Astrid walked down the hallway leading to the kitchen, She had tried to get some sleep but her mind kept wandering back to Jeremy and everything that had happened, Her mother had even called her since Aiden didn't invite her to the ball but she ignored the calls.She opened the door to the kitchen carefully as she walked to the fridge, she was famished, maybe it was because of the alcohol she had taken during the ball party. She scanned the fridge looking for anything edible, She stretched her hands and grabbed a bowl of grapes. She closed the fridge and walked to the mini dining in the kitchen, Sitting down she opened it and began to eat the grape. At least this would hold her stomach till in the morning when the maids would prepare breakfast. The kitchen door suddenly opened as she raised her head to see who it was, her eyes met with Axel who was thirsty and forgot to tell the maids to drop a bottle of water in his room. "Couldn't sleep?" He muttered going to the fridge to get a
"Okay, that's enough talking for tonight," Axel said heading to the door as Astrid rushed to his front blocking his way, her eyes searching his to see if he was hiding something else. "I think we should find you a girlfriend.""We?" "Yeah, you need one.""Okay, young lady, goodnight," Axel raised his brows walking past her and heading back to his room. A girlfriend was the last thing on his mind right now, he couldn't even remember the last time he had one. It wasn't that he wasn't welcoming to the idea of being in a relationship with someone but right now wasn't the best time, he was too busy with work, and whoever was going to date him had to be someone who understood what he did for a living.Someone willing to be patient with him, he shook his head as a smile fell on his face at the thought of Astrid just calling him gay. His thoughts were soon interrupted by a bodyguard rushing to him."Sir! Sir!!" The bodyguard said bowing his head. "What is it?" Axel asked."I got a message
Axel's eyes widened as the naked man's unconscious body fell to the ground, It wasn't new for him to see a dead body but it was the first time he had seen a woman kill someone with that level of precision like she had done something like this before. What was she planning to do now that the man was dead? Wasn't she terrified that the police might arrest her, according to Selena, Claire was just an ordinary lady trying to make ends meet, she was wealthy and influential like them to clean up something like this? Wait? No blood? Was it a dummy gun?Claire rose to her feet her straight face contouring into a smile then she began to laugh as Axel and Aiden stared at each other. She had used a dummy gun on the man and he had fainted at the sound of the dummy gun, The scene would have been funny in different circumstances but Aiden and Axel both needed to get the prototype and leave."We don't intend to sleep here," Aiden pointed out as Claire got up on her feet dragging the man's body acr
“Loosen up, this is a place for pleasure, not for you to look like an uncooked potato,” Claire said as she withdrew her lips from his, She held his hand and left him on a couch in a corner. Shoving him right on the seat Axel stared at her adjusting himself and wondering what she was up to this time.He had done a lot of secret agent work in the past but none of them were anything like this, Claire got up on him, sitting on his lap facing him as she cupped his face in her hand kissing him again. She wanted to tell Axel to loosen up as she could feel he was getting tensed up again but he surprised her by grabbing her by the waist pulling her closer as he kissed her on the lipThe lips started innocently, and then Claire found herself kissing him back passionately, the fill of his soft plum lips on hers was so good, she didn’t want him to stop kissing heTo onlookers, they were starting to blend in and look like a couple who came to the sex club to have fun. The people who had earlier be
Axel grabbed her by the arm staring deeply into her eyes, It was really Emily. He could always recognize that birthmark on the side of her cheeks no matter how hard she tried to change her looks.“Who are you?” Emily panicked at the sound of her name, she didn’t go by that name any longer. It was only people from her past who still knew her by that name, she grabbed the man’s mask yanking it off before he could stop her as she stared at him with the same puzzled look. “Axel?”“What… what are you doing here?” Emily stuttered. She felt Axel slowly letting go of her, his shocked expression turning into a frown and then a blank stare.“That’s none of your business,” Axel responded coldly letting go of her, as he walked past her but Emily grabbed his arm bringing him to a halt.“Wait, I… I...”“You what?” Axel scoffed shoving her hand off his as he walked down the hallway to find Claire.Emily Hemsworth, his first love and last. She had taken his love for her for granted and shattered his
THE NEXT MORNING, Claire woke up groaning in pain as she sat up slowly on the bed, her hair was a mess as she ran her hand through it, her nose picking up a nice fragrance in the room, she placed her hand to her forehead feeling a severe headache taking over. What happened? She thought to herself trying to remember what had happened last night, she looked around the room, it was far more spacious than the room last night.Her heart instantly began to pound in her chest as she raised the duvet over her to see that she was now wearing a big white tee shirt, she rolled out of the bed immediately feeling the room sparring round in her eyes. Where was she? Did he kidnap her? He couldn’t have.The last she remembered was feeling dizzy after taking a sip from that drink, and then she saw Axel lifting her, or had she been hallucinating that part?“You should be resting,” she heard a voice speak as the door opened, she turned around startled as her eyes met Axel’s eyes. He closed the door behi
AIDEN’S MANSION“Thanks for letting me stay here,” Claire smiled at Selena. After she had drunk the drink Axel had offered to her, a maid came in with a gown, she was grateful to the maid because she couldn’t imagine herself, and soon after she freshened up and joined Selena in the living room.“Thanks to Axel, he was the one who convinced Aiden to let you stay and for a moment I was worried you were injured or something,” Selena replied.“I am better now,” Claire replied not wanting to get Selena worried about what had happened between her and Luke.“I heard what you did to Luke, what happened? I mean torturing your man and tying him up in…”“I don’t want to talk about it Selena,” Claire interrupted her. “I am sorry if I said something wrong, I didn’t mean to…”“It’s fine, we broke up but I really don’t want to get into the details of how and why?” Claire explained.“I understand, actually Axel had his brought to the dungeon to interrogate him about the prototype but I could tell it
She wasn't sure what Axel had said, her eyes remained glued on sizing his body when something caught her eyes."What happened to you?" Claire asked standing up from her feet and closing the distance between them as she placed her hand on the cut on his stomach, the injury seemed to be stitched up but she couldn't tell if it was recent or not. "It's nothing," Axel responded, yanking her hand off his body."I am sorry," Claire apologized realizing she had touched him without his consent, she took a step back staring at him with a frown. "The girl at the club, was that the girl you were talking about? The Emily girl.""So, you didn't completely forget everything that happened," Axel raised his brow walking past her to the mirror as he cleaned his head with the towel staring at his reflection. "I don't think Aiden would do what you said he…""You don't need to defend Aiden because you are scared he won't allow you to stay once I leave tomorrow, he isn't going to kick you out, rest assur
~ TWO YEAR LATER ~ As the sun peeked through the stained glass windows of the quaint church, casting a warm glow on the pews and aisle, an air of excitement and anticipation filled the atmosphere. Today was a special day for Axel and Claire, as they were about to embark on a journey of love and commitment in front of family and friends. The delicate scent of flowers wafted through the air, adorning every corner of the church with their vibrant colors. The essence of love was palpable, adding an extra layer of magic to the already enchanting ambiance. Soft music played gently in the background, setting the perfect mood for the upcoming union. As the guests started to fill the pews, their eyes filled with joy and enthusiasm at the sight of loved ones coming together to celebrate the union of Axel and Claire. Aiden, Selena, and their son, Alex, and daughter Brianna alongside Astrid and her boyfriend Tom sat on one side, beaming with pride and excitement. Guests were the extended f
"Her water just broke," Aiden announced. They all got on their feet, Claire and Astrid rushed to her side helping her stand up as they could see the pain etched on her face, while the men ran to get the car ready. It didn't take long when they arrived at the hospital and she was taken to the theater in excruciating pain, Aiden remained outside the reception with Claire, Astrid, Axel, and Tom before the doctor informed him that he could join his wife."Everything is going to be alright," Aiden reassured her when he entered the ward to find her lying on the bed, her hand extended for him to come hold her. "It hurts so bad," Selena cried out. "Sorry," Aiden replied holding her hand in his firmly and planting a kiss on her forehead. He didn't know how else to comfort her, he could see the pain in her eyes and could only hope the delivery would happen sooner.After hours of labor pain, Aiden holding her hand and trying to soothe her pain with reassuring words, delivery began.Aiden had
"You are serious?" Claire asked just to be sure Axel wasn't joking around.He barely nodded his head to sign yes when she pulled him in for a hug, of course, she was going to move in with him and travel to another country if that was what he wanted.Everything seemed to be moving too fast when it came to how they felt for each other but for the first time in many years, she felt loved. She didn't feel like she was forcing herself on Axel like she had forced Luke to love her.Axel loved her and she could see it."I am happy for you guys," Astrid squeaked with joy, it had been a while since she last saw Axel looking at a woman the way he looked at Claire. It was like she and Selena weren't even in the room."By the way, there is something I was going to tell you, Axel, I hope I am not ruining the mood," Selena said. "I already told Claire and Astrid yesterday that -""Selena is pregnant," Astrid took the word right out of her mouth. "Are you sure you are not the one who is pregnant?" C
"Yeah, as friends. I think that would be better for both of us at the moment, I feel there are still a lot of things we don't know about each other and-""Are you joking?" Claire's eyes widened as she adjusted herself on the bed again, her face etched with confusion at Axel's words as her eyes darted from him to his hands on hers."Hey!" Axel placed his hand on her chin raising her head so he could see her face, was she crying? "Claire? I was joking," he laughed out. "I didn't find it funny," Claire smacked his hand off her chin. Axel chuckled at her reaction, "I am sorry, didn't know you were a crybaby.""What? I am not," Claire protested looking away from him. How could he tease her like that? It wasn't her fault that she had thought he was being serious about them being 'just friends' when she was attracted to him. "You look cute when you lie," Axel smirked, he placed his hand on her chin tilting her head gently to face him as he kissed her on the lips. "I will have them bring s
“Where the hell is she?” Axel yelled grabbing him by the collar, he didn’t want to believe that Claire was dead, the time period was too short for them to kill her and her clothes had no sign of blood stain when he pulled it out from the boot. “Let me off and I will tell you, lover boy,” Vincent laughed. Aiden reached for his phone immediately in his pocket, dialing one of the bodyguards who was back at Emily’s house, “Check around the house, she has to be hidden somewhere,” Aiden ordered on the first ring. “We found her boss. Was about to call you, she is unconscious,” the bodyguard replied. “Alright,” Aiden said disconnecting the call and staring at Axel who was holding back on punching Vincent in the face. “She is alright, we might just need to get her to the hospital, quickly.” “You should have stayed in jail,” Axel said to Vincent punching him in the face as Aiden held him by the waist pulling him back. “Let me go Aiden, we need to end him right now so he doesn’t come back t
“Claire,” Axel called out staring at Vincent on the laptop, his hand forming into a fist as he caused under his breath. He hadn’t anticipated seeing Vincent, wasn’t he supposed to be in jail awaiting his death sentence? This was the reason he had been against Claire going to see Emily, he reached for the door ready to hop out as Aiden grabbed him by the wrist.“Our men are already circling the building, he can’t get away with it,” Aiden said.“You want me to sit here and allow Vincent to kill her?” Axel asked shoving Aiden’s hand away, he stared at Selena and Astrid who were in disbelief at the sight of Vincent, he opened the van door and hopped out running down the street to Emily’s house.Axel ran down the street as quickly as his legs could take him, he couldn’t believe that Vincent had escaped from jail and worse Emily was working for him, what was she bound to gain from Vincent? That douchebag! He should have shot him dead a long time ago instead of hoping that the system would
THE NEXT MORNING, Aiden briefed everyone on the plan again in the van a street away from Emily's house, "If you feel uncomfortable at any moment, you just think of an excuse and leave," Aiden reminded Claire."Sure," Claire nodded. Axel walked up to her helping her put on the camera properly over her shirt button, the camera design looked like a button from afar, "this is a recording device," Axel said, placing a pen into the pocket of her shirt. "Axel, can we talk about…" Claire spoke in a low tone. She had been trying to speak to him all morning but he seemed to be avoiding the question, she didn't know why he would just listen to her so she could explain everything to him. "After," Axel cut her off. "Do you have your earbuds on?" He asked instead. "Yeah I do," she nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear so he could see it. "I was going to tell you, believe me," Claire whispered in a low voice. "What part of after don't you understand?"She bit the bottom of her lips, sad by hi
"I was just joking," Claire brushed it off at the puzzled look on Axel's face, she didn't know why she had blurted something out like that to him. Never in a million years had she asked any man that question, she smiled trying to make him see that she was bluffing."Yes.""What?" She gasped. "You… you will be my boyfriend?""Isn't that what you want? Yes, I will," Axel nodded, kissing her on the lips as her eyes widened in shock, unable to comprehend that Axel just agreed without any hint of hesitation in his voice.She watched him get out of bed and into the bathroom as she scratched the back of her head, playing back what had just happened in her head. She was about to get out of bed when the door opened with Astrid entering, she dashed out back at the sight of Claire lying naked on the bed."I am so sorry, please I didn't mean to badge in, I am so sorry," Astrid apologized. "Shit," Claire cursed, she could have sworn she used the key when locking the door or was it Axel who locked
"Don't start what you can't finish," Claire whispered. "What?" Axel chuckled. "Don't look at me like that, you just end up stealing kisses when you want to and I think that should stop," Claire said standing up but she soon came crashing into the bed as Axel grabbed her by her wrist. He grabbed her by the waist shoving her on the bed as he hovered over her, "What naughty ideas have you been thinking while I was away?" He asked with a smirk on his face. "Don't flatter yourself, mister.""So, you didn't think about my lips on yours while I was away?" Axel teased. Claire stared at him trying not to give him the benefit of the doubt but her face was suddenly turning red and she could tell from the smile on his face, darn her face.Maybe she had thought about him and she didn't know why exactly, it wasn't like Axel was laying claim on her but he had kissed her like he was, she didn't want to assume his feelings for her, it was best to stop him from kissing her any chance he got but now