RIDE OR RUIN

NOWHERE IS SAFE

"That's happening," Jaxon said again, nodding at the black sedan idling at the curb.

Lena's stomach dropped. "That's just a car."

"That's a car that wasn't there thirty seconds ago, parked in a loading zone, engine running, tinted windows. That's not just a car." His eyes didn't leave it. "Get Noah. We're moving now."

"Jaxon—"

"Now, Lena."

She hated that she listened. Hated it more that her body was already moving before her brain agreed, scooping Noah up onto her hip even though he was getting too big for it, even though he squirmed and complained the whole way.

"Mama, I can walk."

"Not right now, baby."

Colt's bike rolled up beside them, engine still running. "Truck's two minutes out, Jax. What do you want me to do about the sedan?"

"Nothing yet. Just watch it." Jaxon's hand found the small of Lena's back, steering her toward the alley beside the bakery without asking permission first. "We go around. Not past it."

"You don't get to touch me like that."

"Fine." He dropped his hand immediately, jaw tight, but he didn't slow down. "Walk faster instead."

They cut through the alley, Noah bouncing against her hip, asking questions she didn't have room to answer. Who's that man. Why are we running. Is the loud motorcycle man mad at us.

"He's not mad, baby. We're just playing a game."

"What kind of game?"

"The quiet kind." She pressed a kiss to his hair, more to steady herself than him. "You have to be really, really quiet."

Noah, thankfully, took that seriously. He went silent, small arms wrapping around her neck, and some part of Lena's heart cracked clean open at how easily he trusted her, how fast he'd trust anyone who told him this was a game and not the truth.

The truck screeched around the corner exactly on time, Colt already peeling off to flank it, and Jaxon didn't wait for it to fully stop before he was pulling the back door open.

"In. Now."

"Where are we even going?"

"Clubhouse."

"Absolutely not." Lena stopped dead, Noah still on her hip, ignoring the door hanging open behind her. "I am not taking my son into a building full of armed strangers."

"You're taking him somewhere with gates, cameras, and forty people who will die before they let anything through that fence." Jaxon's voice was flat, urgent, no room in it for argument. "Or you can stand here on the sidewalk and explain to whoever's in that sedan why you're taking so long to decide."

She looked back toward the mouth of the alley. The sedan hadn't moved. It didn't need to. It was just sitting there, patient, and something about that patience scared her more than if it had come screaming after them.

"Get in the truck, Lena."

She got in the truck.

Jaxon slid in beside her instead of up front, which she hadn't expected, and Colt swung himself into the driver's seat, already pulling out before the door fully shut.

"Talk," Lena said. "Right now. Who are these people and why do they want my son?"

"Not your son. Our son." Jaxon's jaw tightened at his own words, like even he was still getting used to the shape of them. "And they're the Iron Vultures. Rival club. Victor Kane runs them."

"Why would a rival motorcycle club care about a five year old?"

"Because he's mine, and Victor's spent a year looking for any weakness he can use against me." Jaxon stared out the window, watching the streets blur past, jaw working like he was chewing on something bitter. "A kid is the biggest weakness a man like me can have. Victor knows that better than anyone."

Noah, tucked against Lena's side, had gone very quiet, eyes darting between the two adults like he understood more than either of them wanted him to.

"How long," Lena asked. "How long has this Victor person known about him?"

"I don't know yet. That's what scares me."

"You don't know." Her voice cracked. "You're telling me my son might have been a target this whole time and you don't know."

"I found out he existed an hour ago, Lena. I'm working with what I've got."

Colt glanced in the rearview. "Jax. We got a tail."

Every muscle in Jaxon's body went taut. "Where."

"Two bikes, half a block back. Matching the sedan's timing too close to be coincidence."

"Punch it."

Colt didn't need telling twice. The truck lurched forward, and Noah let out a startled cry, small fingers digging into Lena's arm.

"It's okay, baby, it's okay." She pulled him tighter, pressing her palm flat against the back of his head, trying to shield him from a windshield he could still see straight through.

"Jaxon." Her voice shook now, all pretense of control gone. "If something happens to him—"

"Nothing is happening to him." He said it like a vow, low and absolute, and for one strange second she almost believed a man she hadn't trusted in five years. "I've got him. I've got both of you."

"You don't get to say that. You don't get to act like you've earned that."

"I know." His eyes met hers, something raw and exhausted underneath the urgency. "I know I haven't earned anything from you. But I'm not letting anyone touch him to make up for it later."

Colt swore up front, hands tightening on the wheel. "Jax, they're gaining."

Jaxon twisted in his seat, looking back through the rear window, and whatever he saw there made his whole face go cold and still in a way that scared Lena more than the chase itself.

"They're not chasing us," he said slowly.

"What do you mean they're not chasing us?"

He turned back around, and for the first time since Ridge Street, Lena watched real fear settle into his eyes.

"They're herding us."