Life Without Them (On Hold)

Chapter 3: A Heated Meeting

"Ewww." The twins squeal with laughter.

"You wish," Sang says with an eye roll before pushing the side of Brandon's head as she walks past him. "You boys staying for dinner?"

"You know it," Marc responds with a smile.

"Axel? You ok?" Sang asks before she walks in the kitchen.

"Yeah sweetie, I'm fine," I tell her while pasting on a smile.

She looks concerned for a minute before looking around the room with a frown. It's hard to get anything past Sang; she's too perceptive.

"Go make dinner, woman!" Raven crows while throwing a plushie at Sang.

She narrows her eyes at him before walking into the kitchen mumbling about brutish Russian men and food poisoning. The twins jump off of their previous perches to go jump on Raven for throwing things at their mom.

They really are great kids, Sang raised them well.

Soon after, Corey comes rushing out of the hallway and makes a beeline for my direction.

"Ax, we gotta talk," he says as he pulls me out to the balcony.

"What did you find out?" I ask once the sliding doors are shut.

"I traced the call back to a house about ten minutes from here, over by Reston town center. The house is being rented by a Mr. Blackwell, and satellite imaging shows that it's them. It's Blackbourne and his team," Corey tells me with a resolved face.

"Very original choice of alias," I respond sardonically.

"What did he want?"

"To meet with us at the station tonight. At ten."

"What do we do?"

"We go, and hopefully get to the bottom of this mess."

Before going back into the house, I send a message to the guys, telling them that we have a meeting tonight. They all send us questioning looks when we walk back inside, but wisely stay quiet due to the children. The twins go and set the table when Sang tells us that dinner is almost ready, and we sit down and eat as the family we've become.

Time seems to escape all of us, and soon enough, it's eight o'clock and we're helping Sang get the twins ready for bed. She stays up with us, watching T.V. for a while, before heading to her room to read. We let ourselves out of the house and go into my apartment adjacent to Sang's. I quickly explain to them the situation, including my phone call with who could only be Owen, and let them know to be ready for anything. Soon enough, it's 9:50 and we're all heading out to the elevator, minus Phil who's staying in my apartment.

Living in the apartment complex that surrounds the metro station makes our trip to this meeting quite brief, and soon enough we're walking up to the station where we see Owen and his boys standing in formation. Owen and Sean are at the front, followed by Kota, Victor, and Nathan, with Silas, North, Luke, and Gabe bringing up the rear. We walk up to them, leaving a few feet of space in between us in our own formation. Myself and Marc in the front, with Raven, Brandon, and Corey behind us.

"Owen," I greet. "I have to say I'm surprised by your reappearance. Even more so for this meeting. Care to tell us what it's for?"

Owen picks up the black bag that he had laying at his feet and thrusts it in my direction. I catch it with a bemused expression on my face.

"Everything that you need to know is in that bag. And now that you have it, we'll be off," he tells me right before him and his team turn around and start to walk away.