Page 18 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

“Man, move,” I groan, ready to drop my bags and fall into the nearest bed for at least a few hours of sleep. Since Axel’s here, I know Riale’s not far behind. He wouldn’t have let Axel get this close if it weren’t for a reason.

That’s how it goes for our plan. Being my best friend, Riale is never too far away despite owning a black ops security firm for high-profile individuals, many of whom are connected with Lakeland. Our paths cross often, as he runs my personal security team, too.

But Axel’s a wild card. I see him a few times a year these days while he works behind the scenes, hacking systems and diverting whatever trades he can in Lakeland’s black-market sales and other hacker-for-hire deals.

With the three of us together and away from surveillance, we’ll be able to make a plan.

And I’ll be able to breathe.

“Damn, you’re welcome, nigga,” Axel says, and I take a breath. There’s no need for me to act like a dickhead just because I’m tired.

“My bad,” I grumble, leaving my suitcase by the front door and giving him dap and a sideways hug. Even though his goofy ass gets on my nerves a lot of the time, I miss having him around sometimes.

Pulling away, I go deeper into the suite, drawn to the windows looking over The Loop.

This condo is the type of place I would have gotten for me and Shae, had fate worked in our favor.

It would have been after she finished her MBA at Harvard, of course, because I know she wouldn’t tolerate being away from home for longer than absolutely necessary. But we would have resettled back in Chicago and lived somewhere like this for a few years.

Then, we would have moved to the suburbs and started a family.

But fate is a fickle, vindictive bitch.

“I see you’re in a pissy mood,” Axel says, still smiling. “Let me give you the tour while we wait for your comrade in assholery.”

I shoot him the middle finger.

“All right, so here’s the living room,” Axel says, throwing his arms out as if he were on a game show. The space is minimalist and clean, everything white and gray. The floor-to-ceiling windows offer a nice view of the Chicago River, and even though we’re nineteen stories up, dark blobs move along the sidewalks in a steady stream.

“Nice. ETA on Riale?” I ask Axel.

He rolls his eyes a bit before saying, “Fifteen to twenty minutes.” He sounds irritated, and I’m immediately suspicious. Axel and Riale have been cool to each other since the beginning, with Riale treating Axel like an annoying little brother.

But lately, our online communications have gone from cold indifference to outright hostility between them, and shit can’t stay like this.

Discord amongst us will get one of us, or all of us, killed. Before I can question Axel further, he claps and turns on his heel.

“Lemme show you the rest of the unit,” he says brightly, walking away. I follow him into the kitchen, then the dining area, and the office.

“And now, for where the magic happens,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows as if his nickname for me isn’t The Monk for a reason.

Axel flings open the door, and I step inside.

The room’s standard issue, nothing to be excited over.

But then I see it. A high-tech telescope stands next to the broad expanse of windows.

I raise an eyebrow.

“I won’t have much time for stargazing, Axel,” I say, moving closer to the instrument to check out the gauges.

“I thought you might like the view,” he drawls, and I make a face, giving him a side eye.

“The fuck you talking about, Axel?” I look out the window, seeing the building directly across from mine obstructs most of the sightlines.

A light comes on in a unit in the other building, and from this position, I can see directly into the condo. With the telescope, I’ll be able to see the face of whoever’s living there.

“Take a look,” Axel says, like the spider to the fly.