Page 151 of The Hunt

I didn’t dare look away from Peter, even though my heart was slamming against my ribs. The seconds stretched out, his eyes narrowing just a fraction as they moved down to focus on my left hand.

He finally looked up at me again. “Amy,” he said, nodding slowly. “I think I remember you now.”

“Oh, sir, I forgot to tell you,” Nikki cut in, clearly trying to distract him from me. “The bathroom in my new room is great. Everything looks brand new. No chance of another tap explosion.”

His gaze swiveled to her. “Yes, we had a few rooms in the west wing renovated this year. It’s not as important as the other wings, but we’re still getting it done, albeit very slowly,” he said. “Anyway, I must be going. I have a lot to take care of before dinner. Keep your phone on you in case I need you for anything.”

“Of course, sir,” Nikki said.

I nodded politely. Peter’s gaze slid back down to my left hand again, and then he walked away, his steps echoing as he disappeared into the shadows of the manor.

I exhaled slowly, my body sagging with relief. “Holy shit,” I muttered. “I really thought he was going to recognize me.”

“Maybe I should be a makeup artist when I get out of this indentured servitude bullshit,” Nikki said, brows rising. “I mean, the wig and glasses helped, but I seriously gave you a whole new face. Especially with your eyes. I changed their entire shape!”

I glanced anxiously over my shoulder as we walked toward the exit. Peter was no longer in sight. “Did you notice he kept looking at my left hand?” I asked.

“No.”

“I’m a little worried he suspected something because of the Band-Aid.” As I spoke, I rubbed my fingertips over the plaster Rhett had placed on the back of my hand to cover two small cuts I’d received from brambles out on the hunting grounds. “He could’ve wondered where I injured my hand, and thenthatcould make him realize I’m an escaped player. Then—”

Nikki cut me off. “Ev, you’re being paranoid again,” she said sharply. “Housekeeping staff have minor injuries on their hands all the time. Maybe you accidentally touched a hot iron, ormaybe you scratched yourself on a sharp edge while you were cleaning something. That’s all he would’ve thought about it.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I murmured. “I’m just really on edge. It’s making me crazy.”

“Like I said before… I don’t blame you.” She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around herself as we stepped outside.

The bitterly cold air hit me like a slap in the face, the wind carrying the scent of saltwater from the ocean beyond the manor. The sky was heavy with dark clouds, swirling in a stormy mess as the sun dipped lower on the horizon. It was the kind of evening that felt like something was about to break; like the whole world was holding its breath before the impending storm.

Or maybe that was just me, given the weight of everything hanging over my head.

My mind raced, replaying every moment from the past several hours—our plan formulation, my murmured goodbye to Rhett before he left to carry out his part of the scheme, the sense of danger lurking in every shadow of the manor, the uncertainty of whether we’d actually get away with it all.

All I could do was hope and pray we did.

Nikki suddenly stopped in her tracks in the middle of the estate grounds. “Oh, shit.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, eyes widening.

She waved her phone at me. “I just checked the recruiter group chat, and things are getting… interesting,” she said, forehead creasing. “One of the tech guys just said that fourteen hunters have been incapacitated in the last three hours by a mystery hunter, and the viewers are finally noticing.”

“Shit.”

Nikki lifted a palm. “It’s not all bad. Firstly, they don’t know it’s Rhett yet, because he’s wearing a mask and camo, and he also removed his number,” she said. “Secondly, they think it’s part of the show.”

My brows shot up. “Seriously?”

“Yup. The Wilder viewersandthe dark web viewers seem to think the Patriarchs arranged this to make things more interesting and different from every other year. They’re already placing bets on who the mystery hunter is.”

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “That’ll buy Rhett a bit more time out there.”

“Yes. But the Patriarchs will hear about this any minute now, andtheyall know this wasn’t planned.”

“What do you think will happen then?”

Nikki’s brows furrowed. “They’ll have an emergency meeting to discuss it between themselves. Then they’ll either call all hunters to return to the Lodge until they’ve figured this shit out… or they’ll send people out to capture the ‘mystery hunter’. Aka Rhett.”

“How long do you think that’ll take?”

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