Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
JAX
The soft chirping of birds rouses me from sleep. A gentle breeze caresses my cheeks.
Wait.
It’s not a breeze.
“Good morning, sunshine,” a familiar voice drawls.
The sound of her voice is music to my ears. I could listen to her speak and sing all day long.
I smirk and reach for her without opening my eyes. She gasps as I throw her into the bed with me and roll over so she’s beneath me.
Slowly, I blink my eyes open to find her smiling ear to ear. I kiss the tip of her nose. “Morning.”
With her blond curls draped over the pillow, and the soft morning light falling on her rosy cheeks, she looks otherworldly.
I plant a kiss on her jaw. Then lower, on her neck. She wraps her arms around my neck.
Gods. I love waking up to this.
There’s a weird fuzziness somewhere in my mind, but I ignore it.
This moment is too precious.
Just as I palm her breast in my hand and kiss my way down her throat, she giggles and pulls the hair at the back of my head.
“Jaxy, I don’t have time for this.”
Desperately, I growl into the crook of her neck and lift my head so I can look her in the eye.
“What could be more important than this?”
Her smile falters. She grabs my cheeks between her hands and kisses me on the forehead before she wiggles out from under me.
“Cecile?” I sit up in bed, watching her pad over to the vanity table by the open window that has the view of the sea, and the port.
“I have to get ready for the meeting,” she says, brushing her hair. “My father needs me to be there when he signs the deal with your father.”
My stomach sinks.
“I thought we’d been through this already. My father’s about to scam yours out of his damn business.”
Cecile sighs and meets my gaze in the mirror. Her eyes are full of sorrow. “It’s Sebastian Kregger we’re talking about, Jax. It’s the biggest deal in my father’s business ever. He can’t pass on the opportunity, not at the word of a bastard son.”
Her words land in the middle of my chest, sharp as a blade.
I rest my naked feet on the cool hardwood floors. “He doesn’t believe me?”
“It’s not that he doesn’t believe your word, Jax. It’s just…he thinks the odds of it not being true are worth the risk.”
I scoff and shake my head.
Unbelievable.
“Cecile…”
“Jax, it’s my father’s decision,” she says, softly. “I tried my best. But I couldn’t change it.”
I stand up and approach her. I rest my hands on her shoulders and watch her apply rouge on her pale cheeks.
“Don’t go. At least do as much for me,” I plead.
She doesn’t meet my gaze in the mirror. “I can’t do that, Jaxy. My father requested I be there.”
My shoulders sag.
I know exactly how this will go. Father will present a deal that’s not good for Cecile’s family’s business, and when her dad refuses, my father will take measures to ensure he changes his mind.
Best-case scenario, Father will threaten her life. Worst case, he’ll take her hostage.
I can’t let that happen.
“Jaxy? Don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not,” I murmur, and go find my shirt.
I need to find a way to stop this. I slip my arms into my silk shirt and run a hand over my hair.
“Will you be there?” Cecile asks, turning in her seat to watch me dress.
Just as I grab my pants from the arm of the sofa, the weirdest feeling hits me.
I pause, frowning.
It’s as if…I’ve been here already before.
Huh, weird.
I shake my head and finish dressing.
“I’ll be there,” I tell Cecile.
Just thinking about her in the same room as my father makes my heart stutter. I take a deep breath to steady myself.
There’s something odd inside me.
It’s as if there are two heartbeats in my chest, overlapping.
I freeze.
Wait a damn minute.
I look around the familiar Cecile’s room. The wrought iron bed, silk sheets, and flowery wallpapers. The open window lets in a breeze that rustles the heavy curtains. The view of the port in the distance—
No.
That’s not the view from Cecile’s room.
That’s the view of my room back in Emera.
The second heartbeat in my chest grows louder.
Phoenix.
We were in the forest, camping by the waterfall. She fell asleep in my arms.
Did I fall asleep, too?
How am I here?
I look at Cecile. Her blue eyes are full of unshed tears when she says, “Don’t let me die, Jax.”
It’s a punch in the gut.
I’m reliving the day she died.
There must be a way out.
I head for the door and yank on the handle. It opens to reveal a familiar meeting room in the basement of my father’s favorite pub where he does his business dealings.
There’s no escape.
I’m in my own personal torture realm.
With a thundering heart, I step through the door. It slams behind me.
I stand by the wall sandwiched between two of my father’s most loyal bodyguards.
Sebastian Kregger sits on one side of the large wooden table in the middle of the room. My oldest sister is right next to him.
On the other side of the table sits Cecile and her parents.
My heart beats so loud in my ears I can’t hear what they’re saying.
Adrenaline courses through me, making my hands tremble.
Father and Maeve sit unbothered, clearly aware they’re holding all the power. Knowing that soon, they’ll take everything dear to Cecile’s family from them.
Any moment now, my father’s enemies will barge in through the door that’s on my left.
I know it not because I’ve lived through this moment before.
I know it because I’ve tipped them off.
Because I thought chaos would save her.
I need to stop this.
I take a step forward.
I can stop this.
I can—
No.
I can’t change what already happened.
Realization doesn’t make my heart lighter.
Nor does it stop it from tumbling out of my chest when it happens.
I stand there, frozen, as Father presents the terms of the deal to Cecile’s family.
I watch them refuse, outraged by the audacity.
I do nothing but stare as Father’s bodyguard grabs Cecile’s arm and yanks her up to her feet and puts a blade at her throat.
Her eyes, full of fear, find me in the room.
That’s when the door blows open and a number of men dressed in black barge in, weapons drawn.
It all happens in slow motion as I watch it unfold.
My hands are tied.
Nothing I can do.
The bodyguard holding Cecile stabs her just under the ribs and tosses her aside like a piece of meat before locking in a fight with one of the intruders.
That’s when I spring forward.
Avoiding the brawl, the fists and weapons swinging, I rush towards Cecile.
When I reach her, she’s still alive. Pale as the moonlight.
I fall on my knees next to her and pull her onto my lap.
“Oh, Cecile,” I whisper, pushing the hair away from her face. She watches me with glassy eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I just wanted to protect you.”
Her breathing is shallow. She reaches a hand towards my face.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she whispers and her eyes shutter closed.
The words don’t ease the pain.
But they don’t cut, either.
Her hand falls back to her side without ever reaching my cheek.
A sob wrenches out of me, and I lean forward over her. My chest tears in half, just like that night.
Nothing in the world exists but this moment.
The hectic noise of the brawl, of the weapons clanging, grows farther and farther away.
Until there’s nothing but deadly silence.
Slowly, I lift my head and look around.
I’m in the middle of the forest.
I look down.
Cecile is not in my arms. There’s no blood.
What the fuck?
Jax! Phoenix’s voice echoes in my mind.
I feel the tug through our bond.
With trembling knees, I rise from the crispy forest moss.
I don’t think.
I don’t hesitate.
I follow it.