KATYA

 

JACKSON COMES BACK to the bedroom about an hour later…only to announce that we're leaving.

"Leaving?" I exclaim, sitting up in bed.  "Where are we going?"

"To the U.S.  Pack light, just necessities.  We're leaving in fifteen."  He goes to the walk-in closet and rips out two suitcases.  He begins to pack some shirts and pants into one of them.

I stare at him like he just grew a third head.  I can't even process what he's telling me right now.  "I-I can't just leave," I protest.  "What if the Bratva finds me in the States?"  They have soldiers all over the world.  All it would take is just the right person to recognize me.  Then I would be as good as dead.

Jax stops packing and looks up at me.  "They won't," he says, as if his confident answer solves everything.

"How could you possibly know that?" I yell at him, not caring anymore if it's the middle of the night.  "What are we even going for?" I ask, although I already have an inkling as to the reason.

"Lucien found Adeline," he says, not offering more of an explanation other than that, as he continues to pack.  He glances up at me when I say nothing in response and says sternly, "Twelve minutes now, Katya."

I swallow hard around the lump forming in my throat, and I hold back my tears as I take the empty suitcase and walk to my room to begin packing.

I thought I knew where I stood with Jax, but I couldn't have been any more wrong.

I have no idea where I stand now that Adeline is going to be back in his life.

 

* * * * * * *

 

ONCE THE SMALL, private jet was loaded with our luggage and cargo, it took off for our destination…and maybe my final resting place.

I try not to dwell on the fact that leaving the island could very well be like signing my death warrant.  The Bratva are everywhere.  And it will only take one of them to recognize me or catch wind of me arriving in the States.  Then, it will all be over for me.

My hands grip the armrests until my knuckles turn white.  I hate flying, especially in a small plane.  Every dip or jarring movement has me on edge, like we're going to fall to earth in a fiery tangled mess of metal and flesh.

"Something's not right," I hear Jax announce from his seat beside me and across from Lucien.  He's been watching the data on Adeline nonstop ever since we left, even though not much has changed…until now obviously.

Lucien opens his laptop and narrows his eyes as he stares at the screen.  "It looks exactly the same," he grumbles.  "She's in the same exact location that she was hours ago."

"Not the GPS.  I'm talking about her vitals," he says in a panicked tone.

His words send Lucien into a frenzy, and I watch his fingers fly over the keyboard as he checks more data.  Cursing under his breath, I realize he must have found what Jax is looking at.

"Do you think something is happening to her?" Jax asks, his face etched with worry lines.

Lucien stares at Jax for a long time, and I can almost hear the cogs in his brain turning.  He's figuring out exactly what I figured out a long time ago — Jackson is infatuated with Adeline, obsessed even.  And it goes beyond just a friendship.  I'd venture to say that Jackson is in love with this girl.

Lucien closes his eyes and clenches his hands into fists, and I know he's trying to rein in his anger at his cousin.  Jackson just stares at him, oblivious to it all.  His brain is too muddled with emotion right now.

In an attempt to pacify the situation, I lean over and place my hand over Jackson's.  "Jax, she will be okay," I whisper soothingly.

Jax turns his attention to me, and for a moment I can see something in his eyes as we share an unspoken connection.

Does he love me as much as I love him? I ask myself.

Wait…love?  Do I love Jax?

I didn't think it was even possible for someone like me with what I've suffered through in my past.  But as I stare into his steel-gray eyes, I realize that yes, I do love Jax.  More than I ever thought imaginable.

Our connection is broken, however, at the sound of a beeping coming from Lucien's laptop.  He quickly keys in something and stares at the screen.

"Adeline's moving.  Quickly.  She must be in a car," Lucien says hurriedly, his voice thick with trepidation.  "And it's heading towards New York City."