CHAPTER SIX
Elena stared at the photo in the stranger's hand until the tinted window sealed it away like a secret slammed shut.
The SUV pulled off smoothly, melting into the evening traffic as if it had never been there. But the image burned behind her eyelids…Jax's bare back, the woman's arms possessive and familiar, her mouth pressed to his skin in a way that screamed intimacy.
She didn't scream nor did she cry. She just tightened her grip on Jax's hand until her knuckles ached white.
He still hadn't looked at the photo. He hadn't needed to.
"Jax," she said, voice low enough that only he could hear it over the distant hum of the city. "Who was she?"
He exhaled slowly, like the air itself hurt. "Elena"
"Don't." She released his hand. The absence felt louder than any argument. "Don't lie to me now. Not after everything."
They were standing just outside the wrought-iron gates of her parents' estate, the same gates that had once felt like protection.
Now they looked like bars. The streetlights cast long, jagged shadows across the pavement, turning every parked car into a potential watcher.
Jax finally met her eyes. His were stormy, guarded in a way she hadn't seen since the early days…before trust, before the mess of Victoria, before he'd chosen her openly. "It wasn't what it looked like."
She almost laughed. The sound came out brittle. "That's what they all say."
"It's not…"
"Then explain." Her voice cracked on the last word. "Because right now, the only explanation I have is that the man who just stood in front of my father and promised to earn me was wrapped around someone else forty-eight hours ago."
He dragged a hand through his hair, the motion raw and exhausted. "It was after the statement. After I... distanced myself publicly…Victoria's people were circling.
They had leverage…old debts, contracts I signed when I was younger and stupider. They threatened to bury my career completely if I didn't play along for one more night. One staged photo op to make it look like I was moving on.
The woman was an actress they hired. Nothing happened. I left before anything could."
Elena searched his face for the lie. She found only pain…and something darker, something like guilt that went beyond this single moment.
"You didn't tell me."
"I was trying to protect you." His voice dropped. "If they knew we were still together, they'd come for your father's company again or worse.
I thought one more performance, one more photo, and they'd back off. Victoria was already in cuffs. I thought the worst was over."
She stepped back. "You thought wrong."
Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating. A car passed slowly, headlights sweeping over them like a spotlight.
Elena felt exposed all over again, but this time it wasn't cameras or whispers…it was him.
"I need to see the photo," she said finally.
Jax hesitated, then pulled out his phone. He opened a message thread she hadn't seen before. There it was… the same image, sent to him anonymously hours before the dinner. Below it, a single line of text…
One night was all it took to remind her you're replaceable. Walk away clean, or we make sure the next photo leaves no doubt.
Elena's stomach lurched. "They sent this to you before tonight?"
He nodded. "I thought ignoring it would make them stop. Clearly not."
She handed the phone back. "You should've told me. We could've handled it together."
"I know." His voice was rough. "I fucked up again."
She wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to. But the photo felt like a splinter under her skin…small, sharp, impossible to ignore.
They walked in silence back toward her car. The night air had turned colder, carrying the faint scent of rain that hadn't fallen yet. When they reached the driver's side, Elena stopped.
"I'm not breaking up with you," she said quietly. "Not tonight. But I need space to think. And I need you to stop deciding what's best for me without asking."
Jax nodded once, jaw tight. "Whatever you want."
She got in the car. He stood there as she started the engine, watching her like he was memorizing every line of her face in case this was the last time.
As she pulled away, her phone buzzed on the passenger seat… Unknown number.
She shouldn't have looked. But she did.
A new photo loaded slowly.
This one wasn't Jax.
It was her.
Taken from inside her own trailer on set, weeks ago. She was laughing, head thrown back, Jax's hand on her waist in a moment so private it made her cheeks burn even now.
But the angle was wrong,impossible…No one had been in the room with them.
Under the image, three words:
We see everything.
Elena's foot slammed on the brake at a red light. Her heart hammered so hard it drowned out the engine.
The light turned green.
She didn't move.
Because in the rearview mirror, the same black SUV idled two cars back, headlights off, waiting.