Page 79 of Thorns of Malice

No matter how much I don't want to be, I'm still in love with Dax Carrington.

14

Dax

"Don't let my car past the gates. Call me when she arrives," I order security over the phone, then hang up and run to the garage.

My phone rings when I open the door. "Chad. Is she there?"

"No. Your car's at your old cottage," he informs me.

She doesn't want to leave.

Not yet.

My heart beats faster. "Did she get out of the car?"

"Yeah. She got out and went inside."

"Thanks." I hang up the phone, debating what to do, and then get into a golf cart.

The full moon illuminates the lawn, but I know the yard like the back of my hand. It could be pitch-black and I'd still get wherever I needed to go. So I cross the estate and park in front of my old cottage.

A wave of nostalgia hits me. I stare at the lighted window, the hairs on my arms rising.

The cottage represents the only thing I yearned for as a child.

Freedom.

For as long as I could remember, I wanted to sever the connection to my family—except when my grandfather died and his trust stipulations became known.

After that, it was merely a waiting game; I was biding my time until I could implement all the changes I carefully crafted to put everyone in my family in their place.

Ultimately, that meant disappearing from my life forever.

I've achieved my goal for my parents. The only people left are Avery and Cooper. And although Avery's got it coming to her, Cooper is just a lazy waste of space. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of Bobby. And it doesn't surprise me.

Once I distanced myself from Bobby, he made it his mission to take my brother under his wing. I warned Cooper to stay away from Bobby, but he wouldn't listen. So he's made his own bed. Eventually, I'll also figure out how to get him off the estate.

As of now, I have no reason to speed up the trajectory of his future. The way he spends money, he'll deplete his entire trust fund before he's thirty. And he can deal with the consequences of his irresponsibility.

He's capable of working like everyone else, but he spends a ton of time with Bobby in the South of France. So he's out of my hair a lot, unlike Avery.

The light goes out, the cottage turns dark, and my stomach twists into knots. If this were ten years ago, I'd be giddy over everything that happened tonight.

Yet I'm not that same bored kid. There's nothing fun or joyous about Ivy's grief or need for revenge.

I need to see her.

Be patient.

I wait an hour and then I quietly go inside. I creep through the main area and enter the bedroom.

I stop in the doorway. The moonlight shines through the window, creating an angelic glow around Ivy, in the same way it used to. Her pouty, faded whore-red lips make my dick just as hard as ever.

I sit in the chair in my old room, watching her sleep, wondering how everything between us could be so fucked-up.

She still loves me. I know she does.

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