Page 124 of Inside the Sun

Tentatively, I shift my gaze over him, swallowing hard.

Objectively, he’s the most classically handsome of the four brothers.

Luca’s very masculine, but a little rough around the edges. Rocco has some kind of flaw—aside from the scar, there’s an asymmetry to him. Eliano is beautiful, but in a way that still looks too young, like there’s a question mark about how he’ll grow into his features.

Mauro, though, he’s striking. Symmetrical. Defined.

But… he’s just NOT Sun!

Unable to bear the silence… "What is it? A fuck?" I blurt out, nervously clenching my fists. Fate, please, not this.

My stressful moment is cut short when he rolls his eyes, then leans in and types:

"No! I don’t want anything from you."

Whoa! A relief. I was getting pretty uncomfortable about it already.

But still, I don’t get it.

He’s Anzo’s nephew by blood, Anzo practically raised him, taking the role of a stepfather, yet clearly… Mauro isn’t loyal.

If he were, he would be running away now, to deliver the news that the gardener is fucking the capo’s boyfriend!

I can’t wrap my head around it, I just can’t.

"You’re not going to do anything about what you just saw?"

Mauro slowly shakes his head…

"What’s going on here?" I whisper. "You’re weird as fuck as a family!"

But he only shrugs, turns around, and walks away. Unhurriedly. Just like that.

What the hell?

The moment I think I'm beginning to understand what's going on in The Sun, the next moment I'm lost again.

So I just stare after him, stunned, trying to process what the hell just happened.

Luca made it clear before: in the mafia, you don’t hit on someone’s partner. That’s a hard rule. Off limits. And Anzo is notjusta member, he's the capo.

They both used that argument to justify killing three of their ownsoldati! So how can heignoreit when it comes to me?

What the hell is going on here? Secrets? Games?

Dazed, I head for the passageway.

The only thing I know for sure is that, right now, Sun and I are entirely at Mauro’s mercy. For reasons I can’t begin to understand.

He ignored us.

Which leaves just one question:

What’s his endgame? Because, I sure as hell know hehasone.

***

That late afternoon, while trying to loosen up in the bathtub, I get the long-awaited call from Veyron Nolan, the guy I hired as aproxyinvestigator, since no one else was willing to take the job.

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