cheese smeared across her face. Jade didn’t give two shits. She chewed and chewed, loving my meal. I finally took a patty off my burger and tossed it into her empty mac-n-cheese bowl.

Beth hissed and immediately reached across the table with her fork and knife, cutting the meat into little pieces. “She can choke.”

Blood drained from my face. “Why?”

Chewing, Ivy titled her head. “You’ve never been around babies?”

Thinking that was an absurd question, I replied, “What the fuck for?”

Ivy reached for her tea. “You know, with family?”

Before she ruined my appetite, I picked up my burger again. “Men like me don’t always have such things.”

Beth swallowed. Her eyes saddened. Then she softly said, “Have family?”

I didn’t answer. I took another bite, hoping they would drop it. No such luck. These two quickly taught me women can latch onto a subject like Jade onto a burger.

Ivy leaned forward to not be overheard. “Without knowing you, and only trusting the little you’ve shared, I have blindly crawled into the back of an SUV. That proves my intentions. Champ, maybe you could reciprocate by telling me who you truly are.”

It surprised me to feel any insecurity about how they might react. I was very proud of who I was—what I was a part of—but wasn’t naïve. I knew the Cavalieri Della Morte had a reputation that proceeded us. How were these women going to react when learning the kid was playing with one of the most heartless and deadliest of my kind? Yet, they had a right to know. I wouldn’t be able to hide it forever.

I swallowed my bite. “Not here. Okay?”

Cautiously, both women sat back against their bench seat, staring at me with their first signs of doubt.

* * *

Back in the SUV and back on the road, the sun was setting, and the only sounds came from outside. Jade, with her full belly, passed out as soon as the wheels began to rotate underneath us. I knew the silence was a question in itself, so I took a chance and started talking. “My name is Bors.” The women said nothing, only waited patiently for more. “I am an assassin for the Cavalieri Della Morte.”

The audible gasps told me all I needed to know.

As soon as they had a chance, they were leaving me.

Ivy

My dad was evil. He scared me to death. Bors? He was death. This group of twelve assassins was that dangerous, and they were extremely well-known for being so. My heart thundered as I realized I had merely traded one hell for another. We laid in the back of the SUV that had felt like a dream chariot, but now resembled a cage, one I had willingly entered. My eyes closed because, for once, I didn’t want to see what was coming. I didn’t want to acknowledge Champ wasn’t who I had dreamt him up to be.

Beth taking hold of my hand that rested on my sleeping Jade had me opening my eyes. On our sides, I stared at her, but asked Champ, “Trent? Our VP?”

His exhale was so long I could almost hear him trying to buy time to think, but he ended up not lying to me. “Yeah, babe.”

Until drugs had warped Trent’s mind, he had been good to me. I missed the man he once was. The man he would never have the chance to be again.

Dad’s words, He’s used you to get to me, were now haunting me. “My dad?”

Bors grumbled, “Fuck.” It was quiet for a minute or two, then he finally, and sorrowfully, said, “Yeah, babe. I gotta put him down.”

I tried to muffle the one sob that escaped me, but it echoed and lingered in my ringing ears. It wasn’t so much that I was shocked Dad would have someone after him; it was more of me being in denial that it needed to be. What little girl wants to admit her daddy is a horrendous person? He had recently murdered a girl while raping her, yet I was still hoping he would become the Walt Disney version of a perfect father figure.

Beth squeezed my hand as she mouthed, “I’m so sorry.” She knew my delusions. She also knew I had really believed my life was about to improve, with someone I believed cared for me. Now, I had learned I was merely a pawn. One that this assassin was going to kill. There was no way we were going to be permitted to live with what we knew.

The mother figure in my life mouthed, “We have to escape.”

I nodded before staring at my daughter. I assumed she was most likely the only reason Beth and I were still alive. After the way Bors had fallen for Jade at dinner, was he contemplating keeping her after killing us?