Page 170 of The Hunter's Empire

Then a sound breaks the silence. A quiet laugh.

I turn toward it and find Sebastian still standing beside my desk, exactly where he'd been all along. There isn't an ounce of shock or horror on his face. It isn't the laughter of a horrified witness. It's the laughter of a man watching a plan unfold exactly as he knew it would.

Chapter 37

Zora

My eyes remain fixed on Mikkel's body lying motionless across the carpet, blood continuing to spread beneath him in a slow, steady pool. My mind refuses to accept what it is seeing. Only moments ago, he had been standing in front of me, arguing over the future of the Krogen Empire. Now he is gone.

Across the room, Sebastian's laughter gradually dies away, leaving behind an unsettling smile that never quite disappears. Tobias, meanwhile, calmly slips the pistol back into his pocket before looking down at his father as though he were studying an inconvenience rather than a corpse. There is no regret on his face. No panic. No hesitation. The complete absence of emotion is somehow more horrifying than the gunshot itself.

I finally force myself to speak, though my voice barely sounds like my own.

"Tobias... Mikkel was your father. How could you do that?"

For a brief moment, he simply looks at me, almost as though I have asked a strangely obvious question. Then he gives the smallest shrug.

"He was never worthy of leading this empire."

The casualness of his answer sends a chill down my spine.

"My entire life," he continues evenly, "he compared me to you. Every success I had somehow became another reminder that Marcus trusted you more. Every mistake I made became proof that I wasn't enough."

A faint smile appears at the corner of his mouth, though it carries no warmth whatsoever. "He spent decades trying to become Marcus, then expected me to spend my life becoming you."

He glances briefly at Mikkel's body before looking back at me. "He never understood that I had no interest in either."

I stare at him in disbelief. "So you murdered him?"

"I removed an obstacle."

"An obstacle?" I repeat, unable to hide the horror in my voice. "You're talking about your father."

He tilts his head slightly. "I know exactly who I'm talking about."

"Tobias, listen to yourself. You killed your own father because he compared you to me?" My voice rises despite my efforts to remain composed. "That isn't ambition. That isn't strength. It's insanity. People don't execute their own fathers because of resentment."

"People don't." He agrees. "Most people spend their lives complaining about what they deserve while waiting for someone else to hand it to them."

His eyes briefly drift toward Mikkel again. "My father was one of those people."

Silence settles over the room before he continues.

"He complained about Marcus for months. Complained about the will. Complained about you. Complained that life had been unfair to him."

Tobias's smile widens ever so slightly. "But complaining never changed anything. He wanted power, yet he lacked the courage to take it."

His gaze returns to mine. "I don't intend to make the same mistake."

I hold his stare, refusing to let him see how deeply his words unsettle me. "And you think this makes you powerful?" I gesture toward Mikkel's body. "You think shooting a man who trusted you somehow proves you're stronger than him?"

"It proves I was willing to do what he never could."

"No." I slowly shake my head. "It proves you're a coward."

For the first time, the smile fades from Tobias' face.

"A strong man confronts his enemies." I say quietly. "A coward murders his own father because he mistakes cruelty for strength."