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“Good evening, everyone.”
The two hundred people fell quiet.
Here it comes.
Hunter’s mother frowned from the table occupied by his parents. Jacob and Teresa Silver had brought big business to my empire. How could I not have invited them? But now that I saw my Hunter there, slurring his words, I regretted my decision to leave him at home.
“My name is Hunter Silver, and I’d like to ‘gratulate my Gracie on her beautiful Oscar. She deserves it. She deserves it all, but she’s been hiding me from you all. Not my dick. She doesn’t hide from my motor.”
“Oh, no.” My whisper fogged in the cool air.
The more his speech slurred, the quicker my heart raced in my chest. He tilted his hips forward and wiggled them like he had a trunk for a penis.
“I may be younger, Xavier”—Hunter pointed into the crowd—“but with youth comes stamina, and my Gracie likes stamina.”
His hand flew to the left, directing the crowd’s attention to where I stood. I covered my face with my hands, hoping the ground would open underneath me, but a beam of light shone my way. I slid my fingers open enough to see Hunter turn my way. Someone from the dining area was making his way to the stage as Hunter stated, “I’m good enough to fuck for sperm, but not good enough to have dinner with. Come on, you guys, help me give her a hand. Gracie! Gracie!”
He clapped, enticing the crowd, but the room stayed silent. Humiliation burned through my body and rage coursed through my veins. Someone dragged Hunter off the stage. I was pretty sure I peed myself that night.
And I threw Hunter out on his ass before he sobered.
CHAPTER 1
HUNTER, ONE YEAR LATER
Idug my elbows into the ground and clicked the night vision switch on my headgear.
“Three out front and one in the back,” I said to my partner.
“One more inside with the girls.” Rachel was from the Costa Rican independent division of hunters. Like me, she searched for scum to execute. We’d clicked the moment she greeted me at the airport. Rachel had dual citizenship and worked for both the Costa Rican and the US agency to bring down human trafficking. Her team had hired me privately.
I focused on the group of bound girls huddled in the corner of the house. My jaw clenched until my molars ached.
“There weren't supposed to be girls here,” Rachel puffed through her nose.
I found a golf-ball sized rock and gripped it in my fist. “There are now. The mission’s changed.”
The house was set in the middle of the jungle, and backup was at least an hour away. Our bounty, Mr. Pierce, worth a twenty million dead and thirty alive, was supposed to be hiding here. I’d been counting on cashing in the thirty, but he was nowhere to be found.
Rachel shimmied closer and tugged at my vest. “You mean, the mission’s aborted.”
“I’m not leaving those girls,” I loud-whispered.
“The mission was to get Mr. Pierce. That’s all.”
“He’s obviously not here, and we both know that’s not his name.”
“Whatever. Mission aborted.”
If I continued, the consequences wouldn’t be light. We had a deal. No spooking Pierce; and the moment I went after the girls, he’d get the word, vanish, and we wouldn’t get paid.
Fuck money.
I crawled behind a tree closer to the house. Rachel swore in my earpiece. A moment later, she was on the ground next to me.
“You don’t have to come,” I said.
“I’m not letting your ass die on my watch, you stupid fool. There are five of them.”
