Chapter 8 - Shadows of the Past
Two weeks after the engagement, as preparations for the grand wedding were underway, a ghost from Ivy’s past re-emerged to cast a dark shadow over her happiness.
Ivy’s estranged, abusive stepfather, Marcus Lancaster—a bitter, gambling addict who had abandoned her family five years ago after stealing her mother’s savings—arrived at the estate gates, accompanied by a sleazy tabloid journalist.
Marcus had sold a fake story to the national media, claiming that Ivy had used witchcraft, extortion, and seduction to brainwash crime boss Ronan Blackwood into giving her millions of dollars, while leaving her poor family to starve in the slums.
The scandal threatened to ruin the legitimate business reputation Ivy had fought so hard to build for the Blackwood foundation.
Ivy sat in Ronan’s private office, staring at the sensationalized headline on the computer screen: FROM SERVANT TO SEDUCTRESS: THE DARK PAST OF IVY LANCASTER.
Ronan walked over, his face dark as a storm cloud. He slammed his fist onto the desk.
"I’ll have him eliminated," Ronan growled, pulling out his phone. "One phone call to my hitmen in the east end. He’ll disappear by midnight."
"No, Ronan," Ivy said firmly, standing up and closing the laptop. "If you kill him, it proves his story right. It makes us look guilty. Marcus wants money, and he’s using the media to force a payout."
"Then what do you want to do?" Ronan asked, frustrated. "I won't let that filth drag your name through the mud!"
"We handle him publicly," Ivy said, a cold, calculating spark igniting in her eyes. "We invite Marcus and his journalist friend to a live press conference at the city hall tomorrow morning. We let him tell his lies... and then I will expose the truth."
The next morning, the grand hall of the city council was packed with dozens of reporters, camera crews, and news anchors.
Marcus Lancaster stood at the podium, wearing a cheap suit, wiping fake tears from his eyes as he spoke into the microphones. "My daughter, Ivy, was always a greedy girl! She abandoned her brothers! She stole from me, ran off to the Blackwood mansion, and seduced a dangerous criminal to gain power!"
The reporters whispered frantically, cameras flashing non-stop.
Then, the back doors opened.
Ivy stepped onto the stage, dressed in an immaculate white pantsuit, accompanied by her two younger brothers—now healthy, well-dressed, and attending the state's top private academy thanks to Ivy’s legal trust fund.
Beside them was a tall, distinguished woman—Ivy’s mother, who had been fully cured of her illness in a private medical facility paid for by Ivy’s hard-earned savings.
Marcus froze, his jaw dropping in absolute horror as he saw his family step up to the podium.
Ivy took the microphone, her voice echoing calmly across the nation's television networks.
"Mr. Marcus Lancaster," Ivy began, her stare cutting through him like a blade. "Five years ago, you stole sixty thousand dollars from my mother’s life savings, left her to die of kidney failure, and fled to Atlantic City to pay off your illegal gambling debts."
She pulled a thick stack of bank statements and police records from her briefcase.
"Here are the official police reports of domestic abuse filed against you in 2021," Ivy revealed, holding them up for the cameras. "Here are the bank transfer records showing that I have personally supported my mother’s medical treatments and my brothers’ education for the past four years without a single penny from you."
She stepped closer to her trembling stepfather.
"And here," Ivy added, her voice dropping into a lethal, commanding tone, "is the audit report from the state tax bureau showing that the money you received from the tabloid media yesterday was deposited into an illegal offshore betting account."
The reporters gasped in shock! Cameras swirled around Marcus as his face turned bright green with panic!
"You tried to ruin my name, Marcus," Ivy said, her eyes burning with righteous fury. "But I am no longer the helpless child you abused. I am Ivy Lancaster. And I stand protected by truth, family, and the law."
Two police officers stepped up onto the stage, producing hand cuffs. "Marcus Lancaster, you are under arrest for grand larceny, tax evasion, and filing false police reports."
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As Marcus was dragged off the stage in cuffs, screaming in humiliation, the reporters erupted into thunderous applause, hailing Ivy as a hero of justice and truth!
Ronan walked out from the wings, stepping up beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist, kissing her temple proudly as the cameras flashed non-stop, capturing the image of the city’s undisputed power couple.
