Текст книги "Harrow Duet"

Автор книги: Scarlett Finn

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Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 38 страниц)

Chapter Two

Dax released the California apartment door, letting it slide back into the frame with its own inertia. Ivy was a few feet in front of him and the breath she expelled made her body sag. Coming back here to California might be a huge mistake, but Mauri knew everything there was to know about Dax’s past. If he ever wanted to find out who his mother was or how she ended up with Bruno, then Mauri was the only one he could hope to get that information from.

Bruno couldn’t stand him and the animosity was mutual. If Dax tried to open communication between them, Bruno would delight in taunting him. Dax would never be able to trust the information that Bruno gave him.

Ivy didn’t move further into the apartment, she just stood in the entryway. Putting down the suitcase, he curled his hands around her shoulders and squeezed. During the flight, she hadn’t said a word and Dax did his best not to talk to Brad either. Serg was on the flight with them as well, the whole experience had been too surreal to pretend that they were all buddies or happy to be in the company of each other.

Serg used to be his number two, and Dax used that lingering façade of authority to question Serg on the other men and the state of the operation. Ivy kept her attention out of the window, her scowl remained fixed on the clouds outside the aircraft. He caught Serg glancing at her with either confusion or concern throughout the journey, but Dax doubted that sentiment reached too deep; after all Serg had been sent to spy on them and report back to Brad. Serg’s loyalty went as deep as the person with the deepest pockets could afford.

Now that they were alone in his California apartment, he could put her at ease. Kissing her head, he bent his knees and traced his lips down her neck to her shoulder. Nudging the strap of her dress away with his chin, he insinuated his hand around to peel back her dress to expose one breast, which he quickly took into his palm.

The weight in his groin increased but when he tried to turn her toward the bedroom, she wouldn’t move. Assuming that she was ignoring him because of another marital tradition, he bent to scoop her up, but she pushed him off and walked away from his lower arm, preventing him from lifting her.

‘I can get rid of that scowl if you loosen up a bit,’ he said. Being short with her probably wasn’t fair, she would be nervous about what was to come, but he was sick of seeing her spitting fury.

She went into the living room, so he followed her. When she got into the middle of the space, she spun around and held open her arms. From this distance it was tough to tell, but he was sure that her lower lashes were barricading a line of unshed tears. Crying was so unlike her that his own eyes widened, and he took a step back. Quelling his urge to retreat, he swallowed his discomfort and told himself to stay put and not run like a pussy, it was just a few lousy tears.

‘The last time we were here… I walked away, Dax, you wanted me to walk away from you.’

He had refused the invite for them to visit the Stark mansion because he thought that coming back to the apartment would calm her, this space was safe from the Starks. What he hadn’t taken account of was their past, this place was safe from others, but not safe from their demons.

‘You want to check into a hotel?’

Tipping her chin toward the ceiling, she sighed. ‘Forget it.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘What do you want me to do? If you don’t want to be here, then we’ll go somewhere else.’

‘You don’t give a fuck?’ she asked. ‘You really don’t think about what happened between us here?’

‘I think about what happened in the bedroom,’ he said.

‘No you don’t,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Because when we had sex in there you thought it was the last time that we would ever be intimate, you were going to turn me over to them.’

‘But I didn’t, did I?’

‘No, you didn’t,’ she said, going to the window. ‘I’m sorry, I know… I know, I need to get over this.’ Pulling the band out of her hair, she flicked it around her wrist in an expert move and ran her hands through her long, luxurious locks. ‘Ok.’

‘Ok, what?’ he asked. Ivy was a great woman, the best he’d met, but she was still a woman, and one that often left him at a loss about what was going on in that head of hers.

‘Ok,’ she said, turning away from the window. ‘Just ok.’ Hooking her thumbs under the straps of her dress, she pulled it down, wiggling out of her panties in the same manoeuvre. ‘Come over here and fuck me.’

If that was a power play, it worked. He didn’t care that she’d refused him in the hallway, not now that she stood in his living room completely naked asking for action.

Shirking out of his clothes on his journey to her, he swooped down to pick her up, and she coiled her legs around his waist and welcomed his mouth. Directing them toward the couch, she broke their kiss and patted his shoulders.

‘No, there,’ she said, pointing at the window she’d been looking out of a moment before.

Glancing at that spot and then back at her, he arched a brow. ‘You want me to fuck you against the window when it’s broad daylight outside?’

‘There’s a curtain over it,’ she said, but the flimsy gauze wouldn’t endure the experience or conceal much of it either.

Still, he wasn’t modest and whatever her reasoning, he was still going to get his. Carrying her back to where they had been, she squealed and arched her body into his when her back touched the cold glass separated from her flesh by only the sheer material of the curtain. The investment in heat reflecting glass and the expensive air-conditioning in the apartment had been worth it, she couldn’t get any closer to him unless she crawled inside his skin.

‘You want to put on a show, Minx?’ he asked, avoiding her mouth when she tried to kiss him again.

Now that he had her propped on the glass, he could free his hand. He curled it around her chin to push her head as far back as it could go. The strained column of her throat brought heat to the weight hanging in his groin. Licking the length of her gullet, he kissed his way back down while shoving her weight higher. Her knees closed on his ribs, but her chest was now level with his mouth, so he didn’t miss the breath that she squeezed out of him.

Closing his lips around her nipple, he hummed his approval, and the vibrations made her exhale her own want. The agreeable audio pleased him, but not as much as the well of moisture building on his torso from between her legs. It didn’t take much to get her going. Keeping her chin up, he kissed the dark peaks of her breasts and rubbed his face between them.

His wife’s cans could get a guy hard from twenty feet away, he’d caught glimpses of it happening. Only he was allowed this close to her, and possessing her was more of a turn on than the actual taste of her. This was his, she was his, and he wouldn’t let any guy threaten that again.

‘Dax,’ she whispered, tightening her legs, she tried to wriggle.

With his hands under her thighs, he backed off enough to let her body slide down the glass, which strained the flimsy curtain at her back.

‘You want something, Minx?’

‘Only you.’

This time, she kissed him, and the plunge of her tongue on his gave him the impetus to ease his hips away. With a guiding hand, he surged forward and pushed his dick into her. Her kiss froze to release a breathy squeak, which made him smile.

Taking over the kiss, he fucked his way into her. Grabbing her hips, he tilted them to slam himself in deeper, working her clit at the same time. She was holding onto him for her life now, her circled arms around his neck got tighter, crushing her breasts into him.

When he withdrew, she eased back but they never let the head of his cock leave her opening, then she pitched forward matching his fervour with her own.

The closer she came to orgasm, the faster her breathing became. Her head thumped back against the window, the kiss forgotten, her lips only moved to utter words of her impending bliss. Driving on, he sped up and locked her pelvis on the glass.

Pounding into the slippery passageway she offered to only him, he drove in, smacking the head of his dick deep. That sweet meeting spot where their bodies dovetailed together gave him his life’s purpose, he had never wanted a woman with the same need she cloaked him in. Every time he slid into her was a gift, and he wasn’t going to give it up.

Gasping his name, she cursed and began to quake around him, squeezing his dick so tight that he couldn’t move. To prevent himself from calling out, he locked his jaw while she milked the burst of his seed for every last drop, wringing him dry.

This was an interlude, and he planned to continue fucking her for the rest of the day and into the night until she’d forgotten all about what happened the last time they occupied this apartment.

‘Stranger,’ she said, still panting. With her open palms, she lifted his head from where it rested on hers so that she could look him in the eye.

‘What?’ he asked.

She smoothed his hair away from his forehead. ‘I won’t let them have you. I won’t let them take you away from this, I promise.’

Here he was worried about her feeling like she was losing control of their relationship; while all the time she was formulating ways to hold onto him.

‘I’m going nowhere, babygirl.’

Sliding out of her body, he carried her to the couch and laid her down, then he stood up to examine her flushed skin. Her neck was reddened where his stubble had abraded her and the rest of her form was still in the midst of a fever from their union.

His eye caught on the diamond she wore on her hand, which rested on her abdomen. Kneeling beside her, he picked up her hand and kissed the stone. He’d never considered marriage before Ivy. The women in his past were never around long enough for him to develop any kind of feelings. His dedication was to the Starks back then and that had been enough for him.

‘You’re not with me,’ she said, sitting up to run her fingers into his hair again. ‘You get that glare on your face, and I know that you’re thinking about Mauri. Are you worried about losing him?’

‘I worry about what he’ll take with him,’ Dax said, sticking an arm under her legs, he lifted them to sit on the couch underneath her stems. Dropping onto his side, he laid his spine along the back of the couch and kept Ivy angled against him. ‘And about what will happen to the organisation when he’s not around.’

‘You still care about that? About the Stark name?’

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘It’s instinct I guess.’

‘So what will happen? Brad is going to take over, right?’

‘That should be what happens, least that’s what Brad’s always thought,’ he said, fondling her breast.

‘But you don’t think that it will?’

Dax shrugged and slid lower to suck her nipple into a tight pebble. ‘Bruno won’t just roll over, Brad won’t give him the same respect that Mauri does.’

‘What about Trystan?’

‘He’s already pissed,’ Dax said. ‘After we left, he apparently went off on a crazy bender. Mauri’s had him locked up in the mansion.’

‘Do you think they’ve…? Is there another woman for him? Has someone been abducted to take my place?’

‘Maybe,’ Dax said, having not considered that. ‘It’s a possibility, but…’

‘But?’

‘It didn’t work with you and maybe Mauri re-thought their approach. I don’t know. I’ll find out when I go over there.’

‘Which will be when?’ she asked. In time with her question, his cell phone rang.

The post-coital intimacy was shattered and her expression cooled. ‘It could be nothing,’ he said.

Extricating himself from their snug position, he climbed off the couch to snag his jeans, which he’d kicked off in the middle of the room. Removing his phone from his pocket, he recognised the number that came up.

‘Hello?’

‘Come over to the house,’ Brad said down the phone line. ‘Mauri wants you to join him for dinner.’

‘I’m having dinner with my wife, thanks.’

‘Bring her,’ Brad said. ‘Mauri’s invited you both.’

‘No, I’m not bringing her over there. Sitting around the table as a happy family is a crock of shit. If Mauri wants to see me then I’ll come over, just me, for a sit down with him. I think we have a lot to talk about and we don’t need you bastards listening in.’

‘Ok,’ Brad said.

He hadn’t gone away to check anything with Mauri, and the old man wasn’t dead yet, so he wouldn’t like Brad speaking for him. That meant that either Dax was on speakerphone and Mauri was right there, or that Mauri knew Dax would tell him where to stick his dinner invitation. Dax would put his money on the latter, Mauri wasn’t the type to skulk.

‘I’ll be over in less than an hour.’

‘You’re eager,’ Brad said. ‘For a guy who didn’t want to come at all.’

‘Eager to get it over with,’ Dax said. ‘Tell Mauri to be ready.’

Hanging up, he put his phone on the dining table, which stood between the entry way and the open plan kitchen, then he turned around to see Ivy was now sitting up on the couch.

‘You’re going over there?’ she asked.

‘Yeah. Mauri wants to talk.’

‘I have to shower,’ she said, rising from the couch to head for the bedroom.

‘You’re not coming,’ he said, getting between her and the living room door.

‘Why did I come all of this way then? I’m not going to sit here twiddling my thumbs. I remember all too well what happened the last time you left me here and went over to that house.’

She expected this to play out as it had before. He had been a dick to her then. He had left this apartment secure in their relationship, in a playful mood after leaving her aroused and unsated. But by the time he’d gotten back, to find her asleep in his bed, he’d been convinced that she had played him just to ensure her freedom.

‘Babygirl, things are different now. They’re not going to convince me that you don’t love me now, are they?’

‘I’m not afraid of them,’ she said, her defiant eyes narrowing on his. ‘If they want a fight—‘

‘You go in there looking for a fight and you’ll create one. You need to be cool.’

‘Act natural?’

‘Yeah,’ he said.

‘After all they’ve done? I don’t think so,’ she said.

‘If they hadn’t caught you in Vegas, this wouldn’t have happened. We wouldn’t have happened,’ he said, dropping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close to kiss her.

‘I know,’ she exhaled onto him when he lifted his lips. ‘But that doesn’t mean that they should just get away with their bullshit, does it?’

Her anger was understandable because the Starks hadn’t treated her well. But the vehemence in her tone concerned him so much that he backed off. ‘Payback? Is that why you came? You’re gonna go on some crazy vengeance spree?’

‘Why would vengeance be crazy?’ she asked. ‘You told me it’s what Trystan thrives on.’

‘Yeah, and look how that turned out for him,’ Dax said, clutching her forearm when she tried to back off. ‘You listen to me, Mrs Harrow, I take care of the lowlifes, ok? If there’s a score to settle that’s my damn job, you keep your sexy ass right here at home; you cook, you clean, you suck my cock, that’s your job.’

‘Don’t,’ she said, twisting her arm out of his grip. ‘I know that you like to think that reminding me of that chauvinistic misogynist you played in the beach house will calm me down—‘

‘That’s too many big words for a simple guy like me, Minx.’

‘Stop it,’ she said. This kind of anger from her hadn’t reared its head for a while, not since the last time they were here.

Grabbing her wrists, he thrust them behind her back as he rushed her against the wall. Switching both wrists into one hand, he used the other to snatch her jaw and hold her head up.

‘Do you prefer the alternative?’ he asked, giving her a shake when she tried to wrestle away.

Eventually she surrendered to his grip, she had no chance of physically overpowering him, and they both knew it. Ideas of revenge contorted her expression, and he didn’t know why he hadn’t seen it before.

‘Let go of me,’ she growled.

‘If you don’t want to play then I have no choice, I’ve got to be serious. You prefer this? You’re not going to miss my point now,’ he said.

Squeezing her jaw, Dax forced her lips to part. His goal was to prevent her from clenching her jaw in response to the fury that scalded her veins. But the temptation his action presented was too much for him to resist. He dipped his tongue into her mouth, pushing his kiss onto her and when he withdrew he dragged his teeth over her bottom lip.

‘Get your filthy fucking hands off me,’ she mumbled and damn if she didn’t make his dick go hard all over again.

‘You’re mine to touch,’ he said. ‘You belong to me.’

‘I’m your partner, not your possession, and you are not leaving me here alone.’

‘I am. If I have to lash you to the wall then I will,’ he said. ‘I can’t trust you now. When you get it in your head that you want to start something, then I’m the one who has to finish it. You see my dilemma?’

‘You don’t trust me,’ she said, trying again to writhe free of his control.

Consuming her mouth again, this time she returned his kiss using the energy of the hatred that she wanted to rein down on the Starks. In his opinion, this was a far healthier way to get rid of that venom.

Pulling her away from the wall, neither broke the kiss on their spinning journey toward the dining table. Anything they made contact with clattered to the floor, but he didn’t care about objects. He cared about the pain this woman had suffered, the pain that had thrust her into a frenzy of unhealthy anger that could get her hurt if he let her release it elsewhere.

Shoving her face down onto the table, he pressed her skull with the weight of his own. Her hair covered her face and fluttered out with each huffing breath she took. One of her cheeks was squashed into the table, he kissed the other through her hair, then her temple, and kissed above her ear before he spoke, resting his forehead on her soft hair, pinning her so that she couldn’t squirm away from him.

‘I own you, babygirl. You’re still my goddamn prisoner, and I will punish anyone who hurts you.’

‘No,’ she said, trying to look at him, but his weight locked her down. ‘I fight my own battles.’

‘I told you,’ he said, tightening his grip on her wrists, her chest was crushed on the table, but he kept her arms on the table on the opposite side from the way she faced. Forcing her legs further apart with his own, he pushed a finger into her still wet centre and began to work it in circles. ‘You’ll never have to fear enemies while you’re under my claim.’

‘You haven’t claimed anything, tough guy,’ she spat out, working her hips against his invading digit. When he snagged her earlobe in his teeth, she whimpered out her arousal and consent.

‘I claim this body. Your mind and your fire are mine too,’ he whispered, then slammed his dick into her again.

This time, she screamed through her gritted teeth and the primal roar made him smile. This would be the way she would release her frustration, and if she wanted him to plan an attack on those who wronged her, he’d do that for her too.

Chapter Three

The Stark mansion was the same as Dax remembered it. When he arrived, he hadn’t been shown into the usual office that they worked from, he’d been taken to Maurice’s suite of rooms, and that was unusual to the point of being concerning.

Serg was outside the suite and told him to go straight in. When Dax did go inside, the room was empty of people. The furniture was opulent and very classic in its style. The focal point of the room was the large fireplace, which was almost taller than he was. He’d never seen an actual fire burning here, then again, it had been a few years since he’d been in this usually private space.

There was no time to go looking for anything, the side door opened, and Mauri came in from the bedroom. It was immediately obvious to Dax that Mauri had lost weight, but other than appearing a bit gaunt, Dax couldn’t pick out any other indications that Mauri was ill.

They stood for a few seconds, just looking at each other, but there was nothing threatening in the exchange. Mauri came in and went to the Waterford in the corner to pour two fingers for each of them, neat.

‘Brad said you were reluctant to come home,’ Mauri said, taking the glasses to the table between the two burgundy upholstered armchairs to the left of the fireplace. Mauri sat down. ‘Sit down with me, have a drink.’

‘I’m driving,’ Dax said. He wasn’t driving at all, but he wouldn’t sit and drink like they were buddies, and he wanted to keep his wits about him. Mauri knew about Dax’s fighting skills, so he wouldn’t set just one guy on him. If Dax pissed Mauri off enough to call security, then he’d have a dozen guys up here within a minute.

‘One won’t hurt,’ Mauri said. ‘And we can get you a driver if—‘

‘This isn’t a catch-up,’ Dax said, going over and seating himself where Mauri wanted him to sit. ‘I came here because Brad said you were sick. Why didn’t you tell us?’

Mauri took a sip of the liquor. ‘Why do you think? If men like us show weakness, the vultures close in, don’t they?’

‘Men like us…? I’m nothing like you.’

‘That might be a convenient thing to say now,’ Mauri said. ‘But a few months ago you were exactly like me, and proud of it too.’

‘Things have changed for me. I told you that—‘

‘How is Ms. Dune?’

‘It’s Harrow,’ Dax said. He’d bet that these men deliberately used Ivy’s maiden name, but he hadn’t yet discovered why that might be. Did they want to belittle the marriage? Or did they want to remind him that to them she would never be a part of him? ‘And I didn’t come here to talk about her.’

‘Are you having trouble?’ he asked, settling himself back in the chair. ‘Marriage is a big commitment. If you are struggling—‘

‘We’re just fine,’ he said. ‘Marriage is easy.’

‘Either you truly have found your soulmate, or things between you and your other half are more strained than you will confess to me.’

‘I wouldn’t have walked away from this if I hadn’t been sure about her.’

‘You did give up a lot for her, your whole life, is she appreciative?’

‘Every damn day,’ he said with innuendo and sarcasm. ‘Now you want to tell me why the fuck I’m here?’

‘I don’t know. You chose to come. Why did you do that?’

He came because Mauri meant a lot to him and because Mauri had always looked after him. Dax wasn’t ignorant to what Mauri had done for him as a child, and it still troubled Dax that he had flouted that generosity by disappearing with Ivy. He didn’t like to owe any man anything.

‘Brad said you were sick, said you wanted to talk to me, so I came.’

‘Just like old times,’ Mauri smiled. Now that his face was more slender the grooves on his cheeks were more prominent and after taking a closer look, Dax could see that Mauri was tired. But that wasn’t unusual if business was busy.

‘Have there been any shipment issues?’ Dax asked, curious if the man was overworking himself. ‘Is everything running smoothly?’

‘We’ve had nothing but problems,’ Mauri said, putting his glass down and rubbing his fingers across his forehead. ‘Since you left, no one else has been able to keep the men together, there has been tension in the ranks.’

‘Serg was respected—‘

‘And the men seemed happy to take his orders,’ Mauri said. ‘But he is not as efficient as you were. Things have been missed. We almost got fucking busted because Serg gave one of the courier’s directions that ended him up in a police station parking lot.’

Dax could laugh because he hadn’t been there, but Mauri’s frustration was obvious.  ‘That’s Cecil’s run,’ Dax said. ‘You miss that third turn and you’re right there at police headquarters.’

‘Yes,’ Mauri said, leaning closer. ‘See, you know it all so well, you just… it’s second nature to you.’

‘I did it for a long time,’ Dax said. He’d been working for Mauri since he was old enough to see over the steering wheel. ‘Cecil is one of our oldest contacts, and he’s a real prick to get on the phone.’

‘We need you to come back, we need you at the helm.’

‘No,’ Dax said, already shaking his head. ‘Not a chance.’

‘Why not? I don’t see why there would be any problem,’ Mauri said. ‘I have taken care of the men, they know that you are married now; Ivy will be safe. She’ll be safer here than wherever you’ve been holed up. She’ll have full protection of the family.’

‘For how long?’ Dax asked. ‘Word is that with you on your way out, the hyenas are circling. When you’re gone the venture is going to be picked apart. Brad isn’t strong enough to hold it together on his own, he doesn’t have the respect of the men, and he’s sure not feared in the community. You ever seen him get blood on those fancy-ass Italian loafers?’

‘You have their respect and you’re feared. No one would cross you.’

‘Yeah, ‘cause I know better than to turn my back on them,’ Dax said. ‘I’m not interested in taking over.’

‘You could,’ Mauri said, locking his eyes on Dax’s and sitting back slowly. ‘Would you be interested?’

‘In taking over…? You’re offering me the business?’

‘There could be something worked out.’

‘No, Brad wouldn’t have it. He’s had his eyes on the company for years.’

‘He can still run things as the legitimate face of the Stark’s.’

‘Legitimate?’ Dax asked. ‘The haulage and dry cleaning firms are fronts, they clean the money, there’s nothing legitimate about that.’ Although they did have big haulage rigs and a few legitimate contracts, but those were meant to distract from the other cargo in the back of those trucks.

‘You and Brad are not enemies,’ Mauri said. ‘You always got along.’

‘We never had to deal with each other. It’s easy to be civil with the guy who’s just another cog in the machine.’

‘You understand that machine. You have an affinity for this industry, Dax. Don’t throw that away for a piece of ass.’

‘My wife is not a piece of ass. If you don’t show her some goddamn respect—‘

‘Respect? I have nothing but respect for the woman who managed to turn your head. I wasn’t sure you would ever lower your defences for long enough to let love in… Your choice might have caused difficulties in the family, but you showed your commitment to her when you walked away from us. I have to say, I was… almost proud of you for standing up for her like you did.’

He didn’t want to be gratified, didn’t want his own humble feelings to diminish his ego until he was under Mauri’s boot again. Sitting straighter, Dax snatched up the Scotch and took a mouthful.

‘Ivy is the best thing I have, and I am not going to disappoint her again,’ Dax said.

‘Ivy is a clever girl, you shouldn’t refuse my offer before you have spoken to her. If she is as smart as you believe she is, then she’s not going to pass up a good thing when she sees it. She would be walking into a position of power and that is very seductive. To be by your side when you take over this empire—‘

‘What does Trystan say about this? Have you told him that Ivy and me are back in town? I don’t think that he’ll be happy with your proposals.’

‘Trystan will be happy as long as there is money to spend.’

‘So he hasn’t straightened himself out? Your plan didn’t work.’

‘We haven’t given up on it yet,’ Mauri said. ‘I still believe that if he can find himself the right woman, he will buck up his ideas. It worked wonders for you. Tell me, doesn’t love clear your perspective?’

‘It changes it,’ he said. ‘It changes a man’s priorities. But you’re not going to get Trystan to fall in love by beating a woman into submission.’

‘We realise that what we did with Ivy was… unsuitable.’

‘She’ll agree with you there,’ Dax said. He would agree too, but as he’d said to Ivy, he couldn’t regret how the Starks had acted, because it brought Ivy into his life, it brought them together.

‘I would love to see her,’ Maurice said. ‘To see you together.’

Which was something Mauri had never witnessed. The request piqued Dax’s interest. Mauri had met Ivy, but she had played the old man, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear and making him believe that their brainwashing had worked on her.

‘Why?’

‘The woman got into your head, that’s something not even I can boast.’

‘You were in my head alright,’ Dax said, slugging the last of the whisky and sliding the glass onto the table. ‘You’ve been in my head since I was thirteen.’

‘Obviously not, or my words would have worked when I asked you to bring Ivy to us.’

‘Protecting her is my number one priority.’

‘As it should be, you’re her husband, and a formidable force. She’s lucky that she has you in her corner.’

‘I’m not bringing her here,’ Dax said. ‘Not until I see Trystan for myself. If I can’t trust that bastard to keep his hands off—‘

‘You can trust him,’ Mauri said. ‘He’s been in his suite for weeks. We’ve kept him entertained.’

Which meant Mauri had allowed the booze and the hookers to come here. Trystan would only put up with being incarcerated at the mansion if the party came to him on a regular basis.

‘And Bruno?’ Dax asked though the name stung him.

‘What about him? He’s around.’

‘He doesn’t want to take over the operation?’

‘He and I have… we’ve struggled to see eye-to-eye about this whole affair. Things between us are strained at the moment.’

‘What affair?’ Dax asked. ‘Ivy and me or what you’re suggesting happens to the company?’

‘Both. Mostly he blames me for confessing the truth to you about your lineage.’

‘Lineage,’ he scoffed. ‘I don’t give a fuck what you say, that man is not my father.’

‘Not in any traditional sense, no, I’d concur with that. But biologically, there is no refuting—‘

‘I can refute it,’ Dax said.

He hadn’t told Ivy about what Maurice had blurted out during their midnight meeting because he didn’t want to face the idea that it could be true. One of the country’s most notorious gangsters couldn’t be his father. Bruno’s legend was filled with dark spots of torture and murder.

Bruno had a sadistic urge that Ivy had met during her last experience with him. Bruno had beaten her, caged her, fondled her at will, and turned her into his personal slave. All the while Dax had steered clear, turning a blind eye to the torment she went through only to enjoy her in the nights when she came to him for sanctuary.

Maybe that was how she’d gotten into his heart. He’d never given it much thought, how she wormed her way into his affections, but he did now. Seeing her being put through humiliating experiences, and showing up each day with fresh bruises, he was amazed that she didn’t complain; she never simpered or withdrew.