Page 192 of A Love Like Venom

“Go, Slater. Leave while you can,” I order him.

“No,” he replies adamantly. “You don’t abandon family.” He hangs up the phone.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Alice.

I have to protect her. I have to save her.

Rising from my chair I stalk over towards her and slam my hand down on the table. She jolts back startled. “You are going to tell me what the fuck you did! Right. Fucking. NOW!.”

Swallowing she replies, “And if I don’t?”

I take my favorite knife out of my cut and stab it between her fingers that rest on the table. “If you don’t next time I won’t fucking miss.”

The truth pours from her lips. “I messaged her, okay? I asked if you two were back together. She told me no but that you were with her sister, Alice. And that she already has a man waiting for her back in Hollows Point. That you took someone who doesn’t belong to you. I asked her who you took her from and she told me. She told me everything. So I did the only logical thing.”

Caitlin sold her sister out. Put her up for slaughter and didn’t give a damn. I shouldn’t be surprised. Not after all that Alice has told me but I at least though there was some humanity left inside her. But there’s none. And for that the next time that I see her she’ll pay in blood.

“Logical?” I laugh bleakly. The knife twists between her fingers as I hold her wrist down. The blade nicking her skin.

She nods her head frantically. “You took her from someone, Snake. Just like she took you from me! That’s not fair! She doesn’t belong to you, I do! Why can’t you see that?!”

“I belong to ALICE HALL! Every fiber of my being belongs to her! I exist because of her! And she, she belongs to me. My soul is hers and her soul is mine! Do you hear me?!” .

Tears gather in her eyes. She shakes her head back and forth in disbelief. “This is why I had to do it. You’ll only see that we are meant to be if she is out of the way.”

This time I take the knife and press it against her throat. Nice guy be damned. Right now I could give a fuck less about morality.

She threatened the love of my life. For that alone she should be dead right now. The only thing stopping me is the baby inside of her. Because honestly I could give a fuck less about the witnesses surrounding us or their horrified gasps.

“What have you done?”

“Caitlin got me in contact with Razor, the man she belongs to.” My knife presses further against her throat for saying that. She doesn’t belong to him. Never did and never fucking will. Her eyes are wide as her voice goes high pitched, laced with fear. “I told him you were with Alice. He said he already knew because of Caitlin. So I told him something he didn’t. I told him the both of you were at the club but it was on lockdown.”

“You’re working with him,” I seethe.

“I understand him. He wants what is his. I want what is mine. We have both waited long enough.” Her obsession is crazier than I ever thought was capable. It’s mad. It’s insane.She’sinsane. “I knew you would meet me. It was only a matter of time. So when you finally agreed I told him.”

“And what did he say?” She goes silent. Her tears slide down her cheeks and I don’t feel an ounce of remorse. She deserves far worse.“What did he say?” I darkly repeat the question.

“That he would get us what we both want.”

Like fuck he is.

I’m about to further question her when I hear gunshots ringing outside. Everyone in the bistro takes cover by ducking underneath the tables.

I let go of Jessica’s throat and she draws in a large gulp of air. Her hand goes to her neck protectively.

Slater.

Without hesitation I make a break for it. I’m running for the back exit when bullets start to rain fire inside the building. Glass shatters as people scream. Bullets whiz by my ear. I’m about to make it out unscathed when two bullets manage to hit me. One lodges itself in my upper left arm while the other pierces it’s way through my shoulder.

I don’t feel it. Not the pain. Not even a sting.

What I do feel is an unbridled rage. A haze of red clouds my vision.

Clutching my upper arm to apply pressure I can feel a warm substance drenching my hand.

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