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She still had no idea what she was going to do about that whole mess. She’d been trying not to think about it too much, if only because it felt like there was nothing that she really could do.

The Andalero group wanted her dead, and they tended to get what they wanted, especially in Steccat. They were a pretty mysterious bunch, and truth be told, Madison hadn’t previously known all that much about them, really--aside from the rumors, that was. The rumors about them being a cult. About them controlling half of all the money in the world from the shadows. About them being malevolent puppeteers in matters on an international level. And about them disemboweling farm animals and wearing their still-bloody skins as meat suits during all manner of depraved rituals.

She didn’t think that last one was true--mainly because of how stupid it sounded--but unfortunately, she had already gotten tentative confirmation on those other ones. Maybe they didn’t actually control half the money in the world, but they definitely had a terrifying degree of influence. A hotel receptionist, a burger shop employee, a bus driver, even a damn kid with a lemonade stand--they’d all tried to pull a gun on her and blow her brains out without any warning whatsoever. And those were just all the ones she could remember. She genuinely wasn’t sure how many assassination attempts Roman had foiled while getting her out of Steccat.

She was alright now, but that had definitely been the most terrifying experience of her life. Knowing that literally any random stranger might just walk up and try to kill her at any moment? That hadn’t been fun.

And all because she overheard a conversation she wasn’t supposed to. She didn’t even know what the hell was so scandalous about it. It had just been her ex-boyfriend Darius talking to some old guy about something called “black song.” Apparently, it was some kind of super secret meeting or something going down in a place called Ridgemark. She didn’t even know where that was or what the meeting was about.

Yet that was enough for them to want her dead. And Roman, too, of course, though they had no idea who he was. After all that craziness, Madison hadn’t needed to ask why Roman had originally disguised himself as her new assistant.

She’d been furious with him, at first. Dragging her into all this. But after a while, she realized it wasn’t actually his fault that she’d overheard what she did. He’d actually tried to ditch her a couple times before that, which she now realized had been for her own safety. And of course, he had saved her life about a dozen times since then, too. That had earned him more than a few points with her as well.

It felt so strange, thinking about all of that stuff now. It had only been a few weeks ago, but her life had changed so much since then, and she still felt like she was caught up in a whirlwind, like her feet hadn’t quite touched the ground again just yet.