Page 134 of Blood in the Water

“For you, Ryu, because anything more than that, and you’d bolt like a baby deer,” I sighed. “But Wynn’s right. I have been feeling like our brotherhood has held friction for a while. Or perhaps not quite enough.”

Ciel cleared his throat. “I feel the same.”

“Well, what about you, Wynn?” Ryuji asked. “You’re so perfect, just wanting to be connected at the hip all the time?”

Wynn rolled his eyes. “I could go days without talking to any of you and barely blink an eye. That’s exactly my point.Whyare we the Shadows if none of this means anything?”

I pursed my lips and crossed my ankle at my knee. “You think Leona will fix us. Connect us.”

It’s what I had hoped for from the beginning. Maybe she could add the piece we have been missing.

Wynn shook his head. “No, that’s not fair. She’s not some magic solution, and we don’t need to burden her with our passive dysfunction. But I am saying that I have not cared about anything for a long time. She makes me care. We haven’t been solid as a group in a long time. Maybe with her, with Caspian, we can find the purpose that brings us all happiness.”

“This could be our next step,” Ciel added. “A reason for us to care that’s not simply about ourselves. Wynn’s right; she makes me want to be better.”

We all sat silent for a moment.

“It appears as though I haven’t been as good as a leader as you’ve all deserved,” I mused. Ryuji moved to disagree, but I waved him off. “Everything you all have said is true. I have been making moves behind the scenes to acquire power and favors through the contracts we take, but I did not realize how great of an invisible divide I have created between us. Leona is perceptive enough to see that after only days here.”

“Don’t act like you haven’t been changing either, Ryu,” Ciel said carefully. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. I’ve watched as you’ve opened up.”

Ryuji scoffed as he squeezed his hands together.

Leona had done it. She’d done exactly what I wanted since I shot that SUV and saved her life. She’d been the catalyst that created this change.

Through the change, we could do great things. We could see the future much more clearly.

With her proposal and the opportunities it offered, we could transform ourselves even more. Each of us would get what we wanted. And I would get closer to the power I needed to achieve safety for us.

If we were in control of New York, the opportunities would be limitless.

This was my chance for future.

“What do we think?” I asked. “Do we agree to her terms?”

“I don’t want fifty percent,” Ryuji said suddenly.

I frowned. I thought that was more than fair. “You want more?”

He shook his head. “If we’re going to do this, I think it should be truly equal. Like fully, equally split between all six of us.”

“A complete merger.” My mouth quirked. Ryuji had changed. “I agree.”

“So we’re in?” Wynn asked, the hope in his voice apparent. “Let’s vote.”

“I think it’s clear how Wynn feels,” I chuckled. “Ryuji?”

He nodded, then leaned back against the couch and looked out the window. “Yeah, but don’t tell her splitting it was my idea.”

Wynn snorted, and I nodded, barely struggling to hide the smile from my face. One day, Ryuji may learn to be honest about his emotions.

“Ciel?”

“I’m in.”

All three of them looked at me.

This was a gamble on the future of us, but it was one that I had been moving toward for weeks.