Axel and Lola
Lola lefther last class for the day at Northwestern University and bundled up against the bitterly cold wind blowing across Lake Michigan. She hurried toward her Accord and tossed her bookbag in the passenger’s seat. Within fifteen minutes, she pulled into the parking lot of a diner where she’d found employment as a waitress. In a small back room, she clocked in, hung her coat and scarf on a peg, and secured her purse in her locker. She tied an apron around her waist and headed into the warm, fragrant kitchen. Her boss, the head chef, greeted her with a mischievous grin.
“Your favorite customer is waiting for you, Lola.”
She rolled her eyes. “Again? That makes three times this week.”
“Axel Anderson has a crush on you.”
“Not interested,” she threw over her shoulder as she grabbed a full coffee pot and approached a booth in her section wherefilthy rich Axel Anderson huddled with his longtime best friend Elliott Gage and a shy, towheaded guy that she recognized from one of her classes, Martin Schow, or something like that.
Lola refreshed their coffee and asked, “You guys want something to eat?”
Axel Anderson’s eyes glinted, and he offered a charming smile. “Burgers and fries all around, right?”
Elliott and Martin agreed.
“All right. I’ll put that order in for you.”
She left them alone as they engaged in earnest conversation, and she waited on other customers.
When Lola served them their burgers and fries and refilled their coffee mugs, Axel remarked, “Marty says that you and he are majoring in cognitive science.”
“So?”
This time Axel Anderson’s smile revealed a darker aspect to his personality that attracted the darkness lurking in hers.
“So, I want to talk about what it entails, like how the brain works and how it can be rewired, even manipulated. Elliott and I are staying at my folks’ place in Lake Forest. You and Marty meet us there after your shift, if you’re interested.” He pushed a napkin toward her where he’d written the address. “We’re flying home to California on Friday.”
Lola shot Martin Schow a brief glance and shoved the napkin into the pocket of her apron. “I’ll think about it.”
“Fair enough.”
Curiosity drove Lola to meet Axel Anderson at his family home in Lake Forest. Dangerously dark attraction compelled her into his bed that night.
It was the beginning.
It was the end.
Nothing mattered except Axel’s master plan to create a New America.
Not her lost daughter Julia.
Not her dead husband Julio, whom she’d vowed to avenge.
Nothing.
THE PAST
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
April
Barbara and Greg Washburn
Corporate attorney Barbara Washburnexited the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, after successfully defending her client, a tech company, in a high-stakes lawsuit. As she strode toward her SUV, she checked her phone for messages. A text from her adoption lawyer caught her attention and caused her heart to beat faster. Barbara pressed the call icon.
“Hello, Barbara. I’ve been expecting to hear from you.”
