I Was The Favor He Refused To See Chapter 13
“Ethan, do you have a hearing problem, or is your brain just not keeping up?” That voice remained calm, but it carried a kind of mockery he had never heard from her before. “I am Ivy Bradford. Lane is my adoptive father’s last name. Noah Whitmore is my legal husband. Anything else you want to ask?”
The phone slipped from Ethan’s hand.
It felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.
Ivy Lane was Ivy Bradford.
Ivy Bradford was Ivy Lane.
She had never been some small-town girl with no background and nowhere to go.
She was the only heir to the Bradford family of Newport Beach, someone he could never reach no matter how hard he tried.
Then he suddenly remembered something.
Ivy never talked about her family.
Back in elementary school, he knew her family was poor.
Her parents were on welfare in a rural town.
They couldn’t even afford to give her a carton of milk every day.
So he would secretly slip his own milk and bread into her desk.
One time, she caught him doing it and looked at him with red-rimmed eyes.
He said, “I don’t like milk. Drink it for me so it doesn’t go to waste.’
She didn’t expose him. She only lowered her head and drank it in small sips.
Later, when they got to high school, the two of them made a promise to get into the same college.
She studied harder than he did, always the first one in the classroom and the last one to leave.
When he asked why she pushed herself so hard, she said, “I want to give my parents a better life.”
In all four years of college, he had only met her parents once.
Ethan’s hands began to shake.
He searched “Charles Bradford daughter” again.
The Wikipedia page read: Ivy Bradford, heir to Bradford Group, and a graduate of the same university he had attended.
In the photo, the girl wore her hair in a ponytail and stood in a graduation gown, smiling with her eyes curved into crescents.
It was Ivy.
All the strength in Ethan’s body seemed to drain away.
It wasn’t that she had nowhere to go.
She had the biggest safety net in Newport Beach.
The news spread through the company very quickly.
“Did you hear? Ivy is the Bradford heiress from Newport Beach!”
“No way. If she’s that rich, why did she live in employee housing with the rest of us peasants for five years?”
“She was slumming it for the experience. Look up Bradford Group. It’s worth billions.”
“Oh my God. Then the way Mr. Langford used to put her down was seriously out of line.”
The chatter in the break room rose and fell.
“I always thought something was off. Ivy was so capable, so why did Mr. Langford keep holding her back? Not enough seniority? Come on. Do you know how many projects she handled in five years?”
“The worst part is that even a brand-new intern like Lily got to bully her, and Mr. Langford still protected that fake-innocent pick-me girl.”
“Speaking of Lily, do you guys know about the email incident?”
The person who spoke was Zach from IT. He was usually quiet, but today, he actually opened his mouth.
“There’s a very good chance the email to Horizon wasn’t sent by the heiress. The office security system just happened to have an ‘equipment malfunction’ that day. Guess who was responsible for it?”
“Lily’s cousin. He joined the company six months ago.”
“You think that was a coincidence?”
The room erupted.
Every single word fell into Ethan’s ears as he stood at the doorway.
He had only come to get a glass of water. His hand stayed on the doorknob, frozen in place.
The truth was, he hadn’t actually disbelieved Ivy.
After all, professionally, she was a founding employee of the company. Personally, she was his
woman.
He had simply thought it wouldn’t hurt to let her take the fall.
It would also knock her down a peg.
Only now did he realize how absurd he had been.
Even a saint has limits.
Ethan drove to Newport Beach.
At Bradford Group headquarters, he told the receptionist he wanted to see Ivy Bradford.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No. Please tell her Ethan is here.’
Ten minutes later, the receptionist shook her head apologetically. “I’m sorry. Ms. Bradford says she doesn’t know you.”