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I nod and give him a quick rundown of the most important parts. “Ever. She’s fine, and the bullet just grazed me, thanks for asking. The others are all bruised and battered, but they’re fine. Hunt found out about Shadow. He was stupid enough to tell me everyone else who knew since he thought he was going to kill me.”

“Ah shit,” D curses. “We’ll take care of it.”

I nod with a smile, “Zemi took down one of the fuckers who Hunt said knew. The other is that informant Ivan.”

D chuckles, “I hate that little fucker. I’ll be happy to get rid of him. A little bit of torture first to make sure that he didn’t tell anyone else, and then we’ll bury the fucker.”

D is probably the only person who would call the six foot three, built like a brick shit house informant little, but then I suppose to D he is.

“Ryan and Talon will be happy to know we’re going torturing,” I grin. I’m aware how fucked up that sentence is, but I don’t care. “I assume that they’re coming.”

“Of course, we’ll go grab them and then go after Ivan. I know where he likes to hang out. We need to take him out as quickly as possible and ideally before news of Hunt’s death spreads and he uses it as an opportunity to sell the information to the highest bidder.”

As far as I’m aware, Talon hasn’t been introduced to the kids, and honestly that’s understandable. Not only is he utterly unhinged and has a few other quirks, but he’s also on the organization's most wanted list. I think they all agreed not to introduce him for everyone's sake.

Of course Alaric is a part of the organization, and he hasn’t taken Talon in, but then again that’s because Alaric knows the truth. He was there.

Alaric walks the line far more tightly than I think the kids realize.

“Sounds good to me,” I reply. Pausing for a moment, I add, “They’re fucking good, D. Atlas and the others.”

“I know. It’s a shame Mr. R got to them before I could offer them a job with me,” he replies, sounding genuinely disappointed.

“They needed to be where they are,” I reply, repeating that sentiment that I usually do when we have this conversation. “It was the safest option for them.”

“I know,” he repeats with a sigh. With a smirk, he adds, “Alaric’s going to be pissed when he realizes I’ve helped you.”

“Nah, we’ll just let Maria deal with him,” I smirk. “Plus, do you really think he doesn’t know I’m with one of you? It’s Alaric.”

He’s as gone for Maria as I am, the difference is he is good enough for her. I most certainly am not, I never have been.

“Good point. We’ll go and grab Ryan and Talon and then head to where Ivan likes to hang out the most. I’ll put some feelers out to see if any of my people know where he is exactly and have them keep him occupied until we get there.” He frowns, “Ryan and I are supposed to be at the party tomorrow.

“If you manage to make it. We need to get rid of Ivan first,” I say and then add with a smile, “I can always finish him off if need be.”

“Apart from the fact that you’re injured,” D points out.

I wave him off. “I can handle Ivan.”

“I know,” D chuckles.

The kids are happy, they’re safer than they were this morning, and by the time that we’re done, Ever will be even safer, and no one will know who she is. They have multiple things to celebrate, and as for me? I’ve got my made family back, my brothers.

Everything is as it should be.

Alaric

I smile as I watch Liam get into D’s car.

Of course I had my suspicions about what they were up to. In fact, I hoped that they were up to something. I didn’t want to have to take Liam in. At the beginning of this whole thing, I was absolutely determined that was what was going to happen, and I told him as much.

But I’ve had to work extremely closely with him over the past few weeks, and it gave me a chance to ask the questions that I have been wanting to ask him ever since we went through Blake’s things.

What I learned changed everything.

I couldn’t keep it from Atlas, he had a right to know, and actually Liam deserved to have Atlas know the truth. I know Atlas is struggling with it, that’s completely understandable. I also know that he must have been putting two and two together and realizing that something wasn’t right when it came to Liam because he didn’t immediately blow up at me and call me a liar.

The fact that he has Ever and the guys is such a massive relief to me.