Page 98 of Hunter

“I don’t have time, Andrei,” I snap, scanning the room for my keys. My frustration mounts when I don’t see them. Groaning, I pat my pockets. Nothing.

“Sophia, please,” he pleads, panic creeping into his tone. “What is going on? I’ve been calling Maxim for almost an hour with no answer. Luca isn’t picking up either, and now you’re telling me you’ve got my wife locked in a closet?”

Finally, I spot my keys on the desk and snatch them up. Relief floods through me, but it’s fleeting. “I need to go,” I say, already heading out the door.

“Sophia!” he shouts.

I pause, my hand hovering over the car door handle. My chest feels tight, and I inhale deeply, trying to steady my racing heart. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on,” I admit as I climb into the car, throwing my purse onto the passenger seat.

I copy the address from Jenny’s text into my GPS and back out of the parking space, pressing the gas pedal hard.

“All I know,” I continue, gripping the steering wheel, “is that Jenny’s been blackmailing Elena for a while. Somehow, she managed to capture Maxim.”

“And you’re on your way to where she’s keeping him?”

“Yes.”

“You know this is a trap, right?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course, I know it’s a trap. I’m not an idiot.”

“Please be careful,” Andrei says, his voice softening. He sounds torn—unsure whether to come for me or go to Elena.

“Your brother taught me well, Andrei. Trust that I’ve got this,” I say, trying to sound braver than I feel. “Go get your wife. You two have a lot to unpack.”

I turn onto a dark, empty street, the road illuminated only by my headlights. “I’ll be okay,” I add, though I’m mostly trying to convince myself.

“Send me the address,” Andrei says. “I’ll head your way as soon as I can.”

“Okay.”

Before he can say anything else, I hang up. My phone buzzes almost immediately with a message from him, but I ignore it, keeping my focus on the road.

I chuckle humorlessly. How the tables have turned. Maxim is now the damsel in distress. If we make it out of this alive, I’ll never let him live it down.

FORTY

SOPHIA

“You’ll arrive at your destination in two hundred feet,” my GPS announces, its robotic voice jarring against the tense silence in the car.

I ease off the gas, leaning forward to get a better view of what’s ahead. The headlights illuminate an abandoned motel, its overgrown hedges and withered plants clawing at the crumbling façade. Dead trees stand like skeletons in the darkness. My limbs begin to shake as I drive past a flickering VACANCY sign, the letters barely clinging to life. This place is a horror movie come to life.

Only one light glows, casting eerie shadows against the endless dark. My stomach churns. Why would Jenny choose this place?

The answer is immediate, an unwelcome whisper in the back of my mind:

It’s secluded.

I pull into a spot in front of a door I assume leads to the lobby. Shifting the car into park, I grip the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles whitening. My chest tightens as I stare into the black void ahead, my courage evaporating with every passing second. The weight of Elena’s revelations crashes down on me. Ican’t breathe. My breaths come fast and shallow, panic clawing at my chest.

What the hell was I thinking?

I let my anger and desperation lead me here, and now, I’m on the brink of walking straight into God knows what. I’m not a ruthless, fearless psychopath like Maxim. I know what fear is. I am drowning in it.

I press my forehead against the steering wheel, trying to force the shaking in my hands to stop. But my mind spirals further.

This is insane. I’m insane.

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