CHAPTER 5: THE DEVIL'S BARGAIN

Sarah's Pov

I stood in the quiet of Jax’s house, my fingers trembling as they brushed against the hollow at my throat.

My pendant.

It was gone.

Panic spiked through me, sharp and cold. I patted my collarbone, my chest, even the pocket of my worn jeans, hoping, praying it had somehow slipped inside. But it was nowhere.

*No. No, no, no.*

That pendant was everything. The only thing I’d managed to hold onto from my mother. A small silver disk, worn with age, etched with a design I used to trace as a child whenever I felt scared. And now — now it was gone.

My mind raced. *Where did I last see it? When did I last feel the weight of it against my skin?

Had I lost it during the chaos at the clubhouse? When Jax had pulled me away from those leering eyes and dragging hands? Or had it slipped off in the night, tangled in the sheets of a bed that wasn’t mine?

A wave of nausea rolled through me. *Damn it.*

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to push back the gnawing sense of dread that had nothing to do with the missing pendant and everything to do with this place — this house that felt more like a cage than a safe haven.

The windows were dark, the night pressing in on all sides. Every creak of the old floorboards, every whisper of wind against the walls set my nerves on edge.

Where *was* Jax?

The man terrified me, and yet... he was the only thing that kept the real monsters at bay. I’d seen it in his eyes — that brutal, unflinching fury when anyone so much as looked at me wrong. But men like him… I’d learned the hard way they could be your savior one moment and your destroyer the next.

Still, I waited for him.

My body ached from exhaustion, but I paced the living room, listening for the roar of his bike. The waiting was torture — the kind that crawls under your skin and makes you jump at shadows.

And then I heard it.

The gates groaned open. The engine snarled like a beast unleashed.

Jax was home.

The front door burst open so hard it smacked the wall. Jax stormed in, fury radiating off him like heat from a fire. His eyes were wild, his jaw clenched so tight I thought he’d break his teeth.

Two of his men stumbled in after him — or, rather, were dragged in. One was bloody, his lip split and swelling fast. The other had a gash over his eye.

He had already beaten the living shit out of them outside.

Jax didn’t even pause. His fist crashed into the first man’s face with a sickening crack.

“You were supposed to be watching her!” he roared.

The man crumpled, groaning, but Jax wasn’t done. He turned on the second, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him against the wall so hard the pictures rattled.

“My *daughter*, you useless fucks!” His voice was a snarl. “She’s gone because of you!”

The man tried to speak, but Jax’s fist silenced him, smashing into his gut.

“Stop!” The word tore from my throat before I could think. I rushed forward, heart pounding. “You’ll kill them!”

Jax froze, chest heaving, his hand still fisted in the man’s shirt. His gaze snapped to me — wild, broken, dangerous.

For a breath, I thought he might hit me too, but then — slowly — he let the man go. The guy collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.

Jax straightened, shoulders trembling, and turned to his men.

“Get the fuck out of my sight. All of you. Now.”

The room emptied in seconds, boots thudding, doors slamming.

I started to follow, not wanting to be caught in the storm still raging inside him.

“Not you.”

His voice stopped me cold.

I turned back.

Jax stood in the middle of the wreckage — shattered glass, splintered wood, blood on his knuckles. His eyes found mine, and for a moment, I saw past the rage to the raw, aching fear beneath.

I swallowed hard, stepping toward him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing how useless the words were. “Jax, I’m so, so sorry.”

He dropped into the chair like the weight of the world had finally crushed him. He buried his face in his hands, and for the first time, I saw him crack.

Without thinking, I knelt beside him. My hand hovered, then rested on his arm — solid, tense, trembling.

“She’s out there,” he said, his voice rough and low. “And I can’t… I can’t do anything until I know where.”

“You’ll find her.” My voice shook, but I meant it. I had to believe it. “We’ll find her.”

His head lifted, eyes locking with mine, and in that second, all the walls between us crumbled. The monster, the savior, the man — it was all there, laid bare.

His hand brushed my cheek — so gently I barely felt it. A silent thank you. A plea for strength.

And then — the knock at the door.

Too Fast.

Jax was on his feet in an instant, gun drawn, his whole body coiled tight.

A man stepped inside, breathless, holding out something small and shining.

Jax’s eyes narrowed as he took it.

It was my pendant.

My heart stopped.

He turned it over in his hand, then unfolded the crumpled paper that came with it. His face went white.

I stepped closer, dread thick in my throat.

“What is it?”

Jax didn’t speak. He handed me the note.

*Hand over Sarah. And your daughter lives.*

I stared at the words, my blood turning to ice.

The Vultures.

The name whispered through the room like a curse.

My mind raced back — to the fire, the screams, the stash house burning to ash. The pendant — my pendant — the one I’d dropped that night in the chaos.

The pendant that was missing from my neck.

They knew.

They knew.

And now they had Lila.

The look Jax gave me was enough to kill.