Page 24 of Passion and Payback

“Because one of the worst ways…is revenge.”

My statement hung in the air as he stared at me, his eyes flitting over my face for several seconds before darting toward the window. I would have paid decent money to know what he was thinking at that moment, but I stayed quiet and let him deal with it. Once, I might have said the idea of vengeance couldn’tpossibly run through someone like Hunter’s mind. That was before some of the worst things that could happen to someone happened.

“What was his name? The villager.”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t care what his name was. What I cared about was what he’d been doing, what he knew, and who he’d been telling.”

“Did you find out?”

“I did,” I told him, taking another deep drink. “It wasn’t hard to figure out where he’d be. We had plenty of information on the villagers. So it was just a case of getting away from base and into the village when no one would notice I was gone. After that, it was getting him and taking him somewherewecould be alone.”

Hunter stared at me for another few moments before nodding slowly. “And…you got what you wanted?”

My mouth twisted like a mixture of a grimace of pain and a smirk. “Well, what IthoughtI wanted from him was answers, to know what he knew. I got those things and then some. But that wasn’t what I wanted.”

“What did you want?”

“To hear him scream, to hear him beg, to see the fear in his eyes as he realized death was right there beside him, and there was nothing he could do about it.”

Once again, Hunter nodded, leaning back against the couch and taking another sip of his drink. “And you got what you wanted.”

I stared back at him, wondering what his reaction would be when I told him the truth. Not the whole truth, of course. He didn’t need to know the gory details about what I did to that man to get my point across. He didn’t need to hear about the screams, the way he bled, or how he begged and pleaded, even when I’d told him there was no leaving the room I’d taken him to, notalive. No need to go into how I had to dig the man's grave well away from the village because I hadn’t thought to make him do it before I’d cut his throat and watched the life leave his eyes.

“I did,” I finally said with a nod. “And that’s the life I’ve never forgotten. That’s the one that sticks with me.”

“Because you hated yourself for it.”

“Because I didn’t.”

I expected the smallest recoil from him in response, but all I saw was that thoughtful, pensive expression as he stared into his glass of liquor. He wasn’t even fighting to hide his worry, disgust, or fear as he sorted my story through his mind. And I couldn’t help but wonder if he knew his reaction was precisely the one I feared the most, which was why I’d hesitated to tell him the story.

“Did you get caught?” he asked me finally.

“No,” I said with a shake of my head, unsure how to feel about his calm reaction. “He was noticed missing, of course, but no one could find a trace. It struck me as interesting that Command showed his disappearance more attention than they’d shown for what he was doing before.”

“You think they knew what he was doing?”

“I think they had a sort of deal with him. It wasn’t too long after that we suddenly found ourselves gearing up to take the cell in the area down. We did, with more mess than I would’ve liked, but we did it.”

“You think he was a mole.”

“I know he was.”

“He told you?”

“That he did.”

“And you didn’t lead with that?”

“Dramatic effect.”

Finally, something broke through his thoughtful, stony expression…a smile. “I didn’t know you were the type.”

“You’d be surprised.”

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