Page 47 of Rawest Venom

Pinching his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger, he studies me. “So why now, little liar?”

“Because you and Larry started up together a year ago. That dead man in there was Donovan’s only supplier. Once Larry started working with you exclusively, I was sent in to gather your secrets for an eventual takeover.”

Cal shakes his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. You said you weregroomedto seduce me.”

“Just like any good spy, I’ve been trained for a specific purpose and was deployed at the right time, which was last year when you and Larry started your relationship, cutting off South Side’s marijuana and hallucinogen line. That’s when I started at West Tech.”

His chiseled chest rises as he inhales. “And once you got those secrets…”

A tiny sob almost escapes my lips, but I hold it back, stuffing it down into my belly, which fills with lead. “I was to poison you in your sleep once we were together. Make it look as natural as possible to not start a war.”

His mouth closes into a grimace as he crosses his arms again, looming over me with his tall body. Silence greets the air for several moments before he responds. “Ace likes war. He wouldn’t be quiet about this.”

“Well, his handlers have talked some sense into him, I suppose. I’m third rank; I’m not privy to the information coming directly from his team. I receive my orders from Dot and Dash, you know them.”

Leaning down, he puts one finger under my chin and lifts my heavy head. “Why are you spilling your secrets to me so easily, little puppet?”

Now a tiny tear does escape. I can finally tell him everything… It’s freeing and exhausting. “Because I’ve wanted to work with you. I-I… Taking the gig with Donovan’s spy guild was a survival tactic. I have no loyalty to the Donovans.”

He snorts. “But you have loyalty to the Von Dovish clan?”

“No.” My eyes water as he studies my expression, searching for the truth. “I have loyalty toyou.”

Before I know it, he gathers up spit and hurls it in my face with his lips, the warm strings running down my eyelid and cheek. My hands are bound to the wires, leaving it dripping off my lashes, so I blink as much as possible to clear my sight.

Turning around, his back muscles tense under his smooth skin. “Liar. I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true. I tried to tell you on the plane, Cal! I tried to warn you and tell you not to be interested in me... That you shouldn’tchooseme. I was afraid you wouldn’t believe it if I spilled everything.”

“You were right. Idon’tbelieve you.”

As suspected, everything I did was for naught. Either way, I’m failing. If I get out of here, I’ll fail my mission with Dot and Dash. If I stay, Cal will kill me because he doesn’t believe me.

When he faces me again, Cal begins pacing while running his hands through his hair. He pauses and tugs until the chocolate brown strands stand at fitful angles all over his head in a wild display. His head darts around erratically in all directions as he grits out, “Here is what I know… I hired youknowingyou were a spy. Knowingyou were sent to kill me. Keep your enemies close and all that… Well, I did.”

Internally, I groan, considering it was all for nothing.Not one momentof all this went over his head…

“I’ve watched you diligently. With the utmost care, I studied your sequences until I could have programmed them myself. When you would move a finger to scratch your nose. When you raised your hands to eat a sandwich. When your feet shifted… Every single action you’ve taken, I made sure you weren’t trying to murder me. Wherever you have gone, whomever you spoke with,whomever you fucked, any time you touched yourself. In your shower. The time you got food poisoning from that horrible taco place downtown. Buying yourself a cupcake and putting a candle in it to pretend it was your birthday. Pressing your back to your door and listening. The times you would cry in the corner of your room for some unknown reason...I was there. I’ve always been there. Watching. Every single night you were in your bed, I’d make sure you didn’t wake up so you wouldn’t visit me inmysleep.”

Some part of me knew it. Despite the random sweeps, I felt him there, too. Problem was…Iwantedhim to watch. Just as much as I was watching him. My face gets hot at the desolation in my situation. Can I get him to feel for me? To care? Or am I just another tool he’s using for himself?

With an absolute feral look in his eyes filled with tears of rage, he spins and glares at me. “Do you know how fuckingexhaustingyou are? How fuckingmaddening? Over time, it grew to be less of a chore, and once youbecame so predictable, I realized…you’re not real. I must have invented you, because I control everything about you now. Your feelings, your tastes, your actions, yourwords. You thought your handlers groomed you, but I was the one doing it over the last year and maybe even before then... You just didn’t know it.”

The problem is…Idoknow it. And that’s why I don’t know who I am anymore. Cal sees me better than I see myself. It’s why I need him, to remind me that I exist.

Squatting in front of me, he runs his fingers over my cheek. “I’m your puppet master. I’ve figured out who you work for. But I want you to be a good pet and tell me the truth. So… Who. Do. You. Work. For?”

There’s only one way I can get him to believe me. To trust me. But if I tell him the truth, the entirety of it, it will crush him. Down to the pits with me. “Cal…I work for Donovan.”

“Wrong answer.” From his pocket, he pulls a syringe and jabs it into my neck before I can scream. Fading back into the darkness, I fall asleep.

Twenty

CALUM

Watching her flopping around against her bindings while intoxicated on the drugs is the hottest thing I’ve seen on screen since she used her christened dildo. I moved her to the bed to get a better show. Her lilac dress is bunched around her waist now, red ponytail an utter wreck with strands popping out everywhere. Freckled cheeks are flaming pink, as are her lips…and what I can see of her chest. She doesn’t even realize she’s awake yet. Maybe it’s time to play with my puppet.

Pressing the lowest setting on my phone, her hips jerk as she snaps her head up.

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