Chapter 3
1032 Words
Jax’s POV
The penthouse was miles away from the clubhouse, in a building that overlooked Central Park.
No one from the club knew about this place. Not Razor. Not Tank. Not even Doc.
To them, I was just Jax, club leader. But here, I was Jaxon Knight, the billionaire.
The man who'd built an empire from nothing and kept it hidden behind leather and motorcycles.
And right now, I was thinking about a certain corporate attorney with sharp eyes and expensive shoes.
“You still with me, boss?” Ghost’s voice reached me through the laptop speaker.
My attention returned to the screen. Marcus Kort, was the club's tech guy. He could hack into anything with a keyboard and enough Red Bull.
"Yeah. What'd you find?”
“Word on the street is, Sterling & Associates is about six months away from bankruptcy. They lost three major deals in the last quarter,”
"So this deal is life or death for them.”
“For them, yeah. For your lawyer specifically?” Ghost pulled up a file, “Olivia Chen. Twenty-five. Harvard Law. Became a member of Sterling & Associates four years ago. Fast-tracked to partner consideration last year. But…” He paused.
“But what?”
“Her numbers have been shitty lately. No major wins in six months,”
I leaned back into my chair, “Why?”
"Well, there was an incident two years ago. Broken engagement. It made the society pages because her fiancé was – wait for it – Ethan Caldwell.”
“Ethan Caldwell,”
“The very same. Sources say he cheated on her with a socialite and got caught in a pretty public way. She disappeared from the social scene after that. Apparently, she had a breakdown and drowned herself in work,”
As Ghost spoke, I stared at the picture he had pulled up.
Olivia at some charity gala, smiling at the camera with Ethan’s arm around her. She looked younger, happier.
Nothing like the woman who'd walked into the clubhouse today. She was all sharp edges and defensive walls now, but even then, I had seen flashes of her vulnerability.
Looking at the picture again, I realized there was this light in her eyes that was nonexistent now.
She hated Ethan Caldwell, but Sterling & Associates had made her work with him anyway.
“That's twisted,” I found myself saying.
“What can I say? It's corporate law. So what do you intend to do with this information?”
Good question. For one, I could use it against her. I could make her job impossible.
But the memory of her walking into the clubhouse stopped me cold.
She'd been terrified. It was there in the micro-expressions she tried so hard to hide.
But she'd walked in anyway, chin up, heels clicking, ready to go to war.
And when she'd turned around and their eyes had met –
Damn.
Jax had been with beautiful women before. Hell, he'd had top models chasing him.
But Olivia Chen had hit him like a freight train.
She was not just gorgeous – with that mouth he wanted to taste badly and those legs that went on for days – but she had fire in her.
She stood tall even when Tank and Razor tried to intimidate her.
“Boss?”. Ghost interrupted my train of thought.
"Send me everything you have on Sterling & Associates' finances," I said, running a hand through my hair as if I wanted to wipe away thoughts of her, “Also, keep digging into Caldwell Development. I want to know their motives.”
“You got it, boss,”
"Keep this quiet. Razor doesn't need to know about her connection to Caldwell."
"Why not?”
But Razor would push me to weaponise it, and for some reason, I didn't want to do that.
“Just do it,”
***
Back at the clubhouse, I walked through the garage, nodding at members waiting on their bikes.
Then I headed to the backroom where my core guys waited.
Razor was pacing. Tank was eating pizza, and Doc, as usual, had his head buried in a medical book.
“Well, how’d it go with the corporate Barbie?” Razor asked
"She made an offer. I said no.”
“That's all? No legal bullshit?”
"She tried the legal angle. Didn't work. But she'll be back, and she'll come harder,” I said as I dropped into a seat.
“Then we fight dirty. "Ghost can dig up dirt on the developer. We leak…”
“No,” I cut in.
“No?” Razor stared at me.
“We fight clean. We'll use legal channels, but we don't sink to their level,”
"Why the hell not? They're trying to destroy everything we've built. You want to play nice?”
"We start playing dirty, we prove every stereotype about bikers right,” I met Razor's gaze.
“Jax is right,” Doc said.
Razor opened his mouth to argue, but Tank cut him off.
“And the lawyer? Is she gonna be a problem?”
Yes. But not in the way they thought.
“I'll take care of her,”
“And how will you do that? Because it looked like you were pretty interested in handling her when she walked in today.” Tank said.
Damn, was it that obvious? I must not have been as slick as I thought.
"She's the enemy, Jax. Don't let a pretty face distract you from what she's really here to do.” Razor added.
"I'm not distracted.”
“Hard to believe since you were eye f*****g her the entire meeting,”
“All that matters is protecting the club,”
"Then protect it. Stop thinking with your d**k and start thinking like a president.” Razor spat.
“Is that you questioning my leadership?” I said, rising from my seat slowly. Maybe he needed to be reminded who was in charge around here.
He looked away with a smirk.
"I want to make sure you're not about to blow this because some lawyer in expensive heels got under your skin.”
- Writer
