Read Fighting Back (Harrow #2) for Free Online

there,’ Dax said. He would agree too, but as he’d said to Ivy, he couldn’t regret how the Starks had acted, because it brought Ivy into his life, it brought them together.
    ‘I would love to see her,’ Maurice said. ‘To see you together.’
    Which was something Mauri had never witnessed. The request piqued Dax’s interest. Mauri had met Ivy, but she had played the old man, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear and making him believe that their brainwashing had worked on her.
    ‘Why?’
    ‘The woman got into your head, that’s something not even I can boast.’
    ‘You were in my head alright,’ Dax said, slugging the last of the whisky and sliding the glass onto the table. ‘You’ve been in my head since I was thirteen.’
    ‘Obviously not, or my words would have worked when I asked you to bring Ivy to us.’
    ‘Protecting her is my number one priority.’
    ‘As it should be, you’re her husband, and a formidable force. She’s lucky that she has you in her corner.’
    ‘I’m not bringing her here,’ Dax said. ‘Not until I see Trystan for myself. If I can’t trust that bastard to keep his hands off—‘
    ‘You can trust him,’ Mauri said. ‘He’s been in his suite for weeks. We’ve kept him entertained.’
    Which meant Mauri had allowed the booze and the hookers to come here. Trystan would only put up with being incarcerated at the mansion if the party came to him on a regular basis.
    ‘And Bruno?’ Dax asked though the name stung him.
    ‘What about him? He’s around.’
    ‘He doesn’t want to take over the operation?’
    ‘He and I have… we’ve struggled to see eye-to-eye about this whole affair. Things between us are strained at the moment.’
    ‘What affair?’ Dax asked. ‘Ivy and me or what you’re suggesting happens to the company?’
    ‘Both. Mostly he blames me for confessing the truth to you about your lineage.’
    ‘Lineage,’ he scoffed. ‘I don’t give a fuck what you say, that man is not my father.’
    ‘Not in any traditional sense, no, I’d concur with that. But biologically, there is no refuting—‘
    ‘I can refute it,’ Dax said.
    He hadn’t told Ivy about what Maurice had blurted out during their midnight meeting because he didn’t want to face the idea that it could be true. One of the country’s most notorious gangsters couldn’t be his father. Bruno’s legend was filled with dark spots of torture and murder.
    Bruno had a sadistic urge that Ivy had met during her last experience with him. Bruno had beaten her, caged her, fondled her at will, and turned her into his personal slave. All the while Dax had steered clear, turning a blind eye to the torment she went through only to enjoy her in the nights when she came to him for sanctuary.
    Maybe that was how she’d gotten into his heart. He’d never given it much thought, how she wormed her way into his affections, but he did now. Seeing her being put through humiliating experiences, and showing up each day with fresh bruises, he was amazed that she didn’t complain; she never simpered or withdrew.
    How she held on to her strength was a mystery to him, but it was the respect he had for that strength that wouldn’t allow him to lose her. She was a woman to be admired and revered, he was still in awe of her even today.
    ‘We can do blood tests if—‘
    ‘Why would I want proof of it?’ Dax asked, springing out of his seat and storming toward the fireplace. ‘I don’t want to think that my biological father has…’ He couldn’t bring himself to say the words.
    ‘Felt up your wife?’ Mauri asked. Dax whipped around, bearing his teeth at the idea of any man touching Ivy. ‘I know what happened at the beach house. No one knew at that stage what was happening between you and Ivy. Tell me, when did you know that you loved her?’
    ‘You think I’m going to tell you?’
    That particular realisation hadn’t smacked him in the face until he lost her. He had known that something was going