Chapter Fifty-Six
Jax
She’s right.
The little snoop is right.
James left everything to me. It’s in plain ink as I shuffle through the papers, but I just can’t believe it. I know I’m his oldest son, but fuck if I wasn’t sure he’d rather give the company to a stray dog.
“When did you come in here?” Kira whispers to Nix as if she’s in a mausoleum, looking around James’ office and hugging herself.
“Do you want me to be honest, or should I lie?” Nix asks.
I don’t have to look up to imagine the look Kira gives her.
“He was out of town,” Nix groans, duly chastised. “You were still in the hospital.”
Jesus, I have every mind to actually believe she was planning this. She’s lucky James doesn’t believe in cameras—they get used against you way too often in court—otherwise she would be the one on the dining room floor right now.
“I can’t believe you,” Kira sounds exasperated, but in her defense, it’s not every day you watch someone you love kill someone in cold blood.
I hate to say it, but I saw this coming.
Not James specifically, but Nix. She was too unfazed with Marshal.
And once you get that kind of experience under your belt, it opens a door—one I suspect flew wide open for her when she killed Marshal.
If your hands are already dirty, what’s a little more, if it means you get what you want?
No one realizes how easy life becomes when you can just off anyone who gets in your way.
But I warned Nix, back when I was ripping up floorboards, that it doesn’t come without consequences, that it rots your soul—if you have one.
And I know Nix Noland has one. This is going to catch up with her if she’s not careful.
It’s one thing if she truly believed Marshal and James deserved it, but if she accidentally takes liberties against someone who makes her question her choices, the guilt will eat her alive.
I should know.
My conscience isn’t clean. I’ve had to do things that will follow me for the rest of my life, things that I would give anything to erase from my mind. I’ve learned to turn it off, find a numb place to rest knowing there’s no other option, but now that James is gone…
I suddenly have the urge to thank Nix for doing what I couldn’t, but I refrain. I don’t think she needs that kind of encouragement right now. Instead, I reread the document.
I am to take over all contracts, written and verbal.
That means whatever seedy deals James had are now mine to make good on, to make sure the firm makes good on.
All favors owed, mine to collect. All alliances, mine to uphold.
I could give a fuck about the money, it’s the trade of power that has my blood thrumming, the freedom.
I run a hand down my mouth, scanning the legal jargon for any clauses that could mean otherwise. After a moment, Nix sighs impatiently.
“I told you,” she says. “It’s all you. Just like I said. So can we do something with the body now? I don’t like moving them when they’re stiff.” She crinkles her nose.
Under any other circumstance, I would cut her a glare that would make her blood run cold, but she’s right. We have work to do.
Rolling up the papers, I shove them in my back pocket and straighten. “We’re not moving it,” I correct her.
If I really am the sole inheritor of the company, then James needs to be declared dead, not missing, as soon as possible.
“We’re not?”
“No.” I blow past her. “Where’s Caleb?” I ask, realizing he didn’t follow us.
He’s going to have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that his girlfriend killed his father, and I don’t need any hormone-fueled antics right now.
Kira’s face crumples with remorse where she’s been patiently waiting by the door. “I think he’s still with…”
She clearly doesn’t know whether to say James or the body, and I remind myself this isn’t a normal night for her. Taking a breath, I force my mind to slow down.
“Hey,” I grab her hands and pull her into me, “it’s okay.” I level my gaze to meet hers, sure that she can see that I mean it. “It’s going to be fine.”
Her eyes instantly begin to well up, as if they were on the cusp this whole time, and my chest cracks wide open. Fuck, I should have held her sooner.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, dipping her head away from Nix and lowering her voice. “I didn’t know she was going to do that, or I would have stopped her. I thought… I mean, I never thought she would… and he’s your father. Jax, I’m so—”
“Hey, hey, hey.” I cup her cheek and shake my head. “It’s okay, baby.”
“But he’s your father.” She stifles a gasp.
“Trust me, buttercup. He was dead to me long before tonight.” I give her a dark smirk.
She looks like she doesn’t believe me, and I wipe one of her tears away. “She did me a favor,” I say lower.
“Do not tell her that.” She glowers, the panic subsiding into anger, which is exactly what I want.
“You mean you don’t want me to train her? I could show her how to keep it from getting so messy.”
“I will kill you.”
I bite down on my bottom lip, irrationally aroused by her ferocity, and cage her against the door frame. “Promise?”
She gapes down at how I’ve pressed myself against her, momentarily flustered. But this is Kira, and it doesn’t last long. Her eyes narrow up at me from beneath those dark lashes.
“Do you not remember that I stabbed you?”
“You grazed me. And if I remember correctly, you then tried to bandage me up.”
“That was when I liked you.”
I laugh low in my chest and tilt my head, letting my breath brush her ear. “So what does loving me get me?”
Her fingers curl into my shirt as if she wants to yank me closer and shove me away at the same time.
I love it.
A rumble sounds in my chest as I wrap my hand around the side of her throat, drawing her closer—
“Yeah,” Nix says, deadpan, “I’m the crazy one, but you two are about to fuck with a dead body down the hall.”
The rumble turns into a growl as I spin around. “You’re going to want to take that edge down a notch.” I point a finger at her. “I may not have given a fuck about James, but Caleb didn’t share my sentiment, if you haven’t noticed.”
She makes a face. “He beat him.”
I grind my teeth. As if I wasn’t fucking aware of that, as if Caleb isn’t aware of that. But what she isn’t aware of is that I left him here. That son of a bitch was all he had, even if he turned him black and blue. “It’s not. that. simple.”
“How?” she cries.
“How?!” I squeeze my eyes shut and press my fingers into my temples. With a steadying breath, I open them. “You know what? You’ll figure it out. I have a house to burn down.”
Kira makes a noise behind me, some sort of whimpering whine. “Not again.”
“Yes, again.” I turn. “This needs to look clean and legitimate.”
“But I shot him!” Nix storms around me.
“Yeah,” I say pointedly. “And if they do an autopsy, that’s going to come up.
” I let her stew in her mistake without calling out how messy she’s made this.
I wouldn’t be able to do it without explaining why strangulation is best, anyway, and I don’t need Kira killing me before I can call the captain to keep her out of prison.
“Um, then we obviously need to hide the body.” Nix looks at me like I’m stupid.
“Do you have any idea how long it takes to declare someone dead after they go missing?” I ask. “We would be stuck in legal limbo for years. Your sister has forty-eight hours, at best.”
I let her sweat for a minute. She needs to realize that her impulse decision has repercussions. Just because I can make sure an autopsy doesn’t happen doesn’t mean she shouldn’t learn from this. If she thinks she’s untouchable, she’s in trouble.
“I’m not following,” Nix says. “So we’re going to throw me to the wolves?” She looks at Kira for help.
“Yes,” I say, shrugging. “If it’s you or your sister, I choose your sister.” I give Kira the briefest shake of my head, a silent message to play along, and a knowing twitch finds its way onto her lips.
Nix’s jaw practically unhinges as she gapes between the two of us. “Well, that’s not going to happen. Kira would never agree to it, would you?” She raises her chin and folds her arms.
Kira forms a very convincing frown as she steps in next to me. “You have to do the time if you’re going to do the crime,” she says.
“Um, WHAT?!” Nix’s eyes bulge.
“I love you,” Kira says sweetly, “but this is probably best for you. You’re clearly not in your right mind. Maybe they’ll find you guilty by insanity and you can get the help you need.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I tried to tell you that you should talk to someone. Now look at what’s happened.”
A flurry of emotions cross Nix’s face—disbelief, anger, panic, and, finally, suspicion. Rolling her jaw, she nods. “Okay. I see. Ha. Ha. You scared me straight. You got me.” She rolls her eyes. “Now, what are we actually doing?”
“Burning down the house,” I say flatly.
“But that doesn’t make sense!” she shrieks. “You just said that if there’s an autopsy—”
“Yes, if,” I groan, unable to handle the teen dramatics for a second longer. “The Cloverwick coroner will sign off on what I say. This isn’t the first time the Landons have cleaned up a mess.” My gaze sharpens. “It’s just this time, I’m the one in charge.”