Page 203 of Beautiful Venom
“Are we here to discuss philosophers?
“Kane is a cynic ripped right from Diogenes’s flesh. He’d hurt Jude and Preston if it meant that would keep them safe. He’s better than Grant in that regard and a true pragmatist who weighs every option before taking action.”
“And?”
“And do you believe you’ll remain unscathed from the way his mind works?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“You see, that’s where you’re wrong. Story time. You might want to sit down for this.”
“I’m good.”
He lifts a shoulder as he skims through the pages as if that’s where the story is. “A couple of years ago, a woman was stabbed to death, in broad daylight, twenty times. Do you know what being stabbed twenty times means, Miss Thorne? It means she must’ve felt the pain from the first stab the most, in her kidney. It must’ve been sharp and hurt a lot, and it was probably more painful than when she gave birth. She screamed, alerting everyone on the street to what was happening. The second stab was even worse. It went through her stomach. So did the third and the fourth. She collapsed afterward. Crawling, bleeding, her mouth gurgling with the metallic taste, and begging for help. Someone. Anyone. They didn’t come. But the fifth stab came. This one went into her heart. She died then. She was bleeding out on the pavement, her empty eyes staring at the God she believed in, but he let her die like a dog. But it didn’t end there. Her corpse was stabbed again and again—in the chest, the genitals, the stomach—until her intestines were hanging out; her face was hit on the pavement until her eyes bulged out?—”
“Where are you going with this?” I snap, feeling sick to my stomach. But most of all, I don’t like where this is leading.
“Just a description of the backstory. It’s fascinating how you can’t handle listening to it, but the people present watched and did nothing.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“You see, one of the people who was present and who turned the other way while that woman was murdered in cold blood is none other than your dear, innocent sister, Violet Winters.”
I step backward, my hand flying to my mouth to cover my gasp.
“Surprised that your affectionate, angelic-faced sister who wouldn’t hurt a fly stood by and watched a woman be killed?”
I shake my head. “She would never?—”
A zap snaps in my head.
Memories of Vi coming home and throwing up, her face pale, her entire body trembling. She said she ate something bad and had a stomachache. She went to sleep early and left early the next day. She was off for over two weeks, withdrawn and completely out of it.
Whenever I asked, she said it was stress from work, school, and bills, and I believed her.
Because Vi never lied to me.
“She did. There’s security footage to prove it. Or there was. I made sure to erase and get rid of it all.”
“Are you related to the dead woman? Is that why…?”
“She was my stepmother. Jude’s mother.”
Oh God.
Oh God.
“You see, Jude really,reallyloved his mother. I liked her, too. She was different from mine. She was sweet and tried her best with me. She even attempted to protect me from my own father. Silly woman. Most importantly, she treated Jude like her treasure. So you can imagine his anger and need for vengeance. But I erased that footage from the records to stop his bloodlust haze. However, do you know who got a hold of some of the footage before I could delete it all? The one who bites his friends to help them?”
I’m shaking my head, back and forth. Back and forth.
“That’s right. Kane. To comply with Jude’s need for killing and revenge, he cut that footage into tiny clips and gathered a list with all the names of those who were present that day. He made files, too, full of information about them, their families, their weaknesses, what made them tick. Even their habits are there. Tucked neatly in his filing cabinet. Every once in a while, he gives Jude a name and helps him in making their lives complete hell. It’s poetic, really. Jude wants every witness to hit rock bottom, to make them have to ask for help and not find it, just like his mother. Then, once they’ve had their fun, Preston, Jude, and Kane kidnap them, release them into the forest, and indulge in some old-fashioned hunting.”
My legs fail me and I grab on to a nearby chair to remain standing.
This can’t be real.
Julian is lying. He’s lying?—
