Chapter 333
By the time Sienna arrived in Meridia, it was already late afternoon. She wasted no time and reached out to Mr. Cat.
Shadow: [It’s Shadow, heard you wanted to meet. Nonyinn House, 8 PM.]
[Okay,] came the reply.
“Miss Enna, are you really going alone? It’s too dangerous. Why don’t we go with you?” Lana said, worry clear in her voice.
Reno said, “Miss Enna, I looked into Mr. Cat. He’s backed by the Lynch family. This whole thing could be one of their schemes.”
When Reno mentioned the Lynch family, her eyes burned with hatred. Reno was the Lynch family’s illegitimate daughter. Her mother had been a maid from Solara working for them, and the head, Saxon Lynch, had raped her. That was how Reno came into the world.
Reno grew up with her mother in Meridia, enduring endless hardships. Thanks to her abilities, she finally helped her mother escape a life of washing dishes for others, and she was just about to take her mother back to Solara. They were going to finally see the countryside, the villages, the fields, the mountains, and the rivers her mother always talked about. But the night before they were set to leave, the Lynch family found out about her, set their house on fire, and her mother died in the flames, sacrificing herself to save Reno.
If Sienna hadn’t saved her, Reno would’ve died in that fire for sure. After that, she traveled far and wide with Sienna and saw firsthand just how ruthless and cold Sienna could be. Evelyn Lynch, the one who caused their deaths, thought she could finally rest easy after getting rid of Reno and her mother. But then Eleanor showed up and completely shook her position, and in the end, Saxon heartlessly cast Evelyn aside, too. Of course, Reno had been pulling strings behind the scenes the whole time. Other than Evelyn, no one in the Lynch family even knew Reno existed.
“The Lynch family! Eleanor?” Sienna arched her brow, a hint of amusement flickering in her eyes. Now this is interesting, she thought. ‘So she finally decided to show herself in this way!’
“She really had the guts to go after a man in his seventies?” Lana said, her voice full of shock.
Sienna idly played with the flowers in her hand. “She needed the Lynch family’s power. Didn’t she just wait for Saxon to die? Now the Noir family is all hers.”
Mr. Cat had set the ground rules for a secret deal, no faces shown, no real names. As that number one hacker, Shadow thrived on mystery: there was no way he’d turn down those terms.
Felix Stone showed up early at Nonyinn House, picking a spot in the corner to wait. This was a coded exchange, and he was risking everything by playing both sides. If Eleanor ever caught wind of it, he’d be a dead man. But he didn’t have a choice. Shadow was the only one who could get him in touch with Nicholas, and he needed Nicholas to save his family.
A figure walked into the restaurant with a mask on, quickly scanning her surroundings before striding straight over to a young man in his twenties and taking the seat right across from him, not hesitating for a second. Felix felt that from the moment he walked in, every detail about him—his identity, his secrets—was already laid bare before Sienna, as if he were completely transparent.
“Sorry, someone’s already sitting here,” Felix said.
“Stone, the fifth on the hacker rankings, also Mr. Cat? I’m Shadow.”
Felix’s eyes flew wide in disbelief, terror flashing across his face as he stared.
Fear gripping him, Felix instinctively tried to get up and leave, stammering, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know you.”
Sienna just lowered her gaze, completely unfazed, idly studying the menu with its golden lettering as if she hadn’t even noticed his panic.
“Felix, I don’t have time to play around. If you want my help, sit down and behave yourself,” she said coolly, her tone leaving no room for argument.
It finally clicked for Felix–she knew everything from the start.
Felix could only sit back down, looking like a man marching to his doom. “I’m Mr. Cat, I’m Shadow, I took your stuff. I want to make a deal with you.”