Chapter 6
The quiet of the office settled around them, heavy with the weight of unspoken truths and irreversible loss. Jax stood up and walked over to the small window that looked out onto the alleyway behind the hotel. The neon sign of a nearby diner buzzed rhythmically in the damp night air. His mind raced through the logistics of his current life—his apartment above the auto repair shop, his unpredictable schedule, the dangerous associations he was slowly trying to distance himself from. None of that mattered anymore. A child, his child, was sitting a few feet away, entirely dependent on a man who had barely learned how to take care of himself.
"What happens now, Leo?" Jax asked without turning around. "Do you have any other family? An aunt, an uncle, anyone?"
"No," Leo answered immediately. "Just Mom. And now... just you, I guess. Unless you don't want me. Mom said adults have choices, and sometimes kids are a heavy baggage they didn't ask for."
Hearing those words break from the lips of an eight-year-old pierced Jax's heart more deeply than any physical blow ever could. He turned around sharply, walking across the small room until he stood directly in front of the sofa. He knelt down once more so he was looking straight into those large, hopeful hazel eyes.
"Listen to me very carefully, Leo," Jax said, his voice firm, unwavering, and completely stripped of any lingering toughness. "You are never baggage. You are my flesh and blood, and from this exact second on, my life belongs to you. I'm not walking away. Not today, not ever."
Leo stared at him, searching his face for any sign of hesitation or deceit. Finding only absolute conviction in the biker's weathered features, a slow, radiant smile broke across the boy's pale face—a smile that mirrored the one in the faded photograph from decades ago.
"Okay," Leo whispered softly, relief finally loosening the tight tension in his small frame.
Before Jax could respond, a sharp knock sounded at the heavy wooden door. Jax stood up instantly, his protective instincts flaring as he stepped defensively in front of the sofa where Leo sat.
"Who is it?" Jax called out, his voice dropping back into its low, gravelly register.
"It's Sarah," came the muffled reply from the hallway. "I hate to interrupt, but there are two men in security uniforms asking questions about a kid who wandered into the private sector from the charity gala. They're heading this way."
Jax cursed under his breath. The hotel security would not understand the situation; they would call child services, separate them, and plunge Leo into a bureaucratic nightmare of foster care before Jax could legally prove his paternity.
"We need to leave, right now," Jax said, grabbing his black tuxedo jacket from the desk chair.
May you like
"Is there a back exit?" Leo asked, showing a quick, street-smart resourcefulness that proved he had learned how to navigate hard times.
"Through the kitchen and out to the alley loading dock," Jax replied, extending his hand. "Grab my hand, kid. We're getting out of here together."
