Chapter 28 Impossible choices
Ryder's POV
I showed Jaxon the text first thing the next morning.
His reaction was exactly what I expected. Explosive.
"What the fuck is this?" He stared at my phone screen like he could burn holes through it. "Who sent this? When did you get it?"
"Last night. Unknown number."
"And why the hell is someone threatening my sister because of questions you've been asking?" His voice rose with each word. "What questions, Ryder? What have you two been digging into?"
I prepared for this. I knew it was coming the second I decided to show him the text. But lying to Jaxon still felt like betrayal.
"Sage has been asking club members about Vincent's…your dad's death," I said. "She needs closure. She needs to understand what happened and why."
"Bullshit." Jaxon slammed his hand on the desk. "Vincent died three weeks ago and she's just now asking questions? Try again."
"She wasn't ready before. Now she is."
"What exactly has she been asking?"
"Just general stuff. Who her dad was close to. If anyone noticed anything unusual before he died. Normal grieving daughter questions."
Jaxon studied my face for a while. I kept my expression neutral and met his eyes without flinching. The lie tasted bitter but telling him the truth meant revealing the ledger and everything we'd found.
Jaxon's expression then changed. The anger faded into something more complicated. He looked as if he was sad or in pain or felt bad about what I just told him.
"Leave it alone," he said finally.
"What?"
"The questions. The digging. All of it. Leave it alone."
"Someone just threatened to kill your sister again and you want us to stop looking for answers?"
"I want you to keep her alive." Jaxon's voice was tight. "Dad's dead. Nothing you find out is going to bring him back. But it might get Sage killed if you keep pushing."
"So we just let whoever did this get away with it?"
"We protect the family we have left. That's what we do." He looked at me and I saw real fear in his eyes. "Promise me you'll drop this. Both of you."
I couldn't promise that. I wouldn't promise that. But I nodded anyway because arguing would only make him more suspicious.
"I'll talk to her," I said.
"Good." Jaxon ran his hands through his hair. "And Ryder? Keep your distance from my sister for a while. People are starting to talk and that's a complication we don't need right now."
I left his office feeling like I'd just lost ground I couldn't afford to lose. Jaxon was hiding something. The way he shut down the conversation, the fear in his eyes when he talked about Sage getting hurt. He knew more than he was saying.
Later that afternoon, I was working on my bike in the garage when Tommy found me.
"Jaxon wants to see Sage," he said. "Asked me to bring her to his office."
"Why?"
"Didn't say. But he looked serious."
I watched Sage walk into the clubhouse an hour later. She caught my eye and I saw the question there. I shook my head slightly. Whatever Jaxon wanted to talk to her about, I had no idea.
The wait was torture. I tried to focus on the engine in front of me but my mind kept wandering to what was happening behind that closed office door.
When Sage finally came out forty minutes later, her face was pale and her hands were shaking. She walked past me without a word and headed straight for the parking lot.
I found her sitting in her car with the engine off and her forehead pressed against the steering wheel.
"What happened?" I asked, opening the passenger door and sliding in.
She didn't look at me. "Jaxon wants to talk about Dad's legacy. About the club's future and my role in it."
"What role?"
"He said Dad had plans for me. That there are important alliances that could protect the club from threats." Her voice was hollow. "Strategic partnerships that would make us stronger."
I dreaded the possibilities of what she meant. "What kind of partnerships?"
"He didn't say exactly. He just talked about how Vincent believed in strategic marriages between MC families. How it consolidates power and protects everyone involved."
"He wants you to marry into another club."
"He says he'd never force me into anything." She finally looked at me and I saw tears tracking down her face. "But he needs me to think about what's best for the family. To consider that my choices don't just affect me anymore."
Rage burned hot in my chest. Jaxon was trying to guilt her into an arranged marriage. Using her love for the club and her father's memory to manipulate her into giving up her freedom.
"You're not doing it," I said.
"He didn't even tell me who or when or any details. Just planted the seed and walked away." She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Classic Jax. Let me stew on it until I convince myself it's my idea."
"Sage, look at me."
She turned and I cupped her face in my hands.
"You're not marrying anyone you don't want to marry. I don't care what alliances it would create or what protection it would offer. You're not a bargaining chip."
"What if it's the only way to keep everyone safe? What if refusing means the club falls apart or people get killed?"
"Then we find another way."
"There might not be another way." Her voice broke. "My freedom might be the price of everyone else's safety."
That night she broke down completely in my arms. Crying until she couldn't breathe while I held her and promised things I had no power to guarantee.
But one thing was clear. Jaxon was pushing her toward an arranged marriage and using the club's safety as leverage.
And Sage was starting to believe she had no choice but to agree.