Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations)

MAXWELL
INVESTIGATIONS

Tangled Temptations

Precarious Possessions

HIGH
COUNCIL

Dragon’s
Awakening

Precarious Possessions

Maxwell Investigations Book 2

Dawn
Ibanez

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or
dead is coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 Dawn Bond-Ibanez

All rights reserved. In accordance
with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning uploading, and electronic
sharing of any part of this e-book without the permission of the publisher is
unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would
like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior
written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected]
. Thank you for your
support of author’s rights.

To the woman that has had my back no matter how mad
she is with me.

Pansy Ibanez

Without you there would be no me. Thank you for
everything Ma!

Prologue
-

March 2008

Troy rode up to his father’s office and slowly took off his
helmet. He had to admit it was strange hearing from his father. The two of them
had not in spoken years. In some ways, Troy felt like he was letting both his
mother and father down by his choice in profession. The district attorney and
doctor had high hopes for their oldest son. When Troy came home from college
and announced that he wanted to tend bar, neither had taken the news well.

That was their problem. Troy had a good thing going for him.
While he was not rolling in money, he had enough for his motorcycle, a roof
over his head, and food in his stomach. The only thing he was missing was a
woman by his side to share it.

And that problem was going to be solved later. The man that
left him Madison’s picture also wrote his phone number on the back of it. Troy was
going to find her. After the night they had, it would not be right to leave
things unsettled between them. If he could only find a way to talk to her, then
maybe he could convince her to give him a shot.

The office’s main doors opened and Troy saw one of his
sisters walking through the entrance. “Hey Chelle,” he greeted pleasantly. His
smile fell when he saw the glare she was giving him.

“Did you have to break his wrist?” she asked hotly.

His good mood he evaporated. Troy remembered his
brother-in-law’s comments about Madison the other night. He also remembered
Madison’s brothers listening to the whole conversation. “He’s lucky that his
wrist was the only thing broken,” he said lowering the kickstand to his bike.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Michelle asked folding
her arms over her body.

Troy took a slow breath as he looked at his sister. “You
don’t know what happened,” he warned, “And unless you want to know what your
husband does when he’s out, you’ll leave me alone.”

Michelle’s lips tightened. “That’s not fair.” When Troy
moved to go to the office building, she followed. “Jack’s been nothing but nice
to you.”

Troy rounded on her. “He insulted my girlfriend,” he said
matching her tone. “And he did it in front of her brothers.” When brown eyes blinked
at him, he continued. “He probably never even told you how he thought she was
cute. All tits and ass and blow-me lips.”

Michelle shook her head. She could believe Jack said those
things, but she was surprised that he would be so careless. “How much did you
give him to drink?”

A disgusted snort left him. “Dad said he wanted to see me,”
he said before turning to go inside.

“Don’t brush me off,” Michelle snapped as she grabbed his
arm. When he turned to glare at her, she continued. “You’re the one that
brushed off school and decided to wallow in that cesspool. You should know when
you need to cut someone off.”

“I’m not going to stand here and have this argument with
you.”
 
Troy pulled his arm away from her
and walked away. Once he reached the elevators, he turned and saw that she was
still near the entrance fuming. “Maybe you need realize when a man spends more
time with me drunk than with you sober, it’s not a marriage. If you don’t want
him in my bar, you keep him home,” he called out to her as he stood in front of
the elevator.

Troy growled low in his throat when he saw his other sister
frowning at him and Michelle from the office next to him.

Tara Davenport leaned against the doorframe and sighed, “Do
I need boxing gloves, or popcorn?”

Troy ran his hands through his hair. “You talk to her,” he
ordered. “I need to go see Dad.”

Tara nodded as she walked closer to Troy. With the ease of a
baby sister, she reached up and kissed his cheek. “He said that you’d be
stopping by.” She gave him a mischievous smile. “He also said something about
you giving me front row tickets to the Rolling Stones show for my birthday.”

“He did not,” Troy mused tugging gently on a lock of her
hair.

Tara rolled her eyes. “That’s what you say now,” she said
walking over to where Michelle stood fuming. “
There’s
only 120 shopping days until my birthday. You need to catch up. Dad’s already
getting me a diamond necklace.”

Troy laughed. Tara had a habit of trying to get a bigger and
better gift out of any and
everyone
. She was a terror
around Christmas, but even with her antics, he had to adore her. “Brat,” he
called pressing the button for the elevator.

He did not have to wait long for the elevator to arrive.
Troy stepped into the small car and pressed the button for the third floor. The
medical building that housed both his father and sister’s medical practices was
rather warm and welcoming. They were nothing like the stark, clinical offices
he remembered from his childhood.

He hated going to the doctor. The elevator doors opened
before his thoughts could wander further. Troy walked down the hall to his
father’s OB/GYN office. He smiled as he approached the receptionist. “Hey
Reeny
, is the old man in?” he asked.

Large blue eyes rolled. “Yes Troy. You know he’s waiting for
you,” she said glancing away from her computer. “There’s someone he wants you
to meet.”

Troy frowned at her comment. “Who?” he asked sitting on the
edge of her desk.

“Mr. Wolfe. He’s the owner of Haven, and apparently he and
Connor have been friends for years.” Maureen smiled at Troy. “Maybe Connor
pulled some strings and got you a new job.”

Troy was doubtful. This whole meeting was starting to sound
odd. He straightened and glanced at his friend. “He may have,” Troy lied.
Maureen adored his father as if he were her own. He did not want to harm the
image she had. “I’ll see you on the way out,” he said before going to the
closed office door.

Just as he was about to knock, a small woman opened the
door. Her violet eyes gazed at him with a curious expression. “You must be Troy,”
she greeted. When he blinked at her, she moved to the side, “Come on in.” For
some reason, her unusual gaze fell to his neck and she smirked.

“Troy,” a familiar voice said from deeper in the office. It
made Troy finally take notice of the other oddities of his visit. Dr. Connor
Davenport stood looking out of his window with a deep frown on his face. “Come
in Son. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

The frown on Troy’s face deepened as he looked at the man
lounging on his father’s office sofa. His dark hair was pulled back into a
ponytail and his eyes were hidden by a pair of thick sunglasses. He wore all
black and had a look that clearly stated that he didn’t belong anywhere near an
OB/GYN office. Troy turned his eyes back to Connor as the woman walked over to
the stranger and sat. “What’s going on here Dad?” he asked lowly.

Connor rubbed his blue eyes as he thought about what he had
to do. He turned to Troy with a serious expression. “Troy, I would like for you
to meet Dennis Wolfe,” he said gesturing to the stranger.

Troy looked at Dennis. He nodded, but did not make any moves
to shake his hand. He turned his attention to Connor, but made sure to keep
Dennis in his line of sight. “What is this all about?” he asked again.

“You’re a smart boy,” Dennis commented from his seat. He saw
the way Troy’s back straightened and removed his sunglasses. “You figure it
out.”

Troy looked at Dennis and slowly inhaled. The other man was
looking back at him with golden eyes….

Golden eyes that mirrored his own.
The
longer he looked at Dennis, Troy could see other resemblances. They had the
same shade of brown hair, similar angular features. There was no doubt that he
was related to this man.

Dennis frowned as he leaned up from his position on the
sofa. Evidently Troy was not as quick on the uptake as he would have liked.
“I’m your father, boy.”

Troy frowned as he turned his head back to Connor. “What the
hell is this?” he asked. When Connor stood silent, Troy felt his temper rise.

Connor took a slow breath. This was not going to be easy to
explain. “Your mother and I never hid that I was your stepfather from you,”
Connor reasoned. “Dennis.…”

Troy’s hands automatically curled into fists. “You said that
you didn’t know anything about my real father.” He looked at Dennis and fought
the growl trying to rise in his throat. “Even Mom said that she didn’t remember
the night she conceived me.”

Dennis shook his head, “Belle doesn’t remember anything
about me. I made sure of it.”

“Bullshit,” Troy growled. His entire body was tense as he
looked at the man that was claiming to be his father. “You’re not even old
enough to be my father.”

“That’s because I’m a Werewolf,” Dennis confessed simply.
Had he been speaking to anyone else, the look on Troy’s face would have been
comical. The boy’s eyes went round to the point where he could see the whites
around his pupils. His tightened jaw slowly fell open in shock. If there was
not so much on the line, he would have laughed. “I age differently than
humans.”