<b>Chapter </b><b>214 </b>


    -HUNTER’S POV-


    10 <b>vouchers </b>


    The woman across from me looked like a shadow of her former self. Hair damp, robe slipping at her shoulders, wrists trembling against the ropes.


    My gaze followed a bead of water sliding down her check. It reminded me of blood.


    I let the quietness stretch.


    Mia shifted, throat bobbing. Her eyes flicked to the bottle of whiskey in front of me, then back to my face. “H- Hunter…” Her voice cracked. “I didn’t–this isn’t what it looks like…..”


    I leaned back into the couch, rolling my whiskey ss in my palm though I hadn’t taken a sip. My voice came out quiet, dangerous.


    “Do you know what I hate most, Mia?”


    She shook her head, her mouth opening to answer.


    “Noise.” I set the ss down with a click, the sound echoing in the dim, empty restaurant. “Excuses. Lies. Whining. It’s all noise.”


    Mia flinched as though the word itself had struck her. I stood, slow and deliberate. My chair scraped against the floor, making her wince harder.


    I crossed the distance between us and crouched down until my eyes were level with hers. She smelled of expensive wine and soap. Underneath, I caught the sour tang of fear.


    “You were in my house today.” My voice was soft, almost conversational. “My bedroom. My wife’s blood is on the marble staircase. She lost our child.”


    Mia’s lips parted. “It wasn’t…I swear….she slipped, Hunter. She came at me, screaming, grabbing–and I….”


    The crack of my hand mming the table beside her cut her words off. ss rattled. She jumped, a strangled cry leaving her throat.


    I didn’t move. I simply watched her squirm, my face calm, my eyes merciless. “You don’t get to say her name. Not with that mouth.”


    Tears welled in her eyes. “Hunter, please, you have to believe me. I loved you–I love you. I would never hurt. you. I would never….”


    I straightened, towering over her. Myugh was low, humorless.


    “Love? That word?” I turned away<i>, </i>pacing a slow circle. “You bought my staff. Paid them to stay quiet. Walked into my home as if I belonged there. And you dare use that word in front of me?”


    Her sob broke the silence. “I just–I just wanted you to see she doesn’t deserve you. She never did! You were


    3


    supposed to be mine!”


    10 vouchers


    My hands flexed at his sides. I imagined her falling down the same staircase, her body broken. It would be easy. So easy. One word to Derek, and she would vanish forever.


    But then I saw Celine’s face in my mind–pale, twisted in grief as she clutched her empty stomach. <b>Her </b>tears, her screams, her me: ‘If only you had kept Mia away from us.


    I swallowed fire. Then turned back to Mia.


    “You think I don’t already know?” My voice dropped lower, cach word deliberate. “Every partner tied to you- pulled. Your father’s campaign? Dead in the water. Investors, charities, donors? Gone. I’ve already stripped you bare, Mia. Piece by piece.”


    Her eyes widened, panic overtaking the defiance. “No–no, you can’t–my father…..


    “I already did.” His tone was so casual that it made her shudder.


    Behind her, the door creaked open. Derek stepped in, dragging two security guards with him. The three mansion staff were shoved forward, trembling. Ana among them, her eyes darting anywhere but at me.


    “Tell her,” I ordered.


    Derek shoved Ana forward. She copsed to her knees.


    “She–she paid us. Paid us to keep quiet. To say we didn’t hear anything. Please, sir….I didn’t….I didn’t touch madam….”


    Mia’s head snapped toward her, wild. “You liar! You worthless….”


    My hand shot out. I grabbed Mia by the jaw, forcing her face back to mine. My grip was iron, cutting off her words.


    “Noise,” I said again, almost a whisper.


    Her chest heaved, her eyes watering as I released her with a shove. She slumped against the chair, trembling.


    I turned to Derek. “Take them out. Fire them. They’ll never work in this city again.”


    Ana sobbed as she was dragged away, begging, but I didn’t flinch. I watched them go until the door mmed shut, silence flooding back into the room.


    Mia was pale, shaking so hard the ropes bit into her wrists.


    “You see,” I said, adjusting my wristwatch like it mattered, “your little army of rats abandoned you the moment I lifted a finger. That’s the difference between you and me, Mia. You manipte. I end.”


    She broke then. Her sobbing filled the empty restaurant, ugly and loud. “Please, Hunter…please….I’ll leave, I’ll disappear, you’ll never see me again. Just don’t….don’t destroy me. Don’t kill me.” <fndce1> Official source is find?novel</fndce1>


    I crouched again, my voice so low she had to strain to hear.


    <b>9:07 </b><b>Sun</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>14 </b>


    “Kill you? No.” I tilted my head, studying her with predator calm. “That would be too merciful”


    Her sob hitched, hope flickering and dying in the same breath.


    8970


    20 vouchers


    I leaned closer, my lips near her car. “I’m not going to kill you, Mia. I’m going to let you live. And <b>every </b><b>day</b>, you’ll wonder when I’ll finallye for you. You’ll never sleep without looking over your shoulder. Every knock on your door, every phone call, every stranger on the street–you’ll think it’s me. That’s worse than death. That’s the only punishment that fits.”


    Mia whimpered, copsing into herself, shaking her head violently. “No…please….”


    I stood. My face carved from stone, my shadow long in the dim light. I turned to Vincent, who had been watching silently from the bar, sipping my untouched whiskey.


    “Cut her loose,” Hunter said. “Then throw her out.”


    Mia lifted her head, shocked. “W–what?”


    Vincent grinned, wicked and cruel. “You heard the man.”


    “How the great beauty had fallen, you have practically ruined your family, Mia, I always knew you were crazy but this level of crazy” Vincent added with a mischievousugh.


    “Shut…shut up….” Mia stuttered. “Just shut the fuck up”


    I didn’t wait to see her act crazy, I walked toward the exit, my pace steady, my chest tight w he fire still burning inside me.


    My wife was broken, my child gone, and this woman dared to still breathe. But as I pushed the door open into the cold night air, I let the thought settle like ice.


    Death would have been easy. Living with fear–that was the sentence. And Hunter Reid always made sure sentences were carried out.


    <b>AD </b>