“This is ridiculous, Lori. You can’t actually be serious about this.”
“I’m going to hang up now, Ivy,” she says sharply. “We’ll be in touch.”
The line goes dead.
What the hell just happened.
Did I just get fired?
Maybe you should get a lawyer.
My head reels as I slide out of the bed and slip back into the dress from last night. A hundred thoughts stagger through my head - who I should call, what I should do, where I even begin to find a lawyer for this.
I whirl, pacing the small room as it rocks gently on the waves. The panic starts to clutch at me, my breath coming fast ands my pulse pounding in my ear as the sick feeling from the conversation starts to wash over me.
And all I want is for Silas to be here.
I need my lighthouse.
As if on cue, I hear the sound of footsteps coming down the docks towards me. My heart jumps a little, the pure need to feel his arms around me right now leaving me breathless as I duck out of his room and run for the door to the main deck.
“Silas, I-”
His face is grim, white, and drawn.
And he’s not alone.
“Well hello there, sweetness.”
Declan stands a foot behind him flanked by three men in mostly black, a cigarette in his mouth and a smug grin on his face. He winks at me.
“Damn, do I love being right about these things.” He chuckles, and I can see Silas’s face tighten.
Declan gesturers at the two of us with his cigarette. “Knew I was right about you two kids.” He grins. “Dirty old habits, huh, Ms. Hammond?”
Silas whirls on him. “You don’t talk to her, understand?”
Declan grins and throws his hands up. “Whatever you say, kid.”
Silas turns back to me, his eyes darting across my face.
“Ivy-”
“What is this?” I whisper, stepping towards him. “What’s he doing here?”
Silas starts to say something, but Declan cuts him off.
“Tick-tock, kid. Time waits for no man and all that. Let’s go.”
“Silas-”
“I have to go do something, Ivy,” he says quietly, his voice tight and his eyes searching mine.
No.
Oh God, no.
And suddenly, I know exactly why Declan’s here. I know exactly what this is.
I know what’s about to happen, because it’s like a horrible, horrible deja-vu from eight years ago.
I’m right back to being in his arms, shaking my head with tears in my eyes as I look up at him, begging him not to go. I’m eighteen again, a ring on my finger and a choking grip on my heart as I plead with him to stay with me.
“No,” I whisper, my eyes going wide as the realization of what this is washes over me horribly.
I start to shake my head, my voice feeling like it’s drowning inside.
“Silas, no, please-”
“Ivy,” his voice almost breaks and he swallows thickly. “Ivy, I have to, you don’t understand.”
I’m still shaking my head, may hand moving to grab his shirt.
“No, you don’t. Just come home with me. Come back to the house with me, and we can tell them everything.”
His eyes go wide for a second, as I realize I’ve just said out loud what I wasn’t even aware I was thinking.
“I want to tell them about us. I want them to know, and to hear it from the both of us. Just please-”
“Let’s go, kid.”
Silas’s jaw tightens at the sound of Declan’s voice behind him. His eyes search mine as his hands come up to hold mine.
“I- I have to, Ivy,” he says, his voice like sandpaper. “It’s going to be okay though, after this, it’s all going to be-”
“It’s not,” I say pleadingly, feeling my heart start to crack. “You know it’s not.”
“Ivy, I have to-”
“I asked you once before not to do this, and you did,” I pull him closer to me, my hand moving up to touch his cheek.
“And I lost you.” The tears start to trickle down my face as I bite my lip, gripping at him.
“I don’t know if I’ll get you back this time.”
“You will,” he says fiercely. “I swear to you-”
“Now, kid.”
Silas looks at me, his eyes burning right into mine.
“I’m coming back, because I love you, Ivy.”
I shake my head, crying now.
“Please don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”