Page 95 of Torment

For a second he stopped beating Brent to catch his breath, and searched around him, for something, anything he could use.

“Here,” Rex said, and Hunter looked up. Rex was holding out a knife in the palm of his hand, smiling wickedly at him. Something told Hunter he was playing right into Rex’s hands. Killing Brent was exactly what Rex wanted him to do—but Hunter didn’t give a fuck if he was doing the devil a favor. He just wanted to punish Brent, make him pay for what he did to Scarlet…and Blue.

Hunter glanced at James and Scarlet. James made no attempt to stop him…and neither did Scarlet. Everyone inside the room knew it had to be done.

When Hunter spun around, he tore open Brent’s shirt, exposing the flesh he wanted to tear apart.

He placed the cold blade against Brent’s chest, and Brent sucked in a breath. Hunter could hear the bastard’s heart beating, and he loved the stench of fear the fucker reeked of.

“It doesn’t feel so good, does it? Being helpless.”

Hunter twisted the blade and pushed it down into Brent’s flesh. Cocking his head to the side, he watched the blood pool around the blade, a drop slowly trickling down Brent’s chest. He pulled the knife down, slowly, inch by inch ripping through the flesh, more red seeping from the demon’s body. Brent groaned, his jaw clenched, as he tried to swallow his own cries, but Hunter pushed the blade deeper until Brent could no longer contain it. He screamed out in pain as Hunter neared his navel, blood already dripping down to the floor.

It still wasn’t enough.

Glancing over his shoulder to Scarlet still safely in James’s arms, he knew she would indicate when it was enough. The hardness in her eyes was proof enough for Hunter that she felt absolutely no compassion toward Brent, which meant Hunter could continue.

Hunter removed the blade from Brent’s skin, his glare aimed at the bastard in front of him. And then he spat on the son of a bitch’s face right before stabbing the blade into his thigh. Hunter felt the blade hit bone, and Brent howled, screaming with his face contorted in pain. It sent a wave of satisfaction through Hunter’s chest, something he had never experienced before. It was euphoric watching the man who had stolen everything from Scarlet sob and scream in agony. This was justice. This was revenge. And this was everything this motherfucker deserved.

With the flick of his wrist, Hunter tore the blade through more skin before pulling it out.

Blood was dripping from the blade, down Hunter’s hand and wrist.

“Please,” Brent started to sob. “Please stop.”

Hunter tilted his head to the side. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Please stop,” Brent whispered between his cries.

“Did you stop when she begged you to stop?” Hunter pointed the blade in Scarlet’s direction, but didn’t take his eyes off Brent. “Did you fucking stop when she pleaded for you to? No! No, you didn’t. So why the fuck should I stop?”

Hunter stabbed the knife straight into Brent’s side, feeling it penetrate his flesh, giving Hunter a thrill of pure satisfaction. Brent screamed and started to sob, his head hanging down, his body bleeding as if it was expelling all the evil he had in him. All the while the only picture Hunter saw in his head was Brent crouched over Scarlet while she was chained to the dining room table, licking that slimy fucking tongue up her leg.

He couldn’t control it. He couldn’t contain it any longer.

He shoved the knife into Brent’s stomach, and then twisted the blade, hooking it upward. Brent’s eyes rolled to the back of his skull, close to passing out from the pain. When Hunter removed the blade, he tossed it to the floor and moved in behind Brent, gripping his head in his hands, forcing him to look in Scarlet’s direction.

“Look!” Hunter yelled. “Look at her!”

Brent opened his eyes, his breathing so shallow his chest was hardly moving at all. Hunter met Scarlet’s eyes, and they silently conveyed to each other what needed to be said.

“You see that woman? You see the seventeen-year-old girl you destroyed? Do you?” Hunter tightened his grip, threatening to snap Brent’s neck.

“Yes,” Brent said almost inaudibly. Hunter’s eyes remained on Scarlet, and she nodded, which was all Hunter needed.

“Good, because her face will be the last thing you ever see.”

And then Hunter twisted Brent’s neck, feeling the bone snap, the eerie crack and the sound of death echoing through the dining room like a war cry.

Scarlet closed her eyes, and tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. Hunter could see her body go lax in her father’s arms.

It was over. Scarlet’s fight, her nightmare was finally over.

Brent was no more, and she was finally free.

Chapter 25

There was no guilt, no remorse as she watched Brent’s head loll to the front, his lifeless body hanging from the very chains they had her bound to earlier.

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