France’s eyes flickered with amusement. He had always found Ivy attractive, but seeing her stand before him so boldly only made her even more enticing in his eyes.

"You really think Xander will keep you once he finds out you tried to seduce your own stepbrother?" France taunted, the corners of his lips curling into a sinister grin.

The remark only filled Ivy with disgust.

"You may be with that man now," France continued, his smile fading as his expression darkened, "but don’t forget who you truly belong to."

Ivy stared at him without flinching.

He was nothing more than a vile man who had made her life miserable—not only while she lived in the Ford household, but even after she escaped that suffocating place.

"You think blackmailing me will get you what you want?" she asked coldly. "Looking at your face doesn’t just disgust me—it makes me want to wipe that smug expression off it until you finally understand who you’re dealing with."

She took a deliberate step closer, her eyes blazing with a fierceness France had never seen before.

"Go ahead. Do whatever you think you can," Ivy said. "But let me warn you, France—I am not the frightened girl I used to be. Back then, you manipulated the situation and twisted everything against me because you were too much of a coward to face the truth. If you try it again, I’ll make sure you pay for it."

Despite the music and conversations echoing through the hall, every one of her words reached him clearly.

And for reasons he couldn’t explain, they unsettled him.

The timid girl he used to intimidate into silence was gone.

In her place stood a woman he barely recognized.

"We’ll see about that," France replied, masking the unease creeping into his chest with a confident smirk.

Deep down, he still believed Ivy couldn’t stand against him. He had always relied on intimidation and power, convinced she would eventually break under pressure.

Holding her gaze for another moment, he turned and walked away.

Ivy watched him leave, her jaw clenched and anger simmering beneath her composed exterior.

Raven had no idea how Ivy had endured years in the Ford household. Every member of that family seemed twisted in one way or another, but France was by far the worst.

Just thinking about him made Raven want to tear him apart.

"Why didn’t you stand up for yourself, Ivy?" Raven murmured under her breath, unable to hide the frustration in her voice.

Ivy didn’t answer.

The encounter with France had left a bitter taste in her mouth, and all she wanted now was to leave the reunion as quickly as possible. But she couldn’t—not yet.

She still hadn’t found the person she had come here looking for.

Nathan... where are you? she wondered, her eyes scanning the crowded hall.

Out of everyone from her past, Nathan was the only one she had ever truly trusted. If there was one familiar face she wanted to see tonight, it was his.

Watching Ivy search the room, Raven’s thoughts drifted elsewhere.

She remembered the photograph of Nathan she had once seen on Ivy’s phone. Curious about the man who meant so much to her, Raven had quietly asked Sal to look into his whereabouts.

What Sal uncovered, however, was something Raven had never expected.

The information was so surprising that even now, she was still trying to make sense of it.

Ivy’s eyes continued searching the crowd for a familiar face, but no matter where she looked, Nathan was nowhere to be seen.

"Is everything okay? You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself."

Kevin approached her after noticing the tense exchange between her and France.

At first, he had assumed it was nothing more than an ordinary conversation between siblings. But the longer he watched, the more he sensed that something was wrong. He waited until France walked away before making his way over.

Ivy turned to look at Kevin, giving him a suspicious glance that made him immediately raise both hands in surrender.

"Hey, don’t look at me like that," he said with an awkward chuckle. "I wasn’t spying on you. I just happened to see you talking to France, and something about it didn’t sit right with me."

Kevin was being honest. Even back in school, he had never liked the way France hovered around Ivy. There had always been something unsettling in the man’s gaze whenever he looked at her—a predatory glint that Kevin had never been able to ignore.

Ivy’s expression softened slightly.

"Don’t worry," she said. "He heard exactly what he wanted to hear."

Then she folded her arms and looked Kevin up and down with a faint smile.

"But you haven’t changed either. You’re still just as persistent as ever."

Kevin laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Some habits are hard to break," he admitted. "Besides, someone has to make sure you’re doing okay."

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself," Ivy replied with a polite smile.

Kevin chuckled and nodded. "I know you can. That doesn’t mean I can’t check in once in a while."

As the two continued talking, a group of women watching from across the hall couldn’t hide their irritation.

"Seriously, how does she manage to get every man’s attention?" Polly muttered, glaring in Ivy’s direction. "Look at Kevin. He’s smiling at her like they’re the only two people in the room."

Her frustration only grew.

She had tried to tarnish Ivy’s reputation in front of everyone earlier, yet instead of turning against her, several classmates seemed to admire Ivy even more.

Beside her, Olivia frowned. "I noticed it too. They seem awfully comfortable with each other."

Nora, who had been quietly observing the scene, concealed the bitterness in her eyes behind a gentle smile.

"I think you’re both reading too much into it," she said softly. "It just looks like two old classmates catching up. Kevin has always been friendly and don’t forget they have worked together"

Polly crossed her arms. "Friendly? He barely talks to anyone else."

Nora let out a light laugh, carefully maintaining her image as the reasonable one.

"Even if they are close, shouldn’t we be happy for them?" Nora said with a gentle smile. "After all, Ivy has always gone after what she wanted, even if it meant hurting me in the process."

She lowered her gaze slightly, masking her true emotions behind a calm and understanding expression.

Polly and Olivia exchanged glances before looking back at Nora.

Seeing her smile despite what they believed she had endured made them feel sorry for her.

To them, Nora had always been the kind and considerate one—the person who chose forgiveness over resentment.

The more they thought about Ivy’s past actions, the angrier they became.

"You’re too nice, Nora," Polly said, shaking her head. "If someone treated me the way she treated you, I would never forgive them."

Olivia nodded in agreement. "Exactly. And yet you still refuse to speak badly about her."

Nora simply offered a faint smile and said nothing, allowing their assumptions to grow on their own.

Inside, however, satisfaction flickered in her eyes.

Sometimes, saying less was the easiest way to make others believe exactly what she wanted them to.

"I’ll be right back," Nora said with a polite smile before excusing herself.

Once she was out of earshot, Polly folded her arms and continued glaring at Ivy across the room.

"That Ivy is unbelievable," she muttered bitterly. "Who does she think she is? First Kevin, and now that mysterious man I saw her leaving the mall with the other evening."

Polly immediately turned to Olivia, confusion written across her face.

"What mysterious man are you talking about?"

Olivia leaned in and recounted everything she had witnessed that day, including how Ivy had left the mall with a tall, well-dressed man whose face she hadn’t been able to see clearly.

"I couldn’t get a good look at him," Olivia admitted, "but it was obvious they knew each other."

As she listened, Polly’s expression grew darker.

"I knew it," she said through clenched teeth. "I always suspected Ivy had someone’s backing. There’s no way she landed that photoshoot with Kevin on her own."

Her eyes drifted back to Ivy.

Kevin had already stepped away, and now Nora had joined Ivy in conversation.

Watching the two women stand face-to-face, Polly’s irritation only deepened, her mind already weaving conclusions that had little to do with the truth.

Polly tore her gaze away from Ivy and turned to Olivia, a malicious glint flashing in her eyes.

"Then how about we expose her in front of everyone?" she whispered. "She humiliated Nora back then, so why don’t we make her pay for hurting our friend?"

The bitterness in Polly’s voice made Olivia’s lips curl into a knowing smile.

"I like that idea," Olivia replied quietly. "It’s about time someone knocked Ivy off her high horse."

Just as they were about to discuss their plan further, a loud thud echoed through the hall.

Both women instinctively turned toward the sound.

To their surprise, the person on the floor was Nora.

She looked flustered as she struggled to regain her balance, her eyes immediately filling with panic.

Then, in a trembling voice loud enough for the surrounding guests to hear, she looked toward Ivy and blurted out,

"Ivy... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it."

Her apology instantly drew the attention of everyone nearby, leaving the room in stunned silence as curious eyes shifted between the two women.