Page 167 of Inside the Sun

"It was, or… no, scratch that, it never could be serious. It was just… comforting for him. Physical. But I still… care for him."

Summer stares at his hands for a while.

"He’s drinking a lot. Smoking. I’ve seen him drunk at every meal. Doesn’t leave his room much."

I curse under my breath and look away, not wanting him to see the guilt in my eyes.

"A few days ago, Rocco tried to rape me. Sun threw himself at him, tried to hold him off, kept shouting at me to run… He risked getting assaulted himself."

I curse again, louder this time.

"I knocked Rocco out. He was drunk, so it didn’t look suspicious. But still, Sun didn’t even think, he just acted. And he could’ve paid for it gravely. You know how Rocco is."

"You don’t need to say more, Summer. I know Sun has… a good heart. But I can’t take back what I said, even if I want to. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. You know what the mafia is like—they always find ways to raise the bar on their sadism. They can put him in an impossible situation, and then…"

"I know, Raggi. But I can sense that Sun really liked you… a lot. You were his anchor, in a strange way, something to cling to in his attempt to hold on to his dignity and… just his humanity in this horrible place. And I don’t think he’s analyzing our situation tactically like you are. He’s a simple guy. He just follows his heart."

I take a deep breath, but my lungs feel tight, like they don’t want to let the air in. My chest aches.

"Can we stop talking about him, Summer? It’s too difficult for me, I need to…" I snort, looking aside, out of the gazebo. I try to compose myself, but it’s a challenge.

"I’m glad you’re here, because I wanted to tell you: our parents have already shut down their business. We got in touchwith their cousin in Iceland, Uncle Erik, on their new phone. He agreed to take them in until they find a house or apartment. Everything should be ready by September 12th. That’s when I’ll get you out of here."

Summer’s face hardens, his lips set in a line.

"But I’m not leaving without Sun."

There is a long pause. I fight two contradicting feelings. The relief—somebody else also doesn’t want to leave Sun—and the other one, the soldier-on-duty part, that is angry about Summer’s disobedience.

"Summer, do you understand that if you stay, Anzo won’t accept you refusing to use your powers for him?"

A long pause, like… really long. Summer’s deep in his thoughts.

And then he says it.

"Do you even care what happens to Sun? That Anzo might beat him to death?"

My emotions boil over. I feel it like a punch to my stomach.

"Of course I care, Summer! I’d do anything to help him, but I can’t save all of his brothers from Anzo’s revenge! Just tell me what the hell to do, and I’ll do it! I’m willing to give it a shot, no matter how crazy it might be!"

Summer is silent for a second as his face turns pale.

"It sounds terrible, but… we could kill them all. You and me. No one could stop us." These words are barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, and then what? Every FBI agent, every cop, every court in the country will be after us. Even the military. We’d be hunted down like fucking war criminals, for slaughtering dozens of people. Fucking mass murderers!"

Summer buries his face in his hands.

I snort and add, "Summer, in a week I’m taking you out of this country. We’re walking away from all of it. We can take him,but it has to be his decision. He has to know and accept that his family will die."

"He won’t agree."

"Then what do I do?! What should I do?"

"We may try my plan I told you about before your accident."

My head just hurts so much that I had to rub my temples. Fuck, Summer’s plan is unrealistic as hell, and in my opinion it will end up in Sun being the punching bag for Anzo, after he realizes what he lost with Summer.

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