Page 127 of Scorned
She held her hands up in a non-threatening manner. “I swear we came alone.”
“That’s a lie,” Winnie snapped, his voice sharp. “We can hear their heartbeats.”
A shadow on the ground caught my attention seconds before my father emerged from the darkness with two armed guards. “I knew the spray the lab made would keep you from smelling us, but I hadn’t considered you hearing our heartbeats.”
Growls left both Luka and Winnie, and if I could have growled, I would have.
“Fuck, that’s not good,” Luka muttered in a low tone.
Within moments, the roaring of four vans filled the quiet night air as they zoomed into the parking lot, causing small pebbles to scatter.
Luka locked eyes with me—a silent question.
“I’m not leaving my mom,” I said fiercely. “I’ll die first.”
“This will be fun,” Winnie mumbled, cracking his knuckles as tons of people piled out of the vans.
Over twenty Venom members surrounded my dad, one of them pressing a handgun to Naomi’s temple, causing her to freeze.
When another guard grabbed my mother from behind, doing the same to her, terror shot through me, stealing the air from my lungs. But the fear that consumed me quickly vanished, leaving behind a seething anger.
I yanked my hand away from Luka’s. “I suggest you get your fucking gun away from my mom!”
Luka pulled me back by my arm. “This is what they want. Don’t react.”
My dad’s gaze went to the guard. “Remove your weapon from my wife’s head if you want to live.” The soldier lowered his gun, and my dad locked his eyes on Luka, tilting his head. “So, you’re the one my daughter threw her entire life away for.”
My attention immediately shifted to Luka. His jaw flexed before he uttered, “And you’re the one who’s willing to kill everyone to keep her from being with me.”
“Because she was raised to kill vampires, not fuck them,” a familiar voice echoed, sending shivers through me.
Every bone I had locked, each muscle quivering as my uncle strolled out of the treeline and into the glowing lights of the parking lot.
Luka squeezed my hand and I forced myself to look in his direction. His eyes briefly flickered to my necklace before averting his gaze. I raised my hand, forcefully pushing the pearl necklace over and over, sending an alert to our friends as fear ran through my body. Hopefully, they had a better plan than our non-existing one.
Ben’s hazel eyes raked over me, siphoning every ounce of self-confidence I had, leaving me feeling like a teenager again, vulnerable and helpless.
A small whimper left me, as small as I felt under his malevolent stare before his eyes went from us to my father. “Maybe you should’ve had a son, instead of a slut.”
Knowing how Ben was, I should’ve expected something horrific to come out of his mouth, but his words utterly shocked me, causing my jaw to unhinge.
Luka snarled, veins adorning his face like strings of lights on a Christmas tree. “Say another word about her and I’ll rip your fucking throat out and savor every drop of your blood as I drain you dry.”
My head turned toward the oncoming headlights, hoping it was our friends, and more concern filled me when two cars pulled in with a van behind them.
The white Cadillac passed behind us, the windows so tinted I couldn’t see inside. Whoever drove parked the car facing the exit, far away from where we all stood. They stayed inside, the engine running.
The black Escalade parked to my right, behind where Naomi had, and when the short, stumpy driver emerged, I had no clue who he was.
The man slammed his car door. “Well, I see everyone showed just as planned.”
“What a conniving weasel,” Winnie shouted. “I see you like hanging out with the enemy, Finneas.”
Finneas.
He was one of the leaders of Save who Winnie and Luka both had suspected was a rat working with Venom. Now their suspicions were confirmed.
“I could say the same about you two.” He cocked his head toward Luka. “Back from your vacation, already? I knew we should have sent you to another state like your brother.”
