Page 96 of Claimed By the Villain

“Yeah?”

“I’ll never forget what you did, saving my wife. Contract or not, I owe each of you a favor, anytime you need it.”

With just a nod, Abaddon leaves me alone with the man I once considered a brother.

Today, all I feel for him is hate.

When it comes to feelings, I realized after marrying Jackie that I’m a simple, two-dimensional man.

I love, or I hate. With her, of course, I understood it’s love.

Not the kind people declare on the street, as casually as saying they’re brushing their teeth. Not shallow, careless, or easy.

Insane. Devoted. Mad.

Healthy?

I don’t know. But what I do know is that it’s love.

Which leaves me with the other side of the coin: hate.

Martin tried to hurt Jackie. Martin is now the enemy. And my enemies always die.

I watch him from the shadows. I’ve always been comfortable there, and that hasn’t changed. I don’t know if he senses I’m here, though he must have realized someone had entered.

I take a few steps, and he lifts his head. He looks dazed, probably from whatever sedative Tur and Abaddon gave him.

They didn’t touch him—I can tell. Not a mark on his face. A face that’s a stranger’s to me. Even the bastard plastic surgeon gave him a dimple in the chin.

I look around for something to wake him up. Not finding anything, I step closer and slap him hard across the face.

Martin stirs, groggy, but his eyes widen fully when he sees me.

“Why?” I ask.

“You killed my father.”

“Yes. And I’d resurrect him just to kill him again. He was a filthy pedophile. But that doesn’t bother you, does it? Knowing he sold kids like merchandise. After all, you picked up where he left off. Followed in his footsteps.”

“I don’t hate children. To me, they’re just business. Merchandise. There’s demand; I supply it.”

I unbind his hands and haul him to his feet, then smash my forehead into his face, breaking his nose.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Was killing your father the reason you came after me?”

“Of course. I want revenge.”

“Try again in the next life. But just out of curiosity, why wait so long to try to kill me, if your memory came back over a year ago?”

“That’s when I learned what you did. My father-in-law made sure to tell me. He hates you too. You cost him money plenty of times. As for my accident, yeah, I really got fucked up. Spent years unable to walk,” he says, confirming what Tur toldme. “And then, when my memory came back, I remembered who I was. I went back to my old associates, especially the boss. I needed work, protection. If the FBI found out I was alive, they’d hunt me down. I married his daughter, and as some kind of gift, my father-in-law revealed you were the one who killed my father. You killed my hero.”

I laugh, humorless. “Yourhero?Unbelievable how you twist the truth. That bastard was nothing but a butcher of children.”

“You didn’t just execute him; you tortured him.”

“Yes. And I enjoyed every second. I took pleasure in making him pay.”