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Chapter 30
Zephyr
Hectorhadtohave gone off the deep end.
There was nothing that explained what she was seeing, nothing that made sense of the man she’d become friends with to the monster in front of her.
Zen sat still in the chair in front of her, her eyes sharp on Hector as he walked around them, the only thing giving away her anxiety being her loud breathing.
Zephyr tried to keep hers calm, knowing it would only make her sister more anxious if she panicked.
“What the hell are you doing, Hector?” Zephyr asked, as calmly as she could. They needed to get out, get help. She didn’t know where Victor was, or if he too was involved in whatever had happened, or if help was on the way. God, could she trust anyone of her people?
“This isn’t personal, Zephyr,” Hector gave her a small smile, the same he’d always given her, his bald head gleaming menacingly under the harsh overhead light. “It’s just a deal.”
“What deal?” she demanded. What the hell was going on?
Hector circled them again, coming to stand beside Zen. He took his knife out, running the blade over his thumb. “No one escapes The Syndicate. But you did, didn’t you, 5507?”
5507? What the hell?
She saw Zen’s breath catch, her eyes flying to Hector with true fear. It reminded her of when she'd had panic attacks as a kid.
“Zen,” she called to her sister. “Breathe, Zenny. I’m right here.” She wished she could get out of her bonds and go to her, take her hand and tell her it’d all be okay.
Hector continued circling them. “Your luck must have been golden. You ran away, straight to the cops, and got adopted by a normal family. You got a new name. All traces of 5507 erased from existence. Did you know what your real name was?"
Zen swallowed visibly.
"Morana Vitalio.”
Morana?
Wait, Morana had been one of the missing girls. Did that mean her sister had been one of them and they'd been exchanged?
What the hell?
Zephyr watched the scene in shock, pieces falling together.
She’d never given much thought to her sister’s past, or ever wondered where she came from. As a child, she’d just believed her sister was found by her parents, and that had been it. Even growing up, knowing her past sometimes affected Zen, she’d always thought she’d been orphaned by an accident. This was much, much gruesome than anything she could’ve imagined. And she knew listening to all of it must’ve been so much harder on Zen.
“How do you know this?” Zen whispered, her voice shaking, her dark eyes wide and terrified.
“Do you remember, Zenny?” Hector mocked. “You remember how you left behind your friend? Ever gave a second thought to what became of her life while you lay warm in your bed? Oh, she’s quite in demand now.”
Zephyr saw her sister trembling, and her protective instinct rose to the fore. She remembered when Zen had been a kid, scared like she was now, and Zephyr had always fought her demons.
“Get away from her,” she told Hector, drawing his attention back to herself. “I’m not a killer, Hector, but you better hope I don’t get out of these ties. I will murder you.”
Hector laughed, like it was the most hilarious thing he’d heard. “Zephyr, you were always fiery. As I said, it’s nothing personal.”
He turned back to Zen. “So, where were we? Yes. You escaped, and it was all good. The Syndicate didn’t care about one little girl running away.”
“Then why now?” Zen asked, despite the visible tremor in her body.
“Because you got on the radar, sweetheart,” Hector touched her sister’s cheek, and she flinched. “You should’ve laid low, but with your bleeding heart at SLF, seeing how pretty you’d become, they wanted you back. One of them, in particular, wants you bad before he puts you to work.”
Oh hell, no.
