Chapter 62 Chapter 62

Chapter 62 Chapter 62
Tito’s POV

The moment the door opened, I wasn’t prepared for the shape that filled it. I wasn’t prepared for the height I knew too well, or the shoulders I had leaned on once, or the jawline that always looked sculpted even when he hadn’t slept.

I wasn’t prepared for the eyes either…the same storm-grey eyes I’d searched for when the van swallowed me whole.

But what I was least prepared for… was the way he froze.

Jax stood in the doorway like he’d walked into the wrong universe. His hand was still on the doorknob, knuckles white, breath lodged somewhere high in his chest.

Behind me, Beatrice inhaled softly, the kind of inhale that says she’s seen a thousand things but never this. Stella sat up straighter on the mattress, the food wrapper still crinkled between her fingers.

“Tito?” Jax’s voice wasn’t even a whisper. It sounded like someone cracked it in half.

My throat went tight instantly, like my body recognized him before my mind did. I hated how instinctive it was, how natural it felt for something inside me to rush toward him like water to a cliff edge.

The same boy who had kissed me like he wanted forever, then pushed me away like forever was a curse. The same boy I had been thinking of when a bag was tied over my head.

Somehow, there was the slightest twinge of disappointment in the back of my head.

My voice failed me, so I didn’t speak. I sat there on the narrow mattress wearing a dress that didn’t belong to me, makeup smeared across my tired face, a healing slash on my neck throbbing beneath my collarbone.

“You…” He stepped in, slow, as though afraid I would vanish. “You’re—God. Tito, you’re here.”

Beatrice glanced at me, then at him. She leaned in the quiet way someone does when they’re trying to understand the danger level of a situation. Stella simply stared at him with wide, hollow eyes.

Jax finally tore his gaze away from my face just long enough to look at the other two women. His brows tightened. “They put you all in here together?”

I still couldn’t force out a sound. It wasn’t fear. Not exactly. It was the strange, disorienting mix of relief and rage and I could kill you and please don’t leave me.

“You know him?” Beatrice murmured, barely moving her lips.

I swallowed. “Yes.” My voice came out hoarse, stiff. Almost resentful.

Jax flinched like the single syllable physically hit him.

“Tito,” he whispered again, stepping closer. “Sweetheart—tell me you’re alright. Tell me they didn’t—” His voice cracked, and he stopped himself, jaw clenching hard.

The word sweetheart twisted something sharp in my stomach. Not because it was sweet. Because it came so easily to him. Because he knew exactly how the sound of it sank into me.

I straightened my spine. “Why are you here?”

His lips parted like he wasn’t ready for that question. “I’m here because I’m the one who tracked them.” His hands curled at his sides. “I’ve been looking for you for four days.”

The room stilled. Even Stella’s breath seemed to pause.

“And you just now arrived?” I asked, voice trembling—not with fear, but with everything else I couldn’t name.

“Tito, I’ve barely slept. I’ve been ripping apart every contact, every port, every warehouse.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I knew they’d take you somewhere off-grid, but I didn’t know it would be this.”

“This,” I repeated quietly, looking around the dimly lit bedroom with its heavy-lock door and too-clean sheets. “What even is this place?”

His jaw clenched again. “A holding facility.”

“For what?” Beatrice asked, her voice thin but strong.

Jax looked at her, then at Stella, then back at me. There was fury in his expression that I’d never seen before. It didn’t burn hot; it was cold, controlled, and lethal.

“For presentation,” he finally said.

Beatrice sucked in a breath. Stella pressed her hand against her mouth. My skin chilled.

“Presentation to who?” I whispered.

“To the buyer,” he said softly.

My heart dropped so fast it felt like it cracked against my ribs.

“So we’re—”

“No,” he said sharply, stepping closer, voice roughening. “Not you. Not any of you. Not while I’m breathing.”

I stared at him, searching for truth in his face. He wasn’t lying. He wasn’t even trying to convince me. He looked sick. Haunted. Angry enough to overturn the building with his bare hands.

But that didn’t answer the part of the question that mattered strangest to me.

“Jax,” I said, voice tight. “Are you part of this?”

His eyes snapped to mine, wounded. “No. God, no.” He exhaled shakily. “I’ve been working against these people for months. Someone on the inside tipped me off that they were planning a shipment. I didn’t know you were in it until they mentioned a young woman fitting your description.” His throat bobbed. “After that, I didn’t stop until I found the route they used.”

Beatrice watched him keenly, reading him like someone who had met every type of monster. Stella simply trembled, not with fear, but with exhaustion.

I didn’t move toward him. But I didn’t move away either.

He reached for me slowly, cautiously, just closing his hand around the air between us like he wanted to touch me but didn’t trust himself to.

“Tito, I swear to you,” he murmured. “I’m getting all of you out of here tonight.”

My breath hitched. “Tonight?”

“Yes.” His voice gained weight, certainty. “There’s a shift change at two a.m. Only four guards will be inside. Two outside. I can handle that.”

Beatrice narrowed her eyes. “What about the boss?”

“Out of town,” Jax said. “Won’t be back until tomorrow. That’s the only reason I slipped in as easily as I did.”

“Easily?” I echoed. “You look one wrong breath away from collapse.”

He huffed out something like a laugh, but it sounded tired, edged with grief. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is you.”

The words landed heavy. Painful. Like something I wanted but didn’t want. Something too familiar.

“Why?” I asked quietly. “Why do I matter so much?”

Jax inhaled sharply—as if the question startled him, or trapped him, or made him bleed internally. He stared at me long enough that Beatrice shifted uncomfortably and Stella hugged her knees tighter.

“Because I—” he began, then pressed his lips together, choosing his next words carefully. “Because I should have protected you that night. And every night before it. And I won’t fail you again.”

It wasn’t the confession I could see sitting behind his ribs, but it was something.

“Get some rest,” he whispered, stepping back toward the door. “I’ll be back when it’s time.”

“Wait,” I said, standing despite the soreness in my body. “Don’t leave me again.”

The words escaped before I could swallow them.

Jax froze.

Slowly, he turned back to me. His eyes softened, losing that lethal edge for the briefest moment.

“I’m not leaving,” he said, his voice barely above breath. “Not tonight. Not ever again if you don’t want me to.”

Beatrice looked between us like she was watching something raw and dangerous unfold. Stella wiped her cheek quietly.

Jax stayed at the door, leaning against it—not entering fully, not stepping away either—like he was anchoring himself to the only promise he could keep right now.

And I sat back down, breathing unevenly, staring at him in the dim light as the reality of the night settled over all of us.

We were still trapped.

But for the first time in four days…
we were no longer alone.

Except, I would soon realize that I was more gullible than I thought.