Chapter 5 Collateral Hearts

The name lit up the screen like a curse.

Sienna.

My sister's face. On Jaxon's phone. Bound. Gagged. Terrified.

The text was short, cold, and final:

> "You want her back? Come alone. Midnight. No weapons. No tricks. Or she dies."

Attached was a location somewhere in the Bronx.

I didn't realize I was trembling until Jaxon caught my wrist.

His grip was strong, but not painful. Like he was anchoring me.

"How did they get her?" I choked.

"I don't know. But I will find out."

"I have to go."

He didn't let go. His voice was steel.

"No. That's exactly what they want."

"She's my sister, Jaxon!"

"And you're mine," he snapped. "If you walk into this alone, you won't walk out."

Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them back.

"I don't care what happens to me. She's all I have."

He leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper.

"You have me now."

That stopped me cold.

Those four words were more terrifying than the threat. Because they meant he wasn't just protecting me out of strategy or control.

He meant it.

All of it.

"I won't let them hurt her," he said. "But you have to trust me."

"I don't trust anyone."

His hand slipped behind my neck, pulling me close.

"Then trust what you feel when I touch you."

And I did.

Because when he kissed me, it was desperate. Fierce. Real.

Not a claim.

A promise.

Midnight. Bronx warehouse.

The place reeked of damp cement and lies.

Jaxon's men were everywhere, hidden shadows, locked and loaded.

But I walked in alone, as instructed. No wire. No gun. Just the fire in my chest and the memory of Sienna's smile.

The warehouse door creaked open.

And there she was.

Tied to a chair. Duct tape over her mouth. Tear tracks on her cheeks.

I lunged.

A figure stepped from the shadows, stopping me cold.

A woman.

Tall. Leather-clad. Red lips and colder eyes.

"Hello, Raven," she purred. "Nice to meet the girl who made Jaxon sloppy."

"Let her go."

The woman smiled.

"I will. After you do one thing."

"What?"

She walked closer.

Held up a flash drive.

"Plug this into Jaxon's private network. That's all. Simple."

"What's on it?"

She smirked.

"Insurance."

I stared at her. My voice didn't shake.

"If I do this, she walks. No tricks."

The woman nodded.

But her eyes told another story.

Sienna looked up at me, shaking her head.

Tears in her eyes.

She mouthed one word

> "Don't."

Sienna mouthed it again.

"Don't."

This time her eyes didn't beg. Like she knew exactly what plugging in that flash drive would do.

And I believed her.

Because this wasn't about leverage. It was a setup.

"You think I'll sell him out for my sister?" I asked the woman, careful to keep my voice steady.

She raised a brow.

"Not sell. Save. There's a difference."

"She's family."

"So is he now," she said casually. "Don't pretend otherwise."

I hated that she was right. And I hated that my hands were sweating with indecision.

Jaxon hadn't told me everything I knew. But whatever was on that drive, it mattered.

Enough to put Sienna in danger.

Enough to tempt me with a choice I shouldn't have to make.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

One vibration.

Jaxon.

I didn't answer.

Because I didn't want him to hear the panic in my voice or worse, the betrayal I was considering.

"I plug it in," I said, narrowing my eyes, "and you let her go."

The woman smiled again.

"Oh, darling. You already know how this ends."

Suddenly

Gunfire.

Three shots. Close. Too close.

Sienna screamed behind the tape. I ducked, pulling her down as another round cracked overhead.

The woman cursed and ran for the side exit.

And then I saw him.

Jaxon.

Storming through the haze, dressed in black, eyes ablaze with fury.

He grabbed me first. Pulled me into him. Checked my face, my arms.

"You okay?" he breathed.

I nodded, breathless.

"She wanted me to "

"I know." His jaw clenched. "I was listening."

I blinked.

"You bugged me?"

His hand slid down my spine.

"I protect what's mine."

We helped Sienna up. He cut her ropes. She sobbed into my arms.

"I'm sorry," I whispered into her hair. "I didn't know what to do."

"She was never going to let us go," Sienna cried. "Even if you did it."

I looked at Jaxon.

"You were right."

He didn't say I told you so.

Instead, he wiped blood from my cheek with his thumb and kissed my forehead like I was breakable.

"I would've burned this city to get you both back," he said.

On the ride back, Sienna asleep beside me, Jaxon handed me the flash drive.

"You want to know everything?" he asked. "This is your key."

I stared at it.

And wondered if I was brave enough to unlock his secrets

or just another girl falling for a man who'd already decided to destroy himself.

> "Be sure, Raven," Jaxon whispered. "Because once you know what's on here, there's no going back."

Raven

"You're bleeding," I whispered, barely able to keep the tremble from my voice as I pressed my hand to Jaxon's ribs.

He didn't flinch. Didn't even look at the gash oozing down his side. Instead, he stared at me like I'd just betrayed him.

Because maybe I had.

"You didn't tell me you were going back into the ring tonight," I said quietly, not trusting the air between us. "Why?"

Jaxon leaned back against the bathroom door, blood seeping into the white towel he refused to replace. His gaze cut through me, sharp enough to flay skin.

"Why?" he echoed. "You really want the truth?"

"No, Jaxon. Lie to me. Like you always do."

His jaw tightened. I saw the muscles in his arms twitch, the tension pulsing like a storm about to break.

"I went back because I needed to feel something that wasn't you."

The words landed like a gut punch.

"You think that's something I want to hear?" I hissed.

"I think it's something you need to hear."

We stood there in silence, the weight of the night closing in. The distant sound of sirens, the hum of the city, the rawness between us none of it mattered when his eyes found mine again.

"I'm not good for you, Raven," he said, voice low. "But you make me feel like I could be. And that terrifies the hell out of me."

My heart cracked, slowly and surely, under the honesty he rarely gave away.

I took a step toward him, brushing my fingers across the edge of his bloodied shirt. "I don't need you to be good for me," I murmured. "I just need you to not lie to me."

He didn't speak.

He didn't have to.

The moment I leaned in, he met me halfway. His lips crashed into mine, desperate, angry, starved. Like he'd been drowning in everything he couldn't say and I was the air he refused to deserve.

The kiss deepened, hands tangled, bodies flush.

It wasn't sweet.

It was on fire.

It was survival.

And when he lifted me onto the sink and yanked my shirt over my head like the world was ending, I let it burn. Because love with Jaxon was never quiet.

It was a war I kept choosing to fight.

Jaxon

I shouldn't have touched her. Not when I still had blood on my hands literally and figuratively. But the way she looked at me, like I wasn't a monster...

I lost it.

There was something terrifying about needing someone this much. About being needed in return.

Because everything I touched fell apart eventually.

I wasn't a boyfriend. I wasn't in a safe place. I was the weapon you called when the world got too messy for heroes.

But Raven? She made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could be more than the violence I was raised in.

And I hated her for that.

Hated that she got under my skin. Hated that every time I walked away, I still heard her laugh in my head. Still felt her fingers tracing that scar above my hip like it was something beautiful.

"Jaxon," she whispered against my lips, breaking the kiss just enough to breathe.

I closed my eyes. "Don't say my name like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you see the man under the scars."

She placed her palm flat against my chest, right over my heartbeat. "Because I do."

And I knew, in that second, that this wasn't going to end well.

Because the next war wasn't just in the streets or with the Blaze syndicate.

It was in me.

And she was my favorite casualty waiting to happen.

Raven

Jaxon didn't say a word after.

He just held me.

His arms wrapped around me like he was trying to memorize the shape of my soul, not just my body. I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat slow from war-drum to lullaby.

But we both knew peace didn't last long in his world.

Especially not tonight.

"I need to see what's on the flash drive," I said finally, the words scraping out of my throat like they were laced in sandpaper.

Jaxon's body stiffened.

"You're not ready for that."

I pulled back. "Don't tell me what I am."

His jaw twitched, eyes narrowing, and for a moment I saw the man who'd broken ribs without blinking earlier that night.

But then he exhaled.

And softened.

"You're right," he said, surprising me.

"You're going to let me look?"

"No," he said, reaching over to the nightstand and placing the flash drive in my palm. "I'm going to let you choose."

I stared at the little piece of metal.

So small.

So... devastating.

Whatever was on it had been worth my sister's life.

Worth a betrayal.

Worth a war.

And now it was in my hands.

"What if I don't like what I find?" I whispered.

He looked at me like I was already breaking.

"Then I'll tell you another story. One that makes you hate me a little less."

I swallowed. Hard.

"Is it that bad?"

He didn't answer.

Because I already knew.

Later, after he fell asleep or pretended to, I slipped out of bed, pulled on one of his black shirts, and walked barefoot into the den.

The city lights blinked beyond the windows, oblivious to my heart trying to rip itself in two.

I plugged the flash drive into his laptop.

One folder.

Labeled in all caps.

SOVEREIGN.

I clicked.

And what opened next?

Shattered everything I thought I knew about Jaxon.

About my family.

About myself.

--

In the top right corner of the screen was a surveillance photo.

Dated two years ago.

My sister.

In a room with Jaxon.

> And she wasn't afraid of him.

> She was standing next to him.

> Smiling.

Raven

I stared at the photo until my vision blurred.

My sister.

Standing beside Jaxon.

Not afraid. Not hostage. Not used.

Smiling.

Like she belonged in his world.

Like she chose it.

The file wasn't just a surveillance image. It was a whole series. Dates, names, timestamps. Some folders were encrypted, but others were full of documents with watermarks from the Sovereign Initiative, a name I didn't recognize, but felt like I should have.

I opened one video.

And saw her again.

Sienna. Wearing the same clothes from the day I thought she disappeared. Leaning close to Jaxon, whispering something in his ear. He laughed. Relaxed.

It wasn't just business.

They looked like friends.

Like... accomplices.

The ache in my chest deepened into something sharper. Colder.

Had he lied?

Was she working with him?

Was this why he didn't want me to see the truth?

And worse... was I just a replacement?

The click of a door opening behind me jolted me.

Jaxon stood in the doorway, shirtless, sleep-rumpled, and still somehow intimidating.

"I told you it was a bad idea," he said quietly.

"You should've told me everything."

He stepped into the room, not angry but watchful.

I couldn't tell if he was bracing for my fury or mourning the end of something fragile between us.

"She didn't just know you," I whispered. "She worked with you."

"Yes," he said. No hesitation. "But it wasn't what you think."

"Then what was it?"

He didn't answer fast enough.

So I pushed back from the desk, walked past him, and snapped, "Tell me you weren't in love with her."

His jaw tightened. "It wasn't like that."

"Not what I asked."

"I didn't love your sister."

A beat.

Then:

"But I respected her. Trusted her. For a while, she was the only person who knew what I was trying to build. What I was trying to destroy."

I turned. "Destroy what?"

He stepped closer, and his voice dropped to a dangerous, low rasp.

"Sovereign. The people who made me. The ones who buried your family's truth and painted mine in blood."

"My family?" I echoed.

He exhaled. "Your sister got in too deep. She uncovered something that would've put a target on your entire bloodline. She ran. I tried to protect her. But then she vanished. And I thought..."

His voice cracked.

"I thought she was dead."

Silence bloomed between us like an old wound reopening.

"So what am I to you?" I asked, blinking against the sting of tears. "Another Calder girl to protect? Another person to fix because you couldn't save the first one?"

He moved toward me fast, grabbed my wrist, and tugged me against him.

His voice was hoarse. Honest. Wrecked.

"No. You're the one who made me want to be better. You're the only person who makes me think I'm not just a red flag in a suit."

I should've shoved him away.

Should've screamed, broken things, torn the photo from the screen.

But instead... I kissed him.

Because anger couldn't live beside the ache. Not tonight.

And because if I didn't feel him really feel him I'd forget what was real and what was just another lie I wanted to believe.

We ended up on the couch, tangled in heat, desperation, and broken promises.

His mouth burned across my collarbone.

My hands trembled against his back.

And when he whispered, "I would've died for her. But I'll kill for you," I didn't know whether to love him or run.

The computer screen blinked.

One more video auto-played.

This time, it wasn't just Jaxon and Sienna.

It was me.

A security feed.

From years ago.

At age fourteen.

Shaking hands with a man whose face I'd never remembered.

Until now.

The same man who tried to kill Jaxon last week.