How to Kill a Man in Thirty Seconds

Chapter 73: A Little Game- Part 2

My heart sank in my chest, disgust and disappointment mingling together. I had never wanted someone dead more in my life than the monster standing before me.

"Belief number four," Colton Hunt stated, "Julia wanted your father dead because he bore her to death."

The club pelted me square in the shoulder this time. A whimper sounded from my lips, a dog-like sound I hadn't known I was capable of making.

It caused him to grin like a child on Christmas day, "No, the whore really did love him till the day she died. She didn't kill him 'cos she hated him," he twirled the club in his hand like it was a trophy, "Didn't kill him 'cos she wanted to. Any guesses, sweetheart?"

Silence filled the air. I didn't have the energy to form coherent thought, let alone speak.

He grin widened eerily, before he leaned over to whisper secretively in my ear, "She killed him to save her son."

Shock filled me as he retracted.

"The guilt was catching up to your father, you see, and he had been wanting to end things; to confess, so to say. But Julia was dying from the cancer, and he didn't want to abandon her. Not in her last dying moments."

"That was when I was proven innocent in court. Whore as she was, Julia had brains. She realized it would all come down to the divorce. She wanted custody of our son, and if she failed, she truly believed that I would be the death of him. That I would kill our poor Adrian, or do worse, unimaginable things to the boy." Colton rolled the words around his tongue with pleasure, a smile splitting his face in two at the thought.

Anger burned within me, repulsion and dread at what I knew I was about to hear.

"Julia had a hunch I was catching on about her affair, you see. And she was convinced that when I got wind of it, I would use it against her in court. I'd convince the judge that she was to blame for the divorce, and I'd get custody of little Adrian. She was terrified by that thought, you see."

The smile dropped from Colton's face as anger and resentment rushed into his cold, viper-like blue eyes, "She had loved that bastard you call your father her whole life. But she loved her son more than anything else in the world."

"She wanted the biggest clue about the affair wiped out," the pleased look returned to his face as he met my gaze, "That was Anthony himself."

She hadn't wanted to see him die; I had been right. That was why she had chosen the Belladonna, to delay his death. So that even in his last dying moments, he would be oblivious of her betrayal.

"Belief number five," Colton's words cut off my thoughts, "Morgan came to the motel that day to save me. He came to wipe all evidence of my involvement in the murder."

I stared at him, answerless.

When the club struck my stomach seconds later, my body curved reflexively in raw agony. I lay on the floor, motionless, drained of the energy to cry or whimper. The taste of metal filled my mouth and I swallowed against it, involuntary tears slipping past my closed lids. My body was numb with pain.

It was moments later that I realized Colton was staring at me. He was smiling to himself, lost in his thoughts, as if pondering over something. It caused my hair to stand on end, goosebumps to run over my skin.

Understanding only dawned on me a split second later when he voiced his final test.

"Lastly, belief number six," Colton Hunt announced, his mad eyes meeting mine, "I murdered Anthony Green."

I only had time to blink in bewilderment before the club pummelled into me.

When the blinding pain had finally given away to numbness and the world tilted the right way round again, he spoke, "I wanted to kill him. I'd spent months planning it, you see. I'd gone to sleep every night, dreaming of all the different ways I could take his life. I'd tricked Mary into staying at the motel, lured your father there too. Charley dear, I relished bludgeoning him and I was going to keep at it until he was at death's door, and then watch him bleed out what life was left of him. I had every intention of killing him that night."

Colton Hunt frowned, "But someone beat me to it."

The next thing I knew, he had scurried forward and was sitting right before me, legs crossed like a child. He was bouncing with exhilaration, eyes shining with mirth like we were two kids that had played a dangerous game and he had won.

A smile danced across his face.

It was the biggest one I had seen yet. Unnaturally wide. It filled my heart with fear.

"While you were crossing states trying to find your father's killer," Colton said with unrestrained joy, "What you didn't realize was that the monster you've been hunting for has been by your side this whole time."

He leaned forward suddenly until his lips were right by my ear, his lips nearly kissing my skin. His words were all but a secretive whisper, "The killer was right under your roof."

He retracted as suddenly as he'd leaned in, hands clasped together animatedly. Excitement shone in the blue orbs of his eyes.

"Charley dear," Colton Hunt said, "It was your mother."

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A/N- Thanks for reading! Lemme know what you think!