‘Why’d they send you?’ Dax asked, still not tempted to return to the Golden State.

‘Can’t trust Tryst to do anything,’ Brad said. ‘The kid flipped out after you left and went on a binge. Mauri got Serg to track him down and drag him back to the mansion. He’s been pretty much locked up since then.’

‘He’ll be loving that,’ Dax muttered. There were only a few months age difference between him and Trystan, but he referred to Trystan as a kid because he still acted like a child in a candy store as soon as drugs and sex were on offer.

‘Mauri wants you back. Serg’s been watching you, we sent him ahead, so he could give us the skinny on what you’ve been doing – working security at that strip joint, Risqué? Got your wife answering phones at an auto garage? Come on, you know you’re worth more than this. Come home.’

‘Why? To jump back into enforcing? You want me running the operation again?’

‘No one did it better.’

‘I have a life here, a wife.’

‘We’re not asking you to leave her behind, bring her. You can stay in the mansion together or move into your old place, I know you haven’t sold it yet.’

‘Been a little busy.’

‘Then it all works out,’ Brad said, opening his arms. ‘If you’re planning on living here you’ll need to come back home to sell your apartment. You’ll need to pack up and move, right? You can stay in the mansion while you do that.’

Sitting forward, Dax propped his elbows on his knees and looked Brad square in his eyes. ‘If you think that I’m going to trust you cock-sucking perverts anywhere near my wife—‘

‘Ivy’s safe,’ Brad sighed.

The condescending impatience displayed by Brad retrieving a bottle of water from the fridge was meant to rile Dax and it succeeded. Dax snatched the bottle and tossed it to the floor. The men stared each other down until Brad relented and spoke to reinforce his declaration.

‘Mauri has told everyone to accept her as your wife. All the guys know it, so she’s safe.’

Mauri’s word was absolute, but Dax didn’t trust Brad any more than the motherfucker trusted him. ‘Like when you tried to take her from me at the beach house?’ Dax asked, Brad’s bottom lip twitched. ‘You came to that party and tried to get her to leave with you. What was that about?’

‘Good old-fashioned double cross,’ Brad said. ‘Trystan wanted her, you had her, I was curious as to what all the fuss was about… I also had to test how obedient she was, to see how dependent on you she had become.’

‘And were you surprised?’

‘That she refused? No,’ Brad said. ‘But I didn’t see the love, I didn’t see how dependent you’d become on her. You two played a good game.’

Dax wasn’t interested in impressing Brad. ‘Why now? Why should I come back when—‘

‘He’s sick, Mauri is sick… We should’ve figured it out when he pulled that trick about Tryst marrying Ivy, he’s known for months. It’s cancer, stage four, inoperable, he’s got about four months.’

Wiping a hand over his mouth, he sat back. Much as Mauri pissed him off during the Ivy situation he was the closest thing Dax had to a father and no one wanted to receive news like this about family.

His hand slid off his thigh to seek out its mate, its partner, except it wasn’t there because his wife wasn’t present. Ivy had become his support, and without her here, he was lost as to the appropriate way to react.

‘He wants to say goodbye?’ Dax asked.

Mauri wasn’t exactly the sentimental type, but Dax had grown up listening to the man talk. Mauri had counselled him on everything from girls to his fighting technique. The world wouldn’t be any worse off with one less crime boss in it, but Dax would be worse off without his mentor.

‘He wants to settle old debts,’ Brad said. ‘Least that’s what I think, he wouldn’t give me details… Since you left, he hasn’t been the same, and I know he’s not happy with the way things ended. Come back, hear him out. Say goodbye to the man who made you who you are.’

He could refuse, but then he’d never know what it was that Mauri wanted. ‘Ok,’ Dax conceded. ‘Take me back to the apartments, we’ll leave in the morning.’

‘We can go right now, we’ll get you on a plane and Serg can pick up—‘

‘Ivy won’t go anywhere with anyone except me; she’s a clever girl and my responsibility. She doesn’t trust you bastards any more than I do, which is why she won’t leave my side for a second. Take me home and come back in the morning.’

‘If you’re just picking her up then why—‘

‘She doesn’t jump at anyone’s command. She’ll need time to warm up to the idea of going back to the family who tried to take over her life.’

That was an understatement. Dax knew that Ivy’s love for him was real, and if he made a big enough deal of it then she would support him in just about anything. But going back to California, back to the family who had nearly torn them apart… that would take some persuasion.

Ivy put the last plate in the cupboard and glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. Brad Stark coming back into their lives spelled trouble, there were no two ways about it. That he'd come across the width of the country to seek Dax out meant that they were serious about wanting him back. It couldn't be anything else, there was no other reason for Brad to be here.

If Trystan had been the one to show up, he’d have been hell bent on revenge. Brad wasn’t so shallow; he did his father’s bidding, but he didn't do his dirty work. If Maurice Stark wanted harm to come to her or Dax then he had minions to do that for him.

The image of Dax entering that car without looking back was imprinted on the inside of her eyelids, which was why she’d kept herself busy cleaning up their apartment.

Their new life here was good, they were making friends and adjusting to life in their fresh environment. Dax had even found himself a couple of fights. Much as she didn’t like to see him come home bloodied, she knew that his love of the underground circuit was a part of who he was.

But with Brad back and Dax willing to hear him out, she could see their lives here being disrupted. There were too many questions about the past that she and Dax couldn’t answer if their new friends asked.

Wiping down all of the kitchen counters, she reminded herself how far Dax had come. The possibility existed that he would tell Brad to go to hell and if he did there would be a major reward in it for him coming from her.

The living-kitchen area of their home ran the breadth of the front of the apartment and had windows flanking the entrance. A narrow corridor at the rear of the property led to the bathroom and bedroom. There wasn’t much left to clean up, so her distraction, needed to keep her mind off Dax, was beginning to dry up.

The front door opened, and she tried not to display the flood of relief that overcame her. Coming home so soon, when she’d half expected him to be gone for days, was a good sign. Going to the fridge to retrieve the dinner steaks, Ivy was ready to forget that she’d ever cast her eyes on Brad again.

‘I got these from a place Bri recommended,’ she said of their female neighbour who she’d become friends with.

‘That’s it?’ Dax asked.

He came up behind her and slid one hand over her hip while the other scooped her hair out of his way, then his warm lips touched the artery pulsing in her neck. Ignoring his actions, she carried on seasoning the steaks.

‘The butcher is supposed to be amazing. The guys at the garage were jealous when I said I’d picked them up, and for what they cost…’

The hand on her hip carried on around to her belly, his other hand skimmed down her arm, and he pried her fingers away from the knife she’d just picked up.

‘Dax,’ she whined, but when he unbuttoned her shorts, she smiled. ‘You have to be at the club in an hour, and I have to feed you before—‘

‘I stopped at Blaser’s before I came up, he’s giving us some time off.’