In the end, I decide that if I trusted Paddington enough to schlep all the way across London and bring home what can only be described as a fortune, I can trust it enough to look.
I shove it into my computer, and yep. The money is there. Honestly, there.
Insane.
I have just accepted half a million pounds in return for a commitment-free conversation about me unaliving someone for Blake Thorne.
And I’ll fulfil my side of the bargain. One voice chat.
The craziest part of all this is that the thing I’m most happy about is that I’m going to speak with Blake.
Even though it will be once. And after that, never again.
7
BLAKE
Present
She’s fucking ghosted me. The notification dot disappears from her profile, and I repress a howl of fury and pain.
She cannot ignore me. When I try to message her, it hangs. It only takes a short time for me to realise that I’ve been blocked.
It’s a physical blow.
I drag my hands through my hair.
Fuck.
FUCK!
I simultaneously want to vomit, shoot something, punch anything.
Having her disappear abruptly has shown me just how important she is. But who is my bunny?
Norwood’s very efficient new project manager, Aaron, suggested TelUBox because of how secure and anonymous it is. You can’t get anyone’s phone number, IP address, or any other useful information from the app.
BunnytheKiller is all I have to go on. That and she lives in an apartment.
I email Blackfen. He’s an anti-social computer-nerd who joined the London Mafia Syndicate a little after I did. If anyone can find my bunny, it’s him.
I explain everything, excluding the parts about how I think about Bunny all the time and I have to see far, far more of her. And I leave out my suspicion Bunny is a young woman, because Blackfen won’t like that.
It takes two hours, but Blackfen replies.
Blackfen
Do you want me to tell you where your dick is while I’m at it? Fuck off.
If you can’t find it between your legs, look on your forehead, you knobjob.
Great.
Blackfen is unfailingly rude and unhelpful. I’m not sure why he was invited to the London Mafia Syndicate when he has all the team-working instincts of a black widow spider.
Should I argue?
I read what he said again. Yeah, he’s a twat. But… Is he trying to make a point? Maybe he thinks this is beneath him.
