His Regret by Bella J.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I seeyou covered up at least before you came outside.”

Scarlet looked up at Hunter towering over her where she lay in the sun, soaking up some vitamin D while she tried to sort through her thoughts.

With a smirk she untied the robe and pushed it to the sides. Hunter’s eyes grew wide as he took in her naked body. “Guess not.”

Scarlet tied the robe again. “So what did you find out?”

He didn’t answer, and Scarlet pulled her sunglasses a little lower down her nose. The grim look on his face told her that he most definitely found something. “What?”

When he rubbed the back of his neck, Scarlet felt chills spread through every limb of her body. By now she knew that whenever he rubbed the back of his neck, he was either nervous or annoyed. “Ace? What is it?”

Hunter sat down on the recliner and she shifted her legs to the side, giving him a little more space.

“Scar, when was the last time you checked in on your grandmother?” He didn’t look at her. His hands were clenched in front of him and he stared down at the ground between his feet.

Scarlet scooted up and took off her sunglasses. “In case you forgot, I was on the run trying to get away from that psycho. I never checked in on anyone because I didn’t want to be found. Where the fuck have you been the last few days?” There was no way she could hide the annoyance she felt toward him at that moment. Being annoyed was the only way she could deal with the nerves that suddenly wracked her.

He held out his hands. “Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down when you’re sitting there looking like the fucking grim reaper—only bigger.”

His back rose and fell as he took a deep breath, and then he finally looked at her. “She’s dead, Scar.”

The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks was abruptly silenced. There were no birds chirping in the background anymore, or leaves rustling from the breeze. It was eerily quiet around them, except for the sound of her blood flowing through her veins.

“My grandmother?”

He nodded.

Scarlet looked down trying to process what she just heard. It was impossible.

“It can’t be.” Her gaze shot up to Hunter. “You’re lying.”

“I wish I was.”

Scarlet got up from the recliner and walked closer to the edge of the deck.

The ache that took hold of her chest was strong, but Scarlet fought it, pushing back the tears. “How?”

Hunter got up and stood behind her. “Stroke.”

She snorted. “Seems like it runs in the family. I’m probably next.”

He placed his hands softly on her waist and he squeezed a little. “I’m sorry, Scar.”

She closed her eyes and sucked her lower lip in to her mouth. It had been years since she’d seen her grandmother. It had been so long that it felt like she didn’t have the right to grieve, like she didn’t have the right to be heartbroken over the loss.

And then she thought about him,the bastard who took it all from her. The bastard finally got his filthy hands on her grandmother’s money.

“So he finally got what he wanted.” She turned around to face Hunter.

He didn’t move. He didn’t even fucking blink.

“What is it, Ace?”

He shifted from one leg to the other. “You’re right, he got everything.”

She frowned. “But that’s good, then. Isn’t it? He has no need to kill me anymore. He got what he wanted. I’m free?”

Hunter still didn’t move, his face even more grim and pale than before.

Scarlet narrowed her eyes. “Why do you look like someone just handed you my death sentence, Ace?”

He rubbed his hands together and she could hear him take a deep breath.

“Hunter, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on right now, I swear to God I am going—”

“She’s been dead for six months, Scar.”

She froze. “What?”

He pulled both hands through his hair. “Brent already got his inheritance six months ago.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. Why is he still after me, then?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged, but Scarlet could see that his brain was in overdrive.

She stepped forward. “Hunter. Why the fuck is he still after me?”

He turned around and started pacing in front of the pool, looking down at his feet. “That night when those guys tried to grab you outside the club, I kind of interrogated one of the fuckers.”

“Kind of?”

“Yeah. Kind of.”

“Would you stop fucking around and tell me what the hell is going on?” She placed her hands on her hips.

“The guy said something about Brent staring at this picture he has of you almost every day. Creepy was the word he used to describe the way the fucker stared at the photo.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And?”

“And according to this guy, Brent is hell-bent on finding you.”

“Ace!” she yelled. “Stop pacing and just spit out whatever it is you’re thinking.”

“Fine!” He stopped and turned toward her. “I think he’s looking for you because…I think…I think he’s desperate to find you because he’s obsessed with you. This is no longer about silencing you to protect his inheritance. It’s about getting what he thinks is his.”

Cold, hard ice filled her spine and she could no longer feel the beating of her own heart. This is not happening. This cannot be happening.

“No.” She shook her head and gave a step back, clutching her arms around her waist.

Hunter rushed forward and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “I can’t be sure, okay? I just think that his desperation to find you is much more than what we initially thought.”

Scarlet looked at Hunter, but it felt like she was staring into space. A rush of memories flooded her mind and she no longer registered what was going on around her.

All she heard was his words, the words he whispered into her ear from behind while he was busy corrupting her body, her soul, tearing her apart from the inside.

“You are mine, Little Red…”

“No one will take you from me…”

“The day will come that I will make you mine in every way…”

“Your soul, your body is mine…”

“You will never be free of me.”

Like a lightning bolt, everything just came crashing down. All those years ago he had already vowed to never leave her alone. She was so possessed by her pain and the fear of what he was doing to her that she didn’t pay any attention to his words. To her, they were the words of a psychotic, sick, filthy piece of shit whose perversions were only focused on her because she was an easy target. Never in a million years did she think it was an obsession directed solely at her.

Hunter pulled her closer and pressed her against his chest, bringing her back from the dark memory. “Hey, you listen to me, okay?” He nestled his nose into her hair and spoke close to her ear. “I made you a promise, and I intend to keep it. He will not lay another hand on you, not while I’m alive. I will find him, Scarlet, and I will make him pay. I swear to you. I will not let anything happen to you.”

A single, silent tear ran down her cheek and she closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to believe every word he had just spoken. Yet it did nothing to thaw the ice in her veins. She knew Brent was a sick bastard, but she thought the root of his evil was his greed. Now it started to look like the root of his evil was…her.

* * *

While Hunter held Scarlet tightly against his chest, all he could feel was the pounding force of his anger pulsing through his veins like lava. It was like there was this volcano inside him, ready to erupt and incinerate anything and anyone who came near her. To think that this fucking psycho actually had this sick obsession with his girl—that’s right, his girl—was enough to make Hunter see nothing but red. It was clear what Hunter had to do, and that was to hunt this fucker down and rip his goddamn head off.

“Come on.” He took her hand. “If there ever was a time to drink before noon, it’s now.”

He led her inside the house and let her sit down on the couch while he grabbed the whiskey and two glasses.

Pulling the coffee table closer, he sat down and handed her the glass. “I’m sorry, you know, about your grandmother.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. I should have known she might not have still been alive. She was old, and had a good life, considering.”

“Considering that you left home?”

Her gaze flitted to his. “That too.”

His head slanted to the side. “Scar, where is your sister?”

“I told you.” She took a sip of her whiskey.

“You told me she was some place far away.”

“Yeah.”

“Exactly how far is far away?”

She got up from the couch and went to stand in front of the fireplace that looked like it had never been used before. Two more big gulps and her glass was empty.

Her shoulders slumped, and then she whispered, “She’s dead.”

“Jesus.” He dragged his hand down his face. What else had this woman lost in her life? He could never have imagined the kind of shit she had been through. “I’m sorry, Scar.”

“Just. Stop.”

He glanced in her direction and saw that her head was hanging down while she stared at the floor. “Just stop with your pity.”

“Pity? You think I pity you?” He got up and went to stand behind her, wanting nothing more than to touch her, but he knew now was not the right time. “I don’t pity you, Scar. I envy you.”

She spun around and her ice cold stare almost knocked the wind right out of him. “Envy me? What part about my life exactly do you envy, Hunter? Huh? The part where I never knew my father? The part where I lost my mother, my sister? Or the part where I got raped in a shed so fucking hard that I could hardly walk for days. And every time I walked past him in our home I had to live with the humiliation of him knowing that I was in pain with every step I took because he had violated me in the worst possible way. You envy that, Ace?”

“Scar, stop—”

“Or do you envy the fact that it didn’t happen just once. Oh no.” She started to move forward, forcing him back. “He raped me multiple times. Bound and gagged me so that I couldn’t fight back. And while he violated me over and over and over again, his vile breath would skid across my neck as he whispered all the disgusting things he would do to my sister if I ever told anyone.”

“Fuck. Stop, Scarlet. Goddammit.” The image of her being raped by a psychopath was just too fucking much. All he saw was a thousand shades of red…blood…anger.

But Scarlet continued on, not even fucking blinking. “Or is it the fact that my sister walked in one day and saw him pounding into me from behind, his filthy sweat dripping on my back. And when she tried to run, to call for help, he went after her. And me? I was too afraid to run after them, to go help my sister even though I knew what a sick fuck he was. So what do you think I did, Hunter? Huh?”

“Scarlet, stop, please.” Hunter couldn’t handle it anymore. It felt like his head and his heart and everything inside him was about to explode with a kind of pain he’d never experienced before. It was her pain pulsing through his veins, crippling him from the inside. “Please just stop.”

“No, you wanted to know the truth, Ace. Well, here it is.” She paused, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes glistening, but it was anger that beamed from them. It wasn’t sadness or pain, it was anger. Blinding fucking rage was plastered all over her face.

“I ran. I ran, Ace. I ran as fast as I could and I didn’t turn back once. Not once. At that moment, I didn’t care about my sister or anyone else. All I cared about was getting as far away from him as possible, saving myself.”

That was when the tears of anger turned into tears of sadness and regret. “I should have gone back to help her. I never should have run away, but I was too much of a coward—”

“No!” Hunter grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard. “You are not a coward. Don’t you dare say shit like that, do you hear me? You are not a fucking coward.”

“She died!” Scarlet cried out while he continued to shake her. “My sister died that day.”

Hunter stilled. “Did he—”

She shook her head. “No. But he might as well have.”

Scarlet cried so hard that Hunter had no other choice but to pull her hard against his chest. Dear God, this poor woman. The horror and the pain she had been through, and she still managed to stand strong. How the fuck did she do it?

“You listen to me, Scar, and you listen fucking carefully.” He pulled her face from his chest and held her cheeks in his palms. “I envy you because you are the strongest person I know. I wish I had your strength, your determination. But I don’t. After all you’ve been through you’re still here, still living. You’re still fucking human. You’re a survivor just like that tattoo says on the inside of your thigh. A survivor, Scarlet. I envy you because you’ve been to hell and back and you still. Fucking. Survived.”

Without thinking, he kissed her. He kissed her so hard, as if trying to remove all her pain, all her anger and torment with that one kiss. It was a bittersweet kiss mixed with the saltiness of her tears. If there was one thing he could wish for, it would be to take away every bad thing that had ever happened to this woman. To give her a life filled with nothing but love and laughter and joy. She deserved it. She. Fucking. Deserved it.

Scarlet pushed back and cried out in pain. Her demons were torturing her, killing her from the inside, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“It’s my fault she’s dead, and the only reason I choose to survive is because I don’t deserve to die. I deserve to live and be tortured by her memory, knowing that if it wasn’t for me, she would still be alive.”

“That’s bullshit.” Hunter shook his head. “That’s a bunch of horse crap and you know it.”

“Fuck you, Ace. You don’t know me. Just because we fucked and shared a few moments does not mean you know me, that you can analyze me and be right.”

He grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her toward him. “Your sister is dead because of that son of a bitch and what he did to you. It’s not your fault.”

“Stop saying that!” More tears, more cries, but Hunter refused to let go.

“Scarlet, stop. You can’t keep on torturing yourself like this.”

“He fucked up my entire family, and now he has everything. Even my home. My home, Ace. Bella Vista was my home, and now it’s his.”

Hunter froze. “What did you say?”

Scarlet wiped at her cheeks with her hand. “Bella Vista will never be home again. Brent has everything now right in the palms of his filthy hands.” She jerked her arm free from his hold and stormed up the stairs. Hunter’s entire body went numb and he didn’t even try to stop her.

Bella Vista. Blue. The estate with the huge-ass walls.

No. No, this can’t be…

This can’t be happening. This can’t be fucking happening. No way.

Hunter stared up the stairs, his mind trying to come up with just one other reason Scarlet would refer to Bella Vista as her home. Any other reason but the obvious.

Could it be? Could this really be?

Hunter pushed his hands through his hair, bending over like he was in physical pain. “Fuck!” Flashes of blue eyes and heart-shaped lips infested his mind, cracking his chest wide open. The clear blue eyes of the woman he lost…and the intense blue eyes of the woman he had found. It was impossible. Scarlet and Blue?

“What is this?”

Hunter looked up. Scarlet was standing a few feet from him, holding his silver chain with the Celtic symbol in her hand, dressed like she was ready to leave.

“Scar—” He stood up straight, not knowing if he wanted to scream or cry. Whether he wanted to wrap her in his arms or run as far away from her as possible. Right then it seemed like the latter.

“Tell me where you got this, Ace.”

Hunter sat down on the couch and let out a long sigh of defeat. “You know where I got it, don’t you, Scar?”

She lightly shook her head, the raw look of denial plastered on her face. “No.”

“Yes.” He dropped his gaze to the floor, unable to look at her any longer.

“How did Blue die, Ace?”

“Oh God. You know how she died, Scarlet,” he muttered.

“Answer me!” she shouted, her face as white as a ghost.

Hunter jumped up from the couch, a toxic mix of anger and confusion poisoning him from the inside. “A car accident, Scarlet. Blue died in a car accident.”

Scarlet remained unmoved. “What was her name?”

“Blue,” he answered almost inaudibly. “Her name was Blue.”

“Her real name, Hunter.”

She knew, goddammit. He could see it on her face. But she was going to make him say it. She was going to make him spell it all out for her even if it meant tearing him the fuck apart.

He stared at her, hating the fact that she was forcing him to say it, but he did anyway. “Willow.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Her name was Willow.”

The chain dropped from Scarlet’s hand like white hot coals, the sound of the metal hitting the floor echoing around them as if it was a ten-ton anchor that slammed in the ground. She gasped, holding her chest like all the wind had been knocked right out of her.

“Willow, was she your sister, Scar?” he asked softly, a part of him hoping like hell he was wrong about it all.

All she did was nod, more tears moving down her cheeks, and Hunter’s entire world got pulled from under him.

“Oh my God.” He pulled at his hair, staring up, thinking this was just another one of the universe’s sick, twisted games. But when he looked down, staring at Scarlet, he saw it. He saw all the similarities between Scar and Blue, the things he was too blind to see before. Now he knew why he had felt so drawn to Scarlet all this time—why he felt that familiar pull toward her. It was because of her. It was his connection to Blue that had been pulling him to Scarlet all this time.

What if these feelings he had toward Scarlet weren’t real at all? Was it because deep down inside he had known this all along? Was that why he had this unexplainable urge to protect Scarlet from the start?

And then his entire world came crashing down around him for a second time in his life.

It was all a lie. Everything he had shared with the woman in front of him was never fucking real.

He walked over to where she stood, crouched down, and picked up his chain laying on the floor. Somehow the silver trinket felt like it burned the skin of his hand, like he didn’t have the right to hold it anymore. It no longer represented his love for Blue, but rather had become the symbol of his fate…a cruel, hard, punishing fate of living a life alone. Of never being able to love again.

Scarlet’s soft whimpers filled his ears, and it sent a grueling ache smashing right in the center of his chest.

“Scar—”

The front door burst open at the same time the alarm started to go ape-shit.

Hunter didn’t think. He just reacted.

He grabbed Scarlet and pushed her to the side as two men came rushing through the door. Scarlet fell to the floor, and Hunter rushed over to the drawer where he stashed his gun. The second he turned around and aimed, he stared straight down the barrel of a gun pointed at his forehead. The guy in front of him staring down the barrel of Hunter’s gun.

The man cocked his head to the side. “There’s no need for that, son.”

“I think there kinda is when someone bursts through my door and aims a gun at my head,” Hunter replied dryly, his finger firmly on the trigger.

“There’s no time. We need to get her out of here.” He glanced at Scarlet, who slowly got up from the floor.

“Like hell we do.”

“They are on their way here right now looking for her. We don’t have time.”

Hunter glared at the guy with the shaven head and goatee, probably in his mid-forties. “Who the hell are you?”

The man looked from Hunter to Scarlet, who stood silently watching them.

“I’m her father.”

To be continued in

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