<h4>Chapter 55: Chapter 55: HURT IVAN</h4>


    <strong>MAEVE</strong><strong>’S POV</strong>


    Asha saw me next.


    "Mummy!" he squealed, tearing across the tarmac toward me. He mmed into my legs, hugging me tight.


    No matter how furious I was, I hugged him back, running my fingers through his curls, relieved to have him back.


    "You won’t believe what happened, Mummy," Asha said breathlessly, pulling back from our hug to throw his little fists in the air. "My new friend Ivan took me flying in his ne! It was so big inside, and I got to sit right next to him. We went to a ce with waterfalls so tall the water looked like it was falling from the sky! We visited a park and yed all the games—every single one, Mummy! I won two prizes, and Ivan carried them for me the whole time. We got ice cream and cotton candy, and the cotton candy was as big as my head. Oh! And Ivan even spilled ice cream on his shoe—it dripped down the side, and he made a funny face. It was so, so funny!"


    He doubled overughing at the memory.


    I wanted to smile, to indulge him, but I couldn’t.


    "That’s great, honey." I gave his shoulders a light squeeze, then pointed toward the sidewalk. "Why don’t you wait over there for me? I’ll be right with you, and then you can tell me everything."


    "Okay!" He grinned, turning to wave at Ivan. "Bye, Ivan!"


    "Bye, buddy," Ivan said, returning the wave.


    I waited until Asha was well out of earshot before turning on him.


    "How could you take Asha out of the pack on a trip without even thinking to inform me?" I bared my teeth. "You had no right to do that."


    "I’m sorry," he said tly, in that infuriating tone that told me he wasn’t sorry at all. "I knew I should’ve asked you, but you weren’t around, and the kid was excited about having his greatest wishe true. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision."


    My jaw clenched so hard it ached.


    "The next time you feel the urge to have one of your little spur-of-the-moment whims, you choke it down and run it by me first. I am his mother." I spoke slowly, like I was exining something to a child.


    His jaw tightened. "I admit I should have asked you, but he’s my son too. All I did was give him a good time. Why are you making this such a big deal?"


    "Because, Ivan, it’s just like you to act however you want without once stopping to think about how your actions affect anyone else."


    "Really?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "And are we still talking about this—or something else?"


    "I’m talking about you swooping in out of nowhere and pretending you care about Asha—or me. We both know that’s a lie. You don’t give a damn about us. All you care about is securing your ce on that throne. The only person you’ve ever truly cared about is yourself and your selfish needs."


    "Come on, Maeve. All I did was take our son out on a nice trip." He pinched the bridge of his nose.


    He looked agitated. When his gaze returned to me, there was something almost curious in it. Searching.


    "And about you—about not caring—" he exhaled sharply. "If anything,st night proves I do care. I admitted I want us back, Maeve. All of it. Everything thates with it."


    He looked like he wanted to close the space between us but thought better of it.


    "And then this morning, I went to your rooms to see you, to ask for a chance to talk, but you weren’t there."


    Pause.


    "Can’t you see I’m trying to reach out to you? No matter how messy things are right now, I’m trying. I may be a fucked-up myriad of morally gray edges, but it doesn’t change the fact that I want to understand everything that happened five years ago. More than that—I want to fix things between—"


    "Stop," I snapped, cutting him off. "Just... stop."


    "Why?" he challenged, finally taking that step toward me. "I want you to hear the rest. I’m tired of dancing around the edge with you. I want to make things right between us."


    "I don’t believe you." I shook my head, jerking back from him. "You’ve got some nerve saying this to me when we both know you’re nothing more than a cold, self-serving bastard. And you keep dragging yesterday into it like you didn’t just cross a line I warned you about—just to get your dick hard. You want to fuck someone, Ivan? Go find the woman you call your fiancée."


    Ivan reeled back at my words, like I’d reached out and pped him.


    "Is that what... you really think?"


    I watched him swallow, his throat working.


    A sh of something—an emotion I couldn’t ce—flickered in his eyes. It was gone in an instant, reced by a steely, guarded look.


    He was hurt.


    Ivan Cross was hurt.


    It had to be an act. There was no way he meant any of what he’d just spewed. It was all a ploy to get me to lower my guard when it came to Asha.


    "Listen." I squared my shoulders, hardening my tone. "The next time you try to take Asha without my permission, I’ll drive your cock so far down your throat you’ll wish you were dead. And while we’re on the subject, remember this—you don’t get to swoop in and y doting father when it suits you. I didn’te back to this pack so you could stage some grand, self-serving reunion with my son. You’ve had five years to be a father, and you weren’t there. You don’t get to rewrite that history just because you suddenly feel like it. If you want to be in Asha’s life, you respect my ce, you respect my word, and you respect my boundaries... or you stay the hell out of both our lives. Do you understand me?"


    I didn’t wait for his answer.


    I turned my back on him and marched toward the sidewalk.


    Toward Asha.