3

CHAPTER 3

DAX'S POV

Walking out of the club with heavy breaths, it was a struggle not to take things further with Ruby right there in that room but it was against the club rules so I had to stick with only having her close for a while before she pulled away and I announced I was leaving without sparing her a glance.

It was too much to handle being in the same space with her and I didn't trust myself enough to hold back. I missed her so damn much.

"Simon, book me a flight back to New York tonight. I have an early morning meeting tomorrow" I said to my bodyguard once I got into my car while loosening my tie to get more air and our eyes met through the rearview mirror.

He looked concerned but he knew better than to say anything except he wanted to lose his job that he'd had for the past fifteen years.

So he nodded his head while grabbing the steering wheel.

"Noted sir. I'll take you to the hotel now" he replied and it was my turn to nod this time before he drove off toward the hotel where I had lodged since I arrived in Denmark that morning.

There was never a business meeting for me in Denmark, I didn't even have business partners in the country so I lied to Magenta… Ruby. I knew who she was as I had her trailed and monitored since the day I saw her at the funeral because I wasn't ready to let her go a second time.

Not after eight years of longing for her.

She made it pretty obvious after I broke up with her over the phone that she never wanted to be found because I tried… I used all the resources I had, hired the best trackers I could find to locate her but they were all futile. Ruby had disappeared into thin air and I wasn't sure I was ever going to see her again.

That was until the funeral and there she was, eight years later and still looking breathtaking as ever. Seeing her again felt like the void I had in my heart was suddenly filled and I didn't want to lose that feeling because it felt so good. So exhilarating.

I felt so alive and relieved after setting my eyes on her after eight years of being in the dark about her whereabouts and wellbeing so if she thought I wasn't going to have her monitored, then she had to be joking because I wasn't letting her go again. I was going to find out everything about her just to feel closer to her.

I wondered how she was faring, I wanted to know how life had been for her but I knew I had no right to ask her that, not after what I did to her and how I destroyed all she ever had in a single day. The protective glare from the woman who was beside her at the funeral said that much to me.

It always ate into my conscience and inflated my guilt on how I abandoned her and ruined her life with just one call. I should have known better, I should have gone against my father and insisted that I wasn't letting her go even if she was adopted but due to the pussy that I was, I let him decide for me.

Then he died a year later and it felt like it was all a waste to let her go. I felt like the biggest jerk of the decade.

She got cut off by her adoptive father, Michael too since she had become useless to him and it was an inner battle not to make him regret doing so but I had to hold back for her sake because, at the end of the day, he fathered her since she was ten. Even though it was all for his selfish benefit.

"We've arrived at the hotel, sir. I'll book a flight while you get ready" Simon interrupted my thoughts and I realized we were parked at the hotel's entrance. Without a word, I got out of the car and walked in to have a shower and my suitcase ready to leave for New York.

Now that I had seen Ruby, knew where she worked and where she lived, I was definitely coming back and I didn't care how long it was going to take.

All I knew was that I was going to make her mine again because that was what she had always been from the moment I saw her on her prom night and fell for her smile… mine.

**********

RUBY'S POV

I had my self control tested. I was trying to calm a tornado in my head when Dax had made me straddle him and was way too close to me.

I could feel all the contours of his thick warm thighs beneath his black pants and when he made me feel how hard he was for me, I panicked at that moment.

However, panicking seemed to work in my favor too since I didn't give in to the feral thoughts in my head and instead, pushed myself off of him while letting him know that such intimate contact wasn't allowed between clients and dancers. I was breathless with want.

Noticing his jaw tick after I said that to him, I wondered if he was angry because without a word, he walked out and left me there in the room, a confused turned on mess. I was scared he would mess up my good record with Avery with a complaint but he didn't.

Instead, he left me a huge tip, almost half my salary, and Avery kept wanting to know what I did that made him so satisfied but I was even more confused.

What was Dax thinking? Why did he leave me such a huge tip when he didn't even know who Magenta was?

Did he even genuinely feel sorry when he saw me at the funeral weeks ago?

Because if he really was, he wouldn't be here in the first place to watch a strip dancer for pleasure.

The thought of that ignited a pit of melting rage in me and it unsettled me. I didn't want to be feeling this way about Dax.

I got home and my heart fell when I saw Sally was still awake due to how late it was but she was just her regular energetic and cheerful self when she saw me.

I had a huge grin on my face when I saw her run toward me and I held my hands open to envelop her in a tight hug.

"I missed you so much, Mum. Aunt Clarissa said you had to work late again" my seven-year-old Sally said while I dragged in the scent of her baby perfumed hair. I missed her so much.

Pulling back to look her in the face, I nodded and bopped her gently on the tip of her nose with a finger then I let her down before we both walked into the kitchen where Clarissa was.

"That's right, Sally. I had to work late but I'm home now and guess what I got…"

"It's too late for her to have chocolate ice cream, Ruby. You know that" Clarissa cut in from where she was busy kneading a piece of dough on the kitchen counter but all I did was wink at Sally and she grinned in response while we ignored Clarissa's warning.

Sally's favorite dessert was chocolate ice cream and it was always my ticket to bribing my way out of situations where I couldn't give her an answer or explanation. She was way too young to know and understand the kind of job I did so it was best to keep her in the dark.

Together, along with Clarissa, we all enjoyed a few spoons of the ice cream together before I tucked Sally into bed and in a few minutes, she was out cold and it knotted a twist in my heart to know that she was fighting off her sleepiness just to see me before going to bed.

With a sigh, I walked out of her room and joined Clarissa in the kitchen where she was preparing several batches of cookies to supply to several bakeries the next day.

Even though her family was almost as rich as Dax's, she had insisted that she wanted to do what she wanted and they let her have her way so here she was, my housemate, Sally's aunt, and a pastry business owner and she was rapidly growing.

I was very proud to be her friend.

"How was work? Any jerk client I should take care of for you?" She asked me as if she could even wield a knife to save herself and I giggled while taking a piece of cookie to eat.

As much as I wanted to tell her about Dax, I wasn't sure if it was right to do so yet. A part of me wanted to keep that information to myself for a while so I decided to not let her know… yet.

"It was alright, just a normal night with a normal client. He even left me a huge tip" I told her while evading her eyes and the way she nodded in response made me feel like she knew I was hiding something but she didn't push it.

Maybe because she believed I was going to tell her when I was ready.

As I went to bed that night, all I could think about was Dax. After eight years, he was still haunting me at the back of my mind rent free. Then there was Sally with his green eyes and cupid lips to remind me of him all the time too.

I loved my daughter–our daughter so much but I never had the intention of letting him know that he had a child with me. He didn't deserve to know or be her father.

What he deserved instead, was a taste of his medicine. I didn't know what I was going to do yet or how long it would take me but I was determined to make Dax Kellen pay.

I was going to make him regret the day he let me go because I was going to take something precious from him too.

I was going to take my revenge and he was never going to see me coming.