Chapter 8 · Jax Crashes In

"Drop the doll and step away, Kade. Now."

The voice didn't just cut through the air; it vibrated in my chest. I didn't even have time to blink before a heavy boot slammed into the concrete beside my foot, sending a spray of grit and glass shards upward. I jerked back, clutching Pip to my chest, my knuckles white against his worn fabric.

Jax Rho stood there like a mountain of scarred chrome and bad intentions. He wasn't hiding. He didn't need to. He looked at me not as a person, but as a problem that needed solving—efficiently and violently.

"Get lost, Jax!" I snapped, though my voice betrayed a slight tremor. "We're busy here."

"Busy dying," Jax countered. He stepped forward, the hydraulic hiss of his augmented leg echoing in the narrow alley. He didn't stop until he was inches away. He was so close I could smell old ozone and expensive tobacco. He towered over me, blocking out the flickering neon signs of the Underbelly. "You're out of your league. You're a courier, not a soldier. Hand over the AI and maybe I'll let you walk out of here without a broken rib.