All Chapters of Baited By My Cruel Stepbrother: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

The warehouse air pressed against Elara’s skin like a held breath that refused to leave. She sat on the edge of the narrow cot, knees drawn close, the bandage at her side pulling with every small shift. Outside the thin walls the coastal wind moved through broken glass and rusted metal. Inside, no one spoke. The silence had weight. It sat on her chest and made each inhale feel borrowed.Jax stood near the single lamp, his back to the others, shoulders rigid. The light caught the sharp line of his jaw and the dark shadow of stubble. He had not looked at anyone since Kai read the last message aloud. The real buyer would name the internal asset soon. The words still floated in the room, unfinished and sharp.Elara watched the way his hands flexed at his sides. Those same hands had held her through blood and flight and nights when the only safety left was the heat of his body against hers. Now those hands looked ready to break something. Or someone.Kai’s laptop screen glowed blue against

The live feed opened on Kai’s screen like a wound that refused to close. Elara stood half dressed, the taste of Jax still in her mouth, the deep throb between her legs a private pulse that belonged only to the two of them. Yet the blue light from the laptop washed over her skin and turned that private heat into something exposed. On the screen a camera moved through a familiar stretch of coastal road. The same road they had used only hours earlier. The same trees. The same broken white line in the asphalt. Someone was driving the path they had left behind and the camera was showing every mile in real time.Jax’s hand stayed at the small of her back, fingers spread wide against the bare skin under her shirt. The touch was steady. Possessive. She felt the fine tremor running through him, the same tremor she had felt when he was buried inside her minutes ago. Now that tremor carried a different weight. Pity rose in her chest so sharp it almost bent her. This man had given everything to k

The porch light glowed like a small, stubborn star against the dark. Elara stared at the phone screen until the image burned itself behind her eyes. A quiet residential street. A modest house with white siding. Curtains drawn. And behind those curtains a shadow moved once, then again, as if someone inside still believed the night was ordinary. The second name on the list belonged to that house. Someone who had once opened a door without asking for payment or proof. Someone who had given them a bed and a meal when the world had already turned its back.Pity rose in Elara’s throat so thick she could barely swallow. She pressed her free hand to the bandage at her side and felt the dull throb of healing flesh. The pain felt distant compared to the new weight settling behind her ribs. Jax kept one hand on the wheel and the other over hers on his thigh. The heat of his palm soaked through her skin and traveled upward until it settled low in her belly. Even now. Especially now.He did not sp

The stairwell smelled of damp concrete and old paint when Jax pulled Elara through the door. Her shoes slipped on the wet steps. His hand stayed locked around hers, fingers tight enough to leave marks. Somewhere below, a car door slammed. Voices carried up the concrete shaft, low and urgent.They reached the ground floor and pushed into the side alley instead of the main lot. Cold rain hit her face at once. It plastered her hair to her cheeks and soaked through the thin jacket she had grabbed. Jax kept moving, scanning the dark. His free hand stayed near the gun at his back.A black sedan sat under the single streetlight at the far end of the alley. Two men stood beside it. One of them looked up.Jax yanked her the other way. They ran along the narrow passage between the motel and the cliff fence. Gravel cut into her palms when she stumbled. He hauled her up without slowing. The ocean roared below the drop. Wind pushed rain sideways into their eyes.They reached the far parking area w

The handle twisted again. Metal scraped against the bolt with a sound that cut straight through Elara’s chest. She pressed her back to the cold wall of the shed and pulled her jeans up with trembling hands. The scent of sex still hung in the air. It mixed with the oil and damp wood until she could taste it on every breath.Jax stood between her and the door. The gun sat steady in his hand. Rain dripped from the roof onto the concrete in slow ticks. Outside, two sets of boots shifted on the gravel.“Open it,” one voice said. “We only need the girl.”Jax’s shoulders stayed rigid. He glanced once at the dusty window, then at the heavy workbench bolted to the floor. Elara’s pulse hammered so hard she felt it in her teeth. The last of the heat from his body still lingered between her legs. Now fear rode over it like a cold wave.A shoulder slammed into the door. The bolt jumped but held. Dust drifted down from the frame.Jax moved fast. He grabbed a length of steel pipe from the wall rack