As I park my Lambo in the garage, completely repaired with new tinted blue windows to match the metallic paint, I spot Lara’s G-Wagon parked in the front.
It’s nice Sofia and Maeve have her in their lives too. They love her. Lara is a better person than that bitch, Anna.
Lara is just like her brothers, fierce and protective.
Rubbing my temples, I try to relieve some of the tension in my skull. Apparently my first week of therapy is supposed to gently break me in. Well fuck, if that was easing, then I have no idea what I’m in for as this goes on.
I won’t give up though. I made a vow to myself and to Sofia that I refuse to break. I never want to go back to that dark place and put the people I love through that again. I’m one of the lucky ones. I had Sofia to drag me out of the depths of hell. A lot of men, they don’t have that.
It’s drilled into us as kids, you don’t cry. You don’t show weakness. You must be strong. When you fall, you don’t cry, you brush yourself off and do it again. Over and over until you can’t take it anymore.
I never had a mom to help me. I lost my dad. All I had was Kai.
I rub the skin on my throat trying to force myself back to reality.
As the front door closes behind me, I rush into the living room when I hear Maeve’s cries and find Lara bouncing her around on her hip.
“Where is Sofia?”
Her lips purse, and it makes my heart beat erratically.
Did she leave? Did I fuck up?
I shake my head, and try to bring myself back.
“She’s upstairs, Jax. I need you to do me a favor…” She trails off.
“What?” I frown, taking Maeve out of her arms and cuddling her against my chest. She grabs my cheek and giggles.
“When you go up there, just keep calm.”
“You do realize telling me to do that will usually have the opposite effect?” I mutter as my heart starts to pound. I settle Maeve on the couch and double take up the stairs. The open office door allows a soft glow from the computer screens to spill into the hallway.
“Sof?”
She spins in my desk chair to face me, tears stream down her cheeks. I dash towards her and lift her gently into my embrace.
“Baby, what’s going on?”
As I look at the screen on the left, my blood runs cold.
The woman from the night I ruined everything.
It makes me sick to even see her.
Sofia forcefully redirects my attention from the computer to her, gripping my jaw.
“You need to watch the footage, Jax.”
I swallow the bile rising in my throat. “I-I can’t.”
She shakes her head, her long hair swaying with the motion.
“It’s not what you think, baby. Sit down.” Her tone is firm and I sink into the leather chair and position her on my lap, clasping her tightly.
As I squint at the screen, the feeling of dread intensifies, causing a sinking sensation in my stomach.
She clicks play on the video.
I can feel my body growing numb with shock as I helplessly watch two large men dragging my unconscious form down a dirty hallway. Leaning forward to get a better look, I can’t make out their faces. I’d bet my life they’re Reapers looking at their leather vests.
The blonde bitch saunters behind them, flicking her hair over her shoulder as they fucking pull me across the floor.
My jaw is so tightly clenched that it feels like a vice.
“Motherfuckers,” I spit out.
Sofia clicks the next video. This one is from earlier, showing me at the booth on the phone to her. The bar is full of bikers.
She points to the woman in the background, who is watching me.
“That’s her,” Sofia says softly.
I blink a few times as the scene unfolds, and she hands me a glass. I remember this. I told her I was having beer.
I hit my palm against my forehead.
Why did I take the drink from her?
“Fuck,” I mutter.
I lean back on the chair, feeling the heat of the inferno raging within me.
I was fucking drugged.
What the hell happened in that room?
And why?
I need answers, and I need them now.
My head spins. I don’t even notice Sofia twist around in my lap to face me.
“Jax.”
I flinch as she shouts trying to get through to me.
Squeezing my eyes shut, adrenaline pumps in my veins with a need for blood.
“Back with me, baby. We need to talk about this before you do anything.”
Her sweet voice drags me back to reality, away from envisioning me ripping these guy’s heads from their shoulders.
“Where did you get the footage?” I ask, tapping my fingers on the arm of the chair.
“Enzo. Lara got his number.”
She averts her gaze and I pull her chin back to face me. She’s holding back.
“The rest. What made you look into this?”
She takes a shaky breath.
“I-I had a call from Anna. It was really weird. She knew the name of the girl that you, umm.”
Fuck.
The pain on her face is still there. Even knowing I was drugged, I still feel disgusting.
Unworthy.
Tears sting in my eyes.
I’ll never be able to remember. I will have to live with this forever. It is always in the back of my mind.
“I never told her anything, Jax. It got me thinking, maybe there is more to it. It never sat right with me. I never believed you would willingly do this to us. I always knew how much you loved us. This proves it.”
A small smile creeps up on her lips, but I don’t understand why. And, what the hell does Anna have to do with this?
Would she really be involved in hurting Sofia? Is she a threat to my family?
“Why do you seem happy about this?”
She shuffles on my lap and loops her arms around my neck.
“Because it proves what I knew all along. You didn’t do it, Jax.”
I rest my head against her chest. Why do I still feel so shitty about it?
“I take it there is no CCTV in the hotel room?” I ask.
“No, Jax. But, now we have a lead. We can get to the bottom of it, if that will help you?”
I snap my head back up and look at her beautiful face, her smile.
“Don’t you need to know, too?”
She shakes her head.
“You were drugged, Jax. Unconscious being dragged across the floor. I want these people to pay for what they did to you, yes. But, what happened that night does not impact our relationship. You did not cheat on me, Jax.”
“Fuck.” I hit my head back against the rest.
I am going to kill these assholes.
Sofia presses a kiss to my cheek. I’m not sure what the hell I did to deserve her love.
Running my fingers through her hair, I crash my lips over hers.
“I’ll find them and make them suffer for all the pain they’ve caused us, sweetheart.”
She pulls back, giving me a naughty grin that has my cock twitching.
“Good.”
“Can you email me the footage?” I ask.
“Yep, one sec.”
She climbs off my lap making a distance I hate. But, I have to get to the bottom of this, to move on and give Sofia all of me. Without it eating away at me every day.
“Done.”
My phone pings, I slide it out and forward it straight to Nikolai with a simple message.
J: We find them and we end them.
His reply is fast as I’m messaging Enzo, asking for information on Anna and anything he can find on these guys involved.
N: Fuck, Jax. Yes. I’ll see you at Mikhail’s meeting?
Shit.
I look at the time.
As I glance up, Sofia is watching me intently, leaning against the desk.
I stand up, feeling the warmth of her body as I place my hands on either side of her.
“I have to go. Mikhail’s called us in.”
Before I pull away, she surprises me by grabbing the chain of my necklace, holding on tightly.
“I love you, Jax.”
“I love you, tigritsa. You have no idea how much.”
“I have some bad news.” Mikhail clasps his hands in front of him on his desk as he looks around the room. “We lost three men last night in a clash with the Reapers. They were sporting high end weapons we haven’t seen them use before and tracking tech that almost exceeds our own. There seems to be more money coming in, and until we can figure out how and where it’s coming from, we need to kill on sight.” His fist balls and bounces against the oak surface with a thud that echoes through the room. “I’m done fucking around. They’re being spotted outside of homes now.”
Shit. I remember hearing the engines. “Yeah, boss. I think they’ve found my place, too.”
Nikolai turns and one of his blonde eyebrows raise before he mouths the word “shit” in my direction.
Even if I am pissed that he lied to me, I understand why he did it, he’s grieving his wife. I know he’s got my back. He is family.
“That does it. Get your families to the casino. We will post extra guards. They aren’t brave enough to come in here. It is time to exterminate those filth like the parazit that they are.” He stands quickly, knocking his chair backwards against the wall. “I’ll offer a million dollar bonus to anyone who can bring me the head of their leader,” he growls into the crowded room.
Murmurs and jostling spread through the gathered men.
It’s a hell of an incentive.
I just want to find the men I saw in the video. Those two assholes nearly cost me everything.
My rings dig into my fingers as I squeeze them tight.
Knowing I didn’t cheat on her soothes the anguish in my soul, but it’s been replaced with fury.
They need to pay for what they almost took from me.
The loves of my life, my girls.
But, now, it’s time to keep them safe.
“You’re with me, Jax.” Nikolai’s giant palm rests on my shoulder briefly as we leave the meeting. “I’m glad you’re back.” A tiny smile turns up the corner of his otherwise serious mouth.
“Thanks. I can’t wait to beat a few of these fuckers to death.” Jabbing the button for the elevator, it’s hard to just stand still as the boiling blood rushes in my veins. Bouncing on my toes like I’m in the ring, I catch Nikolai grinning in the reflection of the silver wall.
“Get your family packing. I’ll pick you up in an hour and send Lara to pick up Sofia, we will get your revenge,” he says as we part ways in the lobby.
“Sounds like a plan.” My bike is parked near the entrance. Within seconds, the hot Vegas wind is cooking past me as I speed through the streets.
Sofia is radiant sitting with Maeve on the couch, reading through a book. Her maroon hair tucked behind her ear, and the light in her eyes when she looks at me, makes me feel like the luckiest man on the planet.
“You’re home fast. Meeting go okay?” Her lips thin slightly. I know she was worried.
“About as expected. Well, maybe a little worse. The Reapers got some of our guys last night and—”
Her gasp interrupts me. “Who?”
“No one you know, baby. But, because of that, Mikhail wants us to bring our families into the safe house. So, you’ll need to pack a bag for you and Maeve. Lara will be here soon to pick you up. I’ll grab one later.” I let my lips linger for an extra long time on her sweet mouth. Then press a long kiss to the top of Maeve’s head.
Sofia’s fingers wrap around my wrist before I back away. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to make them pay for what they did to us.”
