Page 96 of Regret

She frowned. “But that’s good, then. Isn’t it? He has no need to kill me anymore. He got what he wanted. I’m free?”

Hunter still didn’t move, his face even more grim and pale than before.

Scarlet narrowed her eyes. “Why do you look like someone just handed you my death sentence, Ace?”

He rubbed his hands together and she could hear him take a deep breath.

“Hunter, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on right now, I swear to God I am going—”

“She’s been dead for six months, Scar.”

She froze. “What?”

He pulled both hands through his hair. “Brent already got his inheritance six months ago.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. Why is he still after me, then?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged, but Scarlet could see that his brain was in overdrive.

She stepped forward. “Hunter. Why the fuck is he still after me?”

He turned around and started pacing in front of the pool, looking down at his feet. “That night when those guys tried to grab you outside the club, I kind of interrogated one of the fuckers.”

“Kind of?”

“Yeah. Kind of.”

“Would you stop fucking around and tell me what the hell is going on?” She placed her hands on her hips.

“The guy said something about Brent staring at this picture he has of you almost every day. Creepy was the word he used to describe the way the fucker stared at the photo.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And?”

“And according to this guy, Brent is hell-bent on finding you.”

“Ace!” she yelled. “Stop pacing and just spit out whatever it is you’re thinking.”

“Fine!” He stopped and turned toward her. “I think he’s looking for you because…I think…I think he’s desperate to find you because he’s obsessed with you. This is no longer about silencing you to protect his inheritance. It’s about getting what he thinks is his.”

Cold, hard ice filled her spine and she could no longer feel the beating of her own heart.This is not happening. This cannot be happening.

“No.” She shook her head and gave a step back, clutching her arms around her waist.

Hunter rushed forward and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “I can’t be sure, okay? I just think that his desperation to find you is much more than what we initially thought.”

Scarlet looked at Hunter, but it felt like she was staring into space. A rush of memories flooded her mind and she no longer registered what was going on around her.

All she heard washiswords, the words he whispered into her ear from behind while he was busy corrupting her body, her soul, tearing her apart from the inside.

“You are mine, Little Red…”

“No one will take you from me…”

“The day will come that I will make you mine in every way…”

“Your soul, your body is mine…”

“You will never be free of me.”