Page 49 of Altered

She could hate me for the rest of her life, but that wouldn’t stop me from protecting her.

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Chapter Sixteen

Hope

"I know what he did. I saw him cart a body out of your parents' house last night, and I amnotgoing to allow that to happen to you!"

The hands I had covering my face fell away as Jordan's words registered in my mind.

He knew.

He knew and he was going to rat.

"No!" The word tore from my throat with more force than I thought I was capable of. Clambering to my feet, I closed the space between Jordan and I and threw myself at his mercy. "You can't do that."

When I moved to grab his arm, he roughly shoved me off, but I didn’t stop.

"Please, Jordan," I begged, bunching his sweater in my hands. "Please. You don’t understand! You have no idea what happened –"

"Maybe not," he shot back, disgust laced in his tone. "But I know one thing; murder is acrime!" He ripped my hands away from his sweater then took a step back. "And I am done watching fucking predators walk away from their crimes without being punished."

"What?" I gaped in horror. "Hunter is not apredator."

"He's a thug and a killer, and he's going to pay for what he's done," he replied hoarsely, running a hand through his hair. "And you can go right ahead and hate me for the rest of your life for it, but at least I'll know thatIdid the right thing by you for once."

"He was protecting me!" I screamed. "See this?" With trembling hands, I pointed to my face. "I was attacked, Jordan…I was almost –"

"Don’t lie for him!" he roared into my face, his bleary, green eyes unblinking and locked on mine. "It won't change my mind."

"I'm not lying!"

"All you've been doing islyingto me," he countered. "Why would now be any different?"

"I'm not fucking lying!" I snarled. "David's back. He sent a man after me who tried to… if Hunter hadn't stopped him then I wouldn’t be here!"

"If that's true then why didn’t you go to the cops?" he demanded. "If it was self-defense."

"Because I…" my voice trailed off and I flinched before admitting, "I was afraid of losing him."

"Well, looks like you're going to lose him either way."

"Why are you doing this to me?" The question was ripped from the deepest part of my heart. How could he do this to me? Did he hate me this much? "Why, dammit?"

"Because I love you enough to protect you fromhim!"

"Hunter wouldneverhurt me."

"Never hurt you? He's destroying you, Hope!" He shook his head in disgust. "You know what you are to a man like him, don’t you?" he spat. "His whore."

"I don’t even know who you are anymore," I whispered, paling.

"That makes two of us." He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his cell and swiped his thumb across the screen. "You'll thank me for this one day."

"If you love me," I strangled out, panic consuming me. "If you haveeverloved me, you won't do this."

"It's because I love you that I'm doing this," he hissed.

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