Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 200: History might repeat itself [2]

Chapter 200: History might repeat itself [2]

Three days without proper sleep was all it took for Kayla’s trusted tech experts and Shawn to monitor all CCTVs installed near all the safe houses belonging to Rage Del Valle. On the third day, his car was seen driving inside the gate of one of the houses in the morning, and it was already noon when he left.

After that, Azrael gathered Sandro, Luis, Kayden, and their teams.

"How do we enter?" Kayden asked.

Azrael, "Not we. Sandro and I will be entering to retrieve the ledger, while the rest will be on standby. We will need a distraction to divert the guards’ attention. Kayden, manage that. Luis, don’t cut off the connection with Kayla and Shawn."

Sandro, "Are we entering in disguise?"

Azrael shook his head. "No. The security is strict; we’ll get caught even before we can pass the gates. We infiltrate."

Kayden’s gaze briefly flickered to Diego, whom Azrael finally brought out from the basement to everyone’s surprise. They couldn’t fathom what was Azrael’s planning for the guy, and why he suddenly ordered for Diego to be cleaned and dressed properly. The wounds on his face were still fresh, so his face was wrapped with a bandage.

Kayden asked, "What about him? What are you planning with him?"

Azrael’s expression hardened. His unforgiving eyes landed on the docile man who lost the ability to speak properly. "I’m setting him free."

"What?!"

The three men exclaimed in unison. Azrael ignored them and slammed his hand on the table. "Let’s proceed with the planning."

The three exchanged glances but soon focused on the task at hand. After their discussion ended, Luis and Kayden set out while Sandor and Azrael prepared themselves. After checking where Lyssana was from Kayla, he called for Roy.

"Sir..."

Azrael turned to the old bodyguard. He cocked his head to Diego while loading bullets on the magazine. "Drop him off near the mansion. He will remember that place, and he will know what to do. Give back all his belongings."

Sandro, who was adjusting the gun belt on his waist. He was nervous as it had been long a time since he used those kinds of things, but he was more anxious at Azrael’s actions. However, he kept his lips mum and just did his job.

Before they finished, Diego and Roy were already gone.

As the night arrived, Kayden and Luis took their positions near the safe hours, ready to execute their parts of the plan. Luis, in charge of monitoring the operation with Kayla, and Shawn on standby to temporarily disable the security systems, sat in the van not far from the area, while Kayden and his men surrounded the place in case a fight broke out.

Sandro and Roy, who arrived back just in time for them to begin, were the ones in charge of creating a diversion at a nearby location to draw the guards away.

Azrael approached the safe house under the cover of darkness. The building loomed ominously, its darkened windows giving it an air of foreboding. Azrael moved with precision. Inside, the house was eerily quiet.

There were servants inside, but all of them seemed fast asleep and weren’t even bothered by the commotion outside. He trod along the dark hallway of the second floor. The place was his father’s yet Azrael had never visited it even once.

He finally reached the master’s study. His hands were steady as he worked on the lock, his concentration unwavering. The seconds ticked by, amplifying the tension. With a final twist, the door creaked open, revealing the spacious study room and a large steel safe against the wall in the corner.

Azrael approached the safe and began working on its combination lock. His heart was filled with uneasiness as he manipulated the dial. Even when the safe clicked open and the heavy records of Rage’s illegal activities and connections with powerful and influential people were found, the uneasiness inside him was growing more and more.

Everything felt so easy. Is that all it took for them to acquire that piece of crucial evidence? Azrael grabbed the ledger and flipped the pages. The book was real. Even the things he had a hand in were recorded in it.

Ah...if I reveal this, I will be prosecuted as well. If I rip the part where I’m involved, it’s bound to raise suspicion from the prosecutors. But if I forge and fabricate it, then the credibility of the original will be lost. Whatever I do, I’ll end up...losing.

Azrael stood there. Is he hesitating? Never. He was just preparing himself for what was to come. He committed crimes, even if it was under the guise of following orders from his father, he did it willingly and consciously.

Now after all his efforts to stop his father, both of them we’ll be reaping what they sowed. It was just funny that after years of contemplating whether to overthrow his father or not, whether to betray him or not, he finally saw the proof that his father never saw him as a son, but as an enemy.

The bold letters on his name listed down on the ledger were the final proof. Azrael chuckled bitterly.

At the same time, while Azrael was infiltrating the safe house, Luis received a call from Kayla.

"Luis, call Azrael quickly!" Kayla shouted from the earpiece.

Luis was alarmed. Without question, he connected the communication device to Azrael, but all they heard was static. Shawn’s eyes widened. He quickly whirled to the makeshift control table inside the van as he muttered, "There’s a hidden bug inside the master’s study! It was messing with the signal. We can’t reach him!"

Kayla, "What?!"

Kayden’s voice echoed from Shawn’s mic, "Is there a problem, Kay?! Sandro and Roy have knocked down all the guards surrounding the area, and my men are guarding the servants’ quarters. Azrael is on his way back!"

Kayla then shouted back; panic etched in her voice. "Diego Allens moved from his initial point. He followed Lyssana’s car which left the mansion at six. She picked up someone and Kayden, the other voice seemed familiar to me, so I had my team check the footage where Lyssana stopped. It was in another safe house and it was him! Azrael’s omega! Lyssana got him! Damn it, we can’t see inside the house, tell Azrael to hurry!"

Luis and Shawn exchanged astonished glances. Shawn quickly tried to disengage the hidden bug on the master’s study but it seemed to be a conventional one because he couldn’t access it. Luis cursed as he jumped out of the van, and ran inside the house.

Not long after, Azrael was running as fast as lightning, heading to the car where Kayden already started. Sandro and Luis jumped on the van, and Shawn immediately followed the car.

"The chairman probably knows of this now. We might get ambushed on the way. Let’s separate for now," Kayden spoke through their earpieces.

"The ledger is on me. Where do I keep it?" Luis asked, feeling nervous at the weight that sat on his lap—a black logbook.

Shawn replied, "Horace Mansion."

"Yes, take it there. Give it directly to Chairman Horace, if possible," Kayden answered. Shawn nodded and accelerated the van.

On the other hand, Sandro was fidgeting in the passenger seat. "How long is it going to take to arrive at the other safe house?"

Kayla heard his voice. "Half an hour in the fastest way possible."

All of them heard Azrael curse loudly, along with a heavy thud in the background. Kayden’s voice telling him to calm down came after.

Kayla then suggested, "Call another. Someone who can come faster than we can."

Shawn instantly threw the phone to Sandro and said, "Athan!"

Sandro quickly called the man, but it took two rings and all they heard was a busy tone. At that time, Athan was panicking as well after discovering the note Knox left on his bed, and calling for backups to find out where Knox went.

"F*ck, Azi! Stop that and call Rian!" Kayden yelled.

Azrael, snapping from his self-destruction, grabbed his phone and called Rian. It was easily answered and with a few words from Kayden, Rian quickly understood the situation.

"I’ll be there in ten!" Rian shouted. He was the closest to that safe house, as it turned out that he was having a three-day outreach program on that town in the outskirts of the city. It was absurd that Knox believed that someone like Chairman Rage would erect a safe house in that rural area.

However, Rian believed that he must have a reason.

He arrived at that dreadful place—a two-story building surrounded by tall trees. The house was isolated, a safe house that fit to keep an important thing indeed. Perhaps it was the reason why Knox was convinced.

He stepped out of the car and was surprised that no vehicle was in sight at all. There wasn’t even a sign of life.

Rian’s phone rang again. He answered Azrael, "I’m here. But I don’t see anyone. I’ll check inside."

Pushing the entrance door, he was relieved that it wasn’t locked. He quickly opened all the doors he could see and checked for Knox. He shouted his name after confirming that no one other than him was in there.

"I don’t see him!" Rian yelled back to Azrael who had been bursting his ears with his shouts and orders. He climbed the stairs and after turning to the corner, the first thing he saw was a door locked from the outside.

He tried to kick the padlock, but it didn’t come off easily. He banged the door. "Knox, are you in there?!"

He listened and his eyes widened when he heard someone sobbing and gasping. ’F*ck! He might be here, Azi! Come quickly."

He ran back to the kitchen downstairs and searched for a tool he could use to destroy the padlock. Grabbing the hammer he found; he ran back to the door and hammered the padlock with all his might.

The shank disconnected from the body, and Rian immediately pulled the metal links. He then pushed the door open, only to lurch forward from the intense pheromones inside. He covered his nose and mouth with his collar and tried to walk away, and finally, he found where the pheromones were coming from.

"Oh, my God..." Rian astonishingly mumbled.