Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
JAXON/JAX
Now
Broken Kings & Blood Oaths
Sometimes the only person who recognizes your scars is the one hiding the same ones.
“How do you know I can’t take birth control?” Livianna narrows her suspicious gaze. “That’s not something I would share with a business mentor.”
“Is it drugs?”
“What? Why would you think that?” She picks up her coffee and takes the pill.
I release a frustrated exhale. “Livianna, you were alone, high as a fucking kite, on a beach yesterday.”
“So I had a gummy. Sue me.” She glares. “It’s not like I run around chasing after drug dealers. And why do you think it’s your place to interfere, anyway?”
I slide my hands into my pockets. “I’ll remove myself from your life if that’s what you want.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Jaxon.”
“I’m being serious. If it would make your life easier, say the word and I’m gone.”
“Fine. If you’re feeling this way, maybe we should just take a breather.” She squeezes her eyes shut. In seconds, she’s buckled over, holding her head.
“Livianna, what’s wrong?” I place my hand on her back.
She stands. “Sometimes I get these splitting headaches. They don’t last long, so I think it’s just another leftover effect from the accident.”
“You need to see a doctor.” I stay near her.
“That’s for me to decide. And if we go back to what we were speaking about, I think I need you to give me some space.”
Her words take my breath away. The knife that spears me is brutal and sharp. Livianna wants me gone.
“Very well. I’ll have Natalie put these notes into a document, and she’ll send them to you as soon as they’re ready.” I wait to move, not wanting to leave.
“Good. That will be better. That way, you can get back to your business and quit focusing on me.” She marches to the table, grabs her sketchbook, and gathers her purse and shoes.
She’s out the door before I can respond. I hate when she gets defiant like this. But what it tells me is that she’s sitting on the edge of something very uncomfortable for her to face.
That can’t be my issue to help her with anymore. That’s Cash’s place.
I follow her out, wanting to chase after her and hold her until she remembers us. We may not have said it, but we were in love.
My stomach twists. I need to get over her, but she’s carved into my bones. I don’t know how to let her go.
“Please reach out if you need anything.” I stop at the door to my company. “I’ll give you what you want, but trust you’re always welcome in my life.”
“Thanks for all you’ve done.” She continues toward the elevator. “See you around, Jaxon.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” But something deep in my heart says it’s going to be a while.
Friday - Now
“This is a damn mess.” I shuffle through the files Axel has sent over.
They’re spread over my kitchen table since I can’t find it in me to go into the office knowing Livianna is just a few steps away. She made it clear where she stands, and I’ll honor that.
I flip through a folder. The details clearly point to Zara being directly responsible for Livianna’s accident. The driver is just a yes man, but that doesn’t mean he’s getting off easy. Greg wouldn’t tolerate that, and truthfully, I can’t either.
That man is responsible for all I’ve lost regarding Livianna. He’s going to pay.
The buzzer to the front gate alerts me that someone is here. That someone is Cash. He agreed to meet me here since we only live a few houses away.
My house manager lets him in, and he joins me in the kitchen.
“Hi, Cash. Thanks for meeting with me today.”
“Sure.” He scans the area. “You usually work where you eat?”
“I work wherever I need.” I gesture to a seat across the table. “We need to discuss the people who are responsible for Livianna’s accident.”
He sits. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Can I get you something to drink or eat?” I push my chair out.
“No need, Jaxon. I already ate and I don’t need anything else.”
I scoot back in. “Where would you like to start?”
“Livianna said you two are…” Cash shifts around, running his hands down his jeans. “She’s upset about how she treated you.”
“She doesn’t need to be. She’s recovering, and I understand that more than I care to.”
“Yeah, but what I don’t understand is what you’re planning.” His gaze connects to mine, unyielding. “You’re up to something.”
I narrow my eyes. “Like what?”
“Why are you giving her space? Why are you not pushing her to remember what you had when you know she’s starting to recall her memories?”
A hole in my heart cracks open a little more. “She only recollects things about you, Cash. I don’t think she wants to know anything else about her past. Besides, we were told not to push her.”
He glances down. “This is a total mindfuck. She loves me, and I know that, but it’s hard to move forward knowing what I know.”
“Don’t let it mess with you, Cash. I’m not going to interfere with your happiness together.” My chest almost implodes.
“Why? How can I be sure? You still fucking love her, and don’t deny it.”
“Relax, Cash. I know how to love from afar. I’ve done it since the time I was twelve.” A jolt of adrenaline spikes my blood, but I need to give him some trust so he’ll return the favor. I take a deep, calming breath.
He rests back in his chair. “What happened when you were twelve?”
“I watched my family be blown to pieces in the bombing of my parents’ clinic.
” The visual comes to the forefront of my mind, and I have to center myself.
“No one knows the things I’m telling you.
You won’t find it anywhere. I’m sharing with you so you understand.
I’m willing to give exactly what I’m asking for. Transparency.”
Cash’s expression softens. “Sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”
“I was always under the impression you were a…” He chuckles as if he’s resigned to his confusion. “I thought I had you figured out, but I can’t get even close to the surface with you.”
“I keep my cards close to the vest, but when it comes to Livianna’s safety, I’m willing to break my own rules.” I stand and pace the length of the room. “Let’s get to the point of our meeting.”
Cash stands, resting close to the island I’m near. “You said Zara and her pops’ security team were responsible. Her pops would give her free access to anything she wants. She’s his ‘princess.’ He stays out of her business but lets her use his resources.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know. She just bragged a lot about being the one who runs the show.”
I stop across from him, ready to drop the bomb. “Who else is running the show?”
He pulls back with a furrowed brow. “How the fuck would I know?”
“I need to show you something, but prepare yourself. It could be triggering for you.” I stride to the table and take out the picture of Leon, Edward, and Zara together in front of the pharmaceutical lab I funded. I hand it to him.
He takes it, and his defenses falter for just a second before he begins to shake. “What is this?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Is Leon a part of this?”
Cash’s breathing escalates. “Where did you get this?”
“My security team found it.” I reach for it. “I need to take care of this situation. The only way I can is to know who I’m going after.”
“You know who did this to Livianna.” He hands it back, not taking his glare off me. “Zara is an awful person. She’s a fucking predator. The guy who hit Livianna is just as bad. Do what you need to do, but don’t drag Leon into this. I want nothing to do with him.”
Just as I thought, Leon is the trigger point for Cash, and I believe I know why, but I need to know for sure. I flip through my file with the kind of authority that says I will get to the bottom of what I want to know.
“Do you see all this information, Cash?” I lift the folder. “If Leon is a part of this in any way, I will find out what that is.”
Cash stares hard at me, holding it together by a thread. He has beads of sweat forming on his upper lip. “Do not threaten me, Jaxon.”
“Relax, Cash. I’m on your side.”
“Are you?” He trembles.
“Yes.” I sit to show him he has the power in this situation. “I’m going after Zara and the driver. Do I need to include her father and Leon in my target?”
Cash runs his hands through his hair. “If you wanna start a war, go for it. But leave me out of it.”
“I need more from you. These people tried to kill the woman you’re going to marry.”
“I know what they did. You act like I’m stupid.”
“That’s not a word I would use to describe you.”
“No?” He places his palm on the island, likely to stabilize his wobbly stance. “How would you describe me?”
“A frightened young man who knows what’s at stake, but for some damn reason he won’t take that into consideration.”
“Meaning?”
“What are you hiding?”
He doesn’t move. He just studies me as if I’m his worst enemy.
I gesture to the chair. “Sit and help me get the revenge Livianna deserves.”
Rage fills his eyes. “If someone is gonna take out Leon, that will be me. You take care of the rest.”
“Leon is powerful.”
“I know what the fuck he is!” Cash grows in stature. “I know more about that monster than anyone.”
This reaction proves my theory. I stop what I’m doing and get him some water.
I slide it across the counter. “Take a minute to calm down, and we can continue when you aren’t seeing red.”
The glass sits untouched between us. Cash’s jaw works through something he isn’t saying. I recognize that refusal to speak because I spent two years living inside it. It’s the kind that wraps itself around the truth and convinces you that silence and safety are the same thing.
“I’m not your enemy, Cash.”
“You said that already.”
“And I’ll keep saying it until you believe it.” Both of my hands rest flat on the counter, neither crowding him nor retreating. “Leon Baker. What happened between you two?”
The shift in Cash’s posture is microscopic. His shoulders draw back by a fraction, his chin lifts, and both hands curl at his sides. It’s the body bracing for a blow it has absorbed before.
“Jaxon, I don’t know what you’re reaching for.”
“I know what a man looks like when someone has taken something from him that can’t be returned.” My heart races.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Jaxon?”
“You came to me in Paris, begging for technology you could use to record someone you needed leverage on.” I give him a moment to remember how I helped him escape Leon’s label. “And I know where the footage is stored.”
Cash freezes, not even a blink of his eyes. “There it is.”
“What?”
“That’s how you’re gonna get me to do what you want.”
I shake my head, trying to convey honesty through my expression. “No, Cash. I’m not trying to manipulate you.”
“But you are.” He trembles again. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
“The truth. I need everything. There’s more to this than Livianna’s accident. If you tell me what that is, you’ll save us both a lot of time and heartache.”
His chest rises and falls in quick succession. “My past with Leon is for me to handle. I don’t wanna?—”
“I was twelve the first time my fake uncle decided I was his to do with as he chose.” My body shudders automatically at the memory. “I was fourteen when I found a way to make it stop.”
Cash goes completely still.
My gaze stays on him, giving him nowhere else to look. “I’m not sharing that with you because I want your sympathy.”
“Then why?”
“I’m sharing it because I need you to understand that I have stood exactly where you’re standing. And I know the difference between a man who’s angry at someone who hurt a person he loves and a man who is livid because he recognizes the wound.”
The quiet stretches between us like a fault line.
Cash picks up the glass, takes a slow drink, and sets it back down without releasing it.
“Leon had footage.” Cash tenses and curses under his breath. “He used it to keep me in line. If I pushed back on anything he wanted, there were consequences. For me and for anyone close to me.”
Finally, we’re getting somewhere!
I step back, resting against the other counter. “Including Livianna?”
His knuckles whiten around the glass. “Yes.”
“How so?”
“The usual fucked up stuff that piece of shit would do.”
“Can you give me the details?”
Cash glances out the window on a pause. “He never touched her, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t.”
My body relaxes, but I still need to get to the bottom of this. “Did he touch you?”
Cash’s throat moves on a swallow, and his gaze comes back to me. “You have what you need.”
I nod, knowing I’ve pushed him far enough. Abuse of any kind isn’t easy to discuss.
I gesture to the kitchen table. “Do you think he was behind the crash?”
“Maybe, but I don’t know if Zara and Leon even speak still.”
“Very well.” I stride to the files. “I’ll go forward with my plan. Leon isn’t out of the woods, but I’ll dig deeper to see if there are still ties.”
“Cool.” Cash takes a step toward the front of my house. “I’ve gotta run.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll walk you out.”
We’re in the foyer when Cash turns to me. “Why would you tell me about your uncle?”
“He wasn’t my uncle. He was a…” I reach for the doorknob. “You need to understand I’m not one to judge. I just want answers, and for the right people to pay for what I’ve lost.”
“How? What gave you the idea Leon did things to…”
“My wounds are similar to yours.”
Cash forces out a puff of air. “You make it really hard to hate you.”
I laugh, releasing the stone in my chest. “Not many people have said that to me.”
“Then take it as a compliment.”
“Done.” I pull the door open. “Before you leave, there is one other thing I wanted you to be aware of.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Livianna.”
He steps out onto my porch. “What about her?”
“She’s using again.”
“What?” He glances in the direction of his house. “What gave you that idea?”
“She was high on the beach. That’s why I drove her home.”
He lowers his head. “She told me she was too upset to drive.”
“Yeah, I figured she would avoid it.” My stomach knots. “She’s also taking pills, but I don’t know what they are.”
Cash gazes up at me with a shine in his eyes. “About those pills. They aren’t drugs.”
“She told you about me finding one on her desk?”
“That’s what set her off the other day. She doesn’t want you to know.” He shrugs. “She’s afraid to tell anyone.”
“What is she afraid to tell?”