Page 127 of A Love Like Venom

She will never be able to understand the unbreakable connection Reed and I share.

That's way out of her depth.

"I will do anything for her."

"Ah, yes, how can I ever forget? You did kill a man for her. What's not another person to add to that list? How much more of a monster can you become?" She asks out of spite. The malice that I'm familiar with returns in her eyes.

With the venom in her voice and the malice in her eyes I know what she's trying to do.

My mother and her tried to do the very same thing to me my whole life.

And now I will be the antidote that he was for me.

Moving from behind Reed, despite his grip on my hip growing stronger, I take his hand and interlock it with mine. Again, she doesn't miss the intimate gesture but this time it is deliberate. I want her to know that we are together. That if she tries to poison him it will be me that she has to go through first.

Staring her down feeling the burning fury in my veins I say to her with a voice I myself don't recognize, "The only monster here is you."

She looks slightly taken aback as her head rears back and she blinks shockingly a few times. Then she regains her composure, crossing her arms as she does. "Defending him, are we? I guess you would considering you're the accomplice. It was you I saw helping him burn the body. Little Alice wasn't so innocent after that night, was she?"

The way she's saying it is like she knows what happened to me. That she knows what Chris Blackwell did to me. That she knows that he raped me, brutally raped me and took away my innocence.

But how would she know that?

How does she know any of this at all?

"I always saw him staring at you. For the life of me I couldn't understand why. What exactly about you had him so captivated? You were quiet, meek, young and incredibly naive. No one could possibly want you. But maybe that was it, maybe that's what had him so intrigued. He wanted something he knew no one else would touch so that it was only him you would belong to."

There in my chest something bursts. It bleeds leaving a dark crimson stain on my soul. My hands that were once steady now shake uncontrollably. I can feel my knees growing weak, the act of standing becoming difficult.

She knew.

Tears press at the back of my eyes and a silent wail falls from my lips.

She knew he was going to rape me.

Oh my god.

I think I'm going to throw up. I feel like I might faint. I think my chest might explode. I don't know if I can even breathe.

She knew.

As I'm struggling to grasp with the horrifying fact, struggling to comprehend why she wouldn't try and protect me a sudden movement happens by my side.

Before I can even blink Reed has Caitlin up against the wall by her throat and his gun pressed to her head. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now!" He growls. The fury vibrating from him in waves.

She has the audacity to laugh, a shrill sound that pierces my ears. "You kill me and it only proves the monster I know you are. Do it, Reed. I know you want to. Show her who you really are. Come on. Do it!" With each word that she spits the pressure on her throat tightens. Her chest expands as she is gasping for air. The tendons in her neck strain and her eyes begin to water.

But that's what happens when your airway is being crushed.

When you're suffocating.

Exactly what I felt when Chris Blackwell had his hands around my throat as he was ramming inside me.

What I felt again when Razor had me pinned to the lockers and then his office walls.

I can taste the desperation I had on my tongue. Smell the fear that was seeping out of my pores. Feel how their hands like irons burned my flesh. Hearing them pant and say vulgar things in my ear. And I can see them as if they are right before me, ready to pounce on me again.

"No!" He roars. The primal scream ripping from his throat echoing throughout the trailer. Ripping himself away from her he lowers the gun. Then with staggered steps he makes his way back to me. And when his hand searches for mine I grab it immediately. Everything about him changes as we make contact. He's still furious but he's not burning with rage. Murder no longer taints his eyes but there is a great pain.

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