Alfy raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Is this what growing up looks like? You can’t even remember things properly?”

Jaxen turned to her, his voice full of indignation.

“Who are you calling old? I’m as sharp as I’ve ever been!”

But for a moment, he hesitated, looking over at Alfy. Did she really think that he was too old for her?

Alfy rested her chin on Katelyn’s shoulder, pouting as she muttered just loud enough for Jaxen to hear, “It’s not just about getting old; it’s about pretending you’re not.”

Jaxen looked quite rattled. He pointed a sharp finger at Alfy.

“What did you just say?”

Her words clearly struck a nerve.

The thought gnawed at him. He’d probably need to see a cosmetic surgeon soon. He had to look younger.

Katelyn tilted her head, suddenly aware of something she hadn’t noticed before—how tense and uncomfortable Jaxen always seemed when Alfy was around.

Clearing her throat, she broke the heavy silence.

“So, did you recall anything about them?”

Jaxen took a deep breath to calm himself.

Leaning against the car, arms crossed, he spoke in a quiet, serious voice.

“They call themselves Shadow. Small group, but they’re involved in some really dirty stuff. Selling personal data is their main hustle, but when that’s not enough, they’ll use violence to get what they want.”

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“They kept a low profile, just under the radar, careful not to make any real waves. That was why no one bothered with them. Most people wouldn’t give a group like this a second glance.”

Jaxen’s eyes shifted back to the phone screen, where a middle-aged man was talking to someone.

The footage, taken from the city’s surveillance cameras, only showed images—no sound.

Alfy’s fingers flew over her keyboard as she worked to dig up the man’s identity.

A few minutes later, she leaned back, her voice low.

“Master, I found him.”

Katelyn moved in closer, her focus locked on Alfy’s screen.

The man wasn’t anyone of importance—just a truck driver buried in over a hundred thousand dollars of debt, his life falling apart as he struggled to pay it off.

That pressure had led him to strike a deal with the person in the video.

But it was the other man that caught their attention. He was connected to Shadow, though only a small-time player on the edges of their operations.

Still, it was enough to confirm that Shadow had a hand in it. For Katelyn, though, this was new territory—she had never crossed paths with the group before.

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