“Little Red.”
“Wake up, Little Red.”
That voice…it sounded so far away, like someone standing on the other side of a tunnel, calling her.
“It’s time to wake up now, Little Red.”
“The big bad wolf wants to play.”
The voice came closer and closer, and Scarlet felt it starting to slice through her gut like a thousand blades. She knew that voice. It was the voice she had heard in her nightmares. The voice that tortured her, mocked her, followed her wherever she went.
“Brent,” she whispered so softly she could hardly hear herself. Her head was pounding, her body aching, and her mouth was stone dry.
In the far corner of her mind, Scarlet tried to figure out where she was, what happened. But her mind was completely out of whack and she struggled to focus since a fucking jackhammer was drilling through her skull.
“What’s happening?” It even hurt to talk.
“Don’t worry about that now. Just give the drug time to wear off.”
She felt a soft swoosh as a piece of fabric was pulled over and off her face. Scarlet tried to open her eyes, but the light stung too much and her first reaction was to shield her face with her hands. That was when she noticed her hands were tied above her head, and all she could do was jerk her head to the side to get away from the light.
“Where am I?”
“Open your eyes and take a look for yourself.”
Just from the malevolent sound in his voice she knew she shouldn’t have opened her eyes.
But she did. God, she did.
After blinking vigorously, trying to get the fog out of her vision, Scarlet sucked in a breath as she stared in front of her. “No.”
Brent stepped in her line of vision and smiled. “Welcome back, Little Red.”
Scarlet shook her head. “No, no, no. This isn’t real.”
“What’s the matter? You not happy to be here?” Brent cocked his head to the side before holding his arms out wide.
She frantically shook her head, tugging at the chains around her wrists, wishing like hell this was just the worst goddamn nightmare she had ever had and that she would wake up soon.
Not here. Anywhere but here.
Brent slowly started to move, circling around her. He bit his lower lip while staring at her with hungry, demonic eyes. He looked like a man who hadn’t eaten for days and she was the Thanksgiving turkey he was about to cut in to. It was freaky as hell, and Scarlet was scared out of her mind.
When he stopped behind her, he pressed his chest to her back, and she jerked forward, desperate to get away from him. Just feeling him against her was enough to make her cringe.
The second he grabbed her waist, Scarlet wanted to hurl. Bile was forcing its way up her throat and making it even more difficult to breathe.
He pulled her closer, pushing himself hard against her ass before leaning closer to her ear. “Isn’t it poetic, Little Red? We’re back where it all started.”
The barn.
Oh God.
Sweat started to run down Scarlet’s back, her body trembling almost uncontrollably as she struggled against the sharp claws of fear that gripped her chest and pierced her soul. Her breathing came out in soft whimpers, tears burning their way down her cheeks
Brent dug his fingers into the skin of her waist and she groaned, pinching her eyes closed, despising the way it felt to have him touch her again.
“This is where it all began for you and me, Little Red.” He licked along her earlobe and Scarlet bit her teeth into her lower lip so hard she tasted blood.
“This is where you and I became one. Do you remember that? Do you remember that first time? They say the first time is the one you will always remember.” Good God, this son of a bitch was fucking insane. He sounded like the kind of person who should be rocking back and forth in a straitjacket on a wooden chair with only the padded walls to keep him company.
His breathing became more labored against her ear, and she felt him grow hard behind her, the most revolting sensation slicing up her spine. The urge to vomit and relieve herself at the same time was almost completely overwhelming as shivers moved through her body, the fear infecting every molecule of her being.
It was happening all over again. It was like she’d been transported back to the day he destroyed her. The barn even smelled the same, even though there weren’t any horses anymore. It still smelled like wood shavings, hay, and leather too. The distinct scent of horse manure, sweat, and dust still hung in the air. As a little girl, she used to love the smell—she loved the horses. But now the smell made her sick to her stomach.
“Do you remember, Little Red? Please say you remember it.” His cold, vile lips were now below her neck, kissing her skin like he was savoring the taste, his one hand palming her ass. It was making her fucking skin crawl.
Scarlet was too busy pushing down the bile in her throat, too busy forcing herself to breathe while enduring his revolting touch that she had no intention of answering his sick, twisted question.
Brent jerked her harder against him and gripped her waist tighter, digging his fingers painfully into her flesh.
“I asked you a question,” he hissed next to her ear. “And I expect you to fucking answer.”
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t open her mouth since all she wanted to do was scream.
“Fucking answer me!” He grabbed her ponytail and jerked her head back. Scarlet yelped, tears streaming down her face as whimpers of despair rolled over her lips. On the inside, she was so fucking cold it was slicing through her bones. Yet the sweat kept trickling down her back.
“I…”
Oh God, she couldn’t do it. It felt like she was Blanchette all over again—the scared, helpless girl who didn’t have the backbone to fight back while he just took from her what he wanted.
This was the reason Scarlet had spent the last seven years hardening and strengthening herself by building a wall around her heart, keeping everyone out. If she could keep everyone out, no one had the power to hurt her—hurt her like he had.
For years she mind-fucked herself into not feeling anything. If she couldn’t feel, she would never experience pain again. That was why she was so fucking scared of Hunter, because he was breaking down those walls. One by one, Hunter was cracking every brick she had laid in a bid to protect herself, to make sure no one ever broke the little bit of humanity she had left inside her. Hunter was making her feel again, which scared the shit out of her. So she fought it, she fought him, while she struggled to stay strong, to not feel.
Yet all her strength, all the hardened layers of I don’t give a fuck were about to get cracked wide open in a matter of minutes by the psycho who turned her into the living corpse she was today. All those years of hiding, running, and trying to survive was all for nothing. Scarlet could have spared herself years of torment if she had just given up a long time ago, if she had just stayed and made peace with the fact that she would be in hell with this man until her last breath.
While she hung chained to the ceiling, feeling Brent’s vile touch on her skin, all she thought about was feeling Hunter’s arms around her, being with him again…loving him.
“Fight, Scar. Don’t you dare stop fighting.”
“Scarlet, do not let him get to you. Whatever you do, don’t stop fighting him.”
Scarlet could hear Hunter’s voice like he was standing right next to her, urging her not to give up, not to give this fucker what he wanted—her fear. It would be so damn easy to just give up, to crumple up into a little ball of pity and let the devil consume her whole. To fight would mean to stay strong, no matter what, to not let this fucker win.
She opened her eyes, removed her teeth from her lower lip, and took a deep breath, allowing the air to push her panic out of her chest.
And then she bit out, “Fuck. You.”
Brent stiffened behind her before slowly winding her hair around his fist tighter, and tighter. “You’re definitely not the Little Red I remember, are you?”
“The Little Red you remember died years ago. You killed her. Do you remember that? You remember the day you pushed her against that wall over there—” Scarlet nodded toward the wall in front of them “—and punched the wind out of her so that she didn’t have the strength to scream or fight back? When you pulled her by her hair, dragging her to that table in the corner, pushing her dress up and tearing her panties to shreds before you ripped her soul out of her?” Scarlet took a breath as the memories started to bombard her mind, threatening her resolve to fight. “Do you remember that, cousin?”
Brent abruptly let her go, sending her body swinging. The metal of the chains had already started to slice through her wrists, but she would have gladly broken both her hands if she thought it would help her escape.
Scarlet wanted to throw up so badly it felt like her stomach was lodged in her chest, the acid burning up her throat.
While he slowly walked away from her, Scarlet watched his every move. He was bigger than he was back then, and his hair used to be neatly cut—like a Marine. But today, with his long blond hair and the suit he was wearing, it was like he was someone entirely different. It was like she could see the evil radiate from him, something she wished she had been able to see back then. But she had loved her cousin all those years ago, she adored him…until he showed her what he was truly made of.
He stopped in front of the table in the corner—the table her cheek had been pressed against so many times—and slowly started to drag his fingers along the wooden top. There was this faraway, dreamy expression on his face, like he was reliving a good memory—for him.
“Oh, I remember.” He walked up and down in front of the table, never lifting his finger from the wood. “I remember every second. I remember what it felt like seeing you naked and exposed in front of me for the first time. I remember every sound, every whimper you made while I touched and admired your body.” He stopped and turned to her, his eyes nothing but pits of complete blackness.
With small, slow strides he started toward her, slanting his head to the side. “I remember thinking that I’d never wanted anything as badly as I wanted you. The way you used to flip your hair, exposing that beautiful silky skin of your neck, making me wish I could taste it. And your sweet scent that would fill the air whenever you walked into a room—God, it was intoxicating.” He smiled. “I remember wanting to know if your pussy smelled and tasted just as sweet.”
Scarlet cringed as she listened to his every word coated with pure fucking evil.
He pulled his hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. “God, Little Red. You used to drive me crazy—the way you teased and taunted me with those short little dresses you wore, showing off those long, curvy legs, making me wonder what was hidden between them. I remember how your tits were permanently shoved in my face with all the low-cut shirts and dresses you wore. I would lie awake in bed at night wondering what your warm breath would feel like skidding over the skin of my neck while I had you beneath me—what you felt like from the inside. It drove me insane. You drove me insane.”
“You’re a sick, twisted son of a bitch, Brent.”
“Am I? Am I really? You wanted it, Little Red, just as much as I did.”
“Fuck you.”
“Deep down, you know you teased me on purpose. You know you made me want you. So if I’m a sick, twisted son of a bitch, it’s because of you.”
Scarlet swallowed hard while Brent continued to paint a very clear picture of how he convinced himself that she had seduced him. It was all so fucking wrong.
She shook her head, thinking back, knowing she never once thought he would look at her in that way. Not once. Even though he was adopted, she saw him as family, a brother…not as a man who would have a sexual interest in her.
Brent stopped in front of her, his face inches from hers. She had to fight the urge to close her eyes and cower. She had to force herself to ignore the fear and the panic, and to show him that she was no longer the weak young girl he had raped multiple times.
He took her chin in his hand and forced her head to the side as he leaned closer to her ear, dragging his slimy, wet tongue up her neck before he whispered, “But the one thing I remember the most, Little Red, was how you felt when I ripped your soul out of you, again…and again…and again. How fucking euphoric it felt to be inside you, to make you mine.”
No.
“Fuck you, you son of a bitch!” Scarlet screamed.
She screamed so fucking loud, her panic morphed into blinding rage. Hearing the pleasure that coated his every word sent a wave of fury crashing through her very being and she started to violently thrash, swinging from the chains while she screamed like a mad person, wanting to get loose so that she could tear his fucking skin off. All she could think about was making him pay in the worst possible way.
Brent stepped back and watched with an amused grin on his ugly, pale face as she fought helplessly against the chains. It was clear as day he was enjoying every damn second of it all. He enjoyed tormenting her just like he always had.
There was a slow, faint trickle that moved down her arms as her wrist started to bleed from the metal slicing through her skin. But she felt no pain. All she felt was blinding rage, and nothing else.
“Why don’t you just fucking kill me already?”
“Kill you? Why would I kill you, Little Red?”
Scarlet stopped thrashing. “Don’t act like that hasn’t been your plan all along. You want me dead so you can finally get full control of Grandmother’s money.”
Brent frowned. “Is that what you think? Do you think I want to kill you just to get my hands on your inheritance?”
“Isn’t it?”
He lifted a brow. “Of course not. I have power of attorney over the estate.”
“Which means all your expenses are being watched.”
“True.” He started pacing, his arms behind his back. “But according to the trust, I’m using the money for investments. Investments they think are legit. Believe me, Little Red, I’m making more than enough money from those investments alone, money the trust has no idea about.”
Scarlet kept staring at him, feeling completely overwhelmed and confused. “Then why?”
Brent studied her with his hazel-colored eyes before he started to laugh—a loud, cackling, evil sounding laugh that not even the devil could mimic.
“Oh, my dear, dear Little Red. All these years you thought I wanted you dead? I can assure you, you couldn’t have been more wrong.”
He moved toward her like a predator, his intentions plastered all over his face. He wanted to tear her apart and devour her inch by fucking inch.
Scarlet swallowed hard. “You really are a sick, demented, vile son of a bitch, aren’t you?”
Brent smiled. “I have to admit, I love the new, feisty you. It’s only going to make this so much more fun.” He clapped his hands together while he continued watching her. “I am going to have so much fun breaking you again, Little Red.”
Scarlet stilled and narrowed her eyes at him.
Brent continued to smile. “Only, this time I will make sure I break you completely. Once I’m done with you, not even your PI friend will be able to help you. And after what he’s done, he deserved his fate.”
“What do you mean he deserved his fate? What fate?”
Brent started to slowly pace again. “You see, Little Red, I know you let him fuck you, so, in other words, he touched what is mine. He took what is mine.” His gaze shot up to hers and Scarlet’s body went ice cold when she saw the horrid tableau in his eyes.
“He tried to take you away from me, and now he’s dead because of it.”
Scarlet stopped breathing. There was no longer a heart beating inside of her chest. It was just one giant block of ice lodged behind her ribs.
No, no, no, no…
“You didn’t.”
“Oh, I didn’t, no. But my new friend, Mr. Colton Riggs, did. You see, your boyfriend is dead because you thought he could erase me from your soul. He’s dead because of you.”
Oh my God. No.
More tears streamed down her face, and Scarlet let out another scream as the pain sliced through her heart. She could feel it bleed inside her chest, spreading the pain to every corner of her body, the disease of agony infecting her inch by inch.
“God!” she yelled. “No!” Scarlet couldn’t breathe as the worst pain she had ever felt took ahold of her. She cried while her gut felt like it had been turned inside out, her ribs squeezing every last ounce of breath out of her lungs.
“Oh, don’t worry, Little Red.” Brent placed his hand on her cheek. “I will make sure that I wipe away every trace of him from your mind, your heart…your pussy. You won’t even remember his goddamn name once I’m done with you.”
The threat hung thick in the air, his words holding promises of unrelenting torture, but Scarlet was already dead, rotting from the inside. Every little bit of humanity she had left was now nothing more than decaying pieces of black, darkness filling her to the brim. Hunter was dead…and so was she.
After minutes of crying, screaming, and then crying some more, Scarlet finally managed to bite out the words, “What can you possibly do to me that you haven’t already done?”
His evil smile reached his wicked eyes. “Something I’ve wanted to do for the last seven years. Something I’ve dreamt about doing every night we were apart.” Brent stepped closer, and Scarlet tried to move her body back, but failed.
He placed a finger on the side of her face, and the touch sent violent shudders down her spine. With his eyes glued on hers, he slowly dragged his finger down the side of her face, her neck, down her chest, circling her nipple, and bit into his lower lip. He looked down at where he touched her and dragged his finger to her belly.
“I’m going to plant my seed inside you, Little Red.” His eyes shot up to hers. “I’m going to breed you.”