Obsessed: Part Two Read Online Free

have told you right away if I had any clue you were Mark's business partner?" I sneer.
    "Mark knew I wanted you, Ivy." He walks towards me stopping just short of where I'm standing. "He used your shares to manipulate me."
    "So that gave you permission to manipulate me?" I poke my index finger into his chest.
    He captures my hand in his, holding it firmly. "No, there's no excuse for that."
    "How did he manipulate you?" I ask losing confidence in my ability to be objective. I try to pull my hand from his but he only squeezes it together.
    He looks down briefly before answering. "He used the guilt I felt over my father to give him free reign with the business. He drove it into the ground before I even realized what was happening."
    "What guilt?" Again I jerk my hand but his thumb begins to softly caress my palm. "What happened with your father?"
    "I was a horrible son." His bottom lip trembles and for a fleeting moment I think I see tears well in his eyes. "I was everything he didn't want me to be."
    I nod in silence knowing that exact feeling. My father's disappointment in me is echoed in the pain I see in Jax's eyes.
    "When he died I vowed to change that." He pulls my hand to his face and lightly runs his lips across it. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was. I was worried you were still tied to Mark and he was using you to entice me."
    I jerk my hand away in one quick movement. "You knew I wasn't part of Mark's world anymore.  You knew when I told you about the others he had slept with."
    "Everyone knew he was cheating on you, Ivy." He runs his hand through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead. "Some women are okay with that."
    "Okay with being cheated on?" I raise my eyebrow. "Who in their right mind would be okay with that?"
    "Women who don't want to give up what they have for their pride."
    "I'm not like that," I say the words with determination. "I just want to be free of Mark."
    "I'm giving you the chance to have that." His voice is low and determined. "Just take my offer and you can have your freedom."
    "I don't think so." I shake my head slightly. "Then I'm tied to you."
    "In what sense?" He stills and stares directly at me. "How would we be tied together?"
    I feel flush at the sudden realization that I've once again blurred the lines between business and pleasure. "I just thought…or assumed…that we'd still…" I sigh giving up any attempt to explain the ridiculous thought that we'd still be lovers after everything that happened. What's wrong with me? Why do I still want someone who used me to get back at Mark?
    "That we'd still what?" He runs his hand down my shoulder now until it's resting on my wrist. "That you'd still be my lover?" He leans closer as his tongue runs lazily over his lips. He's going to kiss me now. I know it. I want it but I can't let it happen.
    "No, of course not." I scoff. "That we'd still be tied together because of Veray." I pull that from mid-air and I high five myself internally for coming up with it.
    "Oh, that." He pulls his eyes across my lips before he takes a step back. "I forgot about that."
    I shake my head in mock amusement. "Of course you did. It's nothing to you, but it's everything to me."
    "How could Veray be everything?" He smirks and I'm certain he's about to burst out laughing.
    "It's all I have." I purse my lips together holding in all of the conflicting emotions that are bearing down on me. "That's it."
    "No, beautiful." He reaches for my hand again. "You have much more."
    "That's right." I let my hand fall into his. "I have all that money you're going to give me when I hand over control of Mark's company to you."
    "I'm offering you much more than your ten percent is worth." He traces a finger over my knuckles and I shiver at the touch. "Ask around. Do some digging. You'll see that your shares aren't worth a fraction of what I'm giving you."
    "So you're doing me a favor?" I tilt my head to the left anxiously anticipating his predictable egotistical response.
    He