Chapter 7 Hunter
HUNTER
Kevin’s blood still stains my hands as I slam the car door shut. The warehouse raid was a complete failure—empty cells, wasted time, and Aurora still gone.
“Where to now?” Penn asks from the driver’s seat, his voice steady despite the firefight we just escaped.
I stare at my bloodied knuckles. Kevin’s final gurgle replays in my mind—the look of shock when I drove my knife into his throat, twisting it as payment for his betrayal. I don’t regret killing him. My only regret is that his death didn’t bring me closer to finding Aurora.
“Take us to the secondary location,” I command, wiping Kevin’s blood on my pants. “We need to regroup.”
The convoy of black SUVs peels away from the river property, headlights cutting through the night. Ari’s voice crackles through the comms, confirming that Grayson and Blaze successfully escaped with minimal casualties. Two of our men are dead.
“We need better intelligence,” I say. “Kevin played us. Jax knew we were coming.”
“We’ll find her,” Penn says, eyes on the road.
“I know we will.” There’s no doubt in my mind. I will tear this city apart brick by brick if necessary.
I check my phone—nothing from Jax. This silence is calculated. Jax wants me to stew, to make mistakes in my desperation.
I won’t give him the satisfaction.
“Contact our assets in traffic control,” I tell Penn. “I want footage from every camera within ten miles of the masquerade. Facial recognition on Jax’s known associates. Track all vehicles leaving the area.”
My mind races through Jax’s properties, his connections, his habits. I’ve known the man for years, yet he’s maintained secrets even from me. A critical error on my part—one that Aurora is now paying for.
“And Kevin’s body?” Penn asks.
“Drop it at Jax’s downtown apartment. Make it messy. Send a message.”
Every minute that passes is another minute Aurora is in danger. The thought of her with Jax makes my blood boil. The man has no boundaries, no code beyond his own paranoid self-preservation.
I check my weapon and reload it. “When we find him, Jax is mine.”
Once we get to our secondary location, Grayson clears his throat. “Our intel was compromised.” He unfolds a map marked with red dots across the city. “Jax has been operating parallel facilities unknown to the main Viper network for at least three years.”
I lean forward, scanning the locations. Seven potential sites where Aurora could be held captive.
“How reliable is this information?” I demand.
“Very.” Grayson slides a tablet toward me. “I’ve maintained my own surveillance on Jax since he executed Marcus. These properties were purchased through shell companies, but the energy consumption patterns match secure holding facilities.”
Penn points to three locations in the industrial district. “These are most likely. Underground access, minimal civilian exposure, reinforced structures.”
“We’ll hit them all,” I say, my voice a steel edge. “Simultaneously.”
“We don’t have the manpower,” Blaze counters. “Jax’s forces outnumber ours.”
“Then we have to move fast between them.” I look up, meeting their eyes one by one. “I won’t force any of you to follow me into this. Jax will hunt down anyone who stands against him.”
The room falls silent. These men are calculating odds, weighing their survival against their loyalty.
Ari speaks first. “I’m in, whatever it takes.”
“I’m with you,” Grayson states.
Blaze nods once, decisive. “We helped him build The Vipers. I didn’t build this to bow to a paranoid tyrant.”
Penn doesn’t even bother with words. He simply checks his weapon and raises an eyebrow at me.
“We’ll need to move quickly,” I say. “Jax will be expecting us to hit the most obvious locations first.”
“So, we do the unexpected,” Grayson suggests.
Seven locations. Four loyal brothers-in-arms. And somewhere, Aurora waits.
I stare at the map spread across the table, each red dot representing a lifetime of careful planning, strategic alliances, and calculated violence. The Vipers—my creation as much as Jax’s—a shadow empire that took fifteen years to build.
Everything I’ve worked for is about to burn.
When this war ends, the Vipers will collapse. Political allies will distance themselves. Business partners will vanish. The carefully constructed web of influence we’ve woven across this city will unravel thread by bloody thread.
My empire is about to fall, and the strangest thing is that I don’t give a damn.
“Hunter?” Grayson’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “Are you with us?”
I look up at the men watching me, men who’ve been by my side for years, who are now risking their lives because I fell for a woman I was never supposed to want.
“I’m here.”
A single image burns in my mind: Aurora, her blue eyes flashing with defiance even as she surrendered to me. Aurora, who saw the monster behind my mask and didn’t run. Who challenged me when others would cower.
Two weeks ago, I would have killed anyone who threatened what I’d built. I would have eliminated any vulnerability without hesitation.
Now I’m dismantling it all for her.
“You understand what this means,” Blaze says quietly. “After tonight, there’s no Vipers anymore. Not as we knew it.”
I nod, feeling an unexpected lightness. “I know.”
My phone vibrates with an incoming message from one of our surveillance teams. Another dead end. I clench my jaw but feel no panic, only cold, focused determination.
When did she become my entire world? Was it on that cliff edge, rain soaking her hair? In my office, her face flushed with desire and shame? Or against that oak tree, when she fought me and then surrendered so completely?
I don’t know exactly when Aurora Harrison rewired my priorities, my very existence. But she did.
“Tell the teams to prep for the raids,” I order, already moving toward the door. “We leave in twenty.”
I’ll tear down everything I’ve built with my bare hands if that’s what it takes to get her back. And I won’t regret a single brick.