Page 94 of Sweet Venom
That’s what Julian called it.Decapitation.
Something we do in Vencor where we cut off the head ofthe snake so the rest of the body—the organization, other members—will stay in line.
But Violet has nothing backing her.
She was born and has lived as a fucking nobody. When I asked Julian what he meant, he said it was merely a figure of speech.
My brother does not use words in vain. He reads just so he can piss off other people with his pretentious philosophical nonsense or just to call people who read certain thinkers clowns.
But as I’ve been watching Violet sleep whenever Dahlia doesn’t get in the way, I’ve been thinking that if Julian had something to do with her attack and I didn’t stop him… If I brought this upon her…
“He’s not one of Julian’s men,” Lucia says. “As for the bad news, he’s dead.”
“What?”
“Saul was found dead in one of the containers heading to South America the day after the incident.”
“He was rubbed out?”
“It seems so. There are clear signs of poisoning.”
“Fuck!”
“And, Jude?”
“Juuuude.” Preston pulls on my arm. “Kane said I’m annoying. Let’s punch him.”
“What now?” I ask Lucia, fighting Preston off.
Our head of staff speaks as I’m staring into Preston’s grinning face. “Saul was a hit man on the Armstrongs’ payroll.”
20
JUDE
“Is she with you?” Kane’s tired voice floats from the other end of the phone.
My gaze flits to Violet, who’s sleeping on the bed, her fingers twitching, and her body—that’s been sluggish for months—has been shifting, curling, like she does in her sleep.
Three months, to be precise.
It’s been almost three months since Violet was put in a fucking coma.
Afalsecoma.
Adrug-inducedcoma caused by none other than that motherfucker Julian.
The only reason I found out is because I got her out of the hospital.
Kidnapped her—if we’re being technical.
Over the past couple of months, as I was slashing and fucking up most of the targets on my list and ending a few players’ hockey careers to blow off steam, I started to notice patterns.
Violet doesn’t show the same signs as Mario. She has more ‘involuntary’ nervous system reflexes, and that struck me as weird despite the doctors’ platitudes.
Once, I said, “You don’t possibly think you can escapeme, do you?” And to my surprise, her eyelids twitched, and so did her fingers.
Mario has never shown any of those signs, but the doctors keep saying that different people have different ways of reacting when in a coma.
