Chapter 6 THE GUARDED HEART

​The morning arrived with a pale, bruised light. The rain had slowed to a rhythmic dripping from the redwood canopy, and a thick fog crawled through the broken kitchen window, settling on the floorboards like a shroud.

​Jax had spent the night in a wooden chair tilted against the front door, his tactical knife cleaned and sheathed, his eyes never truly closing. When the first hint of gray light touched the Great Room, he stood, his joints popping with the sound of small-caliber fire.

​Elias was still on the sofa, buried under Jax's hoodie. He looked younger in his sleep-the sharp, defensive lines of his face softened, his mouth slightly parted. Jax watched the slow rise and fall of his chest for a moment too long before he cleared his throat.

​"Elias. Sun's up. We need to check the road."

​Elias bolted upright, his eyes wide and disoriented. For a split second, there was pure terror in his gaze-not the social anxiety Jax had seen at the gala, but something deeper. Something primal.

​"It's just me," Jax said, holding up a hand, palm open. "It's just Jax."

​Elias blinked, the recognition returning as he exhaled a breath that seemed to have been held for a lifetime. He pushed the hood back, his silver hair a mess. "Right. The storm."

​"I'm going to clear the kitchen of that glass and see if the SUV can get past the slide," Jax said. "Stay by the fire."

​"No," Elias said, his voice regaining its thin, crystalline edge. He stood up, though he kept the hoodie on, the sleeves hanging past his fingertips. "I'll come with you. I don't want to be in here alone."

​As they worked to clear the debris in the kitchen, Jax noticed Elias wasn't just avoiding the broken window; he was avoiding the shadows. Every time the wind creaked a floorboard, Elias's entire body went rigid.

​"You're an architect of digital fortresses, Elias," Jax said, tossing a heavy branch out of the shattered frame. "But you're terrified of a house. Why?"

​Elias stopped, a piece of broken glass held in a gloved hand. He looked at the window, then at Jax. "The digital world is logical. It has firewalls. If something breaks, you can trace the code to the exact millisecond of the failure. Reality..." He trailed off, his gaze drifting to the dark woods outside. "Reality is messy. People are unpredictable."

​Jax leaned against the counter, watching him. "Is that why you hired a man you don't like to stand behind you? Because I'm a firewall?"

​Elias let out a dry, hollow laugh. "I didn't hire you because I don't like you, Jaxson. I hired you because you were the only thing on the market more broken than I am. I knew you wouldn't have anywhere else to go."

​He sat down on a dusty kitchen stool, the oversized hoodie making him look like a child playing dress-up.

​"When I was twelve," Elias began, his voice dropping to a monotone that suggested he was reciting a report. "My father's competitors didn't want his patents. They wanted his leverage. They took me from the school parking lot. I spent three weeks in a room not much bigger than a closet. No windows. No light. Just the sound of the door opening and the knowledge that whatever came through it was going to hurt."

​The air in the kitchen turned cold. Jax felt a familiar, hot rage-the kind he usually reserved for the worst humanity had to offer-simmering in his gut.

​"That's why the 'three feet' rule exists," Jax said softly.

​"I can't be touched," Elias whispered, staring at his own hands. "When someone enters my space, my brain doesn't see a person. It sees a threat. It sees the door opening." He looked up at Jax, his eyes shimmering with a vulnerability that was devastating. "Last night, when you held my hands... it was the first time in fifteen years I didn't feel like I was back in that room."

​Jax felt a heavy weight settle in his chest. He was a man of action, of iron and grit, but he had no defense against this kind of honesty. He walked across the kitchen, stopping exactly three feet away.

​"I'm not a firewall, Elias," Jax said, his voice low and solemn. "I'm the gatekeeper. From now on, nobody gets through that door unless you want them there. Not a competitor, not a ghost, and not a memory. Do you hear me?"

​Elias looked at him, and for the first time, a small, genuine smile touched the corners of his mouth. It was gone in a heartbeat, but it changed everything.

​"I hear you, Jaxson. Now, see if you can get that car moved. We have a board meeting at three, and I refuse to be late because of a little mud."

​The "Boss" was back, but the "Ghost" had been seen. As Jax headed out into the mud, he realized his debt wasn't just forty-two million dollars anymore. It was something he couldn't put a price on.