Page 97 of Regret

Like a lightning bolt, everything just came crashing down. All those years ago he had already vowed to never leave her alone. She was so possessed by her pain and the fear of what he was doing to her that she didn’t pay any attention to his words. To her, they were the words of a psychotic, sick, filthy piece of shit whose perversions were only focused on her because she was an easy target. Never in a million years did she think it was an obsession directed solely at her.

Hunter pulled her closer and pressed her against his chest, bringing her back from the dark memory. “Hey, you listen to me, okay?” He nestled his nose into her hair and spoke close to her ear. “I made you a promise, and I intend to keep it. He will not lay another hand on you, not while I’m alive. I will find him, Scarlet, and I will make him pay. I swear to you. I will not let anything happen to you.”

A single, silent tear ran down her cheek and she closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to believe every word he had just spoken. Yet it did nothing to thaw the ice in her veins. She knew Brent was a sick bastard, but she thought the root of his evil was his greed. Now it started to look like the root of his evil was…her.

***

While Hunter held Scarlet tightly against his chest, all he could feel was the pounding force of his anger pulsing through his veins like lava. It was like there was this volcano inside him, ready to erupt and incinerate anything and anyone who came near her. To think that this fucking psycho actually had this sick obsession with his girl—that’s right,hisgirl—was enough to make Hunter see nothing but red. It was clear what Hunter had to do, and that was to hunt this fucker down and rip his goddamn head off.

“Come on.” He took her hand. “If there ever was a time to drink before noon, it’s now.”

He led her inside the house and let her sit down on the couch while he grabbed the whiskey and two glasses.

Pulling the coffee table closer, he sat down and handed her the glass. “I’m sorry, you know, about your grandmother.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. I should have known she might not have still been alive. She was old, and had a good life, considering.”

“Considering that you left home?”

Her gaze flitted to his. “That too.”

His head slanted to the side. “Scar, where is your sister?”

“I told you.” She took a sip of her whiskey.

“You told me she was some place far away.”

“Yeah.”

“Exactly how far is far away?”

She got up from the couch and went to stand in front of the fireplace that looked like it had never been used before. Two more big gulps and her glass was empty.

Her shoulders slumped, and then she whispered, “She’s dead.”

“Jesus.” He dragged his hand down his face. What else had this woman lost in her life? He could never have imagined the kind of shit she had been through. “I’m sorry, Scar.”

“Just. Stop.”

He glanced in her direction and saw that her head was hanging down while she stared at the floor. “Just stop with your pity.”

“Pity? You think I pity you?” He got up and went to stand behind her, wanting nothing more than to touch her, but he knew now was not the right time. “I don’t pity you, Scar. I envy you.”

She spun around and her ice cold stare almost knocked the wind right out of him. “Envy me? What part about my life exactly do you envy, Hunter? Huh? The part where I never knew my father? The part where I lost my mother, my sister? Or the part where I got raped in a shed so fucking hard that I could hardly walk for days. And every time I walked past him inourhome I had to live with the humiliation of him knowing that I was in pain with every step I took because he had violated me in the worst possible way. You envy that, Ace?”

“Scar, stop—”

“Or do you envy the fact that it didn’t happen just once. Oh no.” She started to move forward, forcing him back. “He raped me multiple times. Bound and gagged me so that I couldn’t fight back. And while he violated me over and over and over again, his vile breath would skid across my neck as he whispered all the disgusting things he would do to my sister if I ever told anyone.”

“Fuck. Stop, Scarlet. Goddammit.” The image of her being raped by a psychopath was just too fucking much. All he saw was a thousand shades of red…blood…anger.

But Scarlet continued on, not even fucking blinking. “Or is it the fact that my sister walked in one day and saw him pounding into me from behind, his filthy sweat dripping on my back. And when she tried to run, to call for help, he went after her. And me? I was too afraid to run after them, to go help my sister even though I knew what a sick fuck he was. So what do you think I did, Hunter? Huh?”

“Scarlet, stop, please.” Hunter couldn’t handle it anymore. It felt like his head and his heart and everything inside him was about to explode with a kind of pain he’d never experienced before. It was her pain pulsing through his veins, crippling him from the inside. “Please just stop.”

“No, you wanted to know the truth, Ace. Well, here it is.” She paused, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes glistening, but it was anger that beamed from them. It wasn’t sadness or pain, it was anger. Blinding fucking rage was plastered all over her face.

“I ran. I ran, Ace. I ran as fast as I could and I didn’t turn back once. Not once. At that moment, I didn’t care about my sister or anyone else. All I cared about was getting as far away from him as possible, saving myself.”

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