“Isn’t it?” If only he knew how much this was all about her. I flung the next photograph at his head, and he raised his arm to block it. The frame broke and fell to the floor at his feet. A shard of glass stuck out from his forearm, blood dripping down it.
The sight of the blood calmed me down. “Oh god, Hunter, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t. Don’t come near me.” Hunter stepped back and pulled the glass out of his skin.
I tugged off my shirt and, ignoring his command, shoved his hand aside and covered the wound with the fabric.
“Believe me, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Tears blurred his features. “I never mean to hurt you. I just do, and I’m sorry.”
“If you’re so sorry, tell me the truth,” he rasped. “Exactly who have I been fucking? Which side of you is real? The fragile Cosmo with the crocodile tears who likes to pretend he is a doll, or the bloodthirsty boy who can put a bullet between a man’s eyes in the dark? Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m the one you love,” I whispered, pleading with my eyes for him to be patient and understanding.
The hard rise and fall of his chest slowed down. “No, no, I’m not falling for this anymore.” He moved so fast his hand was around my neck one second, and the next my back slammed into the wall. There was nothing gentle about the way Hunter pinned me to the wall, his nostrils flaring. “I lied for you. I told Knight I pulled the trigger that killed that man.”
“And I love—”
“I don’t want your love. All I want is the goddamn truth. How long have you been working with Virgil? I know this started too long ago for you to be the one behind it, but when did you join the sick bastard in killing people? When?”
I sobbed, my eyes awash with tears. I’d done a lot to him—bitten him, stabbed him—and he never scared me more than he did then.
“Hunter, please.”
“This is your last chance, Cosmo, or I swear to god, I’ll turn you in to the FBI.”
“You won’t,” I whispered. “You love me too much. Your heart would never let you.”
“You cut my fucking heart out when you pretended to be something you’re not. You-you made me fall in love with a version of you that doesn’t even exist. ”
“That’s not true. You know me better than anyone else.”
“When did you start working with Virgil?”
“Last year,” I replied. “It was just twice, but I didn’t want to do it. He made me.”
“My god.” He released me and stepped back as though burned. “Oh, my god.”
“You saw the way I lived, Hunter.” Although free, I couldn’t move from the wall if my life depended on it. It was like his hurt and pain slammed into me. “You saw the way they treated me. I didn’t have a choice.”
“How did you get so good at what you do?”
I wiped the tears from my eyes. “You’re still bleeding.”
He laughed hoarsely. “Then that should turn you on, shouldn’t it?”
“No, not like this.”
“Just answer the question.”
I sniffled. “I don’t remember much about when I was little. Just that for as long as I can remember, Mother always referred to me as her doll. Not a real boy. Just her doll. I think she was obsessed with dolls. If not for fear that I’d die and then she would no longer have a plaything, she wouldn’t have fed me at all, so she gave me the bare minimum and always to meet her weight standard. But I grew bigger, started maturing, and she lost interest in me. That’s when Virgil took over looking after me. He taught me how to fight, but I was never any good at it. I was too small, couldn’t do any damage with my puny fists.” I swiped the back of my hand over my leaky nose. “When I was twelve, he placed a gun into my hand for the first time and pointed at a target. He could be just as cruel as Mother if I didn’t hit the target the way he wanted, so I learned to be good at it or be punished. He accepted nothing less than a clean shot to the head of the mannequins he got for our practice sessions. If I missed or hit any other part of the body, he would… he would tie me up naked outside and spank me so hard I couldn’t sit for days without a reminder of how I’d failed him. I didn’t want to kill anyone, Hunter. You’ve got to believe me. He made me do it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
“Because I love you and didn’t want to lose you. And-and I didn’t know if I could trust you not to turn me in.”
“I covered for you.”
“I know, and I love you for it.”