Page 85 of Drop His Mask

“No!” Drago barked out, standing up in his rage. “I would never! I am not like them! I am a man of honor.”

“A man of honor? You’re a money hungry monster just like all the rest of them,” The Host spoke plainly. Ensuring his heart beat remained level and calm. He would not let this man force him back into the depths of unconsciousness.

“You know my brother. He made you a promise. And I am here to help fulfill it.”

“How could I possibly know him? You are from a different country,” The Host replied emotionlessly.

This time Drago was the one to let loose his own humorless laughter. “You think that there aren’t any outsiders in Violencia?” Drago tugged four files from his coat. “The bottom one is my younger brother. Take a look through it. But know this–when the time is right, I will be helping him to escape with or without you.”

Drago did not wait for a response before dropping the folders onto the table between them.

“I want this game to end more than anyone else. I am on your side, on Anadil’s.”

The Host didn’t believe him, nor did he look down.

“I’ll be in touch,” Drago promised as he marched out of The Host’s home.

The Host waited twenty-three minutes before he moved again. In that time, the gears in his brain adjusted to the onslaught of information.

Once it was all properly stored, he finally peered at the folders below.

The top name caught his attention. Oleks. A memory thrashed its way into his skull. Of a time many years ago when a man by that name had sent Julian to find Griffin.

No. It can’t be.

The Host shoved the other two folders aside, finding the bottom one.

This time he could not contain his rapidly beating heart.

Griffin.

The man that had been in his prison years ago. Drago’s younger brother. The missing Prince of Grypheem. The Griffin gang’s leader.

It did not take long for The Host’s pulse to kick too high. For the needle to prick his neck. For his world to spin and dissolve.

The Host did not feel hope, but there was something. A thin strand of a possibility that perhaps just maybe…

He might actually escape this gilded prison once and for all.

Chapter 45

Not All Knowledge Can Be Used

Maverick

Present Day

Maverick stood up as his brother was shoved into their “home.” He had only arrived a few minutes prior. He had decided not to find out who his Sponsor was. It could be a countless list of Government Officials that hated the Resistance, but no one particularly stuck out to him. And even if he did find out who it was, it wouldn’t change anything.

Not all knowledge can be used.

“You good?” Maverick asked as Enzo fell to his knees. He was still angry with Enzo. Still incredibly raw with the whiplash of emotions. But Enzo was his brother. His last remaining family.

“No,” Enzo stuttered. “How can I be okay? How can you be? Everything is so fucked and broken and the only piece of hope–the only light in this fucking game–has been taken from us! I just saw her, she was outside the door being pushed into the other room. She is so close but still eons away.”

Maverick stiffened. He hadn’t allowed himself to fully unpack the emotional turmoil caused by Raven’s sudden absence. He could admit their living arrangements felt much colder now. That he felt emptier. That 196 was a nuisance who needed to be dealt with. But he couldn't delve too far into it. Couldn’t allow himself to understand thewhybehind it.

Because that would mean admitting how far into his heart she had burrowed.

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