Free Web NovelChapter 92: Hunter Becomes Prey
At 1:00 AM, the mansion was completely silent. Salvatore was still sitting in his office behind the desk. The empty wooden box that had once held his parents’ photograph still sat in the corner, a stark reminder of the betrayal that had occurred within his own walls.
"Bring him in," Salvatore said to the empty room.
The door opened, and Roderick stepped inside, guiding Teo in slowly.
The boy had stopped crying, but his eyes were bloodshot and he wouldn’t look up from the floor. Roderick stayed near the door, his arms crossed and his face serious.
Teo stopped three feet from the desk. He was trembling violently and looked terrified.
Salvatore leaned forward, resting his forearms on the wood.
"Do you understand what you did, Teo?" His voice was calm.
Teo swallowed hard, his voice trembling. "Yes... I’m so sorry..."
"You lied to me," Salvatore said, his dark gray eyes fixed on the boy’s face. "You helped a traitor and framed someone who did nothing wrong. Milo was kind to you, right? You saw him every day, you played with him, and then you handed him over to a monster because Felix gave you an order."
Teo’s eyes filled with fresh tears. "I’m sorry! Salvatore, please, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!"
"Sorry doesn’t fix anything. I’ve told you clearly, I hate liars," Salvatore said, his tone entirely unyielding. "You aren’t a toddler anymore. You know your actions have consequences. You chose to side with a traitor. You completely broke my trust."
Teo kept crying.
Salvatore looked at Roderick. "Rod, take him with you. I don’t want to see him."
Though he was angry, he still cared for the boy. He needed to make sure Teo was safe and that he continued studying. freewebnσvel.cѳm
"Give him something to do. He’ll help with the yard work."
Teo dropped to his knees, his hands gripping the edge of the desk. "No! Salvatore, please don’t send me away! I don’t want to leave you! Please, let me stay, I’ll apologize to Milo! I’ll do anything!"
Salvatore didn’t move. He looked down at the boy with deep, profound disappointment. "I’ll see if you can actually change. But right now, you’re a rotten apple in this house. You betrayed my trust, and in our world, that usually comes with a bullet. Be grateful you’re only leaving the property. You have to earn your place back with me. Take him out, Rod." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
"Okay, come on, boy, we’re leaving now. It’s time for you to sleep." Roderick picked the boy up around the waist.
"No! Roderick, I don’t want to go!" Teo cried and screamed, kicking his legs as he was carried out of the office, his desperate apologies fading down the long corridor until the doors finally slammed shut.
Salvatore sighed wearily. He walked quickly back to Milo’s room. He spent the night sleeping there.
The next morning, the sun rose beautifully, but the tension inside the mansion had not dissipated.
The guards were talking about Ramon and Milo, but they didn’t dare judge Salvatore. They went about their exercises as usual.
Felix had just left the hospital. A painful twinge lingered in his jaw. Then his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Roderick’s name on the screen. He answered immediately.
"Roderick, I’m out," Felix said, his voice still unclear. "Is Salvatore there? I want to apologize, "
"Don’t come back to the mansion," Roderick’s voice cut through the line, cold and direct.
Felix stopped in his tracks, his brow furrowing. "What do you mean? I need to talk to Salvatore."
"If Salvatore sees your face today, he’ll put a bullet through your head before you can even step inside," Roderick said flatly. "Milo was kidnapped by the Hartleys yesterday because of your tip. Salvatore slaughtered their entire basement guard detail to get him back."
Felix’s breath caught in his throat. His face drained of color. "Milo... where is he?"
"He’s in his room," Roderick said. "Salvatore wiped out the Hartley alliance entirely. There’s no point in keeping them on our side anymore. If you have any sense left in your brain, you’ll never come here. I’m calling you as an old colleague, Felix. Do not let Salvatore find you."
The call went dead. Felix’s hands shook so badly he almost dropped his phone. The reality of his failure hit him like a physical blow. He had lost Salvatore’s trust, he had lost his position, and now he was a marked man.
Milo... Had Salvatore saved him?
Felix scrolled through the news on his phone. The headline "Hartley Mansion Caught in Fire and Burned Down Overnight" dominated the news.
His trembling hands scrolled through the article.
Salvatore had been dead serious.
He needed a safe place to hide and formulate a plan. He hailed a cab and gave the driver the address of Alben’s private townhouse on the north side of the city.
Alben was always neutral, and he was the only person who might be able to mediate with Salvatore.
Twenty minutes later, Felix hurried up the steps of Alben’s modern brick house, which sat far away from everything.
He didn’t bother knocking. He used to come there all the time.
"Alben!" Felix called out, his voice laced with panic as he stepped into the living room. "Ben, you need to help me, Salvatore is going to kill—"
Felix froze mid-sentence.
His jaw dropped.
Sitting on the designer leather sofa was Alben, dressed in a silk robe, casually holding a phone to his ear with one hand and a glass of juice in the other.
But that wasn’t what made Felix’s heart stop.
Lying on the floor in the center of the room, completely naked, bound in heavy silver chains, and covered in dark purple bruises and dried blood, was... Nero.
Nero Hartley!
His face was completely ruined, his nose shattered, and his eyes swollen shut. He looked like a piece of meat discarded on the rug.
Felix gasped.
Alben glanced up at Felix, completely unfazed by his sudden entrance. He spoke into the phone with his usual playful, lazy drawl. "Yeah, Sal. Joe did a clean job with the guards, but I kept the main prize here at my place. You can’t take him away. I like him. He’s completely quiet. Yeah... I’ll wait for your order before I cut off the rest of his fingers."
Alben clicked the phone shut, set his glass down, and looked at Felix with a sharp, mocking smirk. "Well, look who finally decided to join the party. You’re just in time, Felix. We were just discussing what to do with the traitors."
Felix gulped. "What?"
