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ⁿᵒʷ ᵖˡᵃʸⁱⁿᵍ
𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 & 𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 , 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫
The mansion had always felt like a fortress. High gates, tinted windows, guards at every exit. But that night, it felt like a cage.
𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐚 sat on the edge of the bed, Leo asleep in his crib. She couldn’t shake the way Jax had left her, words like knives lodged in her chest. I’d rather you hate me than die because of me.
She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to kiss him again. She wanted to run.
Instead, the sound came.
Not a scream. Not footsteps. Gunfire.
It started sharp, echoing in the distance like fireworks gone wrong. Then closer. Then louder.
Maya’s blood froze.
Shouts rang from the front yard — Jax’s men yelling, scrambling. A window rattled as something hit the side of the house.
Leo stirred, whimpering. She rushed to his crib, scooping him up, clutching him to her chest. Her heart pounded so hard it drowned out the chaos.
The door burst open.
𝐉𝐚𝐱.
“Get down!” he barked, already moving across the room. His gun was out, his face set like stone. But his eyes — when they landed on her clutching Leo — betrayed that flash of panic.
“They found us,” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“I know,” he said through gritted teeth. “They been waiting for me to slip. This is it.”
The sound of shattering glass made her flinch. Jax moved in front of her instinctively, body shielding hers, weapon raised.
“Stay behind me. Don’t move unless I tell you.”
Bullets rattled the walls. Maya crouched low, holding Leo tight, trying to keep him quiet. Jax fired back from the window, his movements sharp and precise, every shot calculated.
Outside, headlights blazed against the front gates. OY’s cars. They weren’t creeping this time. They were declaring war.
One of Jax’s men burst into the room. “Boss, they everywhere! Back gate too!”
Jax cursed under his breath. His eyes darted to Maya, then the baby, then the chaos outside. The decision weighed heavy on his face.
“Get them out,” he ordered.
“Where?” the man asked, panicked.
“Anywhere that ain’t here,” Jax snapped.
Maya’s chest tightened. “No!” She grabbed his arm, her voice breaking. “I’m not leaving you!”
His eyes softened for just a second. “Maya, listen to me. If you stay, they’ll use you. They’ll use him. I can’t fight knowing you’re in the crossfire.”
Her throat ached. “And what if you don’t make it out?”
Jax leaned close, his lips brushing her ear, voice rough but steady. “Then you tell him… I tried.”
Before she could answer, the wall shook with another round of gunfire.
The man at the door yelled, “We gotta move now!”
Jax kissed Leo’s forehead — so quick, so raw it almost didn’t feel real — then shoved Maya toward the guard.
“Take them,” he growled. “And don’t look back.”
Maya’s tears blurred everything, but she clutched Leo tighter, her body dragged down the hall as the sound of Jax’s gunfire followed her.
The mansion shook with chaos, screams, engines, shots. And for the first time, Maya didn’t know if Jax would still be alive by morning.
Outside, as the SUV screeched out of the driveway, Maya looked back through the tinted glass. The mansion burned with light and smoke, Jax’s silhouette still fighting in the windows.
She pressed her lips to Leo’s head and whispered, “𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐚𝐱… 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞.”
The streets had finally struck. And nothing would ever be the same again.
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