Fighting Back (Harrow #2) by Scarlett Finn Read Free Book Online Page B

there, it wasn’t her husband plating up lunch that she focused on, it was the giant standing at his side.
    ‘Ivy,’ Dax said. ‘You remember Serg?’
    Her forced smile couldn’t be confused for genuine, but Dax carried on pulling containers from the brown bag he had on the kitchen counter behind the hutch that concealed the specifics of what he was doing.
    Serg rose from the stool on the living room side of the hutch and came toward her with a hand out, but Ivy took a step back. ‘Don’t come over here,’ she said and Serg stopped.
    Dax looked up at her, then cast his eyes to Serg and brought them back to her. ‘You don’t have to worry about Serg,’ Dax said.
    She wasn’t worried, but she also wasn’t an idiot. The guy was nearly seven feet tall, and his ice blonde hair and narrow eyes were designed to set a person on edge. ‘Who is worried,’ she said without taking her eyes away from Serg. ‘What are you doing here?’
    ‘Catching up,’ Dax answered for Serg and brought three plates around to the dining table.
    If Ivy had superpowers, she’d be reading Dax the riot act through telepathy. To say she was pissed right now, was an understatement. This apartment was supposed to be a safe space, and as much as Serg had not done her direct harm, that didn’t mean that she trusted him.
    Dax sat at the head of the table and began to tuck into his food. Serg picked up a bag from his feet, then sat in a chair next to Dax and pulled out a pile of ledgers, which he pushed over to Dax before tossing the bag aside and tucking into his lunch.
    ‘This is everything?’ Dax asked, Serg nodded. ‘Where’s the little green—‘
    ‘In the front,’ Serg said, leaning down to pull a small dark green, leather-bound book from the front pocket of the bag on the floor.
    He handed it over to Dax, who pushed all of the larger books aside to focus on the little green one. Dax opened it and put it next to his plate. He read a bit and took another mouthful of food. She was still looking at Serg, who glanced up at her and their gazes locked. Dax must have felt the connection because he had been reading, but he looked up at her too.
    ‘Are you gonna stand there all day?’ he asked. ‘Want me to get you a knife from the kitchen? Will that make you feel safer?’ She didn’t appreciate his sarcasm, which she hoped that her glare conveyed.
    ‘You married a lethal weapon,’ Serg said. ‘I might be a big guy, but size doesn’t matter to Dax. I’ve seen him take down guys bigger than me.’
    She trusted Dax to protect her if he had to. But he and Serg were friends and possibly future-colleagues, Dax wouldn’t be pissing off Serg any time soon.
    ‘What is that?’ she asked, nodding to the book that Dax’s hand was open on.
    ‘The unofficial operations log,’ Dax said. ‘This is where we keep track of who owes us what and how long they have to pay it.’
    We. Us. She couldn’t help except to read into what Dax said. He didn’t speak of his life with the Starks in the past tense; he was in the present and very much a part of what Serg was showing him. His eyes went back to the book, and she crept around the table to where he’d put her lunch on the opposite side of the table to Serg’s.
    Now that there was a person in their home whom she considered an intruder, she wasn’t in the slightest bit hungry. But her thoughts jarred, this wasn’t her home. Dax had lived here, but she had spent very little time here herself.
    ‘I’ll leave you men to it,’ she said, lowering her hand to pick up her plate. But Dax snatched her wrist, and she was surprised to see the anger in his eyes when he regarded her.
    ‘Sit down,’ he said, squeezing his grip on her wrist to bring her into the chair perpendicular to his. When she was down, he turned to Serg, but didn’t let go of her. ‘This is a fucking mess.’
    ‘Yeah, things have gone to shit since you’ve been gone,’ Serg said, still eating his lunch. ‘I don’t mind