Page 56 of His Kidnapped Irish Mafia Virgin

The words sent a shock through me. Whoever had entered the building was searching for Victor.

A door was kicked open somewhere nearby, and the crash made me jump. The gunfire came again, closer than before, controlled and precise, nothing like the wild panic of Victor’s men. I heard footsteps rushing past my door, then stopping suddenly.

For one terrible second, I thought the handle would turn and Victor would drag me away.

But the footsteps moved on. The shouting grew louder. The building trembled again, and somewhere below me glass shattered across the floor. I closed my eyes and held my breath, listening to the chaos closing in on me from every direction.

The fear that had been crushing me since I woke up in this place began to change into something sharper, something painful and impossible to ignore.

The gunfire grew louder, echoing through the building in sharp, terrifying bursts that made the walls tremble around me. I stayed close to the door, my good hand pressed against the cold metal while my injured arm throbbed with every heartbeat. The pain was constant, but I barely noticed it now. Every sound outside the room held my full attention.

“Get him out of here!” someone yelled.

“Hold the stairwell!” another voice shouted back.

The words were followed by a series of rapid gunshots, then the heavy crash of something large falling to the floor. The footsteps outside my door stopped.

My breath caught in my throat. For a second, the hallway went unnaturally quiet, as if everyone on the other side was holding their breath, too. I stared at the handle, waiting for it to turn, but nothing happened. Then a new voice cut through the silence.

“Clear the rooms!” The command was deep, controlled, and familiar enough to make my chest tighten painfully. I pressed my ear harder against the door, afraid to breathe.

More footsteps rushed down the hallway, moving with purpose instead of panic. Doors were kicked open one after another, and men shouted brief reports.

“Empty! Clear! Move to the next one!”

My heart pounded so hard that I thought it might burst from my chest.

The voice came again, closer this time. “Find Victor Hale. Don’t let him leave this building.”

I knew that voice. Even through the chaos, even through the fear and the ringing in my ears, I knew it.

Liam.

The realization hit me with such force that my knees nearly gave out beneath me. I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from crying out, tears burning suddenly behind my eyes.

Liam had found me. He was here. The fear that had been suffocating me all night collided with a painful surge of relief, so strong that it almost hurt more than my injured arm. I’d spent hours believing I was alone, believing Victor Hale had finally won, and now Liam’s voice was only a few feet away.

But then a gunshot exploded directly outside my door. I jumped back as someone slammed against the wall in the hallway, followed by a curse.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Liam

I moved through the building with my gun raised, the sound of boots and gunfire echoing around me. Paddy and the rest of my men followed close behind me, as the assault had already begun before we reached the front entrance. Every second inside the building felt like a race against the darkness that was swallowing Nora somewhere ahead of us.

“Clear the left corridor,” I ordered.

Paddy signaled to two men, and they disappeared into the hallway without hesitation. A door slammed open somewhere nearby, followed by a short burst of gunfire that ended as quickly as it began.

“Left corridor secure,” one of the men shouted.

I didn’t slow down. We pushed deeper into the building, room by room, corridor by corridor. Diggs kicked open the next door, and Michael swept the room with his weapon before nodding once.

“Clear.”

The word barely registered in my mind. I didn’t care about clearing empty rooms. Nothing mattered except Nora. I ignored the bodies of Victor Hale’s men, the overturned furniture, and the smoke drifting through the air. I ignored the pain in my chest, the fear clawing at my throat, and the fury burning beneath my skin. I focused on the only thing that mattered to me—finding her.

“Check every locked room,” I said. “No one leaves this building without my order.”