Page 80 of Jax & Knox

I scoop him up, pressing kisses all over his face. "Hi, baby. Did you have fun with Jax and Knox??"

"Da-da-da!" he babbles, his chubby hand reaching toward Jax.

"Da-Nox!" he adds, pointing at Knox.

Both brothers are grinning, and my heart feels like it might burst.

"How was your day?" Jax asks, standing and pulling me into his arms.

"Perfect," I say honestly. "It was perfect."

Knox wraps his arms around both of us, and we stand there for a moment, the three of us and Owen, just holding each other.

Later, after Owen is asleep and we're curled up on the couch, I find myself thinking about everything that's happened.

I came to Perdition broken.

Running for my life from a man who wanted to destroy me.

And I found two men who claimed me completely.

I found sisters in the Old Lady Mafia.

I found a family.

A home.

A place to belong.

My walls aren't just cracking anymore.

They're falling away entirely.

I'm surrendering, not just physically, but emotionally, spiritually, completely.

And for the first time in my life, I'm starting to believe that I get to keep this.

That this is real.

That I'm truly whole.

FOURTEEN

KNOX

I wake before dawn. The house is quiet except for the soft sound of Ainsley's breathing beside me and Jax's low snore from the other side of her. Owen's baby monitor sits on the nightstand, silent for now.

I should get up, check the perimeter, run through my mental checklist of security protocols. But I don’t move. Instead I lie here in the dark, staring at the ceiling, thinking about how different my life was just a few weeks ago, before her, before Owen, before everything changed.

Jax and I used to be different men.

Playboys, the club called us. The Carter brothers who shared everything, bikes, business, women. We had a reputation. A rotation. An endless parade of willing bodies and forgettable faces.

It wasn't love. It wasn't even affection most of the time.

It was just… easy.

No strings. No expectations. No one getting hurt because no one expected anything more than a night or two of fun.