Page 64 of Bleeding Blackheart

Even though she’s right here in front of me, I feel abandoned like a little kid. “Then why the fuck were you going to?”

She huffs while blood drips from her face. “I can’t stay with you. I’m just going to hurt you and cause you more pain. I’m the reason Charlotte’s dead, and I’m responsible for the deaths of everyone else who was at that party. And I’m the reason your horses are dead too.”

I drag her to the kitchen sink, furious that she just said what she did. I can’t believe she thinks that’s true.

I grab a dish towel, coat it with water, and start wiping her off. “Montana, that’s bullshit. All of it. The only person responsible for those things is that man. That man who we are going to stop referring to as your father becausehe’s not. That man is not a father. He isn’t anything. Just garbage.”

I pul off her bloody tee, leaving her in a black lace bra and underwear. “Don’t you ever leave me, Montana. I’m serious. At least, not for the reasons you just listed. If you’re going to leave me, leave me because you hate me. Because you can’t stand me, and the very sight of me makes you sick. Leave me because I’m a bastard you want nothing to do with. But if you leave me just because you think you’re hurting me by staying, my mind, body, and soul will be paralyzed, Montana. I’ll be an empty and desolate shell of a man, unable to move forward ever again.”

Montana brushes her hair out of her face and wipes her eyes. I place a hand on her back, guiding her toward the stairs. “And no more. No more apologizing for anything that’s happened to me. I won’t accept your apologies, and I’m done hearing them. Now get your ass upstairs, get changed, and get whatever the hell you need from our room because we’re getting out of here.”

Montana turns around when she gets to the second step leaning forward, and I press my lips to hers before pulling away.

I’ve been back home a few hours, and I’m already leaving again. However, I’m not as distraught about packing up as I was last time as this home no longer feels like a home. Myhorses were murdered here. I imprisoned my girl here. And this house was supposed to be for me and Margaret. Montana deserves to live somewhere without so many horrible memories attached, and I’m looking forward to finding out where that’s gonna be.

I go over to the dead body while she gets ready upstairs, attempting to figure out who the hell this guy is. If Montana weren’t here, I’d guess he was just a drifter, but given everything that’s occurred recently, my gut tells me this man was sent by Mason.

I flip over his body and check his pockets for any information. There’s no wallet or ID, but he has a phone that’s almost dead. No passcode either. Fucking amateur. A message from a number without a name is at the top of his texts.

Call me when it's done.

I don’t need a name to recognize that number. It’s one I have saved in my own phone. I call him back from the intruder’s device.

He picks up on the first ring. “If she’s dead, burn her body, if she’s alive, bring her to me now.”

Literal walking garbage. I don’t bother masking my rage. “You’re fucking dead. Do you hear me, you useless piece of shit? Dead.”

Mason pauses and laughs loudly. “Oh, Blackheart. You’re the one who’s fucking dead. Or maybe I should call you Gunner.”

I stop in my tracks when he lowers his tone. “Cat got your tongue, Gunner? Oh yeah—I looked you up and did some digging. Piece of shit daddy killed your girlfriend and your baby. Then your psychotic friend Dallas burned down her house, and cut your daddy into a million tiny pieces before scattering him about across several farms. Your momma’s dead. Your sister’s dead. You just kill everyone you fucking meet. Funny how you couldn’t kill my daughter though.”

I step outside, not wanting Montana to walk in on me. He takes my silence as an invitation to keep going. “Guess you couldn’t kill her because you were too busy using her as a cum dump. I honestly didn’t give a shit what you did to her as long as you killed her by the date we’d agreed upon, but you failed big time, buddy.”

“I’m gonna gut you alive, Mason. Tear your stomach open while you’re still breathing, just like my horses. Let you spill out and rot until you fade away.”

“I’d love to watch you try, you fucking idiot. I heard you cried like a goddamn baby at Margaret’s memorial after they gave up searching for her. You don’t have the balls,pal. You shouldn’t be called Blackheart. You should be called the Motherfucker with No Balls.”

Any ounce of sadness I still had in me turns into a pit of revenge. “Hell will treat you better than I’m going to, Mason. Your suffering will last for days on end. And not a damn person on this planet will be left to save you.”

His laughter ceases, and he growls. “Come fucking find me.”

I drive down the road in Colt’s Camero to Dallas’ house. He lives thirty minutes away, so we won’t be too far but will have a helping hand nearby if we need it. I wanted to go further away, but Montana insisted we stay closer so we can feed Violet in the morning. I want to let her starve, but my girl won’t have that, and I won’t have her upset.

I put Montana’s hand on my knee then grip the wheel. “Here’s the plan. When we get inside, we’ll sleep until eight, and then we’ll go to your father’s house.”

Seeing as it’ll be five a.m. when we get to Dallas’ house, Montana and I won’t hardly get any sleep, but three hours will hopefully give us enough energy to push through today.

She grits her teeth. “I don’t want to go there, Gunner.”

I knew Montana wouldn’t be excited about going to her childhood home she ran away from, but we need to. “Montana, I have to kill him.”

She squeezes my leg. “He’s not even going to be there!”

“He might. He seemed to be there last night. And even if he’s not, we can probably find out where he’s gone. We either go to him, or he’ll come back to us. But someone has to win this, Montana. He’s gotta go.”

She lets out a shuddery breath. “I can’t go back there, Gunner. I can’t.”

I place my hand over hers, giving it a squeeze while I pull up to Dallas’ driveway. “Then stay here with Dallas and Cali until I get back.”

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