Page 175 of Beautiful Venom
30
KANE
I’ve been on edge ever since Dahlia disappeared from my side.
A lingering discomfort has been wrapped around my throat like a noose, tightening further the more she doesn’t answer my calls.
Or texts.
I drive to the lab, breaking all the speed limits.
The place feels abandoned by the time I get there. The icy wind blows away the naked branches from the closest tree.
My steps are careful as I study my surroundings as if expecting a sneak attack.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had this feeling—the unsettling reality closing in on me. The invisible eyes lurking, watching, planning to set me on fucking fire.
I stand in the middle of the empty parking lot, but I can see the shadows spilling, stalking, and multiplying.
Over the past few years, I’ve stopped having this sense of dread. Of the unknown. Of the next mission. Of whether or not we’ll find Preston dead in a ditch somewhere.
Because I took control of my life. I had a plan to topple Grant, take over, and mold Vencor according to my preferences.Myway.
I was close. So fuckingclose.
One more year.
No, just months at this point, not even an entire year.
The notion of a countdown made me lose all sense of fear. It didn’t matter what Grant did, because I had my backup plans. He could torture me all he wanted, but I’d become numb to his methods. No matter what he did, I knew it’d end with his downfall.
I knew I had the upper hand in the form of a bulletproof plan.
The future was mine.
Until it wasn’t.
My uncle was right. I’m back to being a cog in the machine.
I’ve reduced my role from a chess master to a mere pawn on Grant’s board.
Yes, I can and will rise again, but it’ll take more time and effort. Now that Grant knows what I’m capable of, he’ll be waiting for me at every turn.
Over the past week, I’ve been thinking about what I could’ve done differently to avoid this unceremonious downfall.
But I keep coming to the same conclusion. Short of not meeting Dahlia, nothing could’ve been changed.
And if that reckless part of me that my uncle called a fool could go back in time, he’d still insist on meeting her.
I walk into the lab, my steps heavy, but it’s not because of what I’ve lost or what I could become at the end of the season.
Not really.
It’s that uneasiness that’s been lurking behind my rib cage ever since she announced the sudden project she needed to finish.
After I claimed her for the world to see following tonight’s game, I felt her eagerness to take what we have a step further.
Go deeper.
