Chapter 117: Many times over

JAXON'S POV

Nathan didn't question me after I told him it was better that Nancy had cut things off between us.

We sat in silence for a long moment after that, letting the silence wash over us.

A long while later, he broke the silence.

"You're really sure about what you said?"

"Have you talked to her about how you feel?" he added.

I glanced at him, pondered his question for a minute, then exhaled.

"It doesn't matter now."

"But if she knows, she might choose differently and..."

"It doesn't matter, Nathan."

I clenched my hands, tightening them into fists. "It won't matter if she's dead too, so let's just focus on keeping her out of danger."

For the past minutes that we sat in silence, I had been carefully pacifying myself and stoking my bruised feelings.

It would be a lie to say that I wasn't hurt at the fact that Nancy had chosen to break us up, but I kept my emotions carefully hidden, reassuring myself that nothing other than her safety mattered now.

Nathan didn't look resigned to my response, and he seemed like he would say something else, but then, a knock sounded on the door, and it was pushed open.

"Come in," I called out without bothering to ask who it was, and Orion walked in with an expression that told me that whatever news he had wasn't a good one.

He left earlier with specific instructions from me, so seeing me now made me sit straighter.

"Boss," he called.

"Speak," I nodded once.

"We retraced the information gotten from the bar and have verified again that the waitress doesn't exist for real. Also..."

The first half of his statement wasn't unexpected; it was the latter half that really mattered.

"What is it?" Nathan pressed, even more impatient than I was.

Orion shot him a look that bordered on both pitiful and apologetic before answering.

"Hudson is out."

The room was plunged into total and absolute silence in an instant, broken by Nathan's surprised voice.

"What do you mean he's out?"

I didn't need to ask, I understood what Orion said immediately.

"He's out of prison," I answered in place of Orion.

A while back, to secure Nancy's safety as well as reassure her and with the unexpressed intent to exact revenge on him for what he had attempted to do to her, I'd pulled some strings and had Hudson thrown into jail.

But now, based on Orion's words, those strings seemed to have been cut, as he was now out of jail.

"When did he get out?"

"How did that happen?" Nathan questioned simultaneously.

"Our source didn't say when, just that he's out, but from the looks of things, it didn't happen today," Orion said, responding to my question instead of Nathan's.

"What if he was never in prison?" Nathan said, making an assumption I shook my head to.

"No, he was."

"I personally verified that," Orion said, corroborating my statement.

"How did he get out then?" Nathan asked, more to himself than anyone in the room.

I knew exactly how.

"The group behind him must have done it. They have been trying to challenge us for months now, and it seems they are declaring a full war with this," Orion replied, explaining my thought process perfectly.

"So they're trying to use Hudson to unnerve us and to possibly take us out of the picture," Nathan reflected, finally catching on.

Nathan glanced over at me, studying my face.

"I'm guessing you knew this was going to happen."

"I suspected," I answered, folding my hands into each other." The attack on the house was too random."

"So it was him," Nathan exclaimed.

"Yes," I nodded in confirmation.

"And now he's after Nancy," Nathan added grimly a couple of seconds later, highlighting the exact thing that had me unsettled.

If Nancy weren't in the picture, then I wouldn't have been worried that Hudson was out of prison.

"Boss, do we make a move?" Orion asked a while after.

I leaned back in my chair again, my expression hardening. "No. Don't do anything yet."

"We aren't?" Nathan frowned.

"No."

"Why?"

"Boss, you want to wait?" Orion frowned too, tilting his head slightly.

"I want to protect Nancy."

Making a move now wouldn't guarantee her safety, and that was my priority.

A brief silence followed after that, then Orion spoke.

"You're prioritizing defense over retaliation, that's unlike you."

I didn't respond, and he stepped back, studying me.

"With all due respect, Boss. Hudson won't stop, neither will the group behind him."

I shot him a glance. "I know that."

“He’ll come again.”

“I know.”

“Then why...”

“Because the moment we go after him,” I cut in, my voice turning dangerously calm, “we'll escalate this.”

Neither of them spoke, and it was silent for a while.

“And when that happens,” I continued, “Nancy becomes the centre of it whether we like it or not.”

Nathan ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated.

“She already is.”

“Not fully,” I said.

Orion’s jaw tightened. “So we just sit back?”

“No,” I said. “We'll tighten security, and from now on, I need you to track Hudson's movement and use every one of our resources to find that woman."

My gaze darkened.

"When we do, then we decide who dies first."

That seemed to satisfy him somewhat.

He nodded once. “I’ll double the men on surveillance.”

I gave a single nod in acknowledgment while he turned to leave, then paused.

“Boss.”

I looked at him.

“If Hudson makes a move..."

“He won’t get the chance,” I said.

Orion gave a short nod and left, and the room fell quiet again.

Nathan exhaled slowly. “This is getting bigger. Do you think we should let Nancy in on what's happening?"

"I fear she'll get mad again if she finds out."

I closed my eyes briefly, then shook my head. "No, she stays out of it."

Nathan didn’t look convinced.

“You really think she’ll listen?”

No.

She would never listen.

I knew that, and that was why I was choosing to keep her out of it. Even when faced with the choice a second time, I chose to keep her in the dark for her protection, and deep down, I knew I would make the same choice many times over.