Fighting Back

CHAPTER ONE For weeks, the Stark family and everyone else from Dax’s former life were in his rearview. That changed fast. Standing in the parking lot of the apartment building he and Ivy lived in, he’d been talking to Blaser, his new friend and boss, when Ivy’s hand landed on his abs. His wife could cop a feel any time she wanted, but pleasure wasn’t her motivation, she wasn’t even looking at him. Following her line of sight to find what had her transfixed, he was stunned to see a long black limo on the perimeter. Everyone else in the parking lot fixated on the mystery vehicle too. Except it wasn’t a mystery. Not to him. That car was there for him. Such a show of opulence meant only one thing: the Starks had come to town. His assumption was proven correct when the driver got out and rounded the vehicle to open the back door. Brad Stark emerged, buttoning his suit jacket, Dax in his sights. Did he have to make such a f*****g show? Despising being any part of a spectacle, he crossed the parking lot to put an end to it. Still shielded by the open limo door, Brad stood with his head held high, proud of the garish display. Yeah, he loved it while Dax hated it, but he wouldn’t let that show. Why give him the satisfaction? Sauntering up, Dax paid no attention to the chauffeur standing at the head of the open door and came to a stop. With the car door in between them, he waited for Brad to explain himself. “Care to take a ride?” Brad asked, without removing his sunglasses. Since tracking Ivy down at the garage out back around a month ago, they’d lived in the building managed by the same guy who owned the garage. The gathering of residents outside were Brad’s weapon. Making a scene wasn’t part of his agenda, Brad knew that so had his request granted with a single nod. The driver moved aside to let him follow Brad into the car, then closed the door behind them. Dax chose the seat opposite Brad, his back to the screen covered driver’s area. Neither of them spoke until the car got moving. “You need to come home,” Brad said. “If that’s why you’re here, save your breath and your gas,” Dax said. “The answer is no.” “I didn’t ask. I told you, you’re coming home.” “What are you going to do? Drive me to the airport? Sorry, no ID.” “Brought a jet, it’s waiting on a private airstrip.” His first thought was for Ivy. If he got on a jet with Brad, California would be their destination. If he didn’t get on the jet, Brad would keep coming until he got his way. His wife could get caught in the crossfire. Just because he would end up complying with the request didn’t mean he would give up without a fight. “You have to give me something, a reason,” Dax said. “You and Tryst miss me so bad that you had to chase me down?” Brad and Trystan Stark were Maurice Stark’s sons. They had been sort of surrogate brothers to him through the years. Sort of. There was more sibling rivalry than love or support. “Mauri wants to see you, it’s important.” “Sure it is,” Dax said. “I told you I didn’t give a f**k and that hasn’t changed. I’m not interested in Maurice Stark, or you and your brother anymore.” “Still with Dune?” “It’s Harrow,” Dax said, correcting Brad’s use of Ivy’s maiden name. “Oh, that’s right, you married the woman you were supposed to be training for Trystan… You’re lucky he didn’t kill you for that stunt.” In a different environment, Dax might have laughed. “If he wants to start something, he obviously knows where I am. Tell him to come visit. Ivy might even cook.” The little prick’s balls on a skillet. Still counted, right? “You are still with her,” Brad said. “Serg said you were, but I’ve got to say, I didn’t believe it.” Serg was one of Mauri’s henchmen and a one-time close associate of his. “We’re married,” Dax said. “You think I’d have f****d around on the family if I wasn’t sure she was the only female I wanted?” “Do you want us to pick her up? She can join us on the trip.” “I haven’t said I’m going anywhere yet,” he said, clenching his jaw. Maurice Stark exuded arrogance, he was a superior sonofabitch who taught his sons to be the same way. Brad managed it with eminence and authority, Dax did it with aloof indifference, and the youngest, Trystan, used overt ostentatious glitz to show the world he was better than everyone in it. Truth be told, Dax wasn’t like the other two, he was an unofficially adopted Stark. When he was a kid, he’d been caught in the act of picking Mauri’s pocket. Instead of punishing him, Mauri took him home to be raised by the household staff. At least that was the story Dax had been raised to believe for all of his thirty-three years, until Ivy Dune came in and turned his life on its head. After her, he started to ask questions of himself, he rebelled against who the Starks had conditioned him to be. In the process, Mauri revealed some truths he’d rather not know. “Bruno bet money you wouldn’t come,” Brad said. “I took the bet. I knew as soon as you heard he’d bet on you being a coward, you’d leap onto a plane.” Finding out that Bruno, Mauri’s contemporary and right-hand man, was his real father and the real reason that Mauri had taken pity on him as a kid, made him sick to his stomach. Grinding his teeth, he sought distraction in the world sweeping past the window. “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.” “He’ll be loving that,” Dax muttered. Despite there only being a few months age difference between him and Trystan, he referred to Trystan as a child. The little prick still acted like a kid in a candy store as soon as drugs and s*x 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 c**k-sucking perverts anywhere near my wife—” “Ivy’s safe,” Brad said and sighed in his typical condescending way. Brad retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge like the objections bored him. Dax snatched the bottle and tossed it to the floor. Disrespect was the greatest enemy. 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 what all the fuss was about… I also had to test her obedience, 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. 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. 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 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 he 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. 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 Mauri wanted. “Okay,” 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. Ivy’s love for him was real. If he made a big enough deal of it, she would support him in anything. But going back to California, back to the family who had nearly torn them apart… that would take some persuasion.