SUN #2
"Anzo’s always suspected him. He could never find any solid evidence, because Mauro’s good at what he does, but I think Anzo believes he’s been feeding info to the feds."
"But does he have any proof?"
"I don’t think so. It’s just instinct. Process of elimination. He picked Mauro because he knows my brother has hated him since childhood. Last time I spoke to Mauro, or, well, he wrote to me, he said the noose around his neck was tightening too. That Anzo was watching him more and more closely."
I shake my head in disbelief.
"Your family is seriously fucked up… no one can trust anyone."
Eliano responds just as bitterly.
"We’re not a family. We haven’t been since the day that fucker walked into our house and murdered our parents!
Mauro saw it happen. For years, Anzo tried to brainwash us, kept saying it wasn’t him.
That the Russians did it. That’s his official version.
But I think only Rocco still believes it.
Mauro remembers what he saw, and no matter how hard Anzo tried to break him, drugged him with psychotropics, he couldn’t erase his memory.
I was only a year and a half old when it happened, but I believe Mauro. "
"It’s not even about believing him anymore," I mutter bitterly. "When he was here last time, Anzo bragged about it himself. He did kill your parents! To be precise, your dad, and he watched his True Mate die in front of him when their energy coil tore apart."
Eliano lowers his head and rubs his forehead. "Just fucking great. That’s probably the first time he’s ever admitted it out loud. Until now, he’s always denied it, brainwashing Rocco and Luca hard."
"Did Luca buy it?"
"Luca never said what he really thought, he keeps his opinion pretty well hidden, but I have a feeling he’s with Mauro on this one. Luca and Mauro are close."
Silence falls. The only sound is some strange, faint pounding from upstairs, coming from the first floor.
"We need to get the hell out of here," Ragnar’s voice cuts through the quiet.
I look at him. His brow is furrowed, his fists clenched.
"If you want, we’ll take you with us. Because I doubt Anzo’s gonna let you live. When he’s angry, he obviously loses control big time."
"There’s just one small issue," Eliano says dryly. "We’re still locked in these fucking cages."
"All we need is for Summer to wake up. He’s the only one who can break those locks," Ragnar replies.
Eliano shrugs, glancing at the little omega.
"Anzo knows that perfectly well. That’s why he’s keeping him doped up on heavy psychotropics."
"So what now?" I snap, frustrated. "We just wait here and hope he has a change of heart?"
"Change of heart?" Eliano raises an eyebrow and snorts. "Anzo doesn’t leave loose ends. He’ll clean house, nice and neat, before he pulls the plug on the whole operation."
"Is he running away?"
"I bet. I think he knows it’s over. Within the next few weeks, maybe days, the FBI’s finally going to raid this place.
I don’t know how fast they move or what the protocol is.
But they will come. Those captured mercs are going to sing like canaries.
And even soldiers may break… some of them have been working with Anzo for a few years only. "
"What about Ennio?"
"I watched Ennio from the window, loading hard drives and boxes of files into his car, then leaving The Sun. He’s already gone. The bastard’s covering his tracks."
A nervous buzz runs through my body. This doesn’t look good. Ragnar’s right, only Summer can help us now.
"Summer, Summer! Can you hear me? Wake up, please, you have to open the cages, we need to get the hell out of here!" I yell, my voice raspy.
But Summer doesn’t move. The IV is still plugged into his arm, and I doubt he’s strong enough to fight off the psychotropics. If they didn’t work, Anzo wouldn’t be using them. Maybe he slipped up with this assassination attempt, but normally, he’s way too cautious.
"What can we do, Ragnar?" I ask, and my voice comes out shaky and emotional, more worried than I’d like to admit. My nerves are rattling through every bruised part of my body.
"Can you shift into your imago ? I know Storm could partially shift without needing a big adrenaline rush, he could extend his spikes—"
"I can too. But what good are spikes? I’m pinned down with metal clamps, Sun. A bunch of them. I don’t know if I could rip them out of the wall without the strength that comes with a full shift."
Eliano glances over at Ragnar.
"You’re a purple alpha? Doesn’t look like it."
Ragnar shrugs, totally unbothered.
"Technically, yeah. I am. But the lines on my body are pale silver and so thin most people don’t even notice them."
Eliano tilts his head. "Anzo said you’re Moon’s twin. One twin is a purple alpha, the other a rose omega. Kinda fits."
"That’s correct."
"I figured you came here to get Summer out and find Moon, right?" Eliano asks, watching him closely.
Ragnar half-closes his eyes.
"At this point, I don’t think that’s much of a secret anymore. Unfortunately, I still haven’t found out what happened to Moon."
Eliano rubs his forehead and winces when his fingers graze a bruise.
"I tried to find out too, I liked him, he was a good guy. One day he was just… gone. Anzo lost it. Tore the place apart looking for him. Checked every single camera recording, interrogated everyone, tortured some of them. He even beat Rocco to a pulp, accusing him of kidnapping. I’ve never seen him that pissed.
He was obsessed with Moon. I wouldn’t call it love, but he treated him like some broken little bird with broken wings, something that belonged to him and no one else. "
"He really vanished with no trace?"
"Pretty much. There was this huge storm one night. Power went out across the whole compound. It was out for two, maybe three hours. When it came back, Moon was gone."
"Someone must’ve taken him or helped him escape. No way Moon made it past the guards and fencing on his own. That place is locked down tight, and there’s security on the outer wall too. Someone inside had to have helped him. I’ve looked into it. I have building blueprints," mutters Ragnar.
Suddenly, Mauro, who’s been slowly recovering during all this, raises a hand to get our attention.
Then he makes a slow, deliberate gesture, his fingers dropping lower and lower until they touch the ground, then rising up again.
"Mauro, are you talking about a tunnel?" Eliano asks.
Mauro nods. Then he starts signing something, and apparently Eliano can understand him.
"There’s a tunnel under the fortress? Where does it come out?"
"I think I might know," Ragnar says unexpectedly. "I’m not completely sure, but I’ve got a theory. Does Anzo know about it?"
Mauro signs again, nodding and tapping his temple gently.
Eliano shrugs. "Well, yeah. Figures. The fortress was built by our great-grandfather, Alessandro. Anzo probably found out about it one way or another."
"The real question," I murmur, "is who else knew about the tunnel?"
Mauro lifts five fingers.
Then he curls one down and points to Eliano with his other hand.
"Five fingers… and that bent one is you, Eliano," I mutter. "So the people who knew beyond Anzo were, I guess… Mauro, Ennio, Luca, and Rocco?"
Eliano stays silent.
"So there’s a traitor in your family. Someone helped Moon escape, right under Anzo’s nose."
Silence continues. No one comments. We all sink into our own thoughts, and probably even deeper into this creeping sense of hopelessness. For now, Anzo’s holding all the cards.
The ball’s in his court.