Jax entered his childhood home with the key he still had. It was quiet and at first it seemed like no one was there. But Gemma couldn't be at the clubhouse. With her controlling behavior and her constant nitpicking she shooed them all away.

Sometimes he wondered if it was his fault that his mother became the person she was now. A child pushing their mother away was never a good idea but what was he supposed to do? Let her control his life and relationships? Give her the chance to manipulate him even more? No, that's not what he wanted.

"Mom?", he called out as he slowly walked through the house until he found his mother in the living room and lost in a book.

He startled her when he put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him with a hand over her heart. Then a smile formed on her face. The matriarch had no idea why he was here. And she especially didn't think about him finding out about her and Tara's little plan.

"I didn't know you were coming", she said surprised and put her book on the table next to the glass of wine. "Is everyone okay? Cleo, the kids?"

A sigh slipped over his lips as he saw how wasted his mother was once again. Maybe the smell of alcohol wasn't as strong today, but the smell of weed in the air definitely was.

"Don't even ask about her, not after what you did", he said surprisingly calm as he walked around the couch and took a seat on the other couch, one arm resting on the armrest. "I'm here because I want to hear some truth."

"What are you talking about?", Gemma asked dazzled but Jax could tell she was getting nervous.

"Don't", he warned. "Don't lie to me. I'm so sick of all your fuckin' lies, mom."

"I don't know what the hell you want from me, Jackson", the older woman said defensively as she got up to pace around.

"Sit down", the blonde told her in a threatening tone and narrowed his eyes. "Abel told me he saw you in that car only seconds before you hit them. You wanna say my son is lying?"

Gemma's head snapped in her son's direction, a look of terror in her eyes. Once confident, she was now glancing at her son with fear written all over her face as if he would attack her any second.

"I didn't want this", she blurted out as sweat spread out on her forehead while she sat down again, her voice shaking. "You have to believe me, Jax! I never meant to hurt my babies, including my unborn grandchild."

"Your babies? You still can't let it go." A bitter laugh escaped his throat. With a hand running through his beard, he eyed his mother up and down with disgust. "You only mentioned the kids but not Cleo. That means you wanted to hurt her?"

Gemma knew she was trapped, she knew Jax saw through her. Lying would only get her in more trouble.

"Yes", she admitted defended as she sank back into the sofa with the glass of wine which she emptied with just one big sip.

Jax' body was shaking as anger ripped through him, his hand clenching the end of the armrest. A sharp and cold tingle rushed across his skin at the sight of his mother.

"I want to hear everything. How it happened and why you thought this would get you somewhere. Anyone helped you?", he asked dangerously calm but the murderous look in his eyes told her that he was anything but calm.

Gemma cleared her throat and grabbed the picture from the small coffee table next to the couch. She ran her thumb over the little boy on the photo, a broken smile crossing her face. It was a picture of Jax when he was around four years old.

"I really tried to like her, you have to believe that, Jackson. But her addiction and her ties to the Mayans⸺ that screamed unnecessary drama. I was hoping you learned your lesson about junkies after divorcing Wendy but, guess you didn't. Then the trouble you had with the Mayans because of her? I had to do something. So I asked Tara for help", she told him calmly as tears welled in her eyes, never taking them off the picture.

"Tara?" Jax throat felt dry as fuck already. Swallowing became a challenge as he listened to his mother's rambling. But as she mentioned Tara, his stomach clenched and he felt the bile rose in his throat. How could he be so blind? Why didn't he ever consider that his ex was behind all of this? She made it clear often enough that she didn't like Cleo. "You planned this shit with my ex?", his voice almost cracked at that question.

That was the greatest betrayal she could've done.

Gemma nodded silently before she continued. "We worked out a plan and came up with a car accident. They happen everyday, nobody questions a car accident. Tara bought a old car. It was a private purchase. I've watched Cleo for days. When Tara told me that the kids would sleep at Katelynn's, I got even more angry. Why the hell are the boys allowed to stay with her but not with me?"

"You're really asking me that?", Jax snorted a bitter laugh, his index finger resting on his lips for a moment before he bent forward and let his elbows rest on his legs. "Unlike you, Katelynn isn't a psychotic control freak who constantly sticks her nose into everyone's business. I warned you, mom, often enough. I told you to stay away from my family if you can't act like a normal, sane person."

"I just did what every mother and grandmother would do. I was trying to protect my family", Gemma snarled angrily. "Cleo might be a sweet person but that doesn't help if her family and addiction become a danger to you and your sons!"

"It wasn't her god damn fault that her ex was an abusive bastard who tried to turn the Mayans against her and me. Fact is that you were the one hurting me the most by hurting my family. You killed my unborn child, your grandchild. It was you all alone", he yelled at her as he got on his feet and stormed towards her.

Gemma jumped up from her seat and ran towards the back door that led to the garden but tripped over her own feet before she could reach for the doorknob.

"I'm sorry, Jax! I'm so sorry", she blurted out, a sickening wave of acid welling up from her belly. Desperate tears streamed down her face as the guilt hit her like a truck once again. "I can't⸺I can't turn back time but I would if I could!"

"Bullshit! You would do it all over again. And you wouldn't stop until Cleo was dead." Jax roughly pulled her back on her feet and pushed her against the nearest wall. Pain and anger was written all over his face as he pulled his gun and held the cold steel against his mother's temple.

"You can't kill your mother, Jackson. It's something you never recover from!" Her whole body was shaking with fear while her hysterical sobbing echoed through the room.

Her emotions left him cold, he didn't care if she was scared or hurt. No, he wanted to hurt her even more for what she did to him and his family.

"Yeah? Let that be my problem", he snarled at her. For a moment he struggled to pull the trigger, she was still his mom after all⸺ but this needed to happen, she deserved it.

Tears stung in his eyes and just when he was about to pull the trigger, Nero tackled him to the ground and kicked Jax' gun away. Jax was dazzled at first because neither he nor Gemma had heard someone entering the house⸺ probably due to their yelling.

"Get off me", the blonde spat at the older man who still kept him on the ground. "I need to finish this!"

"I won't let you kill your mother, mano", Nero said firmly, his eyes staring into Jax' soul. "You can't kill her, no matter what she did."

When he arrived at the house and heard them talking from the outside, he decided to wait and give them a moment. He overhead a few things, especially when the yelling started and he needed a moment to let those news sink in.

His love for Gemma was real and serious but if that what he heard was true, he really didn't know what he had ever seen in this woman. His disappointment was big and his heart felt heavy. A big wave of anger rushed through him and a part of him thought about letting Jax finish what he had started⸺ but he was afraid Gemma was right and Jax wouldn't recover from this. He wasn't saving Gemma, he was saving Jax.

"She hurt my kids, my Old Lady. She fucking killed my child, Nero!" Jax' words sounded nothing but desperate and his voice cracked at half the sentence. "She can't get away with it!"

Nero stood up and helped the blonde to his feet while still keeping him far enough away from Gemma, whom he looked at with disgust and disappointment.

"No, she can't get away with it⸺ but you can't kill her, Jax", Nero squeezed Jax' shoulder in a comforting way and pulled him into a hug⸺ a hug Jax definitely needed at the moment. "Think of another solution, mano."

"Nero, I⸺", Gemma chocked out between her sobs but one look from Nero was enough to tell her to keep her mouth shut.

"I don't even know who you are anymore", the older man just said with a shrug, his voice thick with emotion. This hurt him, too. They had a great time together but there was certainly no chance for them anymore. Their relationship was over.

Jax pulled away from Nero, rubbing his bloodshot eyes with the back of his hand before he faced his mother again. He took slow steps towards her. They were only a few inches apart now and Jax had a hard time not to choke her to death. But maybe Nero was right, maybe it was better to find another solution⸺ one that would hurt his mother even more than death.

"Jackson..", she hardly whispered, trying to bring a hand up to his cheek but Jax slapped it away.

"I tell you what's gonna happen now", he seethed, caging her in with his arms that rested on the wall on each side of her. "You'll leave town. If you ever step a foot into Charming again and I'm gonna find out, I'll put a bullet through your head and everyone else who gets in my way. You're never gonna see your grandkids and me again. The club, Cleo's brother and her mother will hear the truth about you. I'll make sure someone keeps an eye on you so you don't jump off the next best cliff. You're gonna live with the guilt and the heartbreak."

"No, no you can't do this", Gemma yelled at him, hitting his chest with her flat hands repeatedly. "You can't take all of this away from me and expect me to move on!"

The blonde had enough of her drama and did something he would actually never do to a woman. He smashed her face into the wall with a firm grip around her neck.

Nero, who stood in the back, just ran a hand over his face and mumbled something in Spanish. Jax assumed it was some kind of a prayer.

A painful yelp escaped Gemma's lips as her son loosened his grip around her neck. With her hand covering her broken and bleeding nose, she locked eyes with him.

"You're dead to my family, Gemma. Be smart and pack your shit before I chase you out of town with nothing", he threatened coldly and let go of her.

Without even looking at her again, he left the house and made his way home. He would still take care of Tara, but first Cleo deserved to know the truth. His phone vibrated in his pocket so many times since he left his house around an hour ago that he felt bad for not picking up. He knew it was his girlfriend, who else should call him so many times? She was probably worried because he had left without a word, which he was sorry for.