Page 9 of Still Forever

Clasping my hands in front of me, I listened as they talked about the timeline for the marriage.

This wasn’t something they were trying to pull together.

They had already worked out the details.

I was just the last to know. Deadlines, times, when the elites would arrive, where I would live, and how we should conduct business as an alliance going forward.

Trouble had been brought into the conversation, but I could tell he wasn’t feeling it either.

I didn’t have anything to say. They could take my silence as defeat, but it was the opposite.

Kennedy wasn’t negotiable. When it came to her, there was zero understanding.

Pierce sat in silence the whole time, his eyes said that he already knew how this would end. Not only had he once been the target, but he knew us personally. His stone face looked like he was begging me to keep my cool.

“By creating this alliance, we have so many great things in store for your organization, but you must follow orders. Do I make myself clear?”

My temples flexed. I didn’t like that nigga’s choice of words, and I didn’t like his tone. I had been staring at the lights in the vineyard through the glass while he was talking, but when he said that, I dragged my eyes over to him.

“Yeah, did I?” I asked. I could see his face change. But a scared man was a dead man. I had never been raised to fear nobody. Pierce coughed like he was trying to distract the room from what I just said. But I didn’t give a fuck.

The Capo's mouth turned into a smirk as he picked up his Cigar and puffed from it, letting the smoke fill the room again.

“Your head is what got you at the table, don’t let your heart get you put in the grave.

Your family benefits because we make the decision.

Don’t find out how fast we can take it away.

The plans we have for the Jennings Mafia bloodline are way bigger than whatever you think love is. You have been warned.”

His chair screeched against the tile as he stood to leave. The nigga from Moscow gave me a look that made me want to reopen the scar on his face as he did the same.

When the meeting ended, we all went back into the vineyard. Judah put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.

“You quiet, my nigga. Too quiet,” he said as I scoffed. Trouble joined us.

“Jax, I already know what you thinking. You’ve been with Kennedy as long as I’ve been with Storm. Just play it smart, use your head. You already know I’m behind you Monday to Sunday.” He gritted, low and cold.

“You knew about this?” I grilled him. He had been in Italy for weeks; the least the nigga could have done was give me a heads up.

“The fuck I look like to you, Jax?” He snapped back as we walked through the grass. You really think I’d let you walk into some shit like that? They played me, too. Claimed they wanted me and Pierce to help them run a new operation.”

I stopped walking and looked him in the eyes.

“I don’t give a fuck what they want. I’m not marrying anybody but Kennedy.” In his role, I knew Trouble had to enforce their orders, so I had to make that clear. I wasn’t trying to put him in a bad spot; it wasn’t about rebellion, it was the principle. If I were single, I would be fine.

No, me and KD weren’t good right now, and she probably hated a nigga, but she had my heart.

I belonged to her. She already hated this lifestyle and complained that I didn’t have any time for her.

I would never disrespect her by having her watch me marry another woman.

She would never understand it as a business play, and that’s why I would die making sure she didn’t have to.

He nodded.

I knew I was walking on a fine line, and I had to be careful.

The Mafia doesn’t spare anyone, and I couldn’t put my family in the middle of my shit because I was acting off emotion.

I also had to think about KD, and she would probably never understand it, but I didn’t want to risk her safety because of my ego.

They already had eyes on her, probably had been watching her for years to make sure she wasn’t the weak link.

But I had to find a way to get out of this arrangement before the deadline they set.

Judah chimed in. “Shit, I don’t want to. But I’m cool with it either way. I mean, I really don’t have anything to lose. Bitches love married men. What if they force your hand, G?”

“They won’t, I just have to give them a reason not to.

They didn’t make me the negotiator for nothing.

” I said. Not because I believed it, but because I was trying to motivate myself to take the smart way out.

All I could see right now was red. I understood all the contracts that I had signed.

The blood oaths that I took at the chapel about loyalty and honor.

I even understood that in order to be good at giving orders, you have to be good at taking them.

But when it came to my girl, no one could force my hand on shit.

“What if you can’t find a way out of it?” Judah asked me the question that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

I didn’t answer him.

My phone chiming in my pocket took me away from the conversation. It was the cameras from the estate detecting movement. When I opened the app, I saw a moving truck backed up to the door and movers getting Kennedy’s things from the house.

On top of the news that the elites had just given me.

I had to watch KD move out of our home. If I had never felt a pain in my chest before, that shit made me feel like I was having a heart attack.

I called her phone three times, and it went straight to voicemail.

Going back to the live feed, I noticed that she had her phone in her hand, but it wasn't ringing. She must have blocked me.

I threw the phone against the stone wall, shattering it on impact and causing Judah and Trouble to look at me in confusion and the soldiers to aim their weapons. It didn’t faze me at all.

“The fuck is wrong with you, G?” Judah questioned. I ignored him and kept walking toward the door that we had come in. I was a second away from snapping.

The final order from the elites stated that the relationship and communication ended today.

By the time the jet landed back home, I wouldn’t be able to make contact with her.

Couldn’t look her in the eyes and tell her that she had better put that shit back and stop playing with me.

I couldn’t back her against the wall and tell her all the reasons why I loved her wild ass and kiss her until she forgot the reason why she was mad.

I couldn’t touch her or explain the reason for my absence.

But even worse, I couldn’t get the chance to make our argument right.

The only thing I could do was protect her in the war that I was prepared to start behind her. I would burn down every family in that room by myself before I let them tell me that Kennedy wasn’t going to be my wife.

I knew that KD would be mine since the day I laid eyes on her.

We had invested time. She didn’t come from this life, but she was made for me.

I was the underboss in the Mafia; I called hits, I did missions, and I moved weight.

But to her, I was Jaxon. The nigga who she made dinner for and forced to watch movies and do face masks on.

How the hell did they expect me to react?

She could leave me today. But forever…that was mine.