Page 54 of Hunted Vengeance

Arching a brow, I ball my hands into fists as I try my fucking hardest not to kill him. It’s becoming more difficult as I sit here and stare at him with each passing moment. I’m ready to end them all and figure it out later.

“Malcolm Ravet.”

I can feel the blood draining from my face. The silence is deafening, and I can’t hear anything. The world spins in circles around me, and the edges of my vision begin to darken as I think about that monster.

The devil himself.

Ravet.

Chapter Twenty-Four

COLETTE

Malcolm makeshis way toward me, one step, then another. I’m frozen in fear, but at the same time, my body urges me to move. To run. To flee. I’m ready to jump off the balcony, but at the same time, I stay frozen in terror.

“Time to go,” he demands.

Shaking my head from side to side, I suck in a breath and hold it. I don’t know how to answer, how to respond. Instead, I stay stationary where I am—immobile. I don’t want to go anywhere, not with him. I try to stall, hoping that wherever Theron is, he’ll come to my rescue. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to save myself at this point. I’m too scared. I can’t even move.

“Colette,” Malcolm snaps. “I own you, and you have a duty to fulfill.”

“That wasn’t my promise and not my duty,” I whisper.

It’s the first thing I’ve said since he walked through the door. Maybe the first thing I’ve said to him ever. This relationship is not a relationship at all. This is him thinking that he has ownership over me because of some deal with my dad.

He does not own me.

I refuse to give him any part of me.

Not my body, not my mind, and certainly not my soul.

And this man wants my soul. I can see it behind his eyes. He wants every piece of me. To own me, to consume me, to control me, and use me like some kind of puppet. Maybe a couple of days ago, I felt like I had no choice but to do whatever this monster demanded of me.

I’m not in that position anymore.

I have Merrick and all his men.

It makes me feel braver and stronger, and I wish I could do all of this on my own, but the simple fact is that I need all of the men. I need their strength and bravery because, without them, I would be nothing. I would be Malcolm’s—I would never find an ounce of bravery or strength.

“Are you talking back to me?” he growls.

I almost laugh because it’s obvious that I am doing exactly that, talking back to him. I open my mouth to tell him just that, but I don’t get the chance. There is a loud thud, and then Malcom goes down.

Theron is standing behind him, a gun in his hand. “Did you shoot him?” I ask with a hiss.

“I hit him with the butt,” he grunts. “We need this fucker out of here,” he growls.

I open my mouth, then close it again, then open it again before I snap my lips closed. I don’t know what to say, and I can’t think at all. I can’t move. I don’t know how I’m going to help because there is no way I can physically do anything to Malcolm.

“Who is he, Theron?” I ask.

Theron’s eyes slowly lift to meet mine. His face has been drained of blood, he’s pale, and the fear that’s in his gaze is beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. I imagine I looked the same when I was on that stage, being auctioned off for a night of sex with a stranger.

“Theron,” I whisper. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

He shakes his head, his eyes flicking down to him, then slowly lifts to meet mine again. “It’s him. I couldn’t forget him if I tried, Colette.”

He doesn’t say anything else. He just repeats those words over and over.

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