Page 137 of Seizing Control: Part One

In pain, but okay.

Then the casket is wheeled into place…

And I lose all sense of time and reality as I float outside of my body, standing above myself, as I observe my own heart breaking at the idea of my first love being laid to rest.

25

SLASH

Everett is unsteady on his feet as he leans his weight on the back of Nadia’s chair. I watch him for a moment, concern winding around my throat, choking me as I take in the devastation of my club. Every single person here is battling to retain their composure. I can feel their fight, taste their desperation to be anywhere but here.

From my position at the head of Venom’s coffin, I can see everything.

Except for one face.

My wife.

I can’t bring myself to watch her mourn Venom.

Not after the phone call I just received.

I close my eyes to block out all the mourners as Brutus’ twin brother, Cassius, starts the service. “We’re gathered here today to honour our fallen bro-ther.” His voice cracks, then he frowns, lowering his attention to the bible in his hands. “I—ah… ah—I...”

Swallowing hard, I reopen my eyes to scan his face while he flips through the pages looking for something. Cassius is wearing his collar today with his Shamrocks cut over it. His bearing is regal, the faith he has in his religion keeping him standing while the rest of us are clutching at straws.

It’s rare to see our chaplain in his official garb.

The last time we saw the sight was when we laid Rider, Weston, and Tank to rest after they were killed by the Bishops of Bloodshed and my wife’s deranged ex. Back then, I thought Alex’s attack on my duchess and the ambush of our club on the highway was the worst that would happen to us during my tenure.

I guess I was half right since that transpired while I was sergeant-at-arms.

This death occurred during the first week of my presidency.

You could say I’m off to an inauspicious start.

“Venom wasn’t particularly religious,” Cass continues. He drops his bible to the ground. The pages flutter noisily as they catch the wind, but our chaplain doesn’t seem to notice. “I’m gonna wing this—speak from the heart about the boy I’ve loved since he was no more than ten minutes old and the man he grew into. His father couldn’t make it today—” The absence of Hades is by design. With a bounty on his head, and his condition rapidly deteriorating after the shock of losing his only child, Gabriel has had him removed from the prison where he’s being housed awaiting trial to a local hospice for palliative care. “—and we should take a moment to reflect on the sacrifice of the Miles men for this club.”

My duchess whimpers.

I glance at her.

She’s surrounded by people who love her, yet I’ve never seen her look more alone.

“Amen,” Cassius says after a minute of reflection for Hades and Venom. “In times like this, we need to pull together. We can’t let any death be in vain, but especially one that shouldn’t have happened.”

Guilt whips through me.

Serpentine, it coils, ready to strike.

Some of the final words Venom said to me bounce around my head.

He called me a snake.

As I continue to covet the woman mourning him, despite my recent abandonment, I decide that he was right. I am a snake. A reptile of the highest order. I’ve spent my life, slithering around in the shadows, speaking with a forked tongue, acting the good guy, pretending to be a saviour when I’m actually the opposite.

I’m a thief.

I’ve stolen Venom’s life.

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