Page 21 of Torment

She lifted her gaze and stared at herself in the mirror. Eyes red and swollen from crying, her cheeks wet from her tears, and her hair a tangled mess, she looked like shit. No wonder they said beauty came from within. Her outer self was now a reflection of the chaos and the complete mess she was inside. There was nothing pretty about her…not anymore. There was no beauty hidden anywhere inside her. It was all withered, black, and dead.

Scarlet wiped away the wetness on her cheeks, took a deep breath, and stared at herself in the mirror.

“This is the last time you ever allow yourself to be weak.”

After splashing some cold water over her face, cleaning the remnants of Hunter’s “fuck-up” between her legs, Scarlet steeled herself and stepped out of the bathroom.

She knew Hunter would no longer be there. After seeing the grim expression on his face after he realized what he had done, Scarlet knew he wouldn’t stick around. Hunter didn’t cope well with regret, and that was exactly what she saw on his face. Regret.

Regret that he fucked her.

Regret that he called her Blue.

Regret that shewasn’tBlue.

Fuck.

When she walked into the bedroom, there was a pair of women’s jeans on the bed along with a black shirt. It made sense that these people had women’s clothing lying around since it was a safe house for abused girls rescued from slavery.

Scarlet wondered if it was even possible to rehabilitate women who had been abused, raped, and sold on the black market. Seemed like Scarlet actually had something in common with them—just not the sold on the black market part. And she sure as hell didn’t have the potential to be rehabilitated. What happened in the bathroom with Hunter earlier was proof of that.

After getting dressed and pulling her hair up in a sleek ponytail, Scarlet left the room in search of her supposed father. While she was trying to get her mind off Hunter, she was gathering a hell of a lot of questions for James Baxter. Questions she was about to get answers for.

It took her a while to find James’s office. When Hunter basically carried her to the bedroom earlier, drawing a map wasn’t exactly her top priority.

She was just about to step into the office when she heardhisvoice. Hunter. He was still there.

“What else do you know about this Brent fucker?”

“First, tell me the nature of your relationship with my daughter.”

“I’m sorry, but you’ve only been her father for, what, two hours? So you don’t yet have the right to know anything when it comes to Scarlet and me.” She could hear the annoyance in Hunter’s voice.

“Okay. I deserved that,” James replied.

“Sure did.”

There was a long pause before she heard a chair being pulled across the floor. “Brent Wolfe has become a threat to what we’re doing here.”

“Explain,” Hunter demanded.

“Brent found out about his grandmother funding our operation. And now he wants in.”

“Why is that a threat?”

“He doesn’t want in to help us. He wants into the underground. Brent wants to use his grandmother’s ties and money to build his own empire by selling women.”

Scarlet sucked in a breath, and placed her palm in front of her mouth, not wanting James or Hunter to know she was eavesdropping.

“Which is why Brent wants Blanche—Scarlet—dead. As long as he only has power of attorney, hisexpensesare being watched. So until he rightfully inherits everything, Brent can’t use any of the estate money to fund this empire he’s so hell-bound on building.”

“Fuck me,” she heard Hunter curse. She imagined him rubbing the back of his neck, trying to process everything James was saying.

“So we need to take Scarlet to the family attorneys, let her claim her inheritance,” James continued. “That’s the only way we can stop him.”

Scarlet almost vomited right there. Just the thought of going back made her feel sick to her stomach.

“She won’t go,” Hunter said. “There is no way Scarlet will do it.”

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