Page 123 of Oathbreaker

I kiss her shoulder after I curl up behind her. Then I set the alarm on my watch for an hour and hold my girl in my arms.

TWENTY-FIVE

HUNTER

"You sure about this, H?" Leo's voice is low. Cautious. I look over my shoulder at him, then back at the façade of the mansion I haven't been to in nearly two decades.

The villa looks dead. Forgotten.

The highest part of the island is the cliff face—a shaft of rock that juts out over the Caribbean. When I was younger, I made up a story that some giants in the water cut the island from one bigger land mass, like chopping a wood block in karate. The matching other half of the island is about eighty nautical miles east.

I don't answer Leo.

There are only five of us: me, Leo, and three of Misha's men. I doubt he sent them to be a help and more to babysit us—and to get whatever it is that Misha’s looking for that we can’t be privy to.

We checked Isla Cara for my father months ago and found the place deserted. The handsomely paid workers who travel from neighboring islands were sent home.

From what we know, no one has been to the island in months.

I feel Leo's presence near my shoulder as we all walk up the shore and to the long stone staircase in unison. The guards haven't said much at all since we left Misha's airfield at the back of his property.

I left Winter in the solarium under a thick blanket and gave Veronica instructions to check on her after I'd left. I should have said goodbye. I should have held her as she begged me not to go, as I know she would have.

Instead, I kissed her head, drawing the rose scent of her conditioner into my lungs.

It would have been too hard for me to say goodbye.

"Stop," I tell the rest of our group. We're out on the veranda. The ghosts of gilded elites glide across the expensive stone, taunting me.

I stop because of the glass. Shards of the shattered eighteen-foot door litter the area in front of us, blowing inward to land in the open-air foyer on the other side of the frame.

Leo enters first, and his boots crunch as he takes careful steps to peer into the dark mansion.

“No one said the place was ransacked,” I tell Leo.

He nods in agreement.

Because it wasn’t. When we got the report about Isla Cara, it didn’t mention any damage to the property.

This is a new development.

“We keep going,” one of Misha’s men says.

Foreboding runs up my spine.

Leo arches his eyebrow when I look at him, and in response, he raises his gun. I pull mine out too, and we all walk into the empty grand room.

The lack of sound presses on my eardrums, making them feel stuffed with cotton. The heavy darkness covers my skin like a wet blanket.

My steps are uneven as broken glass crunches beneath my shoes. Even though the eastern Caribbean heat adds to the feeling of suffocation, I’m grateful for the long black tactical pants that help protect me from the sharp edges of the broken furniture.

In unison, we all turn on our flashlights. I’m grateful for the illumination.

“Where to, H?” Leo says coolly.

I ransack my memory. There are two places where Father held his notable secrets. The safe in his office and the vault.

Whatever Misha’s looking for has to be in the vault.

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