Page 71 of Yours on the Canvas

Hale’s eyes widen. “Jack, I didn’t know. I swear.”

Jack grabs Hale’s shoulders, desperate. “You need to stop. You need to stay away from him. Please. Hale, please,” he begs.

I pull Jack away gently, holding him tight against my chest.

Hale’s voice trembles. “Jax, I didn’t know he was your uncle.”

Jack’s tears spill over. “He’s not my uncle. He’s a monster. Stay away from him, Hale, promise me.”

I step forward, placing a firm hand on Hale’s back.

“We’re going to fix this,” I say. “Hale, stay away from him. But until this ends, you don’t go anywhere without either Jack or me, understand? And I promise you, Ray isn’t getting near either of you again.”

I look squarely at Hale. “Promise me. Stay away from him. No more training.”

“I promise.”

Jack leans into me, shaking. Hale looks between us, guilt and fear twisting his expression.

I pull them both in then, wrapping an arm around them, holding them tight.

“No more secrets,” I say. “Not now. Not with him involved.”

Jack nods against my chest. Hale swallows hard and whispers, “Okay.”

And for the first time since meeting him in that cafe, I realise that this isn’t just about me anymore.

Ray thinks this is a battle.

I’m about to give him a fucking war.

And he had picked the wrong family.

17

Silas

The front door slams behind me as Hale leaves for school with CJ. I had talked to the principal after Hale got home last night, but I pulled CJ in to go over a strict protection detail for Hale while he’s on campus.

My knuckles are still white, and my fists haven’t fully unclenched since Hale arrived back from school covered in bruises. The sight of those dark marks across his jaw and arms is, as Jack put it, the exact signature of Ray’s brutal brand of instruction.

And it’s the match dropped into a pool of gas that has been leaking inside me for days.

Ray and Dale didn’t just touch Hale. They laid a claim to him. They were weaponising a kid who has already survived hell, turning him into a pawn just so they can sink their claws back into Jack.

Upstairs, Jack is curled in our bed, hollow-eyed and exhausted after the last week. He finally fell asleep after hours of pleading with me to let him go back to Ray and his dad. He thinks he will keep us safe by offering himself back to his father. Like fuck that’s going to happen.

I was able to talk him down, and he agreed not to leave my side.

But, I don’t believe he won’t try to leave. But for the meantime, Jack is locked safely behind our doors, but I know men like Ray and Dale don’t pack up and leave just because they caught a glimpse of what they can’t have.

They camp out. They wait.

I turn around, my jaw locked so hard my teeth ache. Mack and Callan are standing in my kitchen, both of them kitted out in black, looking menacing as hell. Exactly what I need.

I hold their gazes. Their faces are hard and grim. They saw Hale leave, and they heard every broken, terrifying word about Ray’s training.

I didn’t even have to ask them to come.