KYRELL BLACKWOOD ONLY STARES AT THEM.
A few seconds pass. A minute.
And then he laughs.
Really laughs.
Scarily enough, there's no humor in it, but it's so cold that it sends a chill across the room.
It's a bone-chilling, bitter laugh- and for a second, Axel is almost worried that the lunch hadn't been going as well as he thought it was.
"You think," as abruptly as he had begun to laugh, he stops, leaning forward with an icy, hard look, "that I'd have Feds working with me, even after I got fucked over by one?"
What?
"So, you aren't working with a Fed, then?"
"Why would I ever work with a fuckin' Fed?" Kyrell sneers, as anger begins to overtake his features, "Huh?"
Axel raises his hands in mock surrender, even though there's a twinge of panic that's starting to flare in him.
Kyrell wasn't getting defensive. He was only getting angry- for reasons Axel already knew. There was a perfectly valid reason for him to not ever trust a Fed enough to work with them, so he was most likely telling the truth.
But if Kyrell Blackwood wasn't working with Feds, why was there a signal in their systems that led straight to him?
A sense of dread slowly begins to rise up his chest.
He forces his body language to remain calm.
"I'm only asking a question, Mr. Blackwood," he says as nonchalantly as he can, "The criminal world knows you've been in association with a Fed in the past-"
The glass in Kyrell's hand shatters.
Shards of crystal drop to the marble floor with small clinks, while Axel and Stella look at him bewildered, nearly breaking character for a moment.
Silence fills the room, until-
"She liked daisies," his voice is quiet, but still angered, "and you know what I did? I picked a whole fuckin' bunch of whoopsie-daisies."
Axel hated that he knew who Kyrell was talking about.
"And no one," Kyrell's dark eyes look up to meet his, narrowing in fury, "absolutely no smart person, brings it up in front of me. Not if you don't want me to blow your brains out."
His hold around her waist tightens in the slightest, but Stella doesn't move.
Her eyes are firmly fixed on the man before her, and while she could easily read the anger in his expression, she couldn't for the love of stars, figure out why there was pain concealed behind it too.
She had been taught to read human emotions fairly well- even those that were concealed, so she was certain that she wasn't mistaken about it.
But why?
There's sudden static in her earpiece, that breaks her string of thoughts.
"Stella?!" Bea's voice sounds frantic over the device, "Stella, listen to me- something-something's wrong- you and Axel need to get out of there, right now-"
Bea's voice makes her frown.
Right now, she was the only one wearing a wire because her hair could conceal it well enough, and also since Axel had taken his off before they had entered.
It had been discussed that the rest of the team wasn't allowed to make contact when they were with Blackwood unless there was an emergency.
What was Bea doing?
"Stella?!" her voice sounds even more frantic, and there's muffled scuffling at her end, "Stella? Can you hear me? You have to g-"
Her voice gets cut off.
There's a loud resounding beep in her earpiece, followed by static.
The crease in Stella's eyebrows deepen.
There was something wrong. This lead had led to absolutely nothing- so what brought them here?
And what did Bea just do?
It was evident, however, that they did have to leave. They had gotten what they had needed, and they had also successfully infuriated their host, so staying wasn't the most ideal thing at the moment.
Especially because of the gleam that had suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"But you know what's funny?" Kyrell says, leaning forward again, "What's funny, is that you think I'm stupid."
"Pardon?" Axel raises his eyebrows, his hold on Stella tightening some more.
The gleam in Kyrell's eyes intensifies. "Seth?"
The man who had very silently re-entered the room, leans down to murmur something in his ear. Something that has a very satisfied, but dangerous smile spreading across his lips.
"You see," Kyrell says, leaning back in his seat, when Seth finally stepped away, "After my unfortunate incident with a Fed, I had my security systems updated. You'll never guess what they picked up last night."
"Last night?" Axel forces his voice not to waver, even though it was becoming increasingly apparent that something was very, very wrong.
"My security system picked up a signal," he says, "A foreign, untraceable signal coming from my car keys."
Axel's blood runs cold.
"What's funny," Kyrell says, narrowing his eyes with the same, very dangerous smile, "is that today, my security system picked up three more signals. One, from one of you, and the other two, from two identical vans that keep driving past my house. And you know what?"
Kyrell leans forward, looking between the both of them.
"They're all of the same frequency," he says, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise, "Strange, isn't it? It's almost like someone else is listening in on us. You want to tell me what that's all about, Mr. Bernardi?" His expression goes hard. "Or is that even your name?"
"I," Axel's voice goes hard as well, "have no idea what you're talking about."
"Really?" Kyrell's eyes narrow even further, "What about the anonymous tip my security system received a few minutes ago? One that says you aren't a member of the Italian Mafia, even though you claim so?"
Anonymous tip? From who? What on earth-?
Despite the panic that had grown tenfold in his chest, Axel didn't show it. Not one bit.
Surprisingly, Stella didn't seem all that worried either. Instead, her finger was tapping an odd pattern on his arm.
For a moment, he almost thought it was casual until her nail gently digs into his arm for his attention. He glances at her, nearly showing his confusion, but her casual gaze was still fixed on the man in front of them.
She looks at him from the corner of her eyes, and at the finger tapping away on his arm, before looking back at Kyrell Blackwood- enough indication that it wasn't casual.
And then he remembers.
"If there's ever a time you need to tell me something without speaking," Axel pushes a piece of paper towards Stella, "you use this."
Her eyebrows furrow as they skim the sheet in front of her. "What's this?"
"This," Axel pulls out a pen and paper, "is code. You tap it out with your fingers- each tap is for a dot, and each small pause is for a dash. You combine dots and dashes, and you get different letters."
"Oh," Stella's eyebrows raise, "That's clever."
Morse code.
Something he had taught her, just for emergencies, a few days ago- and now, he was more grateful than ever because she was tapping something out on his arm.
Three dots. S
Two dashes. M
Three dashes. O
Dash, dot, dash. K
One dot. E
Ah.
She was smart. Very smart.
Blackwood had glanced away from them, just for a second, when Axel reached into one of his hidden pockets.
His fingers curl around something he had kept there, just in case.
Perfect.
"Cover your face," he murmurs to her gently, and a second after he says it, he whips them out of his pocket, tossing them down onto the ground.
They roll away from him in perfect synchronization, while one comes to a stop just beside Kyrell's foot.
He turns back to them at the sudden movement, with a confused frown. "Wh-"
The smoke bombs explode.
Both Stella and Axel leap to their feet, and Axel's hand curls around her wrist tugging her along, ducking under a figure who was blindly surging through the thick smoke that engulfed the room in seconds.
When the smoke begins to clear in the slightest, the two were missing- no longer on the couch in front of him.
And Kyrell Blackwood finds himself very annoyed.
"Seth," he says tightly, standing up and loading his gun, "Initiate the lockdown sequences, and alert everyone. Tell them to bring the two to me. They're not leaving the house."
He doesn't wait for a response, storming out of the room.
The corridor outside the room was thick with smoke too, and men were coughing- blindly moving around- making Kyrell curse under his breath.
He shouldn't have let them into his house after they caught wind of the signal last night. It was a stupid, and sloppy thing to do- but things in his life had been so mundane lately, that he had given into the temptation of having a potential enemy over.
No matter, a wicked smile overtakes his features at the prospect of a chase in his own house, the rush would be worth it.
Pity, though. He had liked Matteo Bernardi. Or whoever the fuck that was. He seemed smart.
But a smart enemy was even better.
Seth had followed his boss after, leaving behind the room they had all been in, deserted.
No one had thought to look into the small broom cupboard in one corner of the same room.
"They're all gone."
Axel shushes her.
"No, really, there's no one else in the room."
He shushes her again.
"Shush me, one more time," Stella warns him threateningly.
"Stella, please shut up."
"Make me."
"Oh, I have a whole list of ways I can do that," he hisses, turning to her, "do not try me."
"Try you? I'm not trying you!" she snaps back, pushing at his chest, despite the sudden heat that floods her insides, "We're not going to escape if we just sit here-"
"I swear to God, Stella," suddenly his arms are on either side of her- caging her against the door of the cupboard, as he leans down closer to her, "If you don't shut up-"
"What? Huh?" she taunts, pushing at his chest again, despite being more flustered than before, "What are you going to do?"
He glares at her.
She glares right back at him.
It was very wrong to notice the lack of space between them. Not that it took much effort, since they were in a small cupboard, and their bodies were practically pressed together, breaths mingling, and arms touching.
It was also very wrong for her to look down at his lips.
"The best thing to do, if we want to get out of here alive," his lips move, and she can't look away from them. Even if she's glaring at them like they're the bane of her existence. "Is to hide and run. Cause minimal damage along the way. I memorized the way out, so unless we run into someone, we should be out in less than fifteen minutes."
She looks back up at his eyes.
He wasn't looking at her either. Even his eyes were fixed on a certain part of her face.
"Alright," she breathes, but he doesn't move.
Her eyes follow the tiny bob of his adam's apple as he swallows, and she can feel the two hands right above her head, resting against the door- curling into fists.
What she didn't know, was that Axel's self-control had nearly snapped. Big green eyes burning his skin with her gaze, looking up at him- at his lips, and her small, soft frame pressed against his, caged against the door. It was very bad for his self-control.
It takes exactly three seconds until it snaps.
"Fuck it," he murmurs to the shattering resolve in his mind.
Stella's eyebrows furrow, her lips forming an automatic pout as she looks up at him. "Wha-"
He kissed her.
And Axel had never known that it could feel like that.
Like every single speck of the stardust in his bones, was tingling with life. Like every part of him, that came from a dead star was alive again.
He didn't think he'd see the stars, the universe behind his closed eyelids. Almost like a distant, hazy memory of a universe that she had shown him.
Almost like was a new constellation of their own, had risen to the skies from what he had just done, almost like galaxies were spinning a tad bid faster in the cosmos.
He didn't know it could feel like that.
But it did.
Even if there was nothing slow about it. His lips were hungry and frantic against hers, hers were just as feverish against his own- and it made his heart thud like hurtling comets, as she melted into him, her arms wrapping around his neck and broad shoulders.
And even as he deepens the kiss, prying her arms off him and holding her wrists above her head, against the door, Stella can't help but think that everything about him was consuming her- drawing her in, and never letting her leave- as a black hole did with a star. She wanted it, even if their timing couldn't be worse. She wanted to be that star.
When his tongue tangles with her own as he tilts his head to deepen the kiss more, she swears that it's better than the birth or death of any star she's seen. Oh, dear stars.
"Bad timing," she breathes when his mouth parts from hers for a second.
His grip on her wrists loosens, but they don't leave her body, going to the back of her head and neck instead.
"I don't care," he says, his voice deep and hoarse, as he leans down and crashes their lips together again, muffling her protest.
She melts. Again. Like gas in the hands of a star, like molten lava in the cores of planets- and she can't help it, as her hands come to rest on his abdomen- feeling the hard muscles under her palms that ripple under her touch.
"Axel," she says softly again, when he pulls away, "We have to get out of here first."
"I know," he murmurs, his lips moving against the corner of her mouth, as he gently strokes the hair that his hand had tangled in. "Bad timing. I'm not sorry at all, though."
"Of course, you aren't," she can feel her lips unwillingly curve upwards, as he pushes himself away- and she has the silly urge to bring a hand up to her lips, to see if they were still tingling.
"Remember," his eyes bore into hers, "hide and run. Don't try to fight anybody, alright?"
She nods, straightening off the wall.
"And oh," he wraps an arm around her waist suddenly, making her stumble into him- her hands coming to rest of his pecs, as he leans down once more.
"When we get out of here," he says, his lips brushing hers, "I'm doing that again."
Despite the heat that rises to her cheeks, she only raises a challenging eyebrow. "We'll see."
He only gives her a smirk through half-lidded eyes, looking her up and down, before pulling away.
The door slowly creeps open. Silence follows as they both slip out of the cupboard.
Axel draws his gun as soon as they near the door of the room, just as Stella pulls out the daggers that were strapped around her thigh, concealed under her dress.
With his gun still drawn, he steps into the corridor, half-expecting to be immediately shot at- but it was empty. Distant yelling and running footsteps could be heard, but none close to where they were.
"Come on," he takes a second to look both sides, before he breaks into a light jog, with her following close behind.
There were way too many twists and turns in the Blackwood house, almost like he had anticipated that someone would try to break out- but Axel had the whole map memorized from their intel, as did Stella, so it wasn't as difficult- and no one had caught sight of them. Until-
"Hey!"
Both their heads snap in the direction of the sudden yell, only to see a man standing at the opposite end of the corridor, pointing a gun in their direction.
Axel moves quicker than he could've seen it coming.
BANG!
The man falls to the ground with a thud, blood pooling around him- from the bullet that had just embedded itself between his eyes.
"You didn't have to kill him," Stella admonishes, though a part of her was extremely impressed with his aim.
"That was Brett Tucker, and he was on the most wanted list for pedophilia, human trafficking, and embezzlement."
"Never mind."
The gunshot had ultimately drawn attention to where they were, and they could hear footsteps approaching from both directions, along with yells and incoherent sounds.
The only solution to staying hidden was the wooden door in front of them.
"Come on," he murmurs, yanking it open- gently pushing her into it, and shutting it behind him- bolting it as an extra precaution- all as quietly as he can.
Only once he turns around, does his blood run cold for the second time.
They were on a long balcony, with the only exit being the door they had just shut behind them.
"Shit," he hisses, quickly running forward to the railing. "Holy shit."
They were very high off the ground. Like, five stories high.
He looks up. There were two more stories above them, with no possible way to climb up or down. Fucking rich people.
"Hey!" there's banging on the door that he had just bolted, "HEY, THEY'RE HERE!"
The banging on the door only intensifies, evidently with more men trying to break down the wooden door- but the thick metal bolt holds it in place.
"Crap," Axel mutters under his breath, running a hand through his hair, eyes peering around frantically, "Crap, crap, crap-"
The phone in his pocket that he had forgotten about, buzzes- making him frown in confusion- as he pulls it out.
Incoming call: Bea
His frown deepens. But he picks it up, holding it to his ear.
"AXE?!" Bea yells from the other side of the line, nearly making him wince, "YOU PICKED UP, THANK GOODNESS!"
What?
"I GOT AMBUSHED!" he can hear her say from the other line, though there's a lot of scuffling from her end, "I TRIED TO TELL STELLA THAT YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THERE-"
"What happened?" he questions, eyeing the wooden door that had thankfully not given up yet.
"I DON'T KNOW," her voice is muffled despite the yelling, "I LOST THE COMMS CONNECTION- THEY ATTACKED MY VAN- SO I BLEW IT UP AND RAN OUT OF THERE BEFORE THEY COULD GET ME-"
"They attacked you?!"
"LISTEN DIPSHIT," she says sternly cutting him off, "I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE FUCK GALE IS- AND BOSS ISN'T FUCKING RESPONDING BUT I CAN GET US OUT OF HERE-"
Suspicion instantly fills his mind at that claim.
"And how, pray tell, are you going to do that?" Axel can't help the sarcasm that slips into his tone- as he tries to sound as non-hostile as possible.
"I HIJACKED ONE OF THEIR CHOPPERS!"
"You did what?!" Axel's jaw drops- half expecting her to say sike! in a second- because there was no way-
Holy shit.
He could hear it.
The low, but distinct whirring of helicopter blades at a short distance, accompanied by intensified yelling and gunshots from the outside.
"I WAS UNDERCOVER HERE, REMEMBER?" she says with a laugh from the other side, past the sound of the blades of the helicopter, "LISTEN- YOU NEED TO GET TO THE ROOF OF THIS PLACE- THERE'S A HELIPAD THERE, SO I CAN LAND AND GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE-"
"Bea- we're stuck," Axel hates how defeated he sounds, as he glances at Stella who was still standing near the railing, with her back to him.
It was almost like she knew too there was no way they'd be able to get out of there.
And she did. Stella knew that they were too high up, and she also knew that they couldn't climb up or down. There was no way they could get out of there.
Unless...
She eyes the railing, before looking down.
"Axel," she calls over her shoulder after a few seconds of contemplation, "Tell Bea we'll meet her on the roof."
"What?!" Axel turns to her, a bewildered glare on his face. "What do you me-"
He never got to finish that sentence, however. Because Stella swings herself around the railing-
-and she jumps straight off the building.
Thank you for reading! Do vote and comment :)
what did y'all think about a certain part of this chapter? ;)
this was meant to be out much earlier and for delaying it, I apologise lmao- but how do y'all think the next chapter is going to go? o.O