Chapter 2

"She's my daughter," I said, my voice sharp, pulling Emma closer to my side. I felt a primal urge to shield her, to make myself a wall between her innocence and Dax's poisonous presence.

Dax took another step, his eyes still glued to Emma, a desperate hunger in them. "Your daughter?" he repeated, the words tasting foreign on his tongue.

"Yes, my daughter," I affirmed, my tone leaving no room for argument. "And your wife is waiting, Mr. Roth. I suggest you attend to her." My gaze flickered to Charley, whose face had hardened into a mask of polite fury.

Cristopher, my Cristopher, emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. He saw Dax, saw the tension, and his easy smile vanished. He moved to my side, a silent, comforting presence.

"Everything alright, Alice?" he asked, his voice low and steady. His eyes, warm and reassuring, met mine, then flickered to Dax with a warning.

Dax' s eyes narrowed at Cristopher. "Who are you?" he demanded, his voice suddenly hard.

"Cristopher Bennett," Cristopher replied, extending a hand that Dax ignored. "Co-owner of The Haven. Is there a problem, sir?"

The accusation in Cristopher's tone was clear. Dax hesitated, his gaze sweeping over us, the protective circle we formed around Emma. He saw my wedding ring, a simple silver band Cristopher had given me last year, and his eyes darkened. Anger, cold and possessive, flared in them.

"No problem," Dax muttered, finally turning to Charley. "Let's go. We have a reservation."

He moved past me, but his eyes lingered on Emma for a fraction of a second too long. A shiver ran down my spine. The ghost of our past had not only returned but had brought its family to my doorstep.

Later that evening, long after Dax and his entourage had settled into their suites, I found myself tracing the faint scar on my wrist. It was a reminder, a physical testament to the life I had almost lost, and the life I had fought to build.

Dax Roth. The name tasted like ash in my mouth. He was the golden boy, the self-made tech titan, the rags-to-riches story the media adored. But his rags were a carefully crafted narrative, woven with threads of pity and manipulation. My pity. My family's resources.

I remembered the day I first saw him. A raw, angry youth, barely eighteen, caught in a street brawl near my father's construction site in a grittier part of New York. I, a naive socialite playing at charity work, had stumbled upon the scene. He was outnumbered, bleeding.

I had intervened, foolishly, getting a nasty cut on my arm in the process. He looked at me then, his eyes burning with a mix of fury and something else I couldn't quite decipher. Shame, perhaps. Or calculation.

I took him to a nearby clinic, paid for his stitches. He told me his name was Dax. He was an orphan, he said, scraping by, brilliant but trapped. His story, delivered with a quiet intensity, tugged at something deep inside me. He spoke of a deceased mother, a woman with striking features, who had always believed in him. He showed me a worn photograph of her. She was beautiful, with high cheekbones and intense eyes.

I cleaned him up, fed him. I saw past the dirt and the anger to the fierce intelligence in his eyes, the hunger to prove himself. I saw a project, a soul to save. My father, a real estate magnate with a soft spot for my idealism, listened patiently as I recounted Dax's plight.

"He's got potential, Dad," I'd pleaded. "He just needs a chance."

My father, a man who built his empire from nothing, saw a reflection of his younger self in Dax's ambition. He offered Dax a scholarship to a prestigious university, a chance to escape his past. Dax, with a raw intensity that both thrilled and unnerved me, accepted.

He excelled. Straight A's, coding projects that blew away his professors, a relentless drive that made everyone around him seem sluggish. My father, impressed, took Dax under his wing after graduation, teaching him the ropes of business, introducing him to his network. Dax was like a sponge, absorbing everything, always pushing, always learning. He was everywhere, in our lives, in our home, becoming almost a surrogate son to my father.

I admired him, then I fell for him. It wasn't a slow burn. It was a sudden, overwhelming rush. His ambition, his intelligence, the way he looked at me like I was the only person who truly understood him. I convinced myself it was love. A deep, profound love, born of shared struggle, of me believing in him when no one else did.

Then, tragedy struck. My mother, battling a long illness, took a sudden turn for the worse. My father, distraught, tried to fulfill her last wish – a specific kind of rare orchid she loved. He drove out of state, desperate to find it. On his way back, he got the call that my mother was gone.

In his grief and haste, he lost control of the car. He died instantly, a vibrant orchid crushed beneath the wreckage, soaked in his blood.

In one devastating day, I lost both my parents. My world imploded.

Dax was there. He became my rock, my anchor in the storm. He handled everything – the funeral arrangements, the legalities, shielding me from the vultures circling my father's suddenly vulnerable empire. He was strong, steady, unwavering.

One evening, after the last mourner had left, Dax knelt before me, his eyes filled with a raw, desperate love. "Alysa," he said, his voice thick with emotion, "let me take care of you. Let me be your family. Your father gave me everything. I swear, I will spend my life making sure you never feel alone, never want for anything." He produced a small, velvet box. Inside, a diamond ring, simple but elegant. "Marry me. Let me protect you."

I was lost, heartbroken, clinging to the only stability I had left. I said yes. He promised me a new beginning, a lifetime of devotion. I believed him. I wanted to believe him. I needed to.

Looking back, the scar on my wrist throbbed. The pain was more than physical. It was the ache of a naive heart, mistaking gratitude for love, desperation for destiny. I had been so young, so vulnerable. He had been so convincing.

I had given him everything. My love, my trust, my family's legacy. He had taken it all. And then he had tried to take my very soul.

The painful echo of that past felt dangerous now. Dax was here. And his gaze on Emma, my Emma, was a threat I was not prepared for.