Page 46 of Venom's Sting

Boyd is all smiles. “He’ll be thrilled to hear that we captured a French woman. How exotic,” he teased Meli.

“There are millions of us,connard,” Meli responds bitterly.

They just laugh at her aggravation and walk us back towards the old mill. They put me behind the wheel of their pickup truck and Meli behind the wheel of hers. My mom clings to me, so they put her in back of the vehicle I’m driving. I can’t say I appreciate having a gun trained on me while I drive but I manage to get through it without breaking down and that’s all that matters.

As we get near the farm, I can hear a helicopter in the distance. My secret wish is for it to be a news chopper that accidentally captures footage of our abduction at the hands of these ruthless assholes, but the way this day is going, I don’t think I’ll be that lucky.

I’m ten kinds of angry that I finally found my mom and got caught trying to get her free of this mess. And I somehow managed to get Ven’s mother wrangled up in my family’s drama. As far as my grandfather goes, I’m not looking forward to seeing him. God only knows what he’s got in store for me, the person who threw a huge wrench into his life.

He waiting for us on the porch when we pull up. He’s almost indulgent with my mother when he sees her. More so than I’ve ever seen him, though his reaction to me is less indulgent.

“What the hell you doin’ back here? You ungrateful shit of a daughter, should have let my dogs catch you,” he spits out.

I glance at my mom for a second, before I realize he’s addressing me. God, this really is fucked up. Edmund helps her into the house, and I remind him, “She needs her noon meds.”

He looks over his shoulder, “I know. Why do you think we brought her back right away?”

I just stare at him because I don’t trust a single word coming out of his mouth. I wonder what happened at the clubhouse, I know they were going to do a trade, Edmund for my mom. The fact that Edmund is here, and my mom clearly wasn’t taken to the clubhouse, makes me uneasy. I had a bad feeling about all this when I left this morning, I hope nothing’s happened to Ven.

I glance at Meli, wondering if she’s thinking the same.

When the front door closes behind us, my grandfather glares at me. “You,” he practically spits out at me. “Why can you never leave well enough alone, girl.”

Rubbing one hand over my face I sigh. “I’m not a girl. I’m a woman. And I need you to know that I’m never going to give up trying to free my mother. You can’t keep her cooking and cleaning like your personal slave.”

“Brenda is back where she belongs, with her family.”

“You stupid old man, she’s not your wife! She’s your daughter and you’ve been holding her prisoner here.”

For a moment he looks confused, then the belligerent expression reappears, “I’m not having you turn your mother against me, it was your fault she left me all those years ago. She’s home where she belongs and I’m gonna beat some sense into you, now.”

“Neither of us are going to live out some tradwife fantasy on your ranch, old man. Ven and his club brothers are going to come looking for us.”

“Yes, Edmund told me all about you and that dirty biker.”

“My son is not dirty,” Meli states firmly.

My grandfather stares at her, unsure what to make of her. “I think you need to go back to where you came from, missy. And take that son of yours with you. My daughter doesn’t need to get herself mixed up with biker trash.”

By this time Meli has had enough of my grandfather. She makes a rude gesture with one hand. “You are a senile old man with no wits about you. My Serp is going to take you apart piece by piece for daring to think you can steal women away and turn them into your servants.”

Rufus makes a disgusted noise and gestures to Big Joe. “Get them inside and keep them quiet while I decide what to do with them.”

The hopelessly stupid man I now know is my uncle, shoves us inside the house and up the stairs. I drag my feet, reluctant to end up locked down like my mom has been for the last eight months.

Big Joe grumbles, “Get your ass moving or so help me God, I will break your legs and carry you.”

I roll my eyes and move a little faster.

“Whatever you say, Joe. Just stop pushing and shoving. Our legs aren’t as long as yours so naturally we can’t walk as fast as you can.”

“Well, you better do something, because I’m gettin’ real aggravated with you today.”

I didn’t clap back because I didn’t want to keep escalating the argument. He eventually routes us to a bedroom in the back of the house with metal bars on the windows. He shoves us roughly inside and slams the door shut. I can hear the deadbolt locking, so I know we’re here to stay, at least for the short term.

Meli rushes over to look out the window. “There is a helicopter circling overhead. What do you think that means?”

I shrug, “Probably nothing. Just some bigwig getting to a meeting quicker than usual.”

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