Page 119 of Haunted

Worse than nothing. I’d have a shell of the woman who changed everything, going through the motions while her soul retreats somewhere I can never follow.

“Say something,” I whisper, hating how desperate I sound. “Anything.”

She opens her mouth and closes it again. Her hands shake where they grip the edge of my desk, and I want to cover them with mine to offer comfort. But I don’t dare move, don’t dare risk pushing her further away when she’s already teetering on the edge of running.

“I need...” she starts, then stops, swallowing hard. “I need time to think, but promise me one thing.”

“Anything,” I say, the word surprising even me with its sincerity.

Her eyes lift to mine, swimming with emotion. “Check on Cora. I need to know she’s okay.”

The request catches me off guard. Of all the things she could have asked, this is what matters most to her right now.

“The Hunt has rules, Mira. The claiming period?—”

“Fuck the rules,” she interrupts, her voice sharp with desperation. “Fuck the contracts, fuck the Hunt. This is Cora we’re talking about.”

I study her face, seeing the genuine anguish there. “You really care about her.”

“She’s like my sister,” Mira says, her voice breaking. “We’ve been through everything together.”

She pushes herself away from my desk, pacing the room like a caged animal. “And now she’s being used by three men who want to destroy her father. Three men who are humiliating her, breaking her down piece by piece.”

She stops suddenly, turning to face me with eyes that burn through my carefully constructed walls. “Did you know? Did you know what they planned to do to her when you gave her that invitation?”

I could lie. But looking at Mira’s face—at the raw pain etched into every line—I know the truth is the only option.

“I knew Dominic wanted her there,” I admit quietly. “After you asked me about getting her an invitation, he overheard our conversation. He approached me later, specifically requesting I ensure she was included.”

Her face pales. “And you agreed? Just like that?”

“Not initially,” I say, the memory of that conversation clear in my mind. “But then Cora came storming into my office, making demands. After that, with Dominic’s persuasion...”

“You gave in,” she finishes, her voice hollow.

“I assumed he wanted revenge on her father,” I continue, needing her to understand the full picture. “Mayor Pike has been a thorn in Dominic’s side for years, blocking his development projects, publicly criticizing his business practices. But Dominic never confirmed his exact intentions, and I didn’t press for details.”

“You didn’t need to,” Mira says bitterly. “You knew enough.”

I run a hand through my hair, frustration building. “I didn’t know Ryder and Liam would be involved. I didn’t know they’d planned a coordinated attack. The Hunt usually involves one hunter claiming one prey—multiple men focusing on a single woman is... unusual.”

“Does that make it better?” she challenges, tears threatening to spill. “That you only thought one man was going to use her as a weapon against her father?”

The accusation stings because she’s right. I facilitated this, whether I knew the specifics or not.

“No,” I admit. “It doesn’t make it better.”

Mira sinks into the chair across from my desk, her shoulders slumping with the weight of everything she’slearned. “All this time, I’ve been struggling with what you told me about your criminal activities. The drugs, the violence, the corruption. I’ve been trying to reconcile loving you with what you do.”

She looks up at me, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “But this? Knowing you helped orchestrate what’s happening to Cora? I don’t know if I can forgive that.”

The words hit harder than I expected. I’ve never cared about forgiveness before—never needed it, never wanted it. But hearing Mira say she might not be able to forgive me creates a hollow ache in my chest I don’t recognize.

“I didn’t know you then,” I say, the excuse sounding pathetic even to my ears. “I didn’t know how close you were to Cora. I didn’t know I would...” I trail off, the words sticking in my throat.

“You didn’t know you would what?” Mira challenges, her gaze unwavering.

“I didn’t know I would fall in love with you,” I confess, the admission tearing from somewhere deep inside me. “I didn’t know you would become more important than business, more important than the Hunt, more important than the fucking empire I’ve spent my life building.”