Page 89 of The Hunter's Empire

His jaw tightens.

"She knows this estate better than anyone. If she got separated from us, she probably found somewhere safe."

"Probably isn't exactly reassuring."

Another burst of gunfire echoes from somewhere deeper inside the manor. Several security guards rush toward the sound while guests continue pushing toward the exits.

As we step outside, the cold night air immediately hits my face. The contrast is jarring. Inside the mansion there is gunfire, blood, smoke, and chaos. Outside, the grounds are eerily quiet.

The fireworks have stopped. The lake beyond the estate is dark. The sky above us is empty. For a brief moment, I turn and look back. The manor stands illuminated against the night, beautiful and terrifying all at once.

Somewhere inside those walls is Roisin. The thought refuses to leave me.

Nico notices me looking. "She's a Keegan."

I glance at him. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"It means she grew up here." His voice remains calm. Steady. "She knows every hidden passage, every service corridor, every corner of that house. If things got bad, she didn't freeze."

I look back toward the mansion. The windows glow against the darkness. The estate suddenly feels much larger than it did when we arrived. Much more dangerous.

"Then where did she go?"

Nico doesn't answer immediately. When he finally speaks, his voice is quieter. "Somewhere safer than standing next to us."

The brutal honesty of the statement stings because I know he's right.

A black vehicle waits near the tree line. Our extraction. The final step.

As we approach it, flashing blue lights begin appearing near the front gates of the estate. More security vehicles are arriving.

Nico opens the passenger door. "Get in."

For once, I don't argue. The moment the vehicle begins moving, the estate slowly starts disappearing behind the trees.

Neither of us speaks. The adrenaline is still coursing through my system.

Eventually, the lights of the Keegan estate vanish entirely from view. Only darkness remains outside the windows.

We got what we came for. The mission succeeded.

Chapter 20

Zora

The transition back to the city feels far more difficult than I expected. Several days have passed since Ireland, and yet part of me still feels trapped inside the Keegan estate.

Physically, I am back where I belong, seated in my office high above the city while meetings fill my calendar and executives fight over contracts worth millions. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, traffic crawls through the streets below and glass towers stretch toward a gray afternoon sky. Everything is familiar. Controlled. Predictable.

My mind, however, refuses to cooperate.

Every quiet moment pulls me backward. Sometimes I find myself remembering the endless stone corridors hidden beneath the estate. Sometimes I hear gunfire that isn't actually there.

More than once, I have caught myself staring blankly at my computer screen while wondering whether Roisin managed to escape whatever happened after we left. Whether she survived the fallout. Whether she ever made it out at all.

And then there is Nico. Or Lucien. Or Il Fantasma. I still have no idea which version of him was real. The thought lingers long enough that I have to consciously force myself back to the present.

Across from me, Stefano sits at the conference table reviewing the files we brought back from Ireland. The documents occupy nearly the entire surface between us. Financial records, private correspondence, surveillance photographs, banking information, political dossiers, corporate agreements, and decades worth of carefully catalogued secrets are spread across the polished mahogany table in neat stacks.