Chapter 14 - The Key and the Ledger
For twenty agonizing minutes, the cabin smelled of iron, alcohol, and rain. Leo’s screams had degraded into hoarse, exhausted sobs, his gaze locked onto Jax’s eyes until finally, Doc Evans dropped a bloody piece of heavy brass into a stainless steel bowl with a sharp clink.
"It's out," Doc breathed, his shoulders slumping in sheer exhaustion. "The stomach lining is intact. I'm stitching him up now."
Leo’s eyelids fluttered shut, his breathing instantly deepening into the first natural, fever-free sleep he had known in days. Jax gently smoothed the damp hair back from his son's forehead, kissing his temple before turning to look at the metal key in the bowl.
Bear walked in, his heavy boots creaking on the floorboards. He picked up the key with a cloth and examined the stamped serial number on its head.
"This opens safe box 404 at the First National Bank of Helena," Bear muttered. "Silas kept all the blackmail—the DEA payoffs, the hit contracts, every dirty dime he ever made. It’s enough to bury his entire organization in federal prison for three lifetimes."
"Where is Silas?" Jax asked, his voice cold as a mountain grave.
Bear pointed a thumb toward the tree line behind the cabin. "Out by the riverbank. He's waiting for your verdict, Jax. Club bylaws say the decision belongs to the blood he wronged."
Jax took the Colt .45 from the table, checked the chamber, and walked out into the misty dawn. Silas was kneeling in the mud beside the rushing river, his hands bound behind his back, his face bruised beyond recognition.
May you like
Silas looked up, coughing up blood, but his eyes were still defiant. "Go ahead, Jax. Kill me. You’ll just be the same monster you were when you left."
Jax stared at him, finger resting along the slide of the gun, the sound of the raging water filling the morning air.
