Page 80 of Hunter

The app takes a second to load, but then I’m in. A slow smile spreads across my face as I see the familiar grid of footage from around my house. I exhale, my shoulders sagging in relief. This is the break I’ve been needing. All I need now are the dates.

I lift my head to ask Luca for them but end up slamming my forehead into something hard. A jolt of pain shoots through my skull, and tears prick at the back of my eyes. I stand up too quickly, knocking the chair over as I clutch my head, breathing through my nose until the ache starts to dull.

“What happened?” Sophia asks, her voice filled with panic.

I blink rapidly, trying to figure out what just happened. What the hell did I hit myself with? I’m not surrounded by anything that should have caused this. Blinking away the moisture in my eyes, I open them, expecting to see the cause of my injury, but no. The first thing I see is Sophia, hunched over, hand on her belly, her shoulders shaking as she silently laughs. And Luca—standing there, holding a blood-soaked paper to his nose. Well, at least now I know what hit my head. He fucking deserved it.

Luca points at me with his free hand, narrowing his eyes. “You broke my nose with that cement block you call a head.” His voice is muffled and nasally, making Sophia laugh even harder.

He turns his glare to her.

I point to myself, speaking before he can drag her into this. “Me? Me? I didn’t do shit to you. You did that to yourself.”

Luca looks at me, confused. “How the fuck did I do this to myself?”

“It’s not like I got up from the chair, walked over to you, and headbutted you for no reason.”

Sophia laughs, trying to hold it back as she heads toward the kitchen. “He got you there, Luca.”

“Why the hell were you hovering over me like a fucking creeper?” I ask, still trying to shake off the lingering frustration.

Luca removes the paper from his face and inspects his nose in the mirror on the hallway wall. After a few seconds, he seems satisfied nothing’s broken as the blood slows down. He walks toward us, and Sophia hands him a bag of ice wrapped in a small towel. He says thanks and presses it to his nose, then looks at me.

“You looked like you were having a damn breakdown,” he says, his voice dripping with mockery. “I wanted to know what you found that made you look like you needed to take a shit.”

I huff an annoyed breath. Why the hell does he always turn everything into a fucking joke? It’s irritating. How the hell doeshis wife deal with him? I roll my eyes and open my mouth to ask why he didn’t try to get my attention another way, maybe by, I don’t know, calling my fucking name instead of lurking like a creep.

Before I can speak, he answers the question I hadn’t even asked. “I tried calling you a bunch of times, but you were so focused, you didn’t hear me.” I know that’s exactly what happened, but it’s funny how he never considered the possibility that I might have been ignoring him.

“What did you find?” Sophia asks, her voice pinched with a hint of worry. She shakes her head slightly, a silent plea in her eyes. She doesn’t want us to go off track again. We’ve been distracted too many times tonight.

She’s right. If Luca and I keep this up, we’ll never get anything done. “I forgot a while back that I had cameras installed in all the blind spots around the house.” Both Luca and Sophia snap their heads toward me.

“How the fuck could you forget something that important?” Luca scoffs, narrowing his eyes. Judgment is written all over his face.

I narrow my eyes right back at him, my fists clenching at my sides. How dare he judge me? Until a few years ago, all Luca worried about was what car to drive and what woman to fuck. “Unlike you,” I snarl, “I’ve had a lot on my plate since I took over this business from my father at eighteen.”

Luca stands straighter, his shoulders square, challenging me with a look.

“Please tell me some good news. Is one of those cameras positioned so we can see who’s been going in and out of Andrei’s office?” Sophia asks, her voice a mix of hope and exhaustion.

“Yes.” My eyes stay locked on Luca, refusing to look away.

Sophia sighs. “Can we check the footage now, or are you two still sizing each other up? If you’re not done, I’ll go grab two rulers.”

A grin spreads across my face, and I let out a chuckle. Leave it to Sophia to defuse the tension with a well-aimed jab.

Luca turns to her, his expression softening into a goofy smile, his eyes filled with something I can’t quite read. Sophia shifts uncomfortably under his stare, quickly averting her eyes. The corner of Luca’s mouth trembles, and for a moment, the room feels heavy with unspoken things.

“Let’s not hurt his feelings even more by bringing out a ruler, Sophia,” Luca jokes, though the disappointment in his voice is impossible to miss.

Sophia’s response is swift, her lips quirking into a smirk. “There wouldn’t be much competition, Luca.” She raises an eyebrow and makes a tiny gesture with her thumb and index finger.

My jaw drops. “Did she just—” The laughter bubbles up before I can stop it.

Luca’s eyes widen, his whole body tensing in shock before he bursts out laughing. Sophia follows, and soon, the three of us are caught in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

It’s not clear how much time passes before Andrei strides in, looking freshly showered and annoyingly well-rested, a coffee cup holder in one hand and a white bag in the other.

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