Chapter 19

"Ms Y! To what do I owe you this surprise?" Bronze opens the door, welcoming the boss and her entourage with a forced smile on his face. "First your brother, now you come to visit. What have I done to deserve this?" His face suddenly drops when a beaten Brash is dragged through the front door by two armed guards whose faces are concealed by blacked out helmets.

"Hold him up!" Ms Y demands.

"What's going on? There must be some sorta mistake!" Bronze pleads with her just before he is punched hard in the stomach.

"It's funny you ask that" Ms Y casually replies as he is struck again, this time around the jaw.

"Pass me my sword…" she demands.

"No, no no no …. Wait!" Bronze begs before one guard kicks the back of his knees which forces the 200lb gangster down to a kneeling position. She pulls up a chair then sits facing him with her sword lightly piercing his neck. The sweat drips down his forehead and his heart starts to race.

"Tell me something Bronze, you own this building right? You've kept track of all the drugs and anyone coming in and out of here as we've required, haven't you?" Ms Y queries.

"Yes," he vigorously nods in fear.

"Then why have you failed to mention Blaze Fielding to me?" She raises her eyebrows.

He laughs, shrugging her off "I don't know, she's paid her rent, caused no trouble… arggghhh!" Bronze cries out in pain as Ms Y pierces the sword through his chest under his collarbone. It forces him to bleed out.

"I don't care if she's rented this whole block! She killed my father and for years we thought Blaze was dead!" Ms Y barks, glaring down at him with hate.

"I'm sorry! I didn't realize… please …her apartment is number 5, you'll find her in there" he begs.

To his relief, Ms Y rises to her feet still holding the sword as she orders one of the guards to go and investigate.

"I even have a spare key to the place…" Bronze insists whilst trying to redeem himself.

Ms Y immediately pauses, staring at him in amusement "spare key huh?... Tell me something Brash, does your boss here keep spare keys to all the apartments?"

The beaten thug raises his chin then shakes his head. Bronze gives him an angry stare back.

"Ohhh…. I get it now!" Ms Y grins "punching above your weight aren't you Bronze?" she laughs. "I think Blaze would probably kill you herself if you tried sneaking into that apartment of hers in the middle of the night. I don't think you realize how dangerous she is, even for a sad old gangster like yourself".

"The apartment is clear!" One of the guards interrupts as he hands Ms Y the spare key.

"So clearly today we've wasted our fucking time!" She angrily shouts down at Broze. "Stand him up again!" She demands.

"No! Please, I'll bring her to you myself! Please don't do this….!" he cries out.

She pauses, staring into his eyes before quickly driving her sword forward through his stomach. The thin sharp weapon stabs all the way through him and out of the other side of his body as he stands frozen in agony.

"Take this as a rule boys… learn to think with your brains and not your dicks from now on". Her evil stare darts towards Brash who quakes with fear as she angrily pulls back the sword. Immediately his boss collapses dead over the floor.

Ms Y slowly paces forward, this time holding her sword in front of Brash who remains silent. "Take this as a warning and inform the rest of your team. Sugar her crew will stop by later, they are in charge of this block from now on. When Blaze Fielding returns, you make sure word gets out to us before approaching her, understood?"

"Yes," Brash frantically nods.

"Now clear this shit up!" Ms Y instructs before calmly walking away followed by her guards.

"My head feels like it's been hit by a bus!" Blaze says when she sits up after opening her eyes.

"Take two of these". Unexpectedly, she finds Zan there in the room next to her handing over a jar of pills.

"Should I bother asking what these are?" Blaze raises her eyebrows before swallowing the medication with water.

"How long have I been out of it then?" She queries, noticing Charlie snuggled up on the end of the bed. He immediately leaps forward then tries to excitedly lick her face whilst giving her a hug.

"At least three hours," Zan directly answers.

"Shit, I gotta get to work!" Blaze panics whilst scanning her surroundings. It dawns on her that she is still at Axel's place in the same bed they slept in last night.

"You need to rest! After the session yesterday on the simulator I would advise waiting a while before we try to activate your memory again otherwise you will risk having another seizure" Zan suggests.

"But I have to try again…."

#Door knocks#

"No wait…!" Blaze shouts out as she attempts to get out of bed. However, she has to quickly sit back down, still feeling docile from the pills.

"Excuse me," Zan politely says, opening the door to let Axel in.

"Great, what is it now? You a doctor too then?" Blaze sighs in one of her moods whilst avoiding his eye contact.

"This is my bedroom!" Axel answers back.

"Yeah well, I'm leaving now!"

This time with more caution, she helps herself up to her feet.

"If everything is fine here now, do you mind checking up on Leon downstairs? Tell him I'll be ready to go in a minute" Axel asks Zan. The tall scientist gives him a nod then closes the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone to talk.

"Why did you lie to me?" Blaze folds her arms frowning towards Axel as she sits on the edge of the bed.

"I didn't lie, I just didn't know how to tell you the truth. For almost 9 years all of us thought you were dead and I never got over that" he replies whilst taking a seat next to her.

"So I wasn't really just dreaming earlier?" Blaze looks up at him confused.

"No" Axel shakes his head.

"And what about Leon? Does he know anything about me?" She nervously asks.

"He's also thought all these years that you were dead. He's never known your name, what you look like or where you're from. The boy is too young to understand." Axel sighs. "I wanna tell him more than anything right now. But everything fell apart the day you went into that coma and when they told me you were dead… I couldn't handle it. Leon was the only person left in this world giving me a reason to live and to find strength to carry on. I couldn't save you and I had to live with that. Since that day, I made myself a promise that I would protect him no matter what and I wouldn't fail him like I failed you. I get it Blaze, I know you're scared and all of this seems crazy right now because you can't remember, but it's the truth."

"I…. right now…. I can't…." she stutters, looking back at him with sadness as her eyes start to water.

"Deep down you know he's your son. I still love you, that ain't ever gonna change but it's up to you now". Axel replies, handing her the large box she was holding earlier.

"Wait, where are you going?" Blaze nervously asks as he stands up to leave.

"The school called about Leon's fight plus we need to give you some space" Axel answers.

"I wish I could remember, When I stayed last night, I never expected...".

"Look, this is just as hard for me as it is for you." He interrupts. "If you wanna know, all your most important memories are there in that box. I know you're a survivor and you'll be ok whatever you decide to do from here. You've been living another life for the past 9 years, you survived on your own and I can't just ask you to get up and suddenly change everything. Whether or not you trust me and believe me, that's your choice. But I'm not gonna let Leon down. If you decide to stay and if you want us in your life, I'll tell him the truth. It's a lot to handle and a big responsibility so if you choose to leave, I understand."

They pause in silence for a moment as Blaze stares down with anxiety at the box.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours. If you're still here when we're back, I'll know your decision." Axel gazes at her with regret in his eyes before he walks out.

After hearing the front door downstairs shut with Axel, Leon and Zan all leaving the house, Blaze nervously holds onto the box, feeling very unsure of herself. What if Axel really is telling the truth? What if this is all one big lie, how can I really trust him when I barely even know the guy? And what if this really is the truth but I can't handle it or am not cut out to do this? She questions herself with self-doubt.

It takes Blaze at least half an hour to pluck up the courage to open the box. The first thing she sees inside it are all the happy couple photos of her and Axel in their younger days together from vacations to birthdays to Christmas. All of which seem vaguely familiar. Then underneath at least a hundred photographs, Blaze is shocked when she spots a red British passport along with a police badge containing her details.

Her attention is then quickly drawn to the corner of the large deep box where there lies a smaller black squared jewelry box. As soon as she picks it up to open it, memories start flooding back to the night that Axel proposed to her.

'Shit, he is telling the truth…. I remember this!' All the same feelings of excitement, euphoria as well as the butterflies in her stomach suddenly hit Blaze again as soon as she picks up the beautiful diamond ring. She smiles, remembering the cool night air with a dark sky full of stars in the early hours of the morning. Even the little yellow note stuck to the side of the cup with the words will you marry me? comes to mind. She then digs through the box, lifting it out, feeling a small victory at remembering part of the best night of her life so far.

Towards the bottom of the box, she recognises the small black and white ultrasound photo. It takes Blaze back to the day her and Shiva were fighting the syndicate in Lima as well as the time she told Axel she was pregnant when she gave him the photo in prison. 'Life can be so unfair' she thinks to herself, feeling pain and uncertainty. How could she even begin to ever make up for almost 9 years of lost time? The last thing Blaze notices inside the box is the document of Leon's birth certificate, confirming all of her suspicions with the date, parental names and place of birth in writing. Behind it lies a signed letter that Axel gave to Adam, declaring him as Leon's legal guardian until his sentence finishes.

Blaze sits back in silence, trying her best to process all of the information in front of her. 24 hours ago, she never had a clue about any of this and everything felt so normal before trying to delve into her past. In the space of a day, so much of it has surfaced and it is even more complicated than she could ever imagine. She closes the large box, leaving it on the bed before making her way downstairs. As Blaze passes through the living area and hallway, she finds more photos, this time of Leon with Axel scattered around the place. The two of them look so settled and it is clear that the boy has had a happy childhood so far, even without a mother around.

She anxiously looks at the front door, uncertain at that moment whether to stay or whether to leave.