Page 1 of Hunted
PROLOGUE
SIX YEARS AGO
I’ve been reassured all my life that our home is a safe place.
Tonight proves it is not.
Rain presses against the tall windows of my father’s study, steady and patient, a sharp contrast to what’s happening inside the Hannigan household.
From the landing above, I lean forward, careful not to rest on the bannister that creaks.
My father’s voice comes through the half-open door below, low and desperate, edged with a tremor I’ve never heard before.
‘Please, Don Moretti. I can give you anything else. My ships, the stocks, the Cape townhouse—’
‘You have already given those,’ a man interrupts. Deep-voiced, colder than the rain and thrumming with raw power. ‘After you failed to keep them profitable. You came to me because your desperation has finally overcome your fear. But apparently neither of those can hold a light to your addiction.’
My father makes a choking sound. ‘I only need time.’
‘You’ve had time.’ A pause, unhurried. ‘You’re out of currency, Mr Hannigan.’
I crouch lower to see who he’s talking to.
The man in the study is a stranger, but I know the name.
Valentin Moretti.
The terrifying vampire who owns this city.
I’ve seen him only once, but I remember him vividly. The tailored suit. The silver eyes that gleamed too brightly. The kind of intensity that made mortals cower before he even entered their space.
My father’s voice cracks. ‘There must be something I can offer.’
‘There is nothing left to sell,’ Moretti says.
Silence follows.
Then my father speaks again.
‘There’s… my daughter.’
My stomach flips, mangling my heart along the way.
Moretti gives a short, skin-tingling laugh. ‘You would offer your own blood to pay for your greed?’
‘She’s eighteen. Pure blood. Educated. You could—’
‘—breed her?’ The word lands with surgical precision. ‘Is that what you imagine I wish?’
My father stammers. ‘I only meant—’
‘I do not barter for toys.’ His tone sharpens. ‘Keep your daughter. I am not interested in pity gifts.’
Relief pulses through me… until Moretti’s head lifts.
He stiffens and inhales, slow and deliberate.
The air in the hallway changes as he turns towards the door.
