Page 80 of Torment

“I promise you that we will try our best to make this night as memorable for you as I know it will be for us.”

Chapter 22

If it was any other day, Hunter would have been thrilled driving in a flashy Porsche, speeding down the streets like a maniac. But it wasn’t any other day. It was one of the shittiest days he’d had in a very long time. It was the mother of shittiest daysever.

He glanced at the clock on the dash, then at James sitting next to him looking at his phone every ten seconds.

“No word yet?” Hunter looked back at the road.

“Not yet.”

Hunter tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “We’re twenty minutes away, if we haven’t heard anything by then, we’re doing this my way.”

James scratched his chin and checked his phone again. “We can’t afford to make any mistakes tonight, Hunter.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Well, thinking you will be able to shoot your way in there is a huge mistake.”

Hunter gave him a sideward glance. “I don’t see you coming up with a better idea.”

“The only way to beat Rex is to play him at his own game. He’s young, but he’s not stupid. He’s twisted, but he’s not reckless. So if we have any chance of walking out of there alive and with Scarlet, you’ll need to act the part.”

Hunter pulled his hand through his hair. “I told you, I can do it.”

“Can you? Can you act like she’s nothing more to you than a piece of flesh, a toy to play with? Because that’s what you’re going to have to do if you want to convince Rex you’re a stone-cold son of a bitch like him who only wants hispropertyback.”

Hunter snapped his head to the side. “I said I can do it, okay? I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back safely.”

“Good.” James reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a blue velvet box.

“What’s that?”

James opened the box, and inside was a black collar with three rows of diamonds diagonally across on the top, middle, and bottom.

“What the fuck is that?” Hunter asked as he glanced at the collar.

“If you manage to convince Rex that Scarlet is yours, you will need to reclaim her by putting this around her neck.”

Hunter cocked a brow. “No way. I am not collaring her. This isn’t a fucking erotic romance novel, Baxter.”

“I know that,” he snapped. “I fucking know this isn’t a damn romance novel, Hunter. Do you think I want to witness my daughter get treated and collared like a damn sex slave? No. But there is no other fucking way. This shit is as real as it gets, and you need to follow the fucking rules—theirrules.”

“You talk like someone with experience.”

James lowered his head before letting out a breath. “It’s difficult to live in this world for so long without succumbing to temptation at least once,” he said softly.

Hunter didn’t say anything. Besides, who was he to judge? There was a time when he succumbed to the dark side of sex more than once—a time when he let all his demons come out to play. It was a dangerous game he played back then, feeding the monster inside him with such dark shit. Soon, it was no longer enough. He kept wanting more and more, and after one night of almost going too far, Hunter realized that for a guy like him, the risks of playing such games were just too great. So he stopped, and decided to cage the animal inside him, to only feed it little pieces of darkness at a time—which was why his past was filled with such a colorful display of sordid activities with multiple women.

Untilher…Scarlet.

Hunter glanced out the side window before focusing on the road in front of him. He had to get her back. There was no way he would survive losing her. After years of feeling nothing, Scarlet had managed to finally let him feelsomething. So there was no question, if he had to tap into his deepest, darkest self to save her, he would.

“Like I said, I can do it.”

“Why are you so sure this is something you can do?”

Hunter hesitated before answering, “Because I’ve done it before.”

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