Page 53 of Torment

“You can stop here,” he ordered Hunter, and they stopped in front of a door. “Open it.”

Hunter hesitated, and Colton pushed the gun against her cheek. “I said open it.”

Hunter looked at Scarlet, and she saw it right away. The look of worry, concern—the look of a man pushed into a corner with no way of getting out. It scared her, realizing that there was no escaping this time, no running. Her fate had finally brought her to this moment, and after years of fighting and fleeing, there was nothing she could do to change it now.

Green eyes dark with regret stared at her, Hunter’s face clouded with apology. And she knew, she knew this was another one of those things he would blame himself for. Another morbid, self-tortured tattoo to mark his body with as a reminder of yet another person he couldn’t save.

All she could do was nod, trying to tell him that it was okay, that she didn’t blame him. He looked away and down toward where his hand touched the doorknob.

Scarlet knew what—or who—was waiting behind that door. She could feel it in her bones, the fear vibrating through to every corner of her body. This was it. This was the moment she had been dreading ever since she ran away. The moment she feared every minute of every day. This was the moment her worst nightmare came true.

Hunter opened the door and Scarlet closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see. She didn’t want to look at what she knew was in there waiting for her. But then she heard that voice. “Hello, Little Red.”

Her heart stopped, and all she heard was the deafening crack of her soul breaking into nothing but splinters of fear.

God, that voice. That voice was enough to break her completely.

“You feel that, Little Red? You feel me moving inside you? That’s me fucking owning you.”

“You will never be more than my little slut.”

“Your sweet little cunt will always belong to me.”

Scarlet shook her head violently, still not opening her eyes. She wanted his voice gone, she wanted the memories gone. It was like a fucking disease infecting every part of her all over again. She could feel it moving through her veins, corrupting every molecule of her being. It was destroying her all over again.

“Open your eyes, Little Red.”

As tears silently slipped down her cheeks, she opened her eyes. But she didn’t look in the direction the voice came from, she looked at Hunter. She needed to find a focus point, something she could use to hold on to the little strength she had left.

The second her gaze met Hunter’s, her heart cracked wide open. His eyes were filled with the same amount of fear she was feeling. His face contorted with pain…but it wasn’t physical pain. It was her pain. Hunter was feeling her pain.

“If anyone can do this, Scar, you can.”

She could hear his voice clearly replaying inside her mind. There was no other choice. This shit was going down whether she wanted to or not. She only had one option…and that was to fight.

Chapter 15

Brent was every ounce the ugly fucker Hunter had imagined. With his pale skin and long white-blond hair, he looked like a fucking white rat.And that chick from Game of Thrones.Or was it that evil dude in one of the fuck loads of Harry Potter movies?

But it was something about his eyes that didn’t seem right. They were this hazel-brown color that just didn’t fit in with the rest of his features. It was definitely obvious he was adopted. There was no way this freaky-looking, ugly-ass motherfucker was related to Scarlet.

When Hunter glanced at Scarlet, he could see her body shaking. If it wasn’t for Colton holding her around the shoulders, she would have collapsed to the floor.

Hunter had to get her out of there. He had to protect her and get her the fuck away from this sick son of a bitch before it was too late. But the motherfuckers had them blocked in. Plus, Colton had taken Hunter’s gun. Unfortunately for soldier boy, Hunter had something else stashed away.

Colton moved Scarlet closer to the white rat motherfucker, and she paled instantly. “Brent,” she whispered, and it sounded like she used her last breath to say his name. The fear in her voice vibrated all the way through to Hunter’s goddamn chest. It was like he could feel her pain, her fear penetrating his soul one sharp knife after the other.

A conceited smile spread across Brent’s evil face before he held out his arms toward Scarlet like he was ready to welcome his long-lost sheep home.

“Did you miss me, Little Red?”

Oh, hell no!

“Don’t you dare fucking talk to her, you son of a bitch!” Hunter didn’t think. He just acted when he pulled the knife from his boot and lunged forward. He could already see himself slicing the son of a bitch from limb to limb until there was nothing left but pieces of rotting flesh.

Unfortunately, he was so blinded by rage he didn’t see the guy who came out of fucking nowhere, jumping in front of him and punching him right in the gut. Even though it felt like his insides had exploded, he fought back, swinging his fists with every ounce of strength he had.

Two arms wrapped around his waist and Hunter got tackled to the ground, the knife flinging from his grip and skidding along the floor. Fists smashed into his ribs and back, feet kicking him in the stomach. The pain was excruciating, but his will to save Scarlet was stronger.

---