CHAPTER 90: HIS BIRTHDAY

Alessio smirked at him. "What do you think?" he grinned. "Don’t underestimate me, brother. Of course I did. Actually, they almost hacked me back too. Whoever was behind their security, they’re good."

"I have the entire floor plan of that mansion, so I’ll tell you where to go and where to avoid. I’ll try to find which room Evelyn is locked in and once I do, I’ll let you in."

"Does he have men in there?" Dario asked.

Alessio nodded. "A lot actually. But don’t worry. I’ll see to it that you avoid the room where they have the most men in. After all, I have access to the CCTV cameras right now."

"Dammit, you’re like some kind of genius."

He raised an offended brow. "I am a genius. Not kind of."

Dario chuckled, rubbing his hair. "Will you be okay out here?"

Alesso frowned at him. "Why?"

"I’m just a bit worried someone might find you out here. If anything goes wrong, tell us immediately, do you understand?"

"Dario, I’ll be fine."

The older man seemed worried regardless. He patted his head and walked up to Zayne who glanced at him.

"Shall we?" he asked.

Zayne gave a nod. "You better not get yourself killed. I still have a score to settle with you?"

"Fuck off." Dario shoved him and began to head in first.

They arrived at the entrance door.

"Are you sure we should be going in through the entrance?" Zayne asked.

[Yes. The first floor is clear. No one is there. But the security should know by now that you two are around there. The point isn’t to go in there without being seen, but to make it in there and take out as small men as you can before you find Evelyn]

Dario nodded. "Alright."

"You open the door," Zayne said to him.

Dario glared. "Why should I open it?"

"Aren’t you the older one between the two of us?"

"And? Does that mean I should jump into the fire first?"

"Dammit, you’re unbelievable." Zayne lifted his gloved hand. "What’s the password, Alessio?"

[032595]

"What is it by the way?" Dario asked as Zayne typed in the password.

[His birthday. Pretty typical. He could have done better with the password. Wasn’t even that hard to figure out]

The door rang open. It automatically opened, revealing the interior of the foyer. It was like a hall in a hotel with a spiraling chandelier.

"Well, it’s a mansion worth its money if you ask me," Dario mumbled.

[Dario, take the left door. Zayne, take the right door. Each of the doors has two men posted. I have yet to see Evelyn]

"Okay," both responded in unison.

Zayne walked over to the right door to leave. Dario however moved after him, stopping him before he could.

He looked at him. "What are you doing?"

Dario swallowed, letting go. "Nothing. Just...don’t get yourself killed. T-that’s all."

Zayne furrowed his brows at him. But nodded. "Right. Same goes to you."

He opened the door, stepping in while Dario went for the left one. The room was completely empty.

He couldn’t see anyone as it was dark, but he could hear breathing, so it wasn’t entirely empty. There were people hiding inside the bath—

A bullet was fired.

Luckily for him, he dodged it right before it could hit him, listening as it lodged into the wall.

They’d turned off the lights in the hope it’d make it easier to kill him. But being a non—human, he had no problem seeing properly at night. And he’d found his first target.

Swathed in a black suit, a pair of night goggles, and an aimed gun in his hand.

Zayne stormed his way over to the bathroom where the shot had been. He grabbed the man before he could fire another shot and slammed his head against the wall as hard as he could, rendering him unconscious.

Dead or alive, he didn’t care. All he wanted to do was find Evelyn.

He was in the face of the second man before he could shoot, grabbing and jamming his face into the mirror at the sink.

He looked around and turned toward the door.

[Every floor of this mansion is divided into two. You and Dario are not going to meet for a while, so take that door at the far end of the room and keep going]

Zayne nodded. "Are you sure Evelyn is in this building?"

[Zayne, I’ve already spoken to Lincoln and Brandon and no, Evelyn is not in Valerio’s house. They’ve turned the whole place upside down. Even Caesar helped. I’m one hundred percent sure Evelyn is in this place. You just have to find her]

"Okay." He swallowed. "Dario?"

There was no response.

"Hey, Dario!"

Still nothing.

"Alessio, Dario isn’t answering me. What’s going on?"

[What?]

"He isn’t answering me. What is going on?"

[That’s... I can still see him. But...he’s not moving. Dario? Dario, can you hear me?]

"Dario?" Zayne quickly turned to the door that he’d come in from, his heart dropping to his stomach. "Dario, can you—"

{Yes, yes, I can hear you guys} The voice belonged to Dario.

"What happened? Why did you go silent?"

{I was just dealing with a little problem. Nothing to worry about—} He began coughing roughly.

"Dario. What’s going on with you?"

{Nothing. I just wasn’t feeling too well. I’m not sure what’s wrong, but there’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine. Are you okay on the other side?}

"Yeah. I’m fine."

{Then, let’s keep going}

[Dario...?] This time, it was Alessio who spoke. [Are you really okay?]

{Alessio, I promise you I’m okay. Let’s keep going}

"Alright, let’s keep going."

Zayne pulled the door open. He stepped out of the room, but this time, what he saw was a spiral staircase, leading downstairs.

"What is this? I thought this was the first floor. Alessio?"

{Oh fuck. There’s an elevator here. But the weird thing is, it stops only on the second floor and only goes down. What is going on? Is there like a basement or something?}

[No. Not a basement] Dario finally spoke. [There’s an underground floor. But it’s not just one floor]

"What do you mean?"

[There are two lower ground floors]