Page 47 of High Reward

“Do we have any clue where he took her?”

Owen glances in the rearview mirror. “No, sir. Software is scrubbing footage for the SUV or signs that they switched vehicles, but we just started that.”[

“Let me drive,” Hunter says. “You watch the footage, and I’ll drive. In fact, drive around to the front. Aurora is parked there. We’ll take her.”

“I can drive,” I insist.

Owen snorts and makes a left instead of exiting the hospital parking lot. “You just shattered a two-thousand-dollar tablet. You’re not in any condition to drive. Especially not my car.”

“Who the fuck is Aurora?” I ask as Owen stops the car.

Hunter points out the window at a pink sports car. “That is Aurora.”

I forget that many of the vehicles in Hunter’s exotic car collection are named for Disney princesses. It’s pointless to argue, so I follow Owen’s lead and get out of the car.

When we are settled with me in the back seat, and Owen in the front passenger seat of the ridiculously pink car scrolling through video footage, Hunter peels out of the parking lot in the direction of the mayor’s office.

“How can we be sure the mayor is in?” I ask.

“I’m sure,” Hunter says, flicking his gaze to the rear-view mirror.

My phone buzzes. It’s a picture of Grace in front of her laptop, cleavage on full display.

I feel like an ass for keeping this and everything else from her. My chances of forgiveness are stronger if I bring Lili home with me, though, so I tuck the phone away and focus on that goal.

At city hall, we walk in with Hunter in the lead, and people immediately jump to pay attention. He’s caused quite a stir in the last few days since his wife was shot, and half the office is pissed at him, and the other half is terrified. I’m hoping the mayor is on the second list, but I doubt it if what Lili has told me about the woman is to be believed.

“The mayor is in a meeting and won’t be free for several hours,” a receptionist tells Hunter after several minutes on the phone.

“Bullshit,” Hunter says in an icy tone. “Tell her if she doesn’t want me holding a press conference on the steps of City Hall announcing my own candidacy for mayor, she’ll cut that meeting short and take mine.”

“I’ll relay your message, Mr. Novak,” the staffer says primly.

We stand behind him, and it takes all I have not to snatch the phone from the receptionist to give the mayor a piece of my mind. But this is not a place for me to lose my head. I have to think about Lili and keeping her safe.

“Mr. Novak, I am a busy woman, and despite your egotistical beliefs, the world doesn’t come to a screeching halt when you snap your fingers.”

The mayor steps out of her office as she’s speaking and comes to stand behind the receptionist who now looks like she might pass out at any moment.

“Perhaps I can’t stop the earth’s rotation, but the people on earth stop when I snap if they know what’s good for them,” Hunter retorts.

“Is your office this way? My colleagues and I have a few things to discuss with you.”

“You wouldn’t really run for mayor, would you?” Mayor Brandt asks as we stride past her through the door she just came out of.

Hunter turns and smiles. “Not likely. It wouldn’t make my wife happy. But I would throw every resource I have behind an opponent of my choosing. And unless I like what I hear today, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing. I already have a candidate in mind.”

Her face goes pale. Some people really do need power and influence to live. It’s always baffled me. Then again, I’ve always had a lot of influence, and I’ve never had to live without it. But I’d like to believe I would do just fine.

“I’m listening, Mr. Novak,” the mayor says as she sits behind her desk.

“Your son is a nuisance.”

Yes, Hunter. Insult her son. The man we’re trying to keep from killing Lili. I keep the thought to myself, but just barely.

“His wife is the problem. But it sounds like that’s being taken care of as we speak.”

Hunter steps closer to the desk and bends over it, palms flat on the desk. “Let me get one thing clear, Mayor Brandt. If any harm comes to Liliana Draven, I will not only end you, but your son will not come out of this unscathed, either. You will lose your career, publicly and shamefully. He will go to prison for the rest of his life if my friends here don’t put him in the ground. And if they do, I will help them cover it up.”