A Name Jax Had Buried
Chapter 04 - A Name Jax Had Buried
The police entered before Jax could open the old envelope.
Officer Elena Ruiz knew Jax from years earlier, when she had been a rookie and he had been the man every patrol officer expected to arrest before midnight. She also knew he had not been in trouble for almost seven years.
“Jax,” she said quietly, “I need to ask whether a boy named Noah Rourke is here.”
“His last name is Bennett,” Mae answered.
Elena looked at her. “The custody order says Rourke.”
Jax handed Elena Lila’s new note. He did not give her the old envelope.
Elena read the warning about Daniel and frowned. “Where is Lila?”
“No one knows.”
“Then I need the boy.”
“No.”
The word landed heavily.
Elena lowered her voice. “Don’t make this worse. Daniel has legal custody documents, a signed emergency petition, and three people claiming Lila is unstable.”
“Did any of those people ask why the kid hides when he sees Daniel’s car?”
Elena’s eyes shifted toward the back hallway.
Jax opened the old envelope beneath the table, shielding it from the room.
Inside was a letter dated August 18, 2017.
Jax,
I tried to tell you at the hospital. Noah is yours. I know you were grieving, and I know you said you could not be a father. I am leaving because Daniel offered us safety, not because I stopped loving you. Someday, when you are ready to become the man I always saw, please find your son.
The words blurred.
Jax read the final line twice.
Mae has the second page.
He looked up.
Mae could not meet his eyes.
“You knew.”
Her voice broke. “Lila made me promise not to tell until you were sober. Then Daniel married her, and she called to say he had adopted Noah. She begged me not to reopen it.”
“You watched me sit in this booth every morning for six years.”
“I watched you build a life. I thought I was protecting all of you.”
“You stole nine years from me.”
A small sound came from behind the kitchen door.
Noah had heard everything.
He stepped into view, clutching the photograph to his chest.
“So it’s true?” he asked.
Jax’s anger disappeared.
The boy’s eyes were wet, but he refused to cry.
“You’re really my father?”
Before Jax could answer, Officer Ruiz’s radio crackled.
May you like
A second unit had found Lila’s car abandoned beside the river.
There was blood on the driver’s seat.
