Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Get up,” Hunter said.
He tried to stay down, but after several minutes, he was on his feet again, and Hunter punched him.
“Tell me how much you charge her for rent.”
It took several blows, but finally the landlord told him the fee. Not only did he charge her rent, the landlord also confessed to charging her an additional fee for utilities. Harlow had been paying double for everything. Hunter was tempted to put the knife through his neck.
“You’re going to give all that money back, because if you don’t, I’ll be coming for you, do you understand me?” The landlord was on the floor at this point, whimpering. Blood came from his mouth, nose, and one of his eyes was already swelling shut.
He didn’t give a shit. Men like this sickened him. There were many of them through all walks of life, preying on the innocent and the weak. He made it a skill to find them, to hurt them. He loved to hunt men who thought they were powerful. Never did he go after the weak.
He left the landlord, after taking all the money the bastard had on him, and Hunter had a feeling he was going to have no choice but to pay him another visit soon. He made his way up to Harlow’s apartment. He already had her key from the landlord, so now he didn’t have to worry about the sick fuck snooping through her stuff.
Stepping foot inside the apartment, he looked around and saw Harlow barely had anything. The apartment was small and clean, but she didn’t have anything. There was a chair, no television, a few books on the floor were neatly placed.
There was no decaying stench in the air, but he saw she’d placed air-fresheners around. He hadn’t realized how she was living. Her kitchen was tiny. The fridge wasn’t working and there was nothing inside it. She didn’t have any electricity and when he tested the gas, he saw that wasn’t working either.
Now he was getting pissed off. None of this shit was good. He took a seat on the single chair and looked toward the door.
It was getting late so Harlow would be arriving home soon. He had thought she’d been losing weight. He was also pretty sure he saw her wrapping up leftovers from Christmas, but she’d hidden it and he’d not really given a shit.
This was no way to live. And he wasn’t going to allow Harlow to live it either.
****
Harlow didn’t know how the club managed to get people moving, but she was grateful to them, seeing as the bakery had no choice but to close for most of the day. With the damage to the window, Ava had opted to keep the shop closed and for them to only fulfill the pre-orders for lunches. This was unfortunate seeing as she liked to sneak a cookie or two. Instead, she had gone most of the day without food. It was only when Raven had stopped by with lunch that she had gotten anything to eat.
Raven hadn’t taken any money from her either, which she was thankful for. She didn’t have a cent to her name. Things were getting tough and Harlow knew she was going to need to make a decision. Going back home to her parents was out of the question but she didn’t know what else she could do. Time was running out.
She walked up to the apartment building. There had been no call or text from Hunter, not that she had been expecting one. Hoping for one, but it hadn’t arrived.
She typed in the code on the keypad and let herself in the building. She had a horrible feeling the security lock on the main door didn’t work. The elevator wasn’t working, so she went to the stairs, tensing up, waiting for the landlord to come out and accuse her of not paying the full rent, but nothing happened.
There was no way she was going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and she took the steps, two at a time, to make her way toward her apartment. Pulling out her key, she slid it in the lock, flicked it open, and then stepped inside.
She had been able to charge her cell phone at work, so she’d use that for light. The electricity had been turned off a couple of weeks ago.
She had worked on the theory that for many years humans lived without light or gas, so she could as well. It would make her value them when she was able to afford them again. So far, she hadn’t been able to afford anything.
“How long has this been going on?”
Harlow screamed at the voice inside her apartment.
“Who is that?” Harlow asked. Yeah, that was bright, asking who her intruder was and expecting an answer.
“It’s Hunter,” he said.