Chapter 3
Chapter Three
JAXON/JAX
Now
Silk Restraints & The War I Don’t Show
I’ve built empires on control, and she’s the first thing that could cost me everything.
“Natalie, I need to rearrange my schedule again.” I sit while she stands in my doorway.
“Sure thing. Just let me know what you want, and I’ll get it handled.” She starts to leave. “Email me the details.”
“I will.”
The morning light cuts across my desk at an angle I usually find clarifying, and today it only makes everything sharper than I want it to be.
Cash is due at nine, and I’ve reviewed my security team’s findings four times already. There’s no version of this information that arrives without weight.
A click from the intercom breaks the quiet, and my receptionist’s voice comes in. “Mr. Mayze is here, sir.”
“Send him in.”
Cash enters my office with the controlled energy of someone bracing for impact, drops into the chair across from my desk without waiting for an invitation, and fixes his gaze on the closed folder in front of me.
“Good morning, Jaxon.” He gestures with the tip of his chin. “Should we jump right into it, or do the polite thing and catch up first?”
I scan him over, knowing full well that he and Livianna spent a romantic weekend away as a newly engaged couple.
My heart shatters a little more, but I push it aside. “Well, you look refreshed, so I’ll assume you’re rested and ready to move forward.”
“Very observant.” He lowers his head and pauses for a second. Then he raises his gaze to mine. “What do you know?”
“My security team identified the driver of the SUV that hit Livianna.” I pull the folder toward me without opening it. “He’s a member of Edward Thorne’s personal security detail.”
There’s a flash of trepidation behind Cash’s eyes. He offers no response.
I continue. “After the accident, he didn’t check back in with Thorne’s team. He drove directly to a storage unit and met someone there.”
“Who?”
“Zara Blackthorn.”
His jaw tightens, and he shifts forward. “Has that been confirmed?”
“My team doesn’t bring me speculation.” I lean forward in my chair. “Cash, a member of Thorne’s personal detail drove from the scene of the accident directly to meet Zara. That’s not a coincidence, and it is not impulsive. Someone put this in motion deliberately.”
He exhales and peers at the windows for a moment before coming back to me. There’s a calculation working behind his expression that he’s probably choosing not to share, and that choice tells me he knows more about this than he’s ready to own up to.
What are you hiding, Cash?
“Edward Thorne is her pops.” He sits up straight, adjusting his jeans as he does.
“I was told that as well.” I stand and round my desk, resting against it in front of Cash. “Which means we’re not looking at a coincidence. We’re looking at a chain of command.”
He adjusts his shirt while making direct eye contact. “Whoever’s behind this has an interest in more than just Livianna. That’s what you’re telling me, right?”
“Correct.”
The one-word answer sits between us like a fuse with no visible timer. I give it space, because the most critical information always lives in what someone is deciding whether to say next.
“Then we need to discuss everything you know.” I return to my chair and sit. “All of it, Cash. Not the version you’ve decided is safe to say out loud.”
The muscles in his chest flex, and his breathing quickens. “Jaxon, some of what I know isn’t mine to share.”
“Then let’s start with what is yours. What does Zara Blackthorn have to do with this?”
He presses his palms flat against his thighs. “She hates Livianna and has for years.”
“I know about Livianna getting her fired, and the nightclub story since you told me yourself, but what else is there?”
He shrugs. “Maybe she’s upset about something else.”
“Oh, that’s been well established. What I can’t reconcile is how personal resentment turns into a coordinated attack on the street.”
He’s quiet for a beat, and I let him sit in the silence. It’s a good place to weigh your options.
He scrapes his teeth over his lower lip. “It goes deeper than that.”
“How so?”
“Zara has never just been someone who dislikes Livianna. She’s been an active threat.”
“Active, how?”
“She’s taken aggressive action before.” He braces his forearms on his knees. “Nothing that put Livianna in a hospital bed. But Zara doesn’t get over things and move on. She archives them. She waits for the right moment, and she acts.”
“That describes a vindictive woman with a long memory.” I cross my arms. “It doesn’t describe someone with access to a private security detail willing to drive a vehicle through an intersection.”
He lowers his head and takes a second before responding.
“Cash?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s on your mind? I can see you’re working through something.”
He lifts his gaze to mine. “She doesn’t have that kind of reach on her own, but her father does.”
“Which brings us back to Edward Thorne.” I uncross my arms and rest them on the desk. “Who, as far as I know, has no personal grievance against Livianna.”
“He doesn’t need one. Zara is reason enough.”
“That’s what I thought, but I wanted to clear that up before we go forward.”
He scans my office while remaining quiet.
“Cash. If someone is using Thorne as a middleman, there’s a principle behind this. Someone with motive, resources, and a direct line to Zara.”
I stop there even though I want to throw in Leon Baker’s name. Anytime that man’s name is said, Cash retreats and goes rigid. But Leon is tied to this somehow, and I need Cash to tell me what that is. He doesn’t answer right away.
“Jaxon, I hear you. I really do.” Cash’s eyes return to mine, and the steadiness in them takes visible effort. “But I need you to understand that some of what I know about that chain is tangled up in things that could get people hurt if I start pulling threads.”
“People are already hurt.” My stomach tightens. “Livianna, your future wife, was in a hospital bed, Cash. Whatever you’re protecting right now is not more important than that.”
His chest expands with a slow breath. He drags his hand across the back of his neck and keeps it there.
“Give me a few days, Jaxon.”
The way he’s holding himself tells me he’s at the absolute edge of what he’ll give today. Pressing past it right now won’t open anything. It’ll close it.
“You have until the end of the week.” I stand and give him an unapologetic stare. “After that, I’ll move forward with what I have, whether you’re ready or not.”
He rises to his feet. “Understood.”
The meeting has gone as far as it’s going to go today, and we both know it.
I reach for the handle of my door just as a soft knock lands on the other side. The door opens before I can pull it, and Livianna steps in with her planner tucked against her breasts. She registers Cash standing two feet away, and her step falters.
“Oh.” She glances between us. “I didn’t realize you had company. I can come back.”
“You’re fine.” Cash drops a hand to her lower back and presses a kiss to her temple. “I was just heading out.”
She relaxes into the touch, and I turn to face the window because some things don’t require witnessing.
“I’ll call you later.” He squeezes her shoulder, then peeks back at me.
The look lasts exactly one beat too long, territorial and measuring, cataloging how easily she strolled through this door.
“Cash.” I dip my chin as a goodbye.
He leaves without another word, and the door shuts behind him. Livianna watches for a moment and then gives me her full attention.
“I didn’t know he was going to be here this morning. Then again, I came in early because Callum took me to La Jolla for the weekend, and I’m so behind now.” Livianna exhales heavily. “Is everything okay? He seemed tense.”
“We had a lot to work through.” I stride back to my desk and gesture to the chair across from it. “Please sit. What can I help you with?”
She takes the seat, sets her planner on her knees, and flips it open to a flagged page. “I found a note in my files about a cosmetics investment. I have no memory of it, but the paperwork has my signature on it and a dollar amount that tells me I took it seriously.”
“You did.” I settle into my chair. “I sat in on your meetings with you and their founders. You were always thorough. You asked the right questions, and you negotiated better terms than they initially wanted to give.”
“Really? I did all that?” A small, uncertain smile crosses her face. “Did I like them?”
“You liked their product, and you trusted the numbers. You had reservations about their distribution model, but their projected margins convinced you.”
She writes in her planner. “Do you remember my primary goal with them?”
“They know you’re interested in starting a cosmetic line in the distant future, and they were fine with that, but made a few stipulations. Nothing earth-shattering, though. I can pull the meeting notes from my files if that helps.”
She glances up. “You kept notes?”
“I keep notes on everything that touches my portfolio.”
“Jax, you’re a godsend.”
She just called me Jax. Nice. First was the dream, now her pet name for me.
“I’m always here for you, Livianna. Anytime, anywhere, or anything you need, I’m always available.”
The gratitude in her expression lands somewhere I don’t let myself examine for too long. This is what Cash registered before he left.
There’s nothing inappropriate here, nothing he could point to. Just her stopping by my office as if it belongs to her, and me making room without a second thought. He clocked that, and I saw it in his eyes.
Will he make her stop seeing me?
Over my dead body will he ever take this from me. This time with her is the last piece I’m holding, and I’m not ready to let go.
“You know, Livianna, I came in early today, too. I could use some fresh coffee. Would you care to take a walk with me to the little bakery down the street?”
“Yes, that sounds perfect. I’m not only in need of caffeine, but I also haven’t eaten, and I’m starving.” She sets her planner on the corner of my desk. “Lead the way.”