Page 51 of His Kidnapped Irish Mafia Virgin

“Stay away from us,” I whispered.

Victor’s expression didn’t change. He stepped forward slowly, the gun steady in his hand. “You should have come home sooner,” he said.

Panic exploded inside me. I tried to drag my mother backward, to create even a few inches of distance between us and him, but my body was exhausted from carrying her. My arms trembled beneath her weight, and my legs refused to move fast enough. He raised the gun.

“No!” I screamed. The shot shattered the silence. Pain exploded through my arm, white-hot and blinding, like fire had been driven straight through my flesh. The force knocked me sideways, my mother from my grip and sending me crashing against the floor. I heard myself cry out, but the sound seemed distant, muffled beneath the ringing in my ears.

The room spun violently around me. The walls tilted. The ceiling blurred into streaks of gray and black. I tried to reach for my mother, but my injured arm wouldn’t obey me. Blood spread across my sleeve, warm and terrifying.

Victor’s boots moved closer. I lifted my head just enough to see him standing over me, his face calm and almost satisfied, as though this wasn’t violence at all but the inevitable ending he’d planned from the beginning.

The edges of the room dissolved into darkness and the last thing I saw was Victor Hale’s smile as the world finally slipped away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Liam

The car slowed as we turned onto the narrow street, and unease settled deeper in my chest with every passing second. Diggs had given me the address only minutes earlier, pulled from the few pieces of Nora’s past we could trace before the trail went cold, and I hadn’t questioned it. I’d simply driven faster.

The house stood at the end of the street, half-hidden behind an overgrown hedge, its porch swallowed by shadows. Even from the road, something about it felt wrong. I killed the engine before the car had fully stopped.

“Stay sharp,” I said as I stepped out into the cold night air.

Diggs, Paddy, and Michael moved behind me, their footsteps quiet against the cracked pavement. I barely noticed them. My eyes were fixed on the house, on the dark windows, on the front door hanging slightly open, like someone had left in a hurry.

The thought struck me with such force that I had to clench my fists to keep moving. I crossed the yard quickly, the grass brushing against my boots, and reached the porch in seconds. The door creaked when I pushed it wider, revealing a hallway swallowed by dimness and stale air.

I stepped inside. The silence hit me first, and my instincts sharpened immediately. I scanned the hallway, the kitchen, and the living room beyond, taking in every detail with ruthless focus.

A chair lay overturned near the dining table. Broken glass glittered beneath the weak light. One of the cupboards hung open, its contents scattered across the counter. I moved deeper into the house, my pulse pounding steadily in my ears.

“Nora,” I called, but my voice sounded distant, swallowed by the emptiness around me.

There was no answer. Paddy appeared at my side, his expression grim as he surveyed the room. “Looks like someone left in a hurry.”

I stepped into the living room, and my gaze dropped to the floor.

There was fresh blood. Fresh enough that it hadn’t yet darkened completely, bright against the worn wood. For a moment, the world narrowed to that single sight. My chest stiffened so violently that I could barely breathe. I forced myself to kneel beside it and touch the edge of the stain with two fingers.

The blood loss wasn’t enough to kill someone, but it was enough to tell me that Nora had been here and that she’d been hurt. I rose slowly, every muscle in my body shaking with fury.

That fucking bastard had reached her before I did.

The sight of the blood shattered the last of my restraint. The fury that had been simmering inside me since she disappeared rose violently, sharp enough to make my hands tremble. Victor Hale had hurt her. The thought burned through me like fire.

I wanted to tear the house apart. I wanted to hunt him down immediately, to find him before another second passed, and make him pay for every moment of fear he’d forced Nora to carry. But rage wouldn’t help her now. Rage would only make me reckless, and recklessness could cost Nora her life. I forced myself to kneel beside the blood again.

“Nora,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

Diggs stepped into the room behind me, followed by Michael. They saw the blood and stopped immediately, the silence between us thick with understanding.

“Liam,” Paddy said carefully. I stood before he could say anything else.

“Secure the house,” I ordered, my voice low and controlled despite the storm raging inside me. “No one touches anything until we know exactly what happened here.”

The three men moved at once, but I wasn’t finished.

“Diggs, collect every possible clue. I want fingerprints, footprints, blood spatter, and anything else that tells us how many people were here and where they went.”