Rushing out of the closet, Ivy was ready to put the possibility to him, except Bruno was in their bedroom and the two men were engaged in conversation. This space was becoming a common room and she didn’t remember either her or Dax authorising that, but maybe she hadn’t been privy to that conversation.

‘Morning,’ Bruno called to her as though she was a hundred feet away instead of ten. ‘You’re going on an adventure today.’

‘So I understand,’ she said, clasping her hands behind her back and taking her foot off the floor to curl it behind the other. ‘I’m a little… nervous.’

‘Dax will look after you,’ Bruno said, slapping his shoulder. ‘He’s done right by you so far, hasn’t he?’

‘Yes,’ she said, trained to respond to all questions.

Bruno and Dax whispered to each other, then Dax reached behind him toward her, outstretching his hand. Ivy crossed to take the offering and went with the men out of the room. In the living room there was no sign of Rita. Bruno went off towards the back deck without saying goodbye and Dax took Ivy straight toward the front door and out they went. He led her across the drive to the convertible awaiting them in the covered car port.

He opened her door, but didn’t wait for her to enter the car, he just left the door swinging and rounded the hood to get in his own side. He’d got in, turned on the engine, and donned his sunglasses, and she still stood on the driveway, staring into the open car. Stretching an arm along the back of the seat, he waited.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘I… I don’t know, but…’

‘What?’ His impatience was showing. ‘Do you think I’m gonna run off with you? Don’t worry, we’ll be back before dinner.’

The very idea that he was laughing at was the one that she was going to suggest to him in their bedroom earlier. It was laughable now, because if she struggled with the idea of getting into a car, how would she survive on the run?

‘It just feels… peculiar.’

‘It will,’ he said. ‘You’ve been in that place for nearly two months.’

Had it been so long? Yes, as she considered it and all she’d been through, it had been that amount of time. Ivy had believed that she’d been spared from the brainwashing that Bruno and Dax were supposed to visit on her because Dax hadn’t applied the same stringent rules as Bruno did. That window Dax provided gave her a reprieve; time to centre herself again when she was in his company. But a part of her knew that she wasn’t allowed to leave this place, and that part of her overwhelmed her now.

‘I’m not going to get in trouble, right?’ she said with an awkward and very self-conscious laugh.

‘What kind of trouble?’ he asked. ‘I’m your Master, remember? Your owner, or did you forget?’

‘Ok,’ she said with a stunted smile, but no moisture returned to her mouth. With shaking fingers she took hold of the door and with one wavering step she slid into the warm leather of the seat.

‘Are you nervous about being punished for leaving here? Or worried about what will happen to you out there?’ he asked, bobbing his chin in the direction of the great wide world, without taking his attention away from her.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I didn’t realise that I felt this way.’

‘It’ll all come back to you. No one will punish you for leaving here, I’m the guy in charge and you’re with me.’

‘And out there?’ she asked.

‘Nothing I haven’t faced before,’ he said. ‘Like I said, you’re with me.’

That did actually make Ivy feel better because he wouldn’t abandon her; as much as because she was still needed for something, though she hadn’t figured out what yet. The journey started off quietly. Breaking the silence, Dax began to fiddle with the stereo until he found a tune he wanted to hear.

‘It will take about an hour to get into the city,’ he said, putting both hands onto the wheel. ‘Just relax and enjoy the ride.’

‘You are a good ride,’ she said and he afforded her a smile then handed her another pair of shades that he produced from somewhere on his door side. The sun was shining but the breeze was cool, this was a perfect California day. She let him get into his groove with the driving and the music before she tried to probe him. ‘Have you got any more fights lined up?’

‘You are not coming to see me fight. Mauri would never have it.’

This gave her the perfect opener. ‘Am I going to meet him?’

‘Today? No. Today I’m taking you on my rounds. It’s about time things got back to normal.’

‘You don’t usually do rounds,’ she said. ‘Do you?’

‘Before you I did,’ he said. ‘I do actually have a job, I don’t just sit around holding women prisoner all the time.’

‘That’s reassuring,’ she said. ‘So what do you do?’

‘You’ll see today,’ he said. ‘Have you ever been arrested? Any probation or outstanding warrants I should know about? Have you been involved in anything criminal?’

‘Nothing serious,’ she answered. ‘Have you?’

‘Don’t be surprised if Mauri knows everything that there is to know about you when you do meet him.’

He hadn’t answered her question, but his statement about Mauri was enough to make her forget about her concerns relating to Dax’s exploits. ‘How would he—‘

‘Mauri’s family have made a lot of money doing what they do, so he has the resources to do pretty much anything he wants. If you filled out information for that phony job, they’ll have your full name and social security number. The rest is just leg work, and most of that can be done at a desk these days.’

She hadn’t considered the personal information that this family had about her. ‘Why would they want to know about me?’

‘Because they chose you,’ he said. ‘And Mauri is particular about knowing everything about people he welcomes into his family. He’ll want to know if you’re bringing any trouble with you.’

‘The only trouble I’ve been around recently is you.’

‘And they know all about that,’ he said, squeezing her thigh then sliding his hand further up under her sundress.

‘Just how much do they know?’ she asked. ‘They know that we’re sleeping together, but do they know the details of that? How does Bruno fit into all of this?’ It was great to finally feel free enough to ask all of the questions she’d been too afraid to ask while in the environment of her captivity.

‘Mauri and Bruno have been friends for years, they worked together for Mauri’s old man when they were kids. Bruno knows everything that Mauri does… just about.’

‘And you? How do you fit in?’

‘I’ve been working for Mauri since I was a kid. He caught me trying to pickpocket him, which was amazing in itself because I was pretty good. I’d been doing it to feed myself for years. Stealing from spectators at fights then getting in the ring to fight for money, that’s how I kept myself alive. Mauri caught me, pinned me down, I thought I was dead. I had no idea who he was.’

‘Did he hurt you?’

‘Took me home with him and fed me, asked about my family, my history, and kept on asking until he knew everything about me. After that, I never left, I grew up in the mansion, not out front with the Stark boys as an official member of the family, but in back, with the household staff. They trained me up and looked after me. As soon as I could, I started to graduate through the ranks of Mauri’s team.’

‘Doing what?’ she asked.

‘Anything he wanted of me, I sold, I couriered, I did everything.’

‘And now you do this?’

‘I do what Mauri asks me to,’ he said, and he must have sensed her aversion.

‘Why didn’t he send you out here alone to deal with me? How many other women have you beaten into submission for him? Do you treat them all like you treat me? Or do you follow Bruno’s methods?’

‘You’re the first, I mean it’s the first time I’ve ever been involved in anything like this. I enforce a lot, and I do interrogate for information and that can take days, sometimes a week. But like this, a woman, no, I’ve never done this.’