Chapter 9 - The Bloodline's Secret
Clara unbuttoned the heavy flannel, her hands trembling uncontrollably. She pulled Leo out into the cool mountain air, examining his face, his limbs, his eyes. He was completely unharmed. He looked up at her with clear, untroubled eyes, then slowly turned his head to look at Jax.
Jax had dismounted. He stood beside the bike, his hands resting on his hips, his breathing labored. For the first time, Clara noticed a dark, widening stain along the right side of his leather vest.
""Jax... you're hit,"" she breathed, moving toward him.
""Grazed,"" he lied through clenched teeth, waving her away as he sank onto a moss-covered log. ""The vest caught the worst of it. It's nothing.""
""It's not nothing!"" Clara snapped, the delayed shock and rage finally breaking through her composure. ""None of this is nothing! Who was Marcus Reyes, Jax? You told me you were just an enforcer who got out! You told me you were running from your own mistakes, not a cartel dynasty!""
Jax closed his eyes, his head leaning back against the rough trunk of a cedar. ""I didn't know until three weeks ago, Clara. Marcus wasn't just the boss of the Sonora corridor. He was my biological father. The man who abandoned my mother before I was born.""
Clara stopped, Leo resting against her hip. ""What?""
""Marcus built an empire on blood and shell companies,"" Jax explained softly, opening his eyes to look at the baby. ""He outlived all his legitimate sons. Gang wars took them. When he was dying in that federal cell, he amended his trust. He knew about me. But more importantly, he knew about Leo. The entire legitimate paper trail—the offshore holdings, the land trusts, the legal fronts worth hundreds of millions—it was all left to Marcus’s direct grandson. On one condition.""
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Jax looked directly at Leo, his voice dropping to a whisper.
""The condition was that the child must survive to his first birthday. If he dies before then, the entire empire defaults to the board of directors. To men like David.""
