〚FEATURED + WATTYS SHORTLIST 2021〛
Someone tried to kill him. Someone nearly succeeded.
A traitor walks among them.
The question is, who?
⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒
"A sky full of stars and he was looking at her."
He was a man with a deep and profound love for the stars...
Hoppla! Dieses Bild entspricht nicht unseren inhaltlichen Richtlinien. Um mit dem Veröffentlichen fortfahren zu können, entferne es bitte oder lade ein anderes Bild hoch.
"A HOTEL?"
"Yes," Axel nods as nonchalantly as he can, wrapping an arm around Stella's waist.
Kyrell narrows his eyes. "I thought the Italian Mafia had a base at the outskirts of the city?"
Interesting.
Axel shrugs, neither confirming nor denying it. "My woman and I need alone time."
"I see," Kyrell says, the suspicion still etched across his features, even as another man in uniform rushes forward.
Fortunately, for the second time, he still doesn't notice who it is.
"Your keys, sir," Corban says, in the same snobbish accent, briefly lifting his eyes to meet Axel's.
Kyrell's gaze remains unwaveringly fixed on the couple, even as he takes the keys from his grasp, tilting his head to one side.
"Tomorrow then, Mr. Bernardi," he says finally, "I'm looking forward to seeing you and your fiancée for lunch."
"We'll be there, Mr. Blackwood," Axel says in reply, raising a hand to give him a two-fingered wave in farewell, "Goodnight."
He turns around before Kyrell can respond, gently pulling Stella along, as her heels clicked against the pavement. When they were about a hundred meters away from the club, Axel brought a hand to his ear.
"Back on comms," he murmurs discreetly, as Stella leans into him, "What's the status?"
Corban's voice comes first.
"The bug is in place," he says, "in his car keys. Bea?"
"Yeah, I'm heading towards Gale's van outside," Bea's voice says, and after some indiscreet scuffling from her end, her voice is heard again, "There you are, how's it going G?"
"Both the tracker and the audio signals are working perfectly," Gale says, and they can hear the discreet tapping of keys from his end. "And uh—"
"Well, shit," they hear Bea say, "he's sending men on your tail."
"Crap," Axel hisses, making Stella look up at him, with raised eyebrows.
"What?" she whispers curiously, leaning further into him.
"We," Axel controls the urge to turn behind and draw out his gun, "have people following us. Right now."
Stella only frowns for a second, before shrugging.
"I know," she says in a voice that implied it was obvious, "I counted three."
Incredulous silence follows.
"Um-" Gale sounds baffled, "Yeah, she's-she's right—there are three men following you."
"How far behind?" Axel shakes off his own surprise, discreetly looking over his shoulders. Even in the darkness, for a second he thought he saw a few shadows move.
