Page 33 of Axel Martin

I leaned into his chest, resting my cheek against his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me. His warmth, steady and sure, settled the last of my frayed nerves.

We stood there like that until the stars began to blur, until the ache in my chest softened into something warm and fragile.

Hope.

30

Axel

It was close to midnight when my phone buzzed.

Lark was asleep, curled up in my bed, tangled in the blanket like a human burrito. I didn’t want to wake her, so I slipped into the living room, the floor creaking under my feet as I checked the message.

Unknown Number:

Tell Fraiser he was right. They have Greg Bishop.

And be careful.

—M

No punctuation. No context. But the initials hit me like a shot to the ribs.

Marley.

My first instinct was to text back. My second was to wake Lark. I did neither.

Instead, I stared at the message and felt the shift in the air—like pressure dropping before a storm.

I didn’t know what Fraiser had been right about. And I didn’t know what Marley meant bybe careful.

But I had a sinking feeling this wasn’t over.

Whatever she was mixed up in... it had just brushed against our lives.

And it wasn’t done with us yet. I needed to get in touch with Fraiser. I wondered if he was back from Nebraska yet.

31

Lark

Iwoke up to the sound of coffee brewing and something... heavier.

Axel was standing at the counter, scrolling through his phone with a look I hadn’t seen before—focused, tense, like the SEAL in him had quietly stepped back into the room.

“What’s going on?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

He turned. “Did Marley ever mention Frasier?”

I blinked. “No, but when he showed up the other night, she knew him. She went pale like she’d seen a ghost. Then she left.”

Axel handed me his phone.

Tell Fraiser he was right. They have Greg Bishop.

And be careful.

—M

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