Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
I hope giving Axel some time to cool off and realize that today was all a misunderstanding will be enough for him to reconsider his words. But maybe this is my out. Maybe finally , I’ll be free and no longer tied to him or The Five.
It’s wishful thinking as I step inside my apartment. It should fill me with relief, but instead, it only leaves me feeling hollow, like something vital just slipped through my fingers.
“What’s this?” Cooper’s voice cuts through the silence as I search through the cupboard for a clean glass.
“What’s what?” I turn to find him rummaging through my bag before catching a flash of white between his fingers.
Cooper inspects it for a second, flipping the card back and forth. “Axel Bonanno’s number?” He raises a brow.
Instinctively, I lunge forward and snatch the card away like I’m protecting a secret weapon.
“Get out of my bag!”
“What are you hiding?” Cooper snaps, grabbing my handbag and digging through it again.
His accusation stings, clawing deep into my already shattered mood.
“I’m not hiding anything!” I snap, yanking the bag free .
I don’t know what’s gotten into him but he’s starting to piss me off.
“Then why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“Because I don’t need it anymore.” I crumple the card in my fist to prove the point.
Cooper doesn’t back down. “What’s he sorry for?”
“It doesn’t matter, Coop.” My jaw tightens. I can’t tell him about Axel’s venomous words, about how I found myself cornered yesterday. That conversation would only spiral into suspicion—and I’m not ready for that.
“Why are you protecting him?” Cooper’s voice is colder now, stripped of any kindness.
“I’m not!”
“Yes, you are. He’s a prick and you’re still sticking up for him!” Cooper sneers.
“Cooper, just drop it.”
“No! I told you not to get involved. Did I not say this was a bad idea?”
“Yes, and I told you I can’t say no. What if they kill me? Would you be happy then? At least then I wouldn’t be working for him.” The words spill out before I can stop them, raw and desperate.
Cooper’s eyes darken. “Death’s better than The Five,” he spits.
That’s it. It’s like a cruel déjà vu, only I’m not facing Axel — I’m facing Cooper.
“Go fuck yourself, Coop!” I storm toward the door, grabbing my coat and keys on the way. Rage burns through me like a wildfire, fueling my urge to scream. The stairs blur beneath my feet until I burst into the cold night, chest heaving, heart pounding.
I freeze when I feel the weight of eyes on me. I don’t need to look to recognize the dangerous presence. I know it well.
“What do you want, Axel?” I huff. I don’t think I have the energy for another argument with him today .
He steps into the streetlight’s glow, calm as ever, ignoring my question like always.
“Cassie, what’s wrong?” His voice is low, threaded with genuine concern; smooth and dangerous all at once.
“Nothing. It’s stupid.” My voice cracks as embarrassment and frustration wash over me. I bite back tears, trying to keep the walls intact because the last thing I want Axel to see is me upset. I meet his gaze, firmer this time. “What are you doing here?”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he holds out his hand. “Walk with me?”
I glance back at my apartment—warm lights glowing like a trap. Then back at Axel’s hand. I’m stuck at a crossroads, deciding which torture is worse; walking with Axel in the dead or night, or going back to Cooper for another argument.
Resigning to the former, I take Axel’s hand, nodding once before sniffing away the sting in my eyes.
He pulls me gently along the sidewalk toward the park. We walk slowly, deliberately. The dark folds around us like a cloak, smothering any awkwardness. We’re isolated from the rest of the world. It’s just us and the noise of the city in the background.
“I’m sorry about today,” Axel breaks the silence first. His voice is softer than normal, wary, like he’s afraid I might break. “I overreacted.”
He stops walking, I pause my steps along with him, taken aback by his second apology of the day. This has to be some kind of record.
“And last night... I shouldn’t have said what I did.”
The path splits ahead: one way to a deserted playground, the other winding through shadowed trees and empty benches. In daylight, the park is magical—a place I run when the world spins too fast. Tonight, it feels like the magic has been ripped out and I’m walking dangerously into the unknown.
Our breath hangs in the cold air, little clouds dissolving like ghosts. A chill runs down my spine and I curse myself for forgetting a jacket .
Axel looks almost scared—or maybe just vulnerable. Like those words weighed heavy on his tongue.
The air between us is thick, stifled by something unsaid. I hate the look in his eyes, but I can’t look away. He wants forgiveness.
“Did Trigger tell you to say that?” I tease, a small laugh escaping me.
Axel’s lips twitch, revealing the barest hint of a smile. My heart stutters because it’s the first time I’ve caught the glimpse of warmth behind the cold exterior.
“Something like that.” He shrugs, feet shifting nervously like a kid caught in the act. “He might have made me see sense.” His lips lift ever so slightly, a glint of white shining through those perfect lips. But I can see the hesitation, the anxious light that glistens in his eyes.
If there’s a time to clear the air, it’s now. Axel seems… calm enough to listen.
“It wasn’t what it looked like,” I assure, reaching out to take his hand. His palms open and accept mine, warm and steady. His eyes rake over me, protective but cautious. I sense a tug, a battle between pulling away and holding on.
Under the streetlamps’ golden glow, the barriers around him begin to crumble—walls built from years of pain and solitude, protection from the rest of the world falls away.
“I know.” His voice is heavy with understanding as he turns, hand in mine, leading me down the wooded path.
We walk in silence, the wind threading through the branches above. Axel towers over me with his six-foot-two body of tense muscle. His brow furrows with something close to peace.
“Daniels came to me.” My voice breaks the quiet. “He threw cash at me to drop you as a client. He wanted me off the case.” I can hear the shake in my voice, the worry that sets in as Axel’s glare burns sharp. But slowly the flame softens, shifting to amusement.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I fired you.
” He bumps my shoulder with a playful grin that sends flutters through my stomach.
This lighter side of Axel is unsettling, yet oddly comforting.
While it should make me nervous, instead I feel like this side is only reserved for certain people.
And I’m starting to think maybe, I’m one of those individuals.
“Axel.” I raise a brow, half-scolding, to match his ease.
“I’m joking.”
I hum, eyes locked on the path ahead. “Though he seemed pretty pleased with himself. Guess he thought he’d got to me.”
“Why offer you money?” Axel’s voice is firmer now.
I pull my hand away, heat flashing across my skin where his fingers linger.
“I don’t know.” I snap. “I don’t need the money, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Without warning, Axel spins me toward a tree, pressing me against its rough bark. My breath catches in my throat, the air draining from my lungs, replaced by the sharp scent of his cologne.
His smile is thin—almost cruel—but there’s a gentleness in the way his hands grip my waist. “Then what do you need?” he breathes.
I press my hands against his chest, tilting my head up, stopping just shy of his lips. “I know better than to tell the likes of you what I want.”
He steps back, cool air rushing between us. Relief floods me because I can finally breathe.
But Axel isn’t done. We continue walking, his pace more determined now. “Why were you storming out of your apartment?”
The park’s edge nears and nerves spike. It shouldn’t bother me to be seen with Axel—I’m his lawyer after all—but I can’t shift the unease.
“Coop and I fought,” I finally answer.
“About? ”
“Doesn’t matter.” I shake off the anger. Axel doesn’t need my mess.
“It does to me.” His hand grabs my forearm, firm but gentle. Then he moves a hand to cup my cheek. The streetlight’s glow softens his dark eyes as he searches my gaze.
“Are you hurt?” Concern laces his question and my heart stutters under the gentleness of his thumb tracing softly over my skin.
My hands move automatically, guided more by instinct than thought, sliding over his—warm, rough, and trembling with the restraint he’s barely holding on to.
I curl my fingers around his and ease them down, slow and deliberate, like calming a storm with touch alone.
The contact sends a pulse of something sharp and electric through me, but I don’t flinch.
I just hold on until his grip loosens beneath mine.
“It’s not like that.”
He sighs. “Would you tell me if it was something else?” he accuses.
I look up, startled by the question. I don’t even know how to answer that. Axel isn’t exactly top of the list of people I’d confide in, but something tells me I could. If I wanted to.
“Didn’t think so,” he mutters.
We walk a few more steps in silence before I finally speak, my voice low but firm. “Where were you the night the Mayor was killed?”
He stops, barely noticeably, but I feel it in the sudden tension of his hand, still cradling mine loosely. His breath catches. For a second, he doesn’t answer, doesn’t move—just stares ahead like the question cracked something open inside him.
“Is that why you came on this walk?” he finally asks, tone rough and sharp. “To squeeze the truth out of me with a gentle touch and soft eyes?”
“No,” I blurt. “But I need to know.”
He turns slowly, eyes meeting mine with something dark and searching. “You don’t trust me. ”
“I’m your lawyer, Axel. It’s my job to know what I’m walking into.”
His eyes narrow—not in anger, but in that way he does when he’s trying to decide whether I’ve earned the next layer of him. He studies me for a long beat, and then, finally, he exhales a laugh—bitter and hollow.
“I told you I was out of the country,” he sighs.
“That’s not enough, Axel, and you know it.” My tone cuts sharper now. “You disappearing right before the mayor’s death doesn’t scream innocence. For all the city knows, you could’ve ordered a hit.”
His eyes darken. The air shifts.
“I was in Sicily,” he growls, “cutting a deal that kept our entire east line from collapsing. Trigger and Max were with me the whole damn time—we didn’t take a piss without each other knowing about it.
You want alibis? They’ve got timestamps, receipts, fuckin' blood on their boots from the job. But I can’t tell that to the damn court! ”
“But that still doesn’t remove you as a suspect.”
“The Mayor was leverage. He was working for me. So whoever wanted him dead, it was because of that.”
My breath hitches as he steps closer, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “Don’t stand there and act like I’d torch everything I built to do something that stupid. If I wanted someone dead, they wouldn’t hear it coming—and no one would know about it.”
The words land between us like a confession and a dare. Pushing me to make the choice to believe him. And I think I do. Or at least this version of the truth.
“Believe what you want, Cassie.” He shrugs, pulling his hand from mine.
But the tremor in his voice betrays him.
And somehow, that tells me more than any alibi ever could.
He might act like a ruthless mobster, but Axel still has a heart.
He has feelings—even if they’re smothered in layers of violence .
“I believe you, Axel.” The words fall as a whisper, but it’s enough for Axel to relax.
He nods silently, and then we step out of the park, to the path that leads back to my apartment building. I bite my lip, nervous at how much Axel has shifted—from danger to something almost tender in less than two seconds.
Crossing the street, he guides me with his hand resting at the small of my back, heat radiating up my spine. He makes no move to pull me closer, just frames my waist with a sturdy arm.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
His eyes watch me closely—the darkness replaced by something softer.
“What made you want to join The Five?”
He shakes his head like I’ve asked something ridiculous. “I didn’t.”
My brows connect. “But I read you took over from your father?”
We both know how quickly the tone has shifted, how our dynamic is changing.
“You shouldn’t believe everything you read,” he accuses with a chuckle, tipping his chin as we near my apartment. “I took over from my uncle.”
“What about your parents?”
I can’t stop asking. The story’s unraveling, and I want every thread. I want to know more about the dark and enigmatic Axel Bonanno.
Ahead of the steps to my apartment building, Axel spins me around to face him. His breath warms my face, his hand burning away the chill in my palm.
“That’s all you’re getting tonight,” he whispers, lips curling.
A silence settles, thick and heavy, filled with unspoken respect. I no longer see a hard-faced brute but a man guarding something more than a fragile heart. He’s protecting a family, a business. He’s protecting a legacy .
Axel’s eyes flicker with vulnerability. It’s brief, then it’s gone and I decide not to press for more. He’s opened up more than I expected him to.
“Thanks for tonight,” I mumble.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
His lips brush my forehead, a gentle promise that seeps into my veins. Sparks ignite along my skin, guilt whispering beneath the rush.
And all I can do is force out, “Goodnight, Axel.”