Chapter 22 · Burn the Orders

Ryan had the door shut and his hand flat against it before Ivy got two steps past the threshold.

"Say it," he said. "Say the orders were real."

"Move your hand."

"You've had three days to lie to my face. Today you don't get to."

Her back met the wall. Not hard. Just enough to stop her. Her pulse jumped beneath her collar, quick and shallow.

Not fear. Getting caught looked different on Ivy.

"Fine." She held his stare. "There were orders. Before I ever rode through your gate."

"What orders?"

"Watch you. Report what the ledger gift actually does once my family figured out it wasn't a joke anymore."

"And?"

She said nothing.

Ryan leaned closer. Her breath brushed his jaw, warm against the cold room. "Finish the sentence, Ivy."

Her fingers curled against the wall. "If you got dangerous enough to threaten the house, I was supposed to end it. Quietly. Nothing that traced back."

"End it." His voice went flat. "You mean kill me."

"I mean kill you." She didn't soften the words. "You wanted the word. There it is.