Page 23 of Torment

Hunter remained frozen on the spot, and Scarlet saw the vein in his neck start to pulse, his fists clenched tight. “He ran her car off the road?”

“Yes. The guy I had keeping an eye on Scarlet said something went down in the barn, something happened and Willow ran out with Brent chasing after her. Although his orders were clear to watch over Scarlet, he followed Willow and Brent. He saw Willow jump into her car, and Brent in his. When Brent managed to catch up to Willow, he rammed her car off the road just outside the estate, killing her.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Scarlet stepped closer. “So it wasn’t an accident?”

James looked in her direction. “No, Scarlet, it wasn’t. But I thought you knew.”

And then Hunter screamed. No, he fucking roared like a beast, grabbing a book on the table next to him and throwing it across the room. “Fuck!” He grabbed an ashtray, throwing it against the wall, before trashing almost the entire office.

“Hunter!” Scarlet screamed over the noise. “Stop!”

But he didn’t, instead he glared at James, his face red from anger. “Yourspysaid something happened in the barn?” Hunter was seething. “Something was happening in the barn all right. Brent was busy raping your daughter, over and over and fucking over again.”

Scarlet’s chest started to tighten. “Hunter, please.”

He ignored her.

“Brent was raping her while she was bound and gagged, unable to scream for help.”

James slammed his fists into his desk. “Stop!”

“And then her sister walked in. She saw it happen. She witnessed her sister get raped, and then she tried to run for help. That’s what fucking happened in the goddamn barn!” Hunter screamed out those last words at the top of his lungs.

And it was at that moment Riggs came running in with his hand on his gun.

Hunter didn’t even acknowledge the fact that Riggs was there, ready to shoot him in the head. He grabbed James’s collar and pulled him over the desk.

When Riggs aimed the gun, Scarlet grabbed his elbow. “Don’t!”

Hunter brought James right up to his face. “If you were the goddamn father you were supposed to be, Scarlet wouldn’t have been raped by that son of a bitch, and my Blue would still be alive.”

And then Hunter punched his fist right into James’s gut before dropping him to the ground. “If you were half as concerned about your own daughter as you were about all those girls you rescued, we would all be living happy fucking lives right now. But instead, your daughter has been running for her life for the last seven years, screwed up by the fucker who put his slimy hands on her. And I’m forced to live a life without the only woman I ever fucking loved.”

Scarlet felt a stab inside her chest, like her heart was starting to bleed hearing Hunter say that Willow was the love of his life. It wasn’t supposed to hurt. But it did.

James just lay there on the ground, not even attempting to defend himself.

Scarlet saw Hunter move like he was about to kick James, when both she and Riggs ran up to him. Riggs grabbed his shoulders while Scarlet put herself between James and Hunter.

“Stop, Hunter. Please.”

When his eyes met hers, they were black with the fury of hell burning behind them. His entire body was shaking, trembling with pure rage—rage that seemed like it was directed at…her. He stopped thrashing against Riggs’s hold around his shoulders, and jerked himself free before glaring down at Scarlet.

“You let him kill her,” he whispered. “You ran, and you let him kill Blue.”

Scarlet reared back like she had been punched in the gut. Hunter kept glaring at her, like a starved Rottweiler ready to slaughter her.

“You were right,” he started. “She’s dead because you ran. Because you were too much of a damn coward to go help her.”

After spitting out those damning words, Hunter stormed out of the office like a fucking hurricane, leaving Scarlet behind with nothing but a knife inside her heart.

His words kept on going over and over inside her mind.

Finally, someone agreed with her. It was her fault. She had known this all these years, and now finally someone else thought the same. It was just real shitty that person was Hunter.

Scarlet looked up at Riggs, who seemed real fucking confused. “Welcome to my life.”

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