Page 88 of Unraveling Connections

I shrug, “I don’t really know what to say to that.”

Trick rolls his eyes, and smiles, “Okay. That is all I need to know for now but before you go and get some rest, I need to fill you in on a couple of things that have happened here.”

I frown; what could have happened in such a short amount of time?

“Liam got in contact with Atlas,” Trick starts, “he’s hoping to get a meeting with Hunt set up and we’re hoping to use that in order to take him down.”

“Why do I hear more urgency in that sentence than before?” Cash asks.

Trick’s face is serious, and I know him well enough to know that we aren’t going to like what he says next, “Hunt is trying desperately to find the identity of Shadow.”

Quinn speaks up, “He’s been obsessed with that for a long time, that’s not a new thing.”

“Shit, do you not know?” I ask.

Ezra shakes his head, “It hasn’t come up.”

“Know what?” Quinn asks, “Why has him wanting to know the identity of Shadow ramped up the urgency.”

No one says anything for a moment, not even Ezra, which is something I really appreciate. He is leaving it up to Ever to decide.

“Because I’m Shadow,” Ever says, yawning like it is no big deal.

“What?” Quinn asks, “The Shadow?”

“Yep, that’s me,” she replies.

We all watch somewhat amused as he goes through all the emotions and realisations that we did.

“But that would have meant that you were only . . .” he starts trailing off.

Ever smirks, “Yep.”

“Wow,” he mutters, leaning back in his seat.

“Obviously my skills only come out to play in certain situations now which is why Shadow is considered semi-retired in the criminal world,” she explains, still snuggled into my chest.

“Wow,” he repeats, and we all chuckle.

Trick smirks, “Okay, while he is dealing with that we will carry on. Obviously, because of the Shadow issue we want Hunt taken out before he figures it out. If we hadn’t already had a kill request granted Mr R would have granted it. There is now even more urgency to get him out of the picture.”

“Is Ever safe up here, being this close to where Hunt potentially could be?” Cash asks.

Trick nods, “Yeah, as far as we can tell, he doesn’t suspect that Shadow is anything to do with us, Blake must have kept the information to himself. We don’t want to do anything that could arise his suspicions and make him think that he needs to look closer at us than he already is.”

Cash nods, “Good point. I still don’t fucking like it but understood.”

“None of us do,” Trick replies seriously and then looks at Ever, “there is something else. I would wait until you weren’t so sleepy, Sweetheart, but I think you probably want to know now.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Ever says, and then sits up, “everyone’s okay, aren’t they?”

Trick smiles, “Yes, we’re all fine.”

“Oh good,” she replies, relaxing back down into me, “what’s up then?”

“Liam also mentioned that it’s Amelia’s funeral soon, and he’s sent the details to Atlas in case you would like to go.”

She tenses and I can just about see the frown dragging her eyebrows down, “Okay.”

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