For that, Ivy would need her sister to be fully awake, so that she could comprehend what was going on. Using the bed for support, Ivy climbed onto the mattress, coming at her sister from the other side she had initially sat on.

Shaking the slumbering form again, Ivy pulled Rosie onto her back. Her sister groped around for the sheet, so Ivy pulled it away from her reach. ‘No, Rosie, you are not going back to sleep. You have to wake up, we’re leaving.’

Rosie’s eyes opened the smallest amount. ‘You’re not Trystan.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Where is he?’

‘In the other room with Dax,’ Ivy said. ‘You have to get dressed.’

Putting Rosie’s arms into her bra, Ivy slipped it up to her shoulders, but Rosie rolled onto her front again. ‘Go away, Ivy, we’re having fun.’

‘Doesn’t look like fun to me. You trashed this place and if Trystan ducks out and leaves you with the bill, how do you plan to pay for the room and all of this mess?’

Ivy didn’t think that Trystan would do that, he had the funds to pay for whatever he wanted, and he liked to fritter that money away any chance he got. But making the accusation was enough to make Rosie flip onto her back.

‘He wouldn’t do that,’ she said.

Ivy smiled, pleased that Rosie’s eyes were open now though her face was smeared with makeup. ‘Get your clothes on and then we can go out and check that the men are still here.’

Rosie sat up, and Ivy handed over the clothes she’d gathered from around the room. Leaving the bed, Ivy went to the bathroom and moistened the fluffy white face cloth she picked up from the vanity.

‘You should never have run off like that,’ Ivy called, wringing the water out of the face cloth.

‘Don’t start lecturing me,’ Rosie grumbled.

Ivy came into the bedroom to see that Rosie was in her bra and panties, but the dress was proving to be more of an ordeal.

‘I’m not lecturing you,’ Ivy said, sitting on the bed beside Rosie. Using the face cloth, she rubbed away the traces of last night’s makeup marring her skin.

Rosie put up no fight and flopped down to lie flat, she closed her eyes and let Ivy wash her face. Glad as she was that Rosie was accepting her help, Ivy recognised how tired her sister was. All the indicators suggested a come down, which led Ivy to believe that cocaine wasn’t the only drug they used last night.

‘You know, you should be careful,’ Ivy said, holding Rosie’s face as she washed it.

‘Trystan isn’t as bad as you think,’ Rosie mumbled.

‘He is,’ Ivy said. ‘But I’m talking about your recovery. You didn’t use drugs at all when we were at the beach house. You shouldn’t use them just because Trystan asks you to.’

‘He didn’t ask me, he offered them and I’m sorry, Ivy, but I like to have a good time.’

‘This is more than that. You can have a good time without running away with random men who you don’t know and using drugs again.’

‘He’s a good guy, and he’s not a loser, he has money and—‘

‘Just because he has money doesn’t mean that he cares about you. He’s using you.’

‘Using me?’ Rosie said, opening her eyes. ‘Using me for what? Sex? I don’t think so. We had sex at his father’s big fancy house, and Trystan still called me the next day.’

So after what had happened in the mansion bedroom, when Dax knocked Trystan out, Trystan had woken up and then gone on a mission to seduce Rosie. It shouldn’t surprise Ivy that he would be as callous as that, but she didn’t like to see her sister reduced to a piece on a game board.

‘He wants to have sex with you because he knows it will hurt me. He’s trying to lash out at me and Dax. We have history that—‘

Rosie swiped Ivy’s hand away and sat up. ‘You think that a rich, sophisticated guy would only be interested in me because he wants you? Are you jealous?’

‘No,’ Ivy said.

‘Do you want Trystan for yourself?’

‘Trystan attacked me,’ Ivy said. ‘The night he and I met, it was right here, in this suite. He was drunk and high, he was having a party with a bunch of friends and I was working here, I was the private attendant.’

‘In this place?’

‘Yes,’ Ivy said. ‘He tried to get me to drink and take drugs, I refused. Then he… he pinned me down and tried to force me.’

‘And Dax saved you?’

‘Not even close,’ Ivy smiled. ‘I fought Trystan off and I ran. I lost my job here because Trystan told management to fire me. He holds a grudge, and he’s a bad guy. I know that you think you’ve struck gold, but he’ll dump you as soon as he’s finished with you. I don’t want to see you hurt like that.’

‘It’s not like I’m in love with the guy,’ Rosie mumbled and returned to fumbling with her dress. Maybe they weren’t in love, but Ivy could hear the hurt in her sister’s voice.

‘He won’t make you believe he’s in love with you, maybe he’ll try and make you feel special, I don’t know what he does. What I do know is that if there comes a time when you want to say no to him, he won’t hear it. If he wants you to take drugs, he’ll make you take them. If he wants you drunk, he’ll force you to drink. And if he wants to have sex with you… he won’t hear no then either. He could hurt you, Rosie, and not just in your heart, but that beautiful face too… You see that?’ Ivy tipped her head back and angled it to point out the nick of a scar on the underside of her jaw.

Rosie touched the mark and lowered her hand. ‘He did that to you?’

‘Yeah, he did,’ Ivy said, taking Rosie’s dress and untwining the various straps that were meant to hang loose over the back. ‘And the mark on his face, that’s how I got away.’

‘You left your mark on each other.’

‘Yeah,’ Ivy said, opening the dress with wide splayed fingers she guided Rosie’s head and arms through the correct holes. ‘Every time I see his face I think about that night and how grateful I am that I got away from him before he could violate me. I can’t walk away from this room and leave you with a man who I know to be dangerous. I just can’t do it, Rosie. If he hurt you… I would never forgive myself.’

Rosie wriggled the dress down and pulled her feet out from under the sheet to swivel around and sit on the side of the bed beside Ivy. ‘Why do you care so much?’

‘Care so much?’

‘Yeah, I mean, it’s not like we’re close or anything. We haven’t seen each other for years.’

‘Yeah, but you’re still my sister,’ Ivy said, putting an arm around her. ‘I want you to be happy.’

Ivy wouldn’t leave any woman in Trystan’s clutches, much less her sister. She was too aware of his capabilities and how quickly he could turn on a person. Trystan didn’t understand the word “no” and any woman he set his sights on would have a tough time getting away.

This situation was worse because Trystan could turn his hatred and frustration onto Rosie. It didn’t matter that it was Dax and Ivy who riled him, Trystan would see Rosie as a way of venting those negative feelings.

‘Dax, does he…?’

‘Dax would never hurt me,’ Ivy said. ‘He and Trystan have history of their own, which is why I don’t want to leave them out there on their own for too long. Are you ready to go?’

‘Trystan might not let me just walk out of here,’ Rosie said.

In the sober light of day, Rosie was far more reasonable than she was when she was drunk. Until all of this was over Ivy would have to try and keep her sister away from the liquor cabinet in case she changed her mind and returned to Trystan.

Ivy had left the beach house to retrieve her sister, all she could think about was keeping Rosie safe and getting her away from harm. Ivy was grateful for Dax now, grateful that he had followed her to Vegas. It was only because of him that she could smile at her sister as they joined hands.

‘Trystan can throw all the toddler tantrums that he likes,’ Ivy said. ‘Dax is here, and he will have no problem taking Trystan down if he has to. Do you have anything here that you need to take with you?’