This is set February after the last chapter (not the epilogue)
Lara's POV
"Get out of my house." I say walking down the stairs, whilst carrying Alannah.
"Don't look at me like that." I groan at him.
"This can't wait boss." He says in a thick Portuguese accent.
"My flight is in an hour. I better be on it." I say putting Alannah down.
"Come on Alannah. Let's get breakfast." Amara says heading towards the kitchen.
I lead him to my office and sit down.
"Alexi." He starts and I immediately groan.
"What about him?" I ask and he sighs.
"He wants a meeting with you." He says and I roll my eyes.
"Get me his number. I'll call him on the way to the airport." I say and he nods.
"Now seriously get out of my house. The only face I want to see is Mario's when he drops me to the airport. I haven't seen Jax in like 2 months and if something delays me getting on that god damn plane oh so help me god." I say and he nods and rushes out of my office.
I head to the kitchen where Amara and Alannah were giggling.
"Hi." I say and Alannah stands up and jumps into my arms.
"I can't wait to see daddy." She says and I smile.
"Me too." I agree and she kisses my nose.
Jax was supposed to fly out twice but never actually got here. Something had always happened to stop him from getting here. Gio on the other hand, had visited like 3 weeks ago and Amara flew back to New York a few weels before that.
"Miss Fernandez." Mario says and I smile at him.
"Obrigado." I say and head gesture for Amara to come.
We go out to the SUV and then I strapped Alannah into her car seat before getting in the front passenger seat.
We head for the airport and just as I'm about to call Alexi, someone shot at our car.
I curse in Portuguese as Alannah starts screaming. I look out the window to try and get a glimpse of who it was.
I call the warehouse for backup immediately.
"Estacionar!" I demand and Mario looks at me with wide eyes.
"Você está louco?" He asks and I nod.
"Possibly." I say checking for my gun.
He pulls over and I turn back to Alannah.
"I love you." I say and worry immediately washes over her.
"Where are you going?" She asks and the car rocks.
"You're going to see daddy okay?" I ask and she nods slowly. I wipe a tear and turn to Amara.
"Take care of my baby." I say and she nods.
"Be careful." She tells me and I nod.
"Always am." I say and quickly kiss Alannah's cheek.
"Coloque-os naquele avião. Verifique primeiro e leve-os para Jax." I demand and he nods.
I jump out of the car and as I slam the door, all that could be heard was Alannah's screams.
"Boss what the hell are you doing?" José says and I sigh.
"Not going home to my boyfriend, obviously." I sigh holding on to my gun.
"I hate Russians." I say aiming my gun at the car.
Jax's POV
"Look." I say to the manager of my club. "I don't care what you've got to do." I sigh and before I could say anything else Alannah's cries and screams were heard through the house.
I end the call and rush out of my office.
"What the fuck is going on?" I ask as Gio carries Alannah.
"Daddy." She sobs as Gio puts her down. She rushes over to me and I pick her up.
"What's wrong bub?" I ask and she cries into my chest.
I look between Gio and Amara.
Where the fuck is Lara?
"She's a bit shaken." Amara says and I rub her back.
"Fucking obviously. Where's Lara?" I ask and she sucks in a breath.
"Spit it out." I say to her and she nods slowly.
"On the way to the airport." She starts and I raise an eyebrow.
"The car was attacked." She says and my heart starts hammering in my chest.
"What kind of attack?" I ask and she sighs.
"Someone was shooting the car. I don't understand what she was saying, she was speaking Portuguese." She says and I close my eyes lightly.
"She got out of the car and the driver drove off. Next thing I know we're being escorted onto a plane after a million safety checks and then we're here." She says and I groan.
"Gio. I need you to take over till I can calm Alannah down and get a hold of Lara." I say and he nods.
I go into my office, grab my phone and head up to my room with Alannah.
I put her on the bed and then take my shoes off and sit beside her.
"I want my mommy." She says curling into my side.
"Me too." I say putting a film on my laptop. Thankfully that distracts her as she holds onto her stuffed animal for dear life.
I call Lara multiple times and she doesn't pick up, not even once.
****
It's been 3 days and I haven't heard a word from Lara. I've rang every single number I have for her: her cell, her house (all three of them), the warehouse, even her current assistant.
I'm worried and if it wasn't for Alannah I would be one a plane to Brazil right now to help Lara out.
I've just bathed Alannah and gotten her into some pyjamas and now she's crying again.
"Alannah, please stop." I plead and she whimpers.
This is the longest I've been left with Alannah on my own. It feels strange. Lara has to have Alannah with her, pretty much all the time.
"Cancelled." Gio says coming into my room. I thank him whilst picking Alannah up.
"I want mama." She cries and I nod.
"I know. Me too." I say rubbing her back.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Gio asks, holding the black velvet box and I wince.
"Put it anywhere." I sigh and he puts it down on a dresser.
"She'll be alright Jax, she's a hardcore badass." He says and I roll my eyes.
"Try calling her again. If I can't get a hold of her today I'm sending Matteo and Rocco to Brazil in the morning." I say and he nods and leaves the room.
"Are you ready for bed?" I ask Alannah and she shakes her head and holds me tighter whilst simply crying for Lara.
"Has she left me?" She asks once she calms down a bit. Ouch. That one stung.
"She would never leave you, if she had the choice." I say looking into her red watery eyes.
I lie her down on Lara's side of the bed and let her watch a movie until she falls asleep.
When she fell asleep, I picked her up and put her in her room, but left the door cracked open.
I get dressed into some gym clothes and head towards the gym. I step out of my room and immediately bumper into my butler.
"Miss Fernandez is here." He says and that was all I needed to hear.
I get to my office and she was stood with her back to me using my phone.
Then, only then, could I breath.
I walk round to her and end the call. Her face drops and she turns to me.
"What was that for?" She asks and I raise an eyebrow.
"You're an idiot." I say and she crosses an arm across her chest.
"Really?" She asks and I nod.
"I've been trying to get a hold of you for days. I- we were worried sick." I say and she sighs.
"I know, I know and I'm sorry. I have no clue where my phone is and we cut off the phones at the houses." She says.
"I rang the warehouse." I say and she shrugs.
"We were busy. You know I don't have an ideal amount of men at the moment Jax." She says.
"You could've called, for two seconds." I say and she groans.
"It wouldn't of been two seconds. It would've been you stressing, then you proceeding to stress Gio and the others out. Then you would've tried to come to Brazil and I didn't need you there." She says and I raise an eyebrow.
"Jax I'm new okay. Ive been doing this for a few months. If you flew in to help me with a minor job, it would make me look like a bad leader." She starts.
"Plus, I knew what I was doing. The only irresponsible thing I did was get out of that car and leave Amara and Lara with Mario. And you know what? I don't even think it was irresponsible. They were safe, they were coming home to you. It was one less thing to worry about. Maybe just maybe I didn't want the attack to end with them both dead, because they're sick like that. I knew for a fact that the second I got out of that car, they'd go after me instead of focusing on your cousin and our daughter." She rants.
I watch her the whole time and my heart warms.
I'm proud of her.
"Go on." She says sitting down in my chair.
"What?" I ask watching her.
"Shout at me. Tell me how much of an idiot I am." She says crossing her arms.
"I'm not going to shout at you. You might want to shout at me." I say and she raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, what have you done?" She asks.
"Given Alannah far too much Ice cream and cookies." I admit and she sighs.
"How is she?" She asks and I try to act as if I had the best control.
"It was okay, she was really upset." I say and she sighs.
"I'll call Alexi and then head up and check on her. Is she asĺeep?" She asks and I nod.
Alexi?
"What's he done?" I ask as she goes for my phone.
"I killed some Russians. He wants to know how it went." She says and I raise an eyebrow.
"Not all the Russians left Brazil. There was like a little extremist group. Bless them. They had no idea what was coming for them." She smiles and puts the phone to her ear.
I listen to her conversation with Alexi and refrain from rolling my eyes the whole time. I made her put it on speaker and the more he talked with my... girlfriend... the more I felt like putting my hand through the phone and ripping out his tongue.
"Mommy!" Alannah screams as she walks into the office. A wide smile on both of their faces.
"Gotta go but thank you, Alexi." She says and ends the call.
Alannah dives into Lara's arms and immediately cries. Lara kisses her head and holds her as tight as possible.
"Don't worry." Lara says looking at me. "I'm not worrying." I say and she reaches for my hand. Instead I grab hers and hold hers.
"I scheduled a meeting with her therapist, when we get back." Lara says and I nod. "I think you should come. We're tackling the big stuff this time and I think we'd both appreciate it if you were there." She says and I nod.
"I get it if you're busy." She says and I shake my head.
"No way. I'll be there." I say.
She stands up and kisses me softly.
"I'm going to take her to bed, then probably crash myself." She says and I nod.
"I'll tell Gio not to fuel the jet." I say and she rolls her eyes before heading upstairs.
****
I head into my room and Lara was sat with her back to me, in the dark.
"Alannah go down okay?" I ask and she nods.
"Are you okay?" I ask nearing her. The ring! Shit.
"You weren't supposed to see that yet." I say and she nods.
"I guessed." She says and I sigh.
"I had a really lovely night planned. It was perfect." I say and she wipes her face.
"Oh god, please don't cry. I get it if you think it's to soon." I say kneeling down and trying to take the box from her but she pulls it back.
"I would say yes." She says and I raise an eyebrow.
"Would?" I ask and she nods.
"If it were up to me." She says.
"It is. It's your decision." I say and she sighs.
"Jax." She whimpers. I take the box from her and she leans into my chest.
"I don't want to lose you. I love you." She says and I nod.
"I know." I say and she closes her eyes.
"But if I put this ring on, everything changes." She says and I nod.
"I know." I sigh.
"We haven't even had that talk. We said we'd cross that bridge when we come to it but now you've got a ring and--" I cut her off by putting my lips on hers.
"The only thing I need from you is a boy." I say and she sighs.
"I know but this arrangement is hardly working at the moment. You here, me there. It's chaotic, we're busy. We've already got Alannah and I keep ruining her life." She says and I sigh.
"You aren't ruining her life. I promise you, you aren't." I say.
"Look at everything that happened to her because of me." She says and I raise an eyebrow.
"Your mom? That was because of your dad." I start.
"Her kidnapping? That was my fault as much as it was yours." I say.
"Her anxiety isn't your fault and neither is her PTSD. You saved her life at the beginning of this week. She could've died but you did the right thing as a mother and as a leader." I say and she starts spinning her leader ring.
"I'm scared." She admits.
"Then forget about it. Don't put it on. Don't even think about it." I say wincing inside. I want to put that ring on her so bad.
"I want to put it on." She says and I take a breath of relief.
"But I don't want it to ever be political." She says and I nod.
"Neither do I." I say and she smiles.
"I spoke to my dad." I admit and she nods.
"I bet he was thrilled." She rolls her eyes. He would not stop pestering Lara at Christmas, to get pregnant. Whilst my mom was more focused on us getting married and feeding her.
"I asked him about us. How a marriage could work. Politically, because that's the only problem." I say and she nods agreeing with me. Thank god.
"And he said as long as you produce an heir for me and for yourself as Alannah, sadly doesn't count." I say cringing at my words, whilst she winces at them.
"We'll be business partners and have an obvious alliance. And if one slips, we can help the other." I say and she smiles.
"Okay." She smiles and I take a breath of relief.
I pick the box up and lean down on one knee infront of me.
"Lara Marie Fernandez. Will you do me the honour of being the happiest man alive by loving me forever and wearing this ring?" I ask and she smiles and nods.
"I will." She leans down and kisses me.
I take the ring from the box, slide off her leader ring. Slide her engagement ring on and then slide her leader ring on her middle finger on her other hand.
"I love you." We say at the same time. I smile as she laughs and I lean in and press my lips to hers.
We made it.