The moment Hunter shut the door behind him, Scarlet grabbed ahold of the bathroom sink, trying her best not to collapse into a puddle of pity.
But it hurt. It fucking hurt.
Why did it hurt so bad? She wasn’t supposed to feel anything. The part of her that was capable of feeling had died years ago. Hadn’t it?
So why the fuck was it hurting so bad that she couldn’t even manage to take a simple breath?
Tears welled up until she could no longer keep her sobs contained. With knuckles turning white as she tightened her hold on the sink, Scarlet let go. She allowed the tears to stream down her cheeks, hoping that some of the pain would escape along with the saltiness of her heartache.
It was all her fault. She pushed him. She pushed Hunter to look her in the eye while he fucked her, knowing her eyes made him think of her. Yet she kept on pushing, forcing him to think about the one person he had fought so hard to forget. It was like she wanted him to fuck it all up. Deep down she wanted him to break that little bit of hope she had been feeling for the last few days. If she didn’t have hope, she didn’t have expectations. Not having expectations was good…for her. So she pushed him into a corner, wanting him to fuck up.
While she was in the shower earlier, feeling really fucking sorry for herself, washing dried blood out of her hair, all she could think about was how glad she was that Hunter was there. It was like his presence made everything bearable—made her capable of handling it. And it scared the shit out of her, because that only meant one thing. She was starting to depend on him, and she didn’t want that. She did not spend the last few years of her life hardening herself, making sure she didn’t depend on anyone but herself, just to have one man swoop in and fuck it all up. Allowing herself to feel anything for anyone was not a luxury someone like her could afford. So she tricked him. Scarlet tricked Hunter into fucking up so that she could have a reason to hold on to the walls around her heart. So that he had a reason to let go of that sliver of hope Hunter had forced into her heart.
Yes, that was what she did, and what she did had a damn name. Entrapment.
She set the trap knowing all too well that Hunter’s scars, his regret and lingering love for Willow, would be the weakness that caused him to fall hook, line, and sinker into the trap.
But now, while her tears moved down her cheeks, she was the one bearing the sucky consequences of her fucked-up trap.
She lifted her gaze and stared at herself in the mirror. Eyes red and swollen from crying, her cheeks wet from her tears, and her hair a tangled mess, she looked like shit. No wonder they said beauty came from within. Her outer self was now a reflection of the chaos and the complete mess she was inside. There was nothing pretty about her…not anymore. There was no beauty hidden anywhere inside her. It was all withered, black, and dead.
Scarlet wiped away the wetness on her cheeks, took a deep breath, and stared at herself in the mirror.
“This is the last time you ever allow yourself to be weak.”
After splashing some cold water over her face, cleaning the remnants of Hunter’s “fuck-up” between her legs, Scarlet steeled herself and stepped out of the bathroom.
She knew Hunter would no longer be there. After seeing the grim expression on his face after he realized what he had done, Scarlet knew he wouldn’t stick around. Hunter didn’t cope well with regret, and that was exactly what she saw on his face. Regret.
Regret that he fucked her.
Regret that he called her Blue.
Regret that she wasn’t Blue.
Fuck.
When she walked into the bedroom, there was a pair of women’s jeans on the bed along with a black shirt. It made sense that these people had women’s clothing lying around since it was a safe house for abused girls rescued from slavery.
Scarlet wondered if it was even possible to rehabilitate women who had been abused, raped, and sold on the black market. Seemed like Scarlet actually had something in common with them—just not the sold on the black market part. And she sure as hell didn’t have the potential to be rehabilitated. What happened in the bathroom with Hunter earlier was proof of that.
After getting dressed and pulling her hair up in a sleek ponytail, Scarlet left the room in search of her supposed father. While she was trying to get her mind off Hunter, she was gathering a hell of a lot of questions for James Baxter. Questions she was about to get answers for.
It took her a while to find James’s office. When Hunter basically carried her to the bedroom earlier, drawing a map wasn’t exactly her top priority.
She was just about to step into the office when she heard his voice. Hunter. He was still there.
“What else do you know about this Brent fucker?”
“First, tell me the nature of your relationship with my daughter.”
“I’m sorry, but you’ve only been her father for, what, two hours? So you don’t yet have the right to know anything when it comes to Scarlet and me.” She could hear the annoyance in Hunter’s voice.
“Okay. I deserved that,” James replied.
“Sure did.”
There was a long pause before she heard a chair being pulled across the floor. “Brent Wolfe has become a threat to what we’re doing here.”
“Explain,” Hunter demanded.
“Brent found out about his grandmother funding our operation. And now he wants in.”
“Why is that a threat?”
“He doesn’t want in to help us. He wants into the underground. Brent wants to use his grandmother’s ties and money to build his own empire by selling women.”
Scarlet sucked in a breath, and placed her palm in front of her mouth, not wanting James or Hunter to know she was eavesdropping.
“Which is why Brent wants Blanche—Scarlet—dead. As long as he only has power of attorney, his expenses are being watched. So until he rightfully inherits everything, Brent can’t use any of the estate money to fund this empire he’s so hell-bound on building.”
“Fuck me,” she heard Hunter curse. She imagined him rubbing the back of his neck, trying to process everything James was saying.
“So we need to take Scarlet to the family attorneys, let her claim her inheritance,” James continued. “That’s the only way we can stop him.”
Scarlet almost vomited right there. Just the thought of going back made her feel sick to her stomach.
“She won’t go,” Hunter said. “There is no way Scarlet will do it.”
How was it that this man knew her so well?
“I don’t think she has a choice here, Hunter. It’s the only way to stop Brent.”
“I’m telling you now, there is no way in hell Scarlet will go claim that inheritance. There isn’t enough money in this world to make her face him again.”
Scarlet’s heart fell straight down to the pit of her stomach. He was right. They could offer her the fucking crown jewels, she still wouldn’t face the devil.
“What happened to her, Hunter?” James asked, his voice low, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“You need to ask her that.”
“I watched over her as much as I could through the years. And after I heard about her running away, I searched for her. When I found her, I made sure there was always someone close, keeping her safe and out of trouble.”
Hunter snorted. “Now it all makes sense. It was you. I never could understand how she managed to get away, why it was so fucking impossible to find her. But it was you. You worked behind the scenes to make sure she disappeared without a trace. You made it happen.”
“I did. I figured that whatever happened that made her run away from her home was big enough to justify her needing a little extra help…without her knowing it.”
Scarlet stared down at the floor. Suddenly everything made sense. All those times Scarlet managed to get away, how everything just always seemed to work out for her—it was James. He made it all happen without her suspecting anything.
“That was until you, of course,” James said. “When I got word that a new PI had been hired to find Scarlet, I looked into you. Hunter Keaton. PI by day, illegal cage fighter by night.”
“You knew about me?”
“I did. But I had a gut instinct about you, which is why I allowed you to get close.”
“You allowed me?” Hunter snorted again.
“Turns out my gut instinct was right.”
Scarlet’s head was starting to spin. It was like an information overload going down inside of her brain.
“Tell me, Mr. Baxter.” Scarlet heard the threat in Hunter’s voice. “If you were so fucking resourceful, and so good at protecting your daughter, then why the fuck did you not know what the hell Brent was doing to her?”
Fuck! Scarlet charged into the office. “Hunter, no!”
James, who was sitting behind his desk, jerked his head up while Hunter spun around, both of them staring at her, wide-eyed.
James narrowed his eyes. “What the hell are you talking about, Hunter?”
“Hunter, don’t.” She didn’t want James to know. She didn’t want anyone to know. It was her burden, her cross to bear. No one else’s.
“Scarlet, he needs to know.” Hunter’s green eyes bore into hers, and what she saw was pure resolve. He was going to tell James. If she didn’t tell him, Hunter would.
“What do I need to know? Scarlet, Hunter, what the hell is going on?” James got up, his chair screeching across the floor.
When Scarlet looked into James’s eyes, she knew she wouldn’t have to spell it out for him. He knew. Just by the way he stared at her, he knew.
“You already know, don’t you, James?” Scarlet sneered. “Deep down you know what that psychopath did to me.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I knew…I knew you had to have a very good reason for leaving home, but I always assumed it was because he killed your sister.”
Scarlet froze. “What?”
“I assumed you left because Brent killed Willow.”
“What the hell did you just say?” Hunter’s voice roared through the room, and James turned to him.
“Brent ran Willow’s car off the road, that’s why she crashed.”
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. “Your spy said 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.”