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Slowly.

Relishing in the way he screamed out and begged for mercy, I continued to gut him, taking my time, making itcount,making himsuffer.

Unsatisfied, I grabbed his cock and lowered my knife, eyes locked on the coward's the entire time.

I waited until he gurgled out the word "please" and then cut down in one swift move before tossing the lifeless stump on his face.

Fucking rape her now, bastard.

Blood sprayed everywhere, drenching my face and hands, assuring me that I had severed his vitality.

Good.

I hoped like hell it hurt.

The sound of Hope screaming was the only thing that brought me back to the present.

I flinched when I noticed her cowering in the corner, just a few feet from me, naked and trembling. The need to go to her overrode all other emotions inside of me and I finished him off with one final slash to his throat.

I was shaking when I stood up and tossed the knife away, but it wasn’t from regret or fear or any human emotion.

I was shaking because I wasn’tsated.

Because it wasn’t enough for me.

Death was too fucking good for him.

I watched Hope scramble to her feet and just like that, the heart I had been so sure was frozen in my chest, burst back to life, hammering violently against my ribcage.

All thoughts of violence and notions of revenge evaporated at the sight of her terrified face as she gaped at me in fear.

She was afraid.

Of me.

Pain seared through me, gutting my heart open, and leaving me vulnerable to the one person on this earth with the ability to break me.

Because I loved her.

I was so damn deeply in love with this woman that I was suffocating under the insufferable weight of my feelings.

Blood was flowing freely down her left cheek, causing panic to lace through my body.

Without a word, I stepped over the lifeless body at my feet and grabbed the towel hanging off the draining board before cautiously approaching Hope.

As gently as possible, I pressed the towel to her slashed face, cringing inside when she flinched at the contact.

I didn’t want to scare her, but I needed to stop the bleeding.

I needed tofixher.

Unable to speak, but needing to do something – fucking anything – I ripped off my hoodie and began to dress her. I couldn’t stand the sight of her trembling, and if I had to look at her battered, naked body a second longer, I was going to lose what little was left of my self-control.

"Oh god," she cried out, breaking the horrifying silence that had settled over us. "Oh god!" She looked up at my face then to the body as a sob racked through her. "Oh god, Hunter," she repeated hoarsely. Knotting her hands in my shirt, Hope pulled me close to her and whispered, "What havewedone?"

And that's when it happened; the moment my life altered irrevocably.

The woman I had just committed the most heinous of crimes in front of wasn’t pushing me away.

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