Page 244 of Boys Who Hunt

“When I left, she wasn’t in that bed. She was still walking, still able to talk,” she says, her voice fluctuating. “He dragged me back in there and locked me up with her brain-dead body kept alive by machines. Just to punish me.”

“What the f—what kind of a deranged fucker would do that?!” Silas yells, incensed, and it’s impressive, knowing even a psycho like him thinks that is going too far.

My hand balls into a fist as we get closer to him, keeping Silas from falling by supporting him with my shoulder. But I have to get closer. I have to put a wedge between Stefano and Ivy so he doesn’t kill her too. I would rather die than let that happen.

Stefano raises his gun. “That’s close enough.”

Still, I move in, unafraid of the gun’s barrel pointing in our direction.

All this time, I thought she stole someone’s child, but it turned out, she was protecting Cora fromhim. Even after all the torture she endured, she still stands tall, and I feel so fucking bad for ever doubting her.

God, if only I would’ve trusted her.

I’m sorry.

Silas

For a long time,I thought I had no conscience, no emotions, no heart.

But seeing how much this fucker has hurt her, not just physically but mentally too, has awakened a deep-seated hatred inside me that I didn’t even fucking know existed until now.

My jaw is clenched together, words escaping my grasp as I would love nothing more than to chew my way through his neck and tear out his arteries and rip him to shreds with my bare fucking teeth.

But only one fucking thing stops me.

Her.

Because if I do something now that only ends up hurting her more, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

“Are you her fucking father?” I growl at him.

He laughs diabolically. “Fuck no, I wouldn’t dream of being the father to a sewer rat like that.”

I raise my gun right back at him. “Good. I’m so glad you’re not her fucking father, so I don’t have to feel bad for her when I take your life. Because now I get to tear your fucking head off for calling her that.”

Stefano laughs at me. “So what, are you going to kill me in front of my kid?”

Cora hides behind Ivy, and I don’t know why, but it stops me from pulling that trigger.

Fuck.

“You’re a lying piece of shit,” Heath growls. “You never wanted your kid back. You just wanted to punish Ivy for trying to take her away from you.”

“She had no right,” Stefano grits.

“I had every right to keep her safe and away from you!” Ivy’s voice croaks through the room.

Stefano glances at her over his shoulder. “You know, there is only one thing I regret. That after knocking some sense into your goddamn mother, I spared you.”

The pain in her eyes is immeasurable, and it’s like a fucking knife straight to the heart. A heart I didn’t know was beating until I laid eyes on her.

“Fuck you,” Ivy grits. “You don’t deserve my mother or Cora.”

Stefano roars, “She ismychild, and you took her from me!”

“Oh my f—my head …” The lady who owns this house is slowly recovering, and she squeals the second she sees the gun in Stefano’s hand.

“Shut the fuck up,” he hisses at her.