Page 58 of His Kidnapped Irish Mafia Virgin

Nora nodded faintly, but her face was pale and drawn, and the sight of the blood on her bandage still made my stomach twist with rage.

Diggs appeared at the end of the corridor, his expression hard and urgent. Something in his face made me stop before he even spoke.

“Boss,” he said. He glanced at Nora before continuing, as if he hated the words he was about to say. “Victor Hale escaped through the rear exit during the breach. We found signs of movement near the back stairwell, but by the time our men reached it, he was gone.”

For a second, the hallway seemed to narrow around me. Victor Hale had escaped. The man who’d hunted Nora, the man who’d shot her and left her bleeding in this place, had slipped away while we were fighting to reach her.

Fury exploded inside me so viciously that my hands tightened around my weapon. I wanted to leave Nora right there and hunt him down immediately. I wanted to tear through every road, every alley, and every hiding place until I found him. The image of Victor’s face flashed through my mind, cold and satisfied, and the anger nearly consumed me.

But Nora swayed beside me. I looked down at her and saw the pain in her eyes, the fear she was trying to hide, and the way she clung to me like I was the only solid thing left in her world. So I forced the rage down.

“Seal every road within five miles,” I said, my voice low and sharp. “I want checkpoints, cameras, and men on every possible route. He won’t disappear tonight.”

Diggs nodded immediately and spoke into his radio, relaying the orders. Before I could say anything else, Michael’s voice crackled through my earpiece.

“Boss, we found another victim.”

My chest tightened. “Where?”

“Room at the end of the east corridor. It’s an elderly woman. She’s alive, but she’s weak and needs medical attention immediately.”

Nora’s head lifted suddenly. “Mom?” she whispered.

I tightened my arm around her waist. “She’s alive,” I said. “We’re getting her out of here.”

Nora let out a shaky breath that sounded like a sob. I looked at Diggs and Michael, every instinct inside me screaming to chase Victor Hale, but I knew I couldn’t leave Nora now. Not while she was injured and her mother was barely alive.

“Get medical teams in here immediately,” I ordered. “Secure both women and prepare them for evacuation.”

Michael hurried down the corridor, and Diggs continued coordinating the search for Victor through his radio. Nora leaned closer to me, exhausted and shaking, and I held her tighter.

Victor Hale was still out there. He’d escaped, but he wouldn’t go far, not while Nora was alive.

***

The last gunshot faded somewhere below us, and the building finally fell into a tense, exhausted silence. Diggs approached me with his weapon lowered.

“The building is secure,” he said. “Our men have cleared every floor.”

I nodded once, keeping my arm firmly around Nora as she leaned against me.

“Where’s the medical team?” I asked. “I want Nora and her mother treated immediately.”

Within moments, paramedics rushed through the hallway, carrying equipment and stretchers. They moved first toward Nora’s mother. I watched as they carefully lifted her onto a stretcher and checked her condition. Nora’s eyes followed them anxiously.

“She’s going to be okay,” I told her quietly.

Nora looked up at me, fear still lingering in her expression. “You promise?”

I swallowed hard before answering. “I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she is.”

The paramedics reached us next and examined Nora’s injured arm. They replaced the crude bandage with a proper dressing, checked her pulse, and asked her questions she answered in short, exhausted whispers.

“She needs a hospital,” one of them said.

I lifted Nora carefully into my arms. She was light against me, far too light, and the trembling in her body made my chest ache with a pain I couldn’t name.

“You don’t have to carry me,” she murmured weakly.