Chapter 14 - The Final Mile
“Clara!” Jax screamed, dropping to his knees in the wet dirt and catching her before she hit the ground.
The chaos around them instantly faded into a sickening, hollow silence. The gunfire stopped. The bikers cut their engines, the sudden quiet of the forest rushing back in like a tidal wave. Sheriff Vance, realizing the situation had spiraled completely out of his control, scrambled into the passenger side of the battered tactical vehicle and ordered his men to retreat, tearing back up the logging road into the fog.
Jax didn't chase them. He pulled Clara into his lap, pressing his hands frantically against the dark stain spreading rapidly across the front of her jacket.
“Clara, look at me. Stay with me,” Jax begged, his voice cracking with a raw, agonizing despair he had never allowed himself to feel before.
Little Leo crawled out from behind the boulder, his small face streaked with tears as he fell to his knees beside his mother. “Mom? Mom, wake up. Please.”
Clara’s eyelids fluttered open. She managed a weak, heartbreaking smile, her hand reaching out blindly until Jax caught it in his massive, calloused palm, pressing her fingers against his chest.
“You came back, Jax,” Clara whispered, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps. “You… you kept your promise.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Jax choked out, tears finally breaking free and cutting tracks through the dust and grease on his bearded face. “We’re going to Sacramento. We’re going to fix this. We’re going home.”
Clara turned her gaze to her son, her hazel eyes shining with a fierce, eternal love. “Take care of him, Jax… raise him right.”
Her hand went limp in his grip. The fire in her eyes slowly flickered out, leaving only the quiet dignity of a mother who had fought to her last breath to secure her son’s future.
Leo let out a heartbroken, shattering sob that tore through the mountain air, burying his face in Jax’s heavy leather jacket. Jax wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him tight against his chest while his own shoulders shook with silent, unrelenting grief.
Miller walked over slowly, standing quietly above them with the heavy manila envelope clutched in his hand. He looked down at Clara, then placed a heavy, respectful hand on Jax’s shoulder.
“We have the ledger, Jax,” Miller said softly, his voice thick with emotion. “The prosecutor in Sacramento is waiting. We can get justice for her tonight.”
Jax looked down at Leo, then slowly lifted his eyes to the endless stretch of highway winding down the mountain toward the valley below. The ghost on the counter was gone, replaced by a living, breathing reality that he would protect with his last drop of blood.
“Let’s ride,” Jax whispered.
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Twenty minutes later, the convoy roared out of the Oakhaven pass, heading south toward the state capital. Jax rode with Leo seated securely right in front of him this time, the boy’s small hands wrapped firmly around the handlebars while J
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