‘Yeah.’

‘Is it a big bounty?’

‘Half a mill.’

Saul whistled. ‘So every gangster and his bitch are going to be looking for you… I’d rather hide you from the cops.’

‘They won’t look here. I’m wanted in LA.’

‘Yeah, ‘cause that’s a million miles away.’

‘Go and talk to your woman and then call the GoldSpring for me, find out if they have a reservation for Stark.’

‘I’m playing secretary again?’ he asked.

‘Not so much fun when someone else is calling the shots, is it?’ she asked and spun around to get Carina from the car.

Saul was being nice, and he didn’t have to be. He could’ve kicked them out, though what she had said about Dax was true. If she got hurt in an unsafe place because Saul hadn’t offered a sanctuary, then Dax would visit his wrath on the nearest person and her husband was just looking for an excuse to beat on Saul anyway.

After retrieving Carina from the car, Ivy took her into the spare bedroom and set her up in the adjoining shower room. While Carina was busy freshening up, Ivy sat on the bed and opened the first message on her phone.

I’m thinking about collecting the bounty myself. Are you fucking insane? Where are you?

Someone had to have told Dax that the cars had left the beach house. Either he was told by phone while he was investigating in LA, or he showed up at the beach house and got the skinny when he discovered that the place was empty.

Much as Ivy knew he’d be mad no matter how he found out, she hoped he’d been called in LA. If he’d gotten all the way to the beach house before he was told it would be worse for everyone involved. He would already be tired and hoping to slip into bed with his willing wife, so finding out that everyone had fled would have riled him.

She was holding her breath when she opened the second text.

Vegas. Again? On my way.

So what she had said to Saul had been right on the money: Dax was on his way, and he was pissed. She fired off a quick message to tell Dax where she was; he’d been to Saul’s before so he knew the route to get here. Holding her phone, Ivy waited for it to ring, Dax wouldn’t be happy that she was hanging out with an ex-boyfriend.

The timestamp on Dax’s second message was two hours ago, meaning he was probably still a couple of hours away if he was driving. Through the wall, Ivy could hear the muffled voices of Saul and Brittany. Ivy decided that if her cell phone hadn’t rung, she’d give the couple another two minutes then she would go through and apologise to Brittany, hopefully distracting her for long enough to let Saul make the phone call that Ivy needed him to make.

If Saul confirmed that Trystan and Rosie were at the GoldSpring then Ivy could ride over there and persuade her sister to come back with her, meaning that by the time Dax arrived the problem would be resolved, and they could all go back to LA as one happy family.

As Ivy predicted, her cell phone began to buzz in her hand, and she widened her smile before she picked up.

‘Hey, sexy man, how are you?’ Squeezing her eyes shut, Ivy braced herself for his reaction.

‘You know I could do a lot with half a million dollars,’ Dax said. ‘Maybe I’ll kill you myself and pick up the bounty, then I could find myself a nice easy woman who’d be happy to stay chained to my radiator for the rest of her life.’

‘You’re a true romantic at heart, Dax,’ she said.

‘I can’t fucking believe that you did this. I told you that you wouldn’t be safe in Vegas.’

‘We don’t know that. I came to Saul’s because no one will look for me here. We’ve figured out that whoever put up the bounty knows me through you, through the fighting circuit, so there’s no way that they’ll know anything about Saul.’

‘He’s an ex, all they have to do is ask a few questions and—‘

‘We had to come. I couldn’t leave Rosie here with Trystan, you know what he’s like…’ Ivy got up and wandered to the bedroom window, which looked out on Saul’s pool and shed. ‘Who told you we’d left?’

‘I was at Mauri’s when he got a call that security at the beach house had been left stranded. Someone had to go pick them up because someone else stole their car. That was when they said Trystan had come to the beach house and taken off with one of the women.’

‘You know what he’s like, Rosie was already drunk, and now he’s brought her here to Vegas. If he asks her to take drugs… I don’t want her to get mixed up in that again, he’ll drop her as soon as he’s bored.’ Ivy lowered her voice. ‘Rosie only came here, only met Trystan because of us. God only knows what he’ll do to her, she’ll have sex with him, Dax, and he’s never struck me as the missionary position type.’

‘I get why you’re worried,’ Dax said. ‘Why didn’t you call me?’

‘You’re already dealing with one drama,’ she said. ‘I knew you would tell me not to follow her, but this is my sister, Dax. I can’t leave her to a guy like Trystan, I had to act. You don’t have to come out here to Vegas, I appreciate that you’re on your way, but I can handle this. You stay in LA and—‘

‘And what? Track down the person who wants to kill you?’ Dax asked. ‘Keeping you safe is the priority, remember? I could only be sure that you were safe at the beach house because security was there keeping an eye on you. But you ditched them and took off, again! Not every mess can be fixed, and I’m sorry, but your sister getting fucked up because she screwed the wrong guy is not my problem, you are my problem.’

She smiled and returned to the bed. ‘You’ve told me that before.’

‘And nothing has changed,’ he said. ‘I am coming there, to you, stay where you are, don’t go outside—‘

‘But Trystan—‘

‘Is a problem that I will take care of because you’ve forced my hand, understand? You can’t go to The Strip, you can’t hang out in bars and clubs looking for them. Someone will see you, and you’re more recognisable there because you lived there, people in Vegas know you. All it takes is for one person to say your name and you’ll have every criminal in the state parked on Saul’s front lawn, get me?’

‘I know you’re worried about me, but you’re overreacting, I know that I’ll be safe here—‘

‘Ok. Fine. If you think you’re safe at Saul’s, then stay at Saul’s until I get there. I’ll come and check on you, get the story and then I’ll go after Trystan. What are you planning to do with him anyway? Do you think that he’ll just hand over your sister and admit defeat?’

‘What if she says no to him?’

‘You just told me that she wouldn’t,’ Dax said. ‘She’s a party girl, so she and Trystan are a perfect match. She’ll be fine until I get there. I’ll go to the GoldSpring and find her then I’ll bring her back to you. After that, I’ll be driving you back to the beach house and if I have to crack open the cell in the basement to keep you there, Minx, I will fucking do it.’

His worry might be understandable, but that wasn’t a threat that she took kindly. ‘Don’t even joke about that, Dax. I’m sorry that I upset you, but… that’s not funny.’

‘I wasn’t joking,’ he said. ‘I don’t give a damn about your memories or about your fears. If I have to do it to keep you safe, to trust you to be safe, then I will do it, and I don’t care how loud you scream. You’re my wife, and it’s my responsibility to ensure your safety. No matter what lengths I have to go to, I will keep you safe, Minx.’

Pushing up from the bed, she rolled her lips and tried to calm her seething, but it was no use. ‘You fucking jerk, you would, wouldn’t you? You would let me rot down there.’

‘No, I’ll come back for you when I’ve taken care of the threat. But it’s the only place I know where there are chains attached to the concrete foundations.’

‘I won’t go, I won’t go back there if—‘

‘If you go to Trystan now alone, he’ll bait you. He’ll ask you inside and rile you, he’ll take pleasure in seeing you upset. He’ll ask you to have a drink, you’ll say no, but he’ll make you a deal, you drink, and he’ll send Rosie home with you.’