By the time they drove through the open Stark gates, Ivy had finished about half of her drink, but she didn’t mind putting it aside when Dax took her hand and helped her out of the limo.
The mansion was as imposing as it had been the last time she was here. But with the glittering white lights around the driveway and marking the entrance, it did seem warmer than it had when she was imprisoned here. During that time, she hadn’t seen very much of the interior.
Once they were inside, she was given another glass of champagne in the entrance foyer, while Dax refused a drink. There were plenty of people milling around, but Dax didn’t wait to speak to anyone. Instead of being taken up the stairs, as she was the last time she was here, Dax took her down a corridor and into a grand double-storey space filled with people.
Women wore beautiful gowns and glittering jewels that drew her eye. These people wanted to be admired, they wanted to be respected and revered, but Ivy felt no sense of wonder.
Ensconcing themselves in a far corner, they separated themselves from everyone else. Ivy tightened her grip on Dax’s hand to get his attention. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
‘I want to go home.’
She wasn’t even sure where home was, she had started to think of her home as the man as opposed to any specific location. Dax had told her that they belonged next to each other, and that was right, but this was the enemy lair, so relaxing here was nigh on impossible.
‘We just have to stay long enough to be seen,’ Dax said.
Turning to observe the room behind them, his frown remained static. He kept her back to the wall to shelter her from the false smiles and handshakes which accompanied the string quartet in the opposite corner.
This was a crazy scenario, the Starks were crime bosses, meaning that everyone else in the room was either a criminal or turned a blind eye to the glaring fact that everything here was bought with dirty money. Did these people know how Maurice Stark made his fortune? Or did they believe that the companies built in the Stark name to launder drug money were legitimate?
Dax certainly didn’t seem interested in talking to anyone, and his permanent scowl didn’t speak of a comfortable man who was happy to be here. When his expression got even harder, she peeked around him to see that Trystan was striding over to them.
‘Shit,’ she said and gulped at the champagne.
‘You don’t have to say a word,’ Dax muttered into her hair and kissed her temple as he turned to face Trystan while placing a hand on the small of her back.
‘Well, hello!’ Trystan declared loud enough to draw attention to them. ‘It’s the happy couple, fancy that!’
‘What do you want?’ Dax hissed.
‘I came to offer my congratulations,’ Trystan said, snatching Dax’s hand from his side to shake it.
Dropping Dax’s hand, Trystan leaned in as if to kiss her cheek. Threatened by his proximity Ivy recoiled and gasped. Her reaction prompted Dax to grab Trystan’s lapels and pin him to the perpendicular wall.
Pressing his forearm across the width of Trystan’s chest, Dax got in his face. ‘You stay the fuck away from her,’ Dax hissed.
‘Oh, the jealous type,’ Trystan said. ‘I thought it worked out that we shared everything. Isn’t that how you ended up stealing her from me?’
Ivy didn’t budge from the wall where Dax had put her, but murmurs from around them caused her to peek beyond her husband. The mumbling party guests were catching glimpses of this unfolding display.
‘Dax,’ she whispered, stroking his upper arm.
‘Yeah,’ Trystan said. ‘Listen to your little woman, you’re causing a scene, you know how my father feels about that.’
Attention was what Trystan craved, so ignoring the others in the room, she gripped Dax’s elbow. ‘Why don’t you knock him out, maybe crack a few of those veneers, then we can go home?’ she said.
‘With pleasure,’ Dax said. But his fist didn’t have the chance to rise more than a couple of inches before Maurice materialised with a beautiful woman on his arm.
‘You boys will need to learn to get along,’ Mauri said. ‘Trystan go away from here, I have business with Dax and his wife.’
Dax twisted to shove Trystan back toward the party guests, but once he’d recovered from his stumble, Trystan walked backwards smoothing out his suit. ‘Guess you can’t teach class,’ Trystan said then widened his grin again to disappear into the throng.
‘I’m sorry about him,’ Mauri said to her. Being addressed directly caught Ivy off-guard and she wasn’t quite sure where to look. The only time they had spoken in the past, she had lied to him and pretended to be something that she wasn’t.
Dax returned to her side and flopped an arm around her to haul her body into his. No, he wasn’t particularly refined, but he did know how to put his mark on her, and Ivy loved that about him.
‘You should’ve kept him locked up,’ Dax said to Mauri. ‘We won’t be staying long if that’s the way your guests behave.’
‘I will have another word with him,’ Mauri said, then he whispered something to the woman on his arm and she melted away, leaving the three of them alone. ‘I told you that I had a gift for you.’
‘A gift?’ Dax said.
‘My plan to persuade you,’ Mauri said, he kept smiling at her, and Ivy wasn’t sure she understood or appreciated the attention. ‘I have a gift for both of you. You can consider it a belated wedding gift.’
‘Ok,’ Dax said. ‘Show me.’
‘It’s next door, in the social drawing room, will you join me?’
Mauri started to walk out, and Dax followed, keeping her pinned to his side. Departing the ballroom, they moved down the corridor and stopped upon reaching the next door. Mauri paused to look at Dax but neither man spoke, then Maurice opened the door to enter with them in tow.
A large window took up one wall of this new room, and book cases lined the two side walls. But it was the two women in the room, standing in the centre of a large square rug, which was surrounded by four couches, who were the focal point. Maurice crossed to stand between the women, leaving Ivy and Dax at the door. Neither of the women said anything, but Ivy recognised the one to Maurice’s left.
‘Rosie?’ Ivy asked. Dax’s arm had loosened enough to let her take a step forward, but when his arm left her shoulders, she grabbed for his hand. ‘That’s my sister.’
Her sister grinned, but she didn’t move. ‘Ivy! Oh, wow, look at all of this you have now!’ Rosie exclaimed.
Maurice lifted the hand of the second woman. ‘This is your mother, Dax,’ Mauri said. ‘She can verify everything that we told you. It’s true, son.’
Ivy hadn’t seen her sister for a long time, but that was nothing to Dax, who hadn’t seen his mother since he was still in diapers. It was unmistakable though, Ivy recognised those piercing blue eyes because they matched her husband’s. Ignoring her sibling, Ivy turned around to see how Dax was reacting to this bombshell.
His frown was more of a glare now, his nostrils flared when he inhaled, then without a word, he turned around and walked out of the room alone.
Chapter Ten
Mauri had just presented Dax with a threat that he couldn’t beat out of his way. Given Mauri’s penchant for reuniting family members, it shouldn’t be a surprise to Dax that he’d pulled this stunt, but his mother was the last thing he’d ever think of as a gift.
Storming out of the family filled room, Dax began to head for the exit but stopped mid-stride in the entrance foyer to spin around. Ivy. She was still in that damn room, and he couldn’t walk out of here and abandon her in this place. She hadn’t even wanted to come to this party, but he had insisted nothing untoward would happen, how wrong he had been.
‘Hey,’ Brad said, rushing over to Dax, who was staring at the end of the corridor he’d just come from, hoping that Ivy would emerge. ‘What’s going on?’