Broken Soul (Jackson Family 3)

jaxon

I steppedinto James’s office. Darren and Adrian were already there waiting on me. Darren smirked at me. “Not much else to do in prison than work out, right?”

I shrugged and intentionally flexed my muscles with a smirk on my face. “Not really, no.”

Darren looked at Adrian. “You should book a vacation there next.” James’s lips twitched in amusement, and even I snorted out a laugh.

Adrian rolled his eyes. “Fuck off, Darren.”

James cleared his throat, bringing the other two to attention. “I’ve been sitting on this for a few days now,” James said, looking directly at me. “Haven’t even told them,” he informed me, gesturing to Adrian and Darren.

I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest, my legs crossed at the ankles. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“Adrik reached out to me. Apparently, when you were arrested, Inessa’s parents tried to get her to come home.” I stood up straighter at that, clenching my jaw. “And with Adrik getting older, he’s getting ready to step down.” I nodded. I knew that. Talk of it had reached me in prison. “Problem is, Inessa’s father isn’t on board with what Adrik has done. He wants a war, and he wants his daughter back home, married to someone he chooses and finds suitable. He wants nationality to marry nationality. And he wants an heir. With no luck from the other daughter, he’s relying on her. And he doesn’t think you’re reliable enough anymore since you spent time in prison.”

“Fuck no,” I swore. Like hell would anyone be taking my fucking wife from me.

“Easy,” James warned me. “They played it off to Inessa as them not being happy about her losing the baby.” I clenched my jaw. For them to make her feel as if they turned her back on her because of that pissed me off. She had suffered enough. It wasn’t her fault she’d lost the fucking baby.

“Adrik has kept his distance from Inessa to protect her to the best of his ability. But when he got word that you were being released, he reached out to me. He wants a meeting with you. He wants to be assured Inessa will be protected while he makes the moves he needs to on his side.”

I gritted my teeth. “You mean to tell me that he is still expecting to hand everything down to her father?” I snarled.

James shook his head. “Let me finish,” he ordered. I clenched my jaw, staying silent though it was killing me to. “He’s giving everything to his second in command’s son, but he’s expecting retaliation on all of us. His son won’t take kindly to losing the family legacy. Adrik has silently been training his second in command’s son to take over for the past five years since all of this shit started happening.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket while I looked at James. “Put protection on my wife. I’ll be back,” I ordered. I knew putting protection on someone was normally my job, but I needed to talk to Adrik. My wife was on the fucking line.

I stepped out of the room, already dialing Adrik’s number, and James didn’t try to stop me.

* * *

I didn’t waste a beat as I walked up to where Adrik was waiting for me at a park. Was it out in the open? Yes. Did I give a fuck? No.

“This is the only warning I’m giving,” I softly warned, my voice holding the promise and threat of pain if I got crossed. “I’m not divorcing Inessa. She is mine. The moment her hand was promised to me, she became my responsibility. Get your fucking son on board with that, or I swear to you, Adrik, you’ll find out why James made someone who wasn’t family a made man.”

With that, I turned and strode off, heading back to my car to go home and confront Inessa. I didn’t have a single other fucking thing to say to him.

Fuck with my wife, and you fuck with me.

Now that Adrik had received my warning, I needed to talk to my wife. She had never told me her family turned their backs on her, and I wanted to fucking know why. Why did she feel like she couldn’t trust me with that when I got home?

“Jaxon?” Adrik called.

I paused and looked over my shoulder at him. “What?” I barked.

“I’ll pass along the message. Just keep my granddaughter safe.”

I nodded once and continued walking. He didn’t have to worry about that. I’d burn this world to the ground for her all while making sure not even a lick of heat reached her precious skin.

* * *