Shade

"Mr. Brian, thank you so much. Without you we wouldn't have been able to prove that Drake was guilty. Your evidence was strong, I can't believe you were able to find Mr. Tor as a witness. He was scared out of his mind after receiving those threats" Mr. Alam tells me outside our office.

"It was difficult but not impossible, convincing him was the hard part that his family would be safe and under witness protection, thankfully in the end it all worked out" I tell him, giving him a smile. We say our goodbyes and I walk towards the parking outside to get my car.

My phone rings and I pick it up after seeing that it was Hred. His calls were more frequent because of Nicholas knowing about my existence.

"Ash, we were able to track Nicholas's location but he is not there anymore. And his location was 20 kms away from your neighborhood, I don't think he knows your exact location yet but he is searching. He's close, stay alert" Hred's voice comes through the phone, his voice hard and sharp.

"I am carrying my gun, got it all delivered to me through Bane, don't worry. What I am worried about is Danre, what if he finds her?" I ask him as I start my car.

"I have a plan but..." he hesitates.

"What? What is it?" I ask him.

"Let me take up Bane on the phone as well, I have already discussed it with him and he seems to agree with it. We will be able to explain it better this way" he tells me and he connects Bane on the phone.

I switch to my wireless earplugs to stay on call while driving.

"So we doing something big that we all three have to be on call together? It's been a while" Bane says as soon he picks up.

"Old days huh? Missing them Bane?" Hred asks him, a little amused.

"Not really but it does feel good to talk like this" he says and we all become silent for a minute.

Bane, Hred and I were the trio that scared the shit out of people. We weren't the trio that stayed together or something but in the underworld, everyone knew that us three had each other's back in whatever shit hit us. We three weren't together through any family connections or anything but we had experience that each one of us understood. There was this respect that didn't seem to need time to develop. We called for help if it was very needed. We weren't close in a casual friendly way but still we were casual enough to talk about the surfaces of things that were deep.

"Okay, the plan?" I ask them, breaking the silence.

"As you know, we were able to get you in the legitimate side of business. Why don't we use that just this once and finish it all" Hred tells me.

"Yeah, you know we have more than this power to ask the law to get Danre under protection. You can make up some story to her about you not being safe because of your case. You can say that the culprit knows you as you were witness to a killing or something and just to be safe, you are putting your family meaning Danre under protection and yourself are going under witness protection" Bane says and honestly, it does make sense. Knowing that the law was as much into illegal side of business as much as the legal side and us being some of the most powerful men underworld gave us this power to demand or negotiate with the government without even letting them know the complete story or the reason behind it.

"That came out better than I imagined it would" I tell them because I really did imagine something more violent.

"I mean there are other two options" Hred says and Bane clears his throat.

"What?" I ask them, confused.

"We thought that if this didn't really go for you, the other two options were first being you coming clear to your wife. And second.....kidnapping her and keeping her safe till we solved this" Bane tells me and I feel a bunch of emotions all at once.

Anger, amusement, fear and love.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" I literally shout it at them.

"Well these were the only three options we knew were possible. Thankfully the first one is all we need but the problem from the starting was you not telling her the truth" Hred tells me, sound of something pouring which I'm sure was alcohol coming as his background noise.

"You know why" I tell them both, serious.

"It's been years Ash, you went there for something else but fell in love. We are getting older man, your choice was your choice and we helped you cover it up in all the ways possible but aren't you getting tired of hiding something this big from her? She'll stay after being angry for some days I am sure" Hred says as I park the car outside Danre's and my apartment building in the parking lot.

"She will leave, she'll leave, I can't have that happening" I tell him, desperate.

"Jesus, you've become so cliche Ash" Bane says and I laugh.

"But on a serious note, it's your decision. We are here to help" Hred says and I just sit inside the car, not wanting to take this conversation home.

"Okay then, let's execute this plan and make it happen as soon as it is possible" I tell them both and they agree saying that they had it in control.

A knock on my car window startles me and I look at the side to see Danre giving me a curious look.

"Gotta go" I tell them both, disconnecting the call, putting my earplugs back in its case and getting out of the car.

"What were you doing here in the car, I saw it from the balcony and it has been here for more than ten minutes but you weren't coming out. All good?" Re asks as she takes my bag from my hand.

"Yeah, an important client on the phone so took some time and I can hold my bag myself Re" I tell her as a smile automatically comes on my face.

"Oh okay and it's okay, I finished early today so came home like an hour ago. Food is also here, I ordered for us" she says as we take the lift together.

Living on the 10th floor was quite a view, the place was beautiful and felt cozy.

After getting inside our home, I turn to go inside our room to change my clothes and take a shower.

Getting in the shower, an idea strikes me and I call out for Danre.

"Sweetheart?" I kind of shout to make my voice reach her.

"Yeah?" She shouts back and I hear her footsteps coming outside the bathroom.

"Can you come in for a minute, I think I hurt my leg" I tell her.

"What? How? What, are you playing there?" She says with concern in her voice as she comes inside the bathroom and towards the shower.

As soon as she is near I pull her in and hear her scream.

"Shade!" She says as I corner her towards the wall. Getting both of us wet, me without clothes and her in her clothes.

"Sorry, didn't get hurt but I wanted to get you in" I tease.

"Y-you.." her stammering was the cutest thing ever, not knowing what to say, getting her speechless felt amazing.

"You what?" I whisper, getting closer.

"My clothes are all wet now" she says and I chuckle.

"So let's take them off" I tell her getting my lips closer to hers.

She closes her eyes and I touch my lips to hers.

Her lips were soft, so soft and plump. Our kiss obviously starting as something innocent becomes harder and deeper.

And we take a shower together.

_______________________________________

As we eat our food after shower, we talk about each other's day.

"So you got a new secretary? What's her name?" I ask her as I take a bite of my roll.

"It's actually a him and his name is Marcus. He is determined, came today when he was given a notice of coming tomorrow for work. Said that he wanted to become familiar with his workspace" Danre tells me and I pause mid-chew.

I look up after swallowing to see Danre continuing eating like she just didn't tell me something new or different.

Feeling me staring at her, she looks up too and whatever expression that I had on my face makes her smile in a teasing way.

"What?" She asks.

"Are you sure about this? How do you know to trust him?" I ask her, half serious and half...jealous?

"Andrea took the interview for the position before leaving and decided upon him. I trust her judgment but yeah, I will definitely be cautious for some days" she tells me and I relax a little.

I finish my food and see Danre playing with her food, suddenly lost in her thoughts. Her face serious.

"Hey" I say as I put my hand on hers on the table.

"Huh?" She says as she feels my touch and looks up.

"Everything okay?" I ask her, feeling something off like she wanted to say something but was also avoiding it.

"Yeah, I'm almost done. Let's go to sleep after, okay?" She smiles at me and I smile back.

"Okay" I tell her, still a bit doubtful about her weird behavior.

As we go to sleep I hear her whisper the letter 'N'.