Protecting You ("The Shadows" Series: Book I)

Bonus Chapter ( III.)

Ryan's POV

The meeting consisted of us going through weapon shipping and drug cartels of Adam and his group.

"Fortunately for us, Adam didn't have that many man left after you barged into his place for Lily. The remaining were killed by your snipers and I double-checked in case anyone was left alive. Don't won't someone coming back from the grave to get revenge and shit." Lorenzo said as he sipped his cola.

Lily nodded beside me, her wine in her hand as she kept playing with the rim of her glass, deep in her thoughts.

"Apart from that, I sent you a load of guns with new features like I had said before the mission." Evan said to Lorenzo to which the latter raised his wine in the air.

"It wasn't needed at the time since the mission was less like a job and more like a need. I hated Adam. He had intervened in lot of my missions and I also wanted to help Ryan. I had more reasons for it to be more that just a deal. Adam had to pay for his nuisance." Lorenzo said to Evan.

"I transacted all of Adam's money that he had in his bank account and the ones he was dealing around for arms and drugs. I diverted some 'in process' transactions to other accounts before sending them back to their owners who I found were being blackmailed by that fucker. What do you want me to do with Adam's money?" Lorenzo's hacker, Matteo asked.

"You have a say in this Lily, but you haven't said a thing since this meeting started. Is everything okay? Do you want to leave?" Evan asked the questions that were running in my head. I took her hand in mine which led her to look at me. She looked at Evan before sweeping her eyes across the other faces before sighing.

"It still hasn't settled in my brain that Adam's dead. Hearing all of you talk about him in the past tense just feels strange. I didn't see his body since I wasn't conscious for a long time. So excuse my behaviour." Matteo and Evan nodded while Lorenzo, and I glanced at each other.

"Would it make you feel better if you saw his dead body?" Angelo, Lorenzo's weapon expert asked. He too had been silent from the start of the meeting, quietly observing our conversation. He was Lorenzo's right hand guy and had been with Lorenzo in most of his missions. I had seldom seen him talk.

He would look like a mannequin if he stops breathing.

Lily's head snapped in his direction as he pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket.

Don't tell me he carries photos of dead bodies around in his phone with him?!

"You carry photos of dead bodies?!" Evan tried not to shriek those words out. I kept myself from showing the surprise that I felt while Lily straight up looked shocked. Angelo nodded before looking at Lily, his hand tilted in a way to pass the phone after clicking on the screen a few times.

"Comes in handy." He replied as he kept his gaze locked with Lily's. Lily glanced at me, I have no idea why, but I shrugged and gave her hand a squeeze. If she needed my support, she'll get it wholeheartedly.

Lily extended her hand to which Angelo slid his phone across the table in her direction. His phone stopped in her grasp and she took a subtle breath in before releasing it and clutched the phone. Flipping the phone towards her face, she looked down at the screen. Her hand squeezed mine as a reflex.

"He really is dead." She whispered as she looked at the man who was her biological father, now having several holes in his body as he bled to his death.  After a few moments she passed the phone back to Angelo with a nod, who nodded back before putting his phone back into his pocket. The whole time the others remained silent to let her catch upto her reality.

"Donate all that money to someone in need. Orphanages more preferably." Lily said as she gave her undivided attention to Matteo who gave her a smile.

"I was thinking along the same lines." Matteo said as he did something on his phone before looking back up at us.