Chapter 84
Kane’s POV
I snarled under my breath, pacing the far end of the lavish suite like a caged animal.
The walls reeked of nothing more than desperation his desperation.
There were marks on the floor where furniture had been dragged, overturned chairs, shattered glass littering the carpet like a warning:
You got close… but not close enough.
But he didn’t just vanish!
He couldn’t have?
We hit every damn entrance to prevent that from happening!
I stalked toward the center of the room and turned sharply. “SETH!” I bellowed for him, the force of it shaking dirt from the ceiling beams.
He appeared seconds later, descending the steps two at a time. “What is it? What’s happened?!”
“He’s gone, he’s not in here!” I hissed, nostrils flaring. “But there’s no way he could’ve got out that easy! He certainly didn’t just walk right out the front door
we locked this place down. There has to be a hidden passage. Something in here!”
—
Seth glanced at the opulence around us, lips curling with disgust. “Do we honestly think this bastard would build a place like this and stay in a room that he
could wind up trapped in?”
‘Exactly. So let’s start tearing it apart!” I grit out, as Kion and Viktor nod and make a move – instructing the others in Russian to help us.
Seth and I instantly moved through to the back half of the suite where a bedroom sat behind thick mahogany doors.
As soon as we stepped in, the smell hit us, practically halting us both at the door – the pair of us taking a second to adjust.
A vile combination of sweat, smoke, and something darker
A fermented mixture of each…
–
something rotten and wrong. Blood? Bodily fluids? Urine?
The stench clung to the walls like a curse on this place as I had to fight back the urge to vomit.
“Ugh…” Seth gagged loudly, lifting the edge of his shirt to his nose. “What the fuck did he do in here?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t bear to even imagine it.
The thought of Tessa coming close to being brought in here was enough to send me spiralling…
My throat had closed up from the sheer evil that seemed to linger in the air. My eyes scanned the room begging to be washed.
“He was in a rush,” Seth stated the obvious, knocking the walls to check for a false one
– a way out.
the unmade bed, sheets stained and silently
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Chapter 84
I stepped closer to the bed, eyes narrowing
Something just felt… off
“He’s not anywhere in here! Kion’s voice called loudly from the other room evidently impatient.
Within seconds, he stormed into the suite, frustration burning like wildfire in his stride. “We are wasting time here, Kane. We have to get back outside in order to track him before it’s too late! If he had a secret way out, then he is already long gone and we won’t be able to find him!”
I turned to him, ready to argue
to refuse that truth until something caught my eye.
A large ripple.
A bump in the rug beneath the bed.
I crouched low, heart hammering, and leaned closer. The bed was massive, a heavy iron frame. But the rug beneath it was uneven… and wrinkled at one edge, like it had been disturbed.
Then the thought hit me like a jolt to the chest.
“The bed!” I barked. “MOVE IT. QUICK!”
Kion didn’t hesitate, wide eyed as he shouted the command in Russian, before his men rushed in to join us.
Without questions, we dropped to our knees and gripped the bedframe with heavy hands.
With a grunt, we all heaved – muscles straining, boots scraping on the stone floor.
The entire frame groaned and screeched as it was dragged away from its resting place.
And there it was, as soon as I peeled the fabric back…
Beneath the rug, a rectangular outline. Dust–covered and bolted tight with metal rings set into the floor.
A hidden hatch.
A fucking escape hatch.
I felt the blood in my veins ignite like wildfire. “He knew we were coming for him,” I growled, staring down at the iron trapdoor as if I could burn through it
with rage alone.
‘He’s down there somewhere,” Seth said quietly, stepping beside me. ‘Or he was. Either way, we’re going after him. We can catch him!”
“No more waiting,” I muttered, voice dark with fury. “We end this. Now!”
I grabbed one of the metal rings and yanked it back hard.
The hatch creaked like it hadn’t been touched in years cracked open was almost worse than the bedroom.
rust flaking off in chunks, hinges groaning in protest. The stench that wafted up as the door
Almost…
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7:23 pm P PPм.
Chapter 84
Damp, sour, metallic. Like mold and death had been festering down there together for centuries.
F**king hell! Does this dude have any hygiene standards?! Seth complains once again, coughing for effect.
I stared down at the ladder leading in to a tunnel.
Pitch black, Narrow, Sloped.
“He really did build his own fucking escape route,‘ I muttered, peering into the void. Like a goddamn rat hole for himself.”
I glanced back at Kion and Viktor, and then back down at the darkness again.
“Get your headlights on,” I ordered. “And stay sharp. If he knew this would be his last card, there’ll probably be traps. And if not traps… ambush.”
Kion gave a short nod and lifted a compact torch from his belt, flicking it on with a click that echoed against the cold stone walls.
I was the first one in.
The old ladder shrieked under my weight, but it held.
I dropped down, boots landing hard on the floor below-
stone and dirt, damp from leaking pipes that ran overhead in twisted patterns as I looked around.
The walls were close together, barely wide enough for two to stand shoulder–to–shoulder.
Seth and Kion came down next, followed by Viktor and two more of Kion’s men.
I swept my beam across the narrow corridor. The tunnel stretched ahead of us in a straight, grim line others lined with crumbling bricks.
reinforced in some sections with wooden supports,
“Fan out in a staggered line,” I ordered. “Nobody gets ahead more than five paces. We go together. I announced, receiving an array of nods before I took a step to lead the way – Seth at my back.
Boots squelched on the wet ground, every footstep echoing in the air behind us like something alive was mimicking us from down here…
After minutes of walking, the tunnel began to split ahead
in old iron.
one path turning sharp left, the other descending even deeper through a narrow passage framed
Seth closed his eyes and sniffed the air before he gestured with his chin. “That way. I’m picking up mild scents amongst the other shit smells down here.” He said with a grumble, certain of himself, and I didn’t question it for a second.
Seth was one of the best trackers I knew, my right hand man for a reason… the only one I would trust with my life.
And so we all turned right.
As my fists clenched in anticipation, hoping we could close in on him before it was too late.
If we lose him tonight, he could flee to anywhere in Russia, and it would take years to track him down again.
We couldn’t let this whole operation go to waste.
Not now!
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7:23 pm P P P M
Chapter 84
Not when I could practically taste the vengeance on the tip of my tongue…
I’ll catch him for Tessa, if it’s the last damn thing I do!
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My Human
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
