Hunter stared into Scarlet’s blue eyes and felt like the richest man on the fucking planet. He had her. He had all of her, which was worth more than any silver or gold. When he heard her say those words, heard her confess her love for him, he wanted to fall to his fucking knees and thank whichever deity was up there listening.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered while softly stroking her cheek with his thumb.
She smiled, but he could see she was physically and mentally exhausted.
“Let her down,” he ordered over his shoulder. “Now.”
Rex lifted Piper’s head by her hair. “Let her down.”
Piper scrambled to her feet, her eyes filled with tears—probably from gagging on Rex’s cock for the last twenty minutes.
First, the girl unlocked Scarlet’s ankles from the spreader bar. But when she went for the cuffs around Scarlet’s wrists, she was shaking too much, unable to turn the key in the lock of the cuffs. It was so fucking annoying that it had Hunter reaching up and grabbing it from her hand.
“I’ll do it.”
Hunter unlocked the one cuff then slowly eased her arm down, before doing the same with the other.
In a hurry, he grabbed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. And then Scarlet’s legs gave out under her. He caught her and lifted her off the ground, cradling her in his arms.
He turned to face Rex. “We are done here.”
Rex smiled. “Indeed, we are.” He zipped up his pants. “There’s just one more matter of business we need to attend to.”
Hunter glared holes into the fucker’s skull. “I’m not playing your goddamn games anymore. She’s exhausted, and has been traumatized enough.” He tightened his hold around her.
Rex got up from the chair. “I agree. And it’s clear to me that she does, in fact, belong to you. But our honor code clearly states that when the property of a master has been tarnished by another, the penalty is death.”
“What?”
Rex lifted a dark brow and held his hand out, indicating for the rifle goon to hand him a drink. “Brent. He took something from you, and now you need to take something from him.” He lifted his drink to his mouth and smiled wickedly. “His life.”
God forgive him, but Hunter suddenly liked this asshole.
A racket came from outside the dining room, and suddenly the doors burst open. Brent came rushing through, his freaky eyes glaring at Hunter holding Scarlet in his arms.
“Put her down, she belongs to me.”
“The fuck she does.” Hunter wanted to rip out the fucker’s heart so badly, but he didn’t want to put Scarlet down either.
“Ah, Brent,” Rex started. “We were just talking about you.”
“What is going on here, Rex? She is mine. You know she belongs to me, yet you let this man put his hands on her?” Brent shot Hunter an intimidating stare, but Hunter couldn’t give a fuck.
“On the contrary, my friend, it is now my opinion that Scarlet, in fact, does not belong to you, but to Hunter here.”
Brent looked like an artery was about to pop inside his head. “What the fuck? Are you serious? Rex, you know me. You and I, we have come a long way.”
Rex sauntered over to his seat with his glass of whiskey, the epitome of calmness. “True. But as all things in life, good things have to come to an end sometime or another, wouldn’t you agree?”
Brent rushed toward him. “What are you doing, Rex?”
That was exactly what Hunter wanted to know. He glanced at James, and James just shrugged, also unsure of what was happening.
Rex swirled the amber liquid in his glass. “Brent, you took something that did not belong to you. Do you know the punishment for such a crime?”
Brent remained silent, frozen to the spot. And then he burst out laughing—an evil, malevolent, crazy-ass laugh that sent chills down Hunter’s spine.
“Punishment? Crime? Are you serious? Rex, this is our life. Our life consists of punishments and fucking crimes. And since when have you taken the code seriously? Huh? Since the day you ordered me to put a bullet through your father’s head?”
Rex’s expression turned to stone, his blue eyes no longer calm, but a raging storm threatening to capsize everything in its path.
“Excuse me?” He hissed at Brent. When he stood up from the chair, Brent seemed to shrink as his shoulders sagged. “How dare you speak to me in such a disrespectful manner.”
Brent gave a step back. “And how dare you betray our friendship. How dare you dictate what is allowed and what is not. I had her long before he did. She became mine years ago, and according to the code, whoever lays claim on property first is the rightful owner.”
Rex continued forward while Brent tried to cower away. “How dare I?” Rex mocked. “I’m the motherfucking king, Brent. I’m the fucking joker in this deck of cards. Here, I make the rules, and no one can say shit about it. You either play the game how I say it should be played, or you don’t fucking play at all.”
Brent’s back hit the dining table and he straightened. “So, what, you’re going to kill me now?”
Rex grinned, his eyes showcasing his wicked intentions. “No.” Then he pointed toward Hunter. “But he is.”
Again, if it was any other day, under any other circumstances, Hunter would have said, “Fuck this shit, I’m out.” But it was today, it was under current circumstances. And the current circumstances had Hunter wanting to watch Brent take his last goddamn breath.
Hunter walked toward James, and gently handed Scarlet over to him.
“Ace, what are you doing?” She stared at him with worry in her eyes, but he brushed his hand over her cheek.
“I love you, Scar. And I’m doing this for you.”
He turned around and walked to where Rex and Brent stood. He didn’t say a word. There was nothing to say. Hunter knew what had to be done, and God help him, he was going to enjoy doing it.
With long, slow strides, he walked straight up to Brent. Rex just calmly moved to the side, and the second Hunter came close enough, he punched Brent in the face so hard, blood spat from his mouth and landed on the laminated floors. The dining room floor now had three different blood types splattered all over it, and it looked like a scene out of a Saw movie.
Brent tried to land a punch himself, but Hunter was too consumed with bloodlust, too possessed by his need for revenge. He wanted to see Brent bleed. He wanted to hear Brent wail from pain that Hunter was inflicting. The monster inside Hunter craved to see justice served—justice for his woman. And the only justice good enough for her would be death.
From the corner of his eye, Hunter saw Rex grab the chains still hanging from the ceiling. Hunter grabbed Brent by the shoulders and shoved him toward Rex.
Brent struggled, not making it easy for them to get the cuffs on his wrists. But alas, he was no match for them.
“So how does it feel now, asshole?” Hunter slanted his head to the side as he watched Brent with intent, blood dripping from his mouth and nose. “How does it feel to be the one who’s bound, helpless, and experiencing the fear of not knowing what’s going to happen next?”
Brent seemed like he wanted to open his mouth, but Hunter shut it with another fist to the jaw. More blood spat out of Brent’s mouth, and Hunter relished the sight. It was liberating not feeling anything as he watched Brent bleed. So he punched him again…and again…until his fists were coated in Brent’s blood. But it wasn’t enough—it wasn’t fucking red enough.
Inside his mind, Hunter forced himself to think of the images he had painted—images of Scarlet, young and innocent, scared beyond comprehension at what this man was doing to her. Bound and gagged, raped over and over again, her soul destroyed beyond repair. Hunter forced those images inside his head so they could fuel his anger, feed the monster, and give him strength.
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.