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Audiobook details
You can't hunt what you've already caught
Vaughn Morozov had one objective when he arrived on that campus: keep Yulian Dimitriev in his sights and hold the line between their families. Two heirs to rival mafia organizations, shoved into the same unorthodox setting by circumstances neither of them chose. The contempt that ignited on first sight was clean and total, with no room for ambiguity.
Proximity made everything worse. The longer they shared that space, the more the loathing became specific, the kind that takes up too much room to stay functional. Something shifted, not all at once, but enough to notice. Before Vaughn could account for it, tragedy intervened and sent them both back to their respective worlds, as though the proximity had never happened.
The separation didn't hold. When their paths crossed a second time, every wall Vaughn had rebuilt proved decorative. Yulian was still chaotic, still dangerous, still every wrong configuration Vaughn could name, and none of that made walking away any easier. Hunt the Villain is the second book in the Villain series, set in the Legacy of Gods universe, and can be listened to as a standalone.
What struck me most about this audiobook was the pacing. Rina Kent doesn't linger in setup. The conflict between Vaughn and Yulian is established fast, the emotional stakes land early, and the story never confuses volume with intensity.
The enemies-to-lovers arc avoids the usual shortcuts. The shift from loathing to something less manageable isn't declared, it's accumulated. You notice it happening before the characters do, which is the version of that trope that actually works.
The tragedy that separates them midway through is handled well. It doesn't feel inserted for drama. It comes from the internal logic of the world Kent has built, and the second-chance section that follows carries a different weight because of it. There's a particular kind of tension in reunion scenes where both people are pretending the first time didn't happen. Kent writes that well.
The full cast narration is worth mentioning. Teddy Hamilton and Grayson Owens carry the two main perspectives, and their vocal chemistry does a lot of the heavy work. At 13 hours and 6 minutes, this is a substantial listen, but the cast keeps the momentum. Longer chapters never drag because the narration treats the material as conversation, not performance.
If you've listened to Kiss the Villain first, certain background details will land differently. If this is your entry point to the series, the story holds on its own.
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Hunt the Villain by Rina Kent is a dark MM college mafia romance and the second book in the Villain series, set in the Legacy of Gods universe. The audiobook was released on March 24, 2026, runs 13 hours and 6 minutes, and features a full cast including Teddy Hamilton, Grayson Owens, and Sebastian York.
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US-based editor & staff writer focused on audiobooks. Honest reviews, curated “best of” lists, and practical guides with an accessibility lens.
