ELIANO #2
That is when Evan speaks up.
"It was never about you, Eliano. We don’t have anything against you.
Everything that happened just overwhelmed us.
It made us doubt the program itself. We considered withdrawing and contacting Second Chance to live off the island, in my house.
But if Drax and Sidorov are truly gone for good, we’re starting to regain some of the hope we lost."
"Well, I wish you both the best, in case we never see each other again."
"Wait, do you think you might not come back?" Roman interjects. "Is what happened between you and Salt really that serious?"
I still don’t want to talk about the True Mate situation or the fact that I might be forced to go back whether we both want it or not, so I give them a different answer.
"That may depend on what I manage to accomplish. If I want to be with him with a clear conscience, I need to take certain steps on the mainland. There’s nothing more I can do here."
"I’m really sorry to hear that. Still, I hope everything works out. I’m sure Salt will miss you."
I don’t answer. I swallow hard and look away. I am not sure he will, at least not right away, but I have no control over that. All I can do is focus on action and not let myself drown in it.
"Take care," I say shortly, turn around, and walk away.
There is one last visit left to make.
I enter the recreational building and head down the corridor toward Harvey Bram’s office once again.
At the sight of me, he lets out a loud huff, twists his face, and says, "What kind of problem does the ‘human problem’ have now, twice in one day?"
"I’m solving this problem now. I’m leaving the island."
Bram gapes, his mouth falling open.
"I don’t understand. Then why did you even come back here with Salt?"
"Things got complicated, and I need to deal with them. I’ll try to return within a month. According to the contract, I’m allowed that. Salt will have to wait for me."
"Well, I won’t pry into your reasons, but don’t expect me to arrange a ferry for you. It went to pick up the new warden. It won’t be back for a while."
"I’m not expecting that. I’ve arranged my own transport. I just came to notify you officially."
"One second."
Bram checks something on his computer, then prints out a document.
"You’d better sign this if you don’t want us to treat it like you vanished without a word."
I examine the paper carefully, making sure there’s nothing hidden in it, but it is indeed a formal request for a thirty-day leave from the island.
"Thanks," I mutter as I sign.
The rest of the betas see me off with rather cold looks.
I leave the building and head toward the dock.
As I stand there, the pain tries to force its way back into my mind, but I make a gargantuan effort to stop thinking about what happened between Salt and me.
I cut off the emotions, the sense of loss, the pain.
I shut down my mind, filled with grief, bitterness, and hurt.
There is no point in trying to convince someone who doesn’t want to be convinced.
I do, however, have a responsibility toward Salt, and I intend to fulfill it as best I can. I want to give him back what I took from him, the chance I deprived him of.
It’s a matter of honor for me.
I promised him before he escaped that I would find a solution, and I still intend to keep that promise.
The motorboat arrives an hour and a half later.
While I’m still on the beach, I call Storm to inform him that I need to leave the island for a month. I feel it’s necessary to notify him, since the marriage contract signed through Fate’s Choice is still legally binding unless Salt formally terminates it.
Storm is clearly surprised when I tell him I need thirty days off. He tries to probe whether there are issues between Salt and me, but I shut the conversation down.
Eventually, he unexpectedly offers to let me stay at their house if I need to.
After a moment of consideration, I realize it is not a bad idea. I cannot stay in the Ferro skyscraper where Ennio lives on the top floor, since there are cameras everywhere and Rocco could track me down, or one of the soldati might recognize me.
So I agree, and he promises to pick me up by car.
I can guess what’s behind the offer. He probably wants to get information out of me, but I fully intend to resist.
◆◆◆
A few hours later I’m riding in Storm’s car, and of course the intrusive questions start, but I quickly change the subject and ask him to drop me off at the bank.
I just need to check my bank account. It costs me a lot of nerves, because I know that in the past Anzo and Rocco tracked people down through bank transfers, IP addresses, and even ATM activity, thanks to their connections inside the bank. To my great displeasure, I find the account is… blocked.
Just like my brothers’, I was only an authorized user, not the actual owner, which means I can’t withdraw any money.
Yes, Beta Activation does pay us a stipend, but I have no idea how to access the account I share with Salt or what the login details are. Which means I’m completely broke.
I leave the bank in a hurry, slipping through side streets and ducking into shops until I finally head for Storm’s small house.
From the moment he sees me, he immediately resumes interrogating me. If I thought he’d forgotten, I was very wrong. Storm puts me through an intense barrage of questions, wanting to know the details of my ‘island adventure’, as he calls it, and my relationship status.
Eventually, with Damien joining in and pressing just as hard, I give in and tell them that my relationship with Salt is far from simple. I can see the near shock on Storm’s face. He probably didn’t think there could be any problems in the case of True Mates.
He most likely expected gratitude for putting together such a perfect match, and instead he’s stuck with vague answers and a complicated mess. Well.
After he hears about my blocked bank account, he surprises me by handing me some cash to get by, and even lets me use his old car, the same one I used before.
I guess he feels at least partly responsible for how my life turned out, considering he’s the one who pulled me off the streets, dragged me to that contract fair, and talked me into both programs. I take what he offers, promising myself quietly that one day I’ll pay back every cent.
My first night at Storm’s place is a special kind of nightmare.
The thing is… I’m forced to listen to the constant serenade of their moans as they happily have their enthusiastic TM sex.
On top of that, my mind is in turmoil. The pain of Mate Rejection Syndrome breaks through my mental defenses and tries to literally kill me, stealing my breath.
A good two hours pass with me chanting the same words over and over:
You can do this. Push through this.
Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.
Eventually, sleep takes me.
The next morning, I am woken by a call from Ennio, who goes straight to the point.
"I spoke to my contact in the police. He gave me Daniel Tanner’s address. He still lives in the same house, and I also got a list of all the properties Tanner owns, just like you asked."
"Thank you! I’ll get on it right away."
"Write everything down. I’m not sending this by text. These are not things that should be digitized."
I move quickly around Storm’s kitchen and manage to find sticky notes and a pencil, probably meant for grocery lists.
Ennio dictates the addresses, then asks, "When are you planning to make your move?"
"As soon as I get a good sense of Tanner’s daily routine, his habits, where he goes. Then I’ll call you. You’ll help me with that, right?"
"I will. I hate rapists," he adds dryly.
Hearing that is a relief to me. I am well aware that Ennio is the kind of mafia man I will never be. Yes, he’s far more moral and has a much stronger sense of justice than Rocco, and even Luca, but he has no problem putting a bullet in the head of someone he considers evil.
I’ve always believed in handling things the legal way.
I grew up seeing what happens when justice is taken into private hands, and it was ugly.
Anzo and Rocco executed soldati for disobedience or stupid mistakes without a second thought, and sometimes those men turned out to be innocent.
Rocco would just shrug it off. The image of someone dying, begging for their last breath, is burned into me.
I’d rather let the authorities deal with criminals and make sure the punishment fits the crime.
As soon as Ennio hangs up, I get dressed.
I leave Storm’s house, lock it with the spare key he gave me, and get into his old car to drive to Tanner’s place.
On the way, though, I stop at a store that sells Halloween supplies, wigs, costumes, all kinds of disguises. I buy a blond wig and a black jacket. Dressed like that, I head to the street where Tanner’s house stands.
If I thought surveillance would be easy or even remotely pleasant, I was very wrong.
The start is not bad. I find a good vantage point. The neighboring property is abandoned, so I break in and set myself up by one of the windows, watching Tanner’s front door.
But not much happens. Tanner shows up a few times throughout the day. I know exactly what he looks like. I studied his photos online from the time of Salt’s trial.
He comes home, then leaves again. Nothing remarkable.
Three days pass. Then five. Eventually, a full week, and I still cannot find any pattern in his behavior. His routine is unpredictable. Sometimes he leaves after an hour, sometimes after two. Sometimes he is gone all day, other times only fifteen minutes.
I realize that if I do not make a move, I will stay stuck in this dead end.
Over the next few days, I check two apartments that used to belong to Daniel Tanner’s brothers. They were all killed by Salt, and the apartments are now in the possession of the eldest brother. Both are rented out, with tenants living in them.
The second week passes, and I still have nothing.