Part 3: The Hunter Becomes the Prey
The lodge was silent, dark, and smelled of pine needles and decay.
I had spent the last three hours dragging Victor through the woods, keeping him blindfolded, keeping him guessing.
He was bleeding, exhausted, and broken.
I threw him into the center of the living room, near the massive stone fireplace.
"Welcome home, Victor," I said, tossing him a piece of rope. "Tessa’s family built this fireplace with their own hands before your father drove them off."
He scrambled backward, his eyes frantic.
"You can't k;i;ll me here. My brothers are coming. They have trackers on the truck."
"I know," I said, checking my watch. "They should be at the perimeter in two minutes."
I sat in the lodge’s high-backed leather chair, watching him like a hawk.
I had set the stage.
I had rigged the lodge with the very traps he used for his trophy hunts.
"You thought Tessa was weak," I murmured, my voice drifting through the room. "You thought you could strip her of everything."
"I did what had to be done to expand the property!" he shouted, his voice cracking.
"You k;i;ll;ed her father, didn't you?" I asked, my voice deadly.
He stopped, his mouth hanging open.
"How...?"
"Frank didn't just know martial arts. He kept records."
I pulled out a file from my jacket.
"He knew you were poisoned. He just didn't live long enough to prove it."
I stood up.
The sounds of the brothers outside were drawing nearer.
"This lodge is rigged, Victor."
"If your brothers walk through that front door, the lodge goes up in smoke."
He paled. "You’d k;i;ll yourself, too."
"I died the moment I saw Tessa in that ICU," I said. "I’m just a hollow man walking around waiting for the end."
The door kicked open.
"Dad?" Dominic called out, his voice echoing.
I watched through the sight of my rifle as he stepped in.
I didn't pull the trigger.
I didn't have to.
I pulled a wire attached to the fireplace, and the entire main support beam of the lodge groaned.
The roof began to crumble.
"Run, Victor!" I yelled.
He scrambled for the door, but the collapsing timber cut him off.
The brothers turned, their faces illuminated by the flash of the roof falling in.
They saw me sitting in the chair, not running, not scared.
"You're a monster," Dominic whispered, staring at me as the fire grew.
"I’m just the consequence," I replied.
I dove through the rear window just as the lodge became a pyre of flame and history.
Outside, I stood in the rain, watching the Wolf Pack scream, watching the empire they had built on blood dissolve into ash.
The police sirens returned, this time with the FBI and the state troopers, drawn by the massive explosion.
They found the Wolf family alive, but broken, their corruption documented, their power dismantled, their pride incinerated.
I didn't wait to be found.
I disappeared into the trees, my shoulder throbbing, my heart still heavy.
I made it back to the hospital just as the sun was rising.
I walked into Tessa’s room.
She was awake, her hand bandaged, her face still bruised, but her eyes were bright.
She saw me, saw the soot on my clothes, the blood on my shoulder, and she didn't ask.
She just reached out, and I took her hand.
"Did you take them down?" she whispered.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"The Pack is gone, Tessa."
"We're finally safe."
I didn't tell her about the fire.
I didn't tell her about the blood.
I just sat there, holding her hand, watching the sunrise and knowing that for the first time in ten years, the world was quiet.
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The devil had finished his work.
And this time, he was finally going to rest.
