Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 77
Morales Mansion – Afternoon
Ron hadn’t gone into work again — the fashion house crumbling further into irrelevance with every passing day he ignored it, though he found he genuinely didn’t care anymore.
There was only one thing worth his attention now
.
“Tonight,” he said into his phone, voice flat and certain. “We move tonight. No more delays.”
He ended the call and looked up just as the maid passed through the hallway outside his study, and he hissed at her sharply, watching her flinch and hurry away.
Foolish, he thought, disgust curling through him. I actually thought I could pretend she was Ivory. What was I thinking.
He hated her now, if he was honest with himself — hated the reminder of his own weakness every time he looked at her. If she gave him even the smallest reason tonight, he wasn’t sure what he might do.
He pulled out his phone, screen lighting up to reveal Ivory’s photo set as his wallpaper — an old picture, stolen from some society page years ago, back before any of this had started.
He pressed his lips to the screen, right against her photographed mouth.
“Soon,” he murmured. “You’ll be mine again soon.”
Beauty and Gemma’s Residence – Afternoon
The apartment sat empty except for Beauty, Gemma having left hours earlier with Jeff, leaving her alone with nothing but silence and her own spiraling thoughts.
She moved through the kitchen slowly, preparing a small, tasteless meal she barely tasted, the small gun heavy and constant against her hip where she’d tucked it into her waistband.
Tonight, she thought, staring blankly at the pan in front of her. Tonight it happens.
She wasn’t entirely sure, even now, exactly who she intended to point it at when the moment came — Ivory, for taking him, or herself, for never having had a real chance at him in the first place. But something had to happen tonight. She couldn’t keep living in this hollow, waiting version of her life a single day longer.
Ivy Fashion Empire – Ivory’s Office – Late Afternoon
They’d returned to the office, and Ivory settled into Duane’s lap without ceremony, files spread across her knees as she worked through the afternoon’s remaining paperwork.
His lips found the curve of her neck, pressing slow, exploratory kisses until he found a spot that made her breath hitch audibly.
“Duane…”
“Mm?”
“I’m trying to work.”
“I’m not stopping you.”
She swatted his hand half-heartedly, unable to fully suppress her smile. “You know what I want to do tonight? Go to the cinema. Watch something ridiculous and romantic. It’s been ages.”
Duane burst out laughing, the memory surfacing instantly.
“What?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” he said, still grinning.
“Just remembering the first time I ever saw you watching a romance movie. You fell asleep with tears still on your face, and I had to carry you upstairs.”
“That’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
She twisted around in his lap to glare at him properly, and he only laughed harder, pulling her back against his chest.
“Fine,” he said finally. “Cinema tonight. Whatever ridiculous, sappy thing you want to watch. I’m in.”
Rodriguez Group of Companies – Afternoon
Tyler and Abigail sat side by side at his desk, laptops open, spreadsheets glowing on both screens, ostensibly working through the quarter’s projections together.
In reality, very little actual work was happening.
“You’re supposed to be reviewing the numbers,” Abigail murmured against his mouth between kisses.
“I am reviewing something,” he said, pulling her closer.
She swatted his chest, laughing, though she made absolutely no effort to actually return to her spreadsheet either, and the afternoon slipped away between them in soft laughter and stolen kisses instead.
Bennett Group of Companies – Afternoon
The Hale couple sat across from Arthur and Diana’s desk, Celeste settled quietly in the chair beside them, and together they laid out the entire story — the confession, the documents, the DNA test they intended to run.
Diana’s hand had flown to her mouth partway through. “I knew it,” she breathed. “I knew I recognized that face.”
“We need to see him,” Mr. Hale said, urgency straining beneath his controlled tone. “As soon as possible.”
“He’s still at the empire with Ivory,” Arthur said. “They should be home this evening. You’re welcome to wait for them at the mansion.”
The group made their way there together, and the wait stretched long and heavy, anticipation coiling tighter with every passing hour.
Bennett’s Mansion – Evening
Diana kept checking her phone, frowning at the unanswered messages sitting there. “I told her to come home early. I don’t think she’s even seen it.”
“She’s probably wrapped up in something with Duane,” Arthur said dryly.
Celeste sat beside them, having closed the restaurant early for the evening, Luis trailing along beside her, thoroughly confused by the tense, expectant atmosphere filling the mansion’s living room.
“Mama, what’s going on?” he finally asked. “Why is everybody being so weird?”
“I’ll explain soon, baby. I promise.” Celeste squeezed his hand, unable to fully offer more than that just yet.
Mrs. Hale sat rigid on the couch, hands clasped tight in her lap, staring at the front door like she could will it open through sheer force of anticipation.
I was right, she thought, heart hammering. I knew the moment I saw him. I just knew.
The clock ticked steadily onward, and still, no car pulled into the driveway.
A Cinema – Night
The theater sat mostly empty, the late showing sparsely attended, and Ivory and Duane claimed seats near the back, a shared tub of popcorn balanced between them.
The movie unfolded slowly — a sweeping, aching love story, exactly the kind Ivory had once sworn she despised, exactly the kind she now watched with her hand tangled tightly in Duane’s.
When the lead characters finally kissed on screen, slow and desperate beneath a rain-soaked streetlight, Duane turned to Ivory in the dark and kissed her too.
It felt different from every kiss before it. Slower. Deeper. Something achingly tender threaded through it that made Ivory’s chest tighten in a way she couldn’t fully explain, like some part of him was trying to say something he didn’t have the words for yet.
She pulled back slightly afterward, studying his face in the flickering light of the screen. “What was that for?”
“Nothing,” he murmured,
Outside the Cinema – Night
They walked out into the cool night air, hands linked, both of them still glowing faintly from the evening.
Ivory’s phone buzzed. A message from Diana.
COME HOME NOW, SWEETHEART.
IT’S IMPORTANT.
“We should head back,” Ivory said, frowning slightly at the message. “Mum wants us home.”
“Everything okay?”
“I’m not sure. She says it’s important.”
They started toward the car, and Duane’s hand found hers again, swinging lightly between them as they crossed the mostly empty parking lot.
The crack of the gunshot split the night before either of them registered it as anything other than a car backfiring somewhere distant.
Duane’s body moved before his mind fully caught up — some instinct older than thought shoving Ivory hard sideways, out of the bullet’s path, his own chest taking the impact instead.
He staggered, a strangled sound tearing from his throat, and looked down at the spreading red bloom across his shirt with something like confusion.
“Duane?” Ivory’s voice came out small, disbelieving. “Duane—”
He hit the pavement before she could reach him.
“DUANE!”
She was on her knees beside him in an instant, hands hovering uselessly over the wound, terror clawing up her throat so violently she could barely breathe.
A second shot cracked through the night.
This one found him too, tearing through his chest a second time, his whole body jerking with the impact.
“NO!” Ivory’s scream tore raw out of her, echoing off the empty parking structure. “Somebody HELP! PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP US!”
Duane’s mouth moved, blood already flecking his lips, his breath coming in short, wet, desperate gasps.
“I love you, Ivy,” he managed, the words barely more than a whisper, his voice already fading, already losing the strength that had always made it so steady, so sure.
“Don’t.” Ivory pressed both hands against his chest, trying uselessly to stem the flow of blood soaking hot and dark across her palms. “Don’t you dare, don’t you DARE say goodbye to me right now, Duane, stay with me, please, PLEASE stay with me—”
He coughed, more blood welling at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes, still fixed on hers, had already begun to lose their focus.
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