Chapter 3 The Safehouse Interrogation

The cold rain sliced through my silk dress like hundreds of tiny needles, but the only thing keeping me from freezing to death was the sheer, radiating heat of Jaxson’s back. 

I held onto him tighter than I’d ever held onto anything, my fingers digging into the wet leather of his jacket as the Kawasaki Ninja leaned dangerously low into a sharp turn.

The headlights of the bike cut through the pitch-black woods bordering the highway. We weren't heading toward the police station. We weren't even heading toward the main town.

We were heading deeper into the isolated hills of Blackwood.

With a roaring downshift, Jaxson killed the throttle and veered onto a hidden gravel driveway. The bike skidded slightly before coming to a halt in front of a secluded, dark-paneled lake house. It looked abandoned, surrounded by towering pine trees that groaned in the howling wind.

"Get off," Jaxson’s voice came crackling through the helmet’s intercom.

My legs shook as I swung off the bike. The moment my heels touched the wet gravel, I nearly collapsed. Jaxson caught me by the waist, his grip firm and steady. He pulled off his helmet, shaking out his damp, dark hair, his gray eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made the freezing rain feel warm.

"Where are we?" I demanded, tearing my helmet off and wiping the rain from my eyes.

"My family's private cabin. No one comes here," he said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the porch. "Which means no one is going to interrupt us."

He unlocked the heavy wooden door, shoving it open and pulling me inside. The cabin was pitch-black, smelling of cedar and old leather. Jaxson flipped a switch, and a dim, warm light flooded the rustic living room.

Before I could even take in my surroundings, Jaxson spun me around, pinning me against the closed door. The physical proximity was suffocating. I could feel the rapid, heavy rise and fall of his chest. He was towering over me, trapping me between his arms.

"The drive," he growled, his face inches from mine. "Give it to me, Avery."

"No," I defied him, my chin tilting up. "You’re one of them. You’re the captain of the hockey team, Chloe’s stepbrother, and the student council’s favorite golden boy. If I give you this drive, it’ll disappear, just like the police report on my brother."

Jaxson’s eyes darkened, a flash of genuine pain crossing his sharp features before hardening into stone. He leaned in closer, his lips brushing against my ear as he whispered, "You think I give a damn about the student council? Or their money?" He pulled back, pointing to his bloody, split knuckles. "I spent the last two hours beating the hell out of Miller's friends because they were the last ones seen with Chloe before she went missing. I’m not trying to protect them, sweetheart. I’m trying to find my sister."

His voice cracked on the word sister. The raw, unvarnished emotion caught me off guard.

"Your sister is the president of the council that ruined my family," I said, though my voice lost some of its bite.

"I know," Jaxson muttered, his gaze dropping to my lips before snapping back to my eyes. "But she’s still my sister. And whoever took her is using that podcast to distract everyone while they get rid of her. Now, are we going to fight, or are we going to unlock that drive?"

I stared at him, weighing my options. I was alone in a cabin with a guy who could easily overpower me. Yet, he hadn't. He was desperate, just like I was.

"I need a laptop," I said quietly. "And it’s encrypted. We need a biometric bypass."

A dark, dangerous smile played on Jaxson's lips. "I have a laptop. And as for the bypass... my stepmother uses her fingerprint to access the school’s main server. She left her work iPad in the study here last weekend. I can mirror the encryption key."

He let go of me, the sudden loss of his warmth leaving me shivering in my soaked dress. He walked over to a stone fireplace, throwing a couple of logs inside and sparking a fire. The orange flames flickered, casting long, dancing shadows across the room.

"Get out of those wet clothes," Jaxson ordered, tossing a thick, oversized gray hockey jersey from a nearby chair onto my lap. "Unless you plan on catching pneumonia before we crack this thing."

He walked down the hallway to find the iPad, leaving me alone with the crackling fire.

I peeled off the soaked silk dress, my skin goose-bumping in the drafty room. I pulled the heavy, oversized jersey over my head. It hung down to my mid-thigh, smelling faintly of Jaxson's cologne—sandalwood and ozone. I reached into my discarded dress, pulling out the flash drive and my pocket knife, setting them carefully on the wooden coffee table.

A minute later, Jaxson returned, carrying a rugged black laptop and a sleek tablet. He stopped dead in his tracks, his gray eyes sweeping over me. The sight of me wearing his jersey—his name WILDE emblazoned across the shoulders—seemed to hit him like a physical blow. His jaw tightened, a sudden, heavy tension filling the space between us.

"Suits you," he muttered, his voice suddenly thick.

He sat down on the leather couch, opening the laptop and plugging in my flash drive. I sat beside him, our shoulders brushing. The warmth of the fire and the heat of his body made my skin tingle.

"Mirroring the biometric key now," Jaxson said, his fingers flying across the keyboard with a speed that surprised me. "Just a few more seconds..."

A progress bar appeared on the screen, mimicking the one from the server room.

Suddenly, the laptop screen flickered. The progress bar vanished, replaced by a jagged, red wave-file icon. A voice recording began to play, but it wasn't Chloe’s.

It was a heavily distorted, deep voice that sounded like it was coming from a throat full of gravel.

“You’re very persistent, Avery,” the voice whispered from the laptop speakers, sending a spike of absolute terror straight down my spine. “But curiosity gets people killed. Look behind you.”

My breath seized.

Before I could turn, the glass window behind the couch shattered into a million pieces. A heavy, black canister rolled across the wooden floor, spewing a thick, sweet-smelling white gas directly into the room.

"Avery, hold your breath!" Jaxson yelled, lunging across me to shield my body with his own.

But it was too late. The sweet gas filled my lungs, and the world began to spin into darkness.