The door's locked, and Zane doesn't know how to pick locks. Alec does, but he isn't there to help. Knowing Alec, he'd only help if Zane gave him an acceptable reason.
Anyway, the door's locked, and the only option is the window. The problem is, his room is on the third floor of the mansion, with no nearby tree to climb down from. Jumping isn't an option; he might crack a bone or two. The only good thing about his room is that the window faces the backside. No servants or maids went there all afternoon while he was scheming.
Zane waited until the sky grew dark. Laian visited to bring his dinner, which he happily, almost suspiciously, took from her. After brainstorming while munching, he came up with a brilliant plan.
It was almost 7 pm. Zane gathered all the sheets he could find in the room, from the closet to the bed. He tied them end to end until they formed a long rope.
"Now, where am I going to tie this?" he mumbled, searching for something to secure the end.
His face brightened when he spotted the large bed. To test whether it could hold him during his escape, he tried to push the bed, which of course didn't move. Happy, Zane tied one end of the sheet to the foot of the bed and gathered the rest to throw it outside the window.
He secured his phone in his pocket before climbing down the window using the makeshift rope. It was a little short, but he managed to jump the rest of the way to the ground.
Crossing over the gate wasn't a problem; he was a veteran at crossing school gates during his high school days. Now that he was outside the mansion's premises, a cab conveniently passed by, so he hailed it to take him to their meeting place.
He didn't know at first, but it was a club. The loudness of the music could be heard outside, and he could tell it was a famous one because of the long line at the entrance. It took him a while to get in, and when he did, the deafening beat of the music welcomed him, along with the dim disco lights.
A crowd of people was partying on the dance floor. To avoid most of the crowd, he went to the bar, where the bartender was busy mixing drinks.
"Espresso Martini," Zane ordered as soon as he reached the counter.
"You really have your way to fuck my night, don't you, Z?"
"Oh! It's you, T!" Zane exclaimed, as if surprised. He had already seen Tairon from the moment he came in. "You're working at a bar now?" he teased.
"Don't piss me off. You know what I'm doing," Tairon answered as he moved his hand to mix a drink.
"Of course! I can even mix a Ramos Gin Fizz for you."
Tairon threw him a glare, poured the drink into a glass, and slid it to Zane, who quickly stopped him.
"VIP 3, I reserved the room. Wait for me there," Tairon said before leaving to serve another customer who had just arrived.
Left alone by his friend, Zane drank the drink he ordered in one go and left to search for the room. Zane wasn't a light drinker; in fact, his tolerance for alcohol was even better than those alphas he knew back in Germany. But as the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. When he got drunk, he did extensive silly things, which is why Alec would always volunteer to stay sober whenever they had a victory party with their co-racers.
After a couple of searches, he found it. Entering the door, the lights were on. The room was spacious and had a long sofa in a U shape. At the center was a glass table with a bottle of whiskey, a glass, and an ice bucket on top of it.
Pleased, Zane changed the lights from white to disco lights then made himself comfortable on the sofa, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He drank it in one shot, feeling the warm burning sensation go down his throat.
By the time Tairon arrived in the room, Zane had already emptied the bottle.
"Took you long enough. Another bottle, please," Zane said, drinking the last glass of whiskey.
Tairon put on a displeasing look but fetched one anyway. Zane took it as soon as he came back in the room and poured himself and Tairon a glass.
"Ice or nah?"
"With ice," Tairon answered. "I know you have a high tolerance for alcohol, but you're no immortal. Don't get drunk. Alec's not here. I don't want to take care of your drunk ass."
Zane just gave him a wink and raised his glass to toast with him. And like the other glass of whiskey, he poured it down his throat in one go.
"What do you want?" Tairon initiated the conversation.
Upon hearing it, Zane put on a serious face and poured himself another drink. "You knew, when? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You can't answer a question with another question."
"I already did." Zane's eyes moved to give Tairon a glance. The atmosphere around Zane changed, from the silly air earlier to a heavy dark aura. His playful smile had also disappeared.
Tairon rolled his eyes to look away, a grunt escaping his lips. "A day before I arrived here in New York."
Zane nodded, this time taking only a sip from his glass.
Hearing no reply from Zane, Tairon looked at him. "I was planning on telling you—"
"But?" Zane interrupted.
"But I wasn't sure." He watched as Zane's eyebrows furrowed. "Kaisen, your twin, is in trouble. Someone tried to silence him."
Zane faced Tairon with concerned eyes. "Did he do something wrong?"
"That... I'm not sure. By the time I came here, he was always in his suite. I managed to meet him, kind of."
"Kind of, huh?" Zane chuckled.
"Don't make fun of me. I was just concerned because he's your family."
"I'm not, really, I'm not. So what happened?"
"Apparently, your fame hasn't reached New York yet, so I told him about you, showed him proof, and gave him your contact details. I honestly hoped for you to come. If it's you here, you can handle it."
Tairon had actually met his twin without even telling him beforehand. And what was this? Someone was after his life?