“I knew you were part of the Venom that was feared at school, the part of Venom who fought and trained in a secret dojo, not the part of the Venom who are murderers,” she says, and I wince at her selected word. “I didn’t want to believe you were part of the money-hungry scoundrels who kill innocent men.” She closes her eyes and tries to catch her breath. “That’s what I’m trying to say. Ihopedyou weren’t part of them.”
Hope.What a fucked-up notion. When what you’re hoping for is still possible, all is still right in the world. But when thathopecomes crashing down, there’s no pain like that kind of devastating loss.
“I couldn’t watch as you delivered your final blow to Python.” She turns to look at me. “I knew it would be like watching my father murdered all over again. I saw you glance at your manager. A nod was given, and you followed the order, carrying out your strike... just like a viper.” Her face is a mask of pain and betrayal. Slowly, she reaches up and lightly skims the line of my jaw. “Etched in the lines of your face was a hate and fury so palpable and intense it chilled me to my core. I’ve been around fighters my entire life. I know that look all too well. It’s the one worn when more than just pain is intended tobe inflicted. It’s the same one Python wore when he killed my father.”
She drops her hand. Her shoulders hunch forward in defeat. All of the energy seems to have been sucked out of her with that one admission.
I take the chance and rest my hand on her lower back. The pressure in my chest eases when she doesn’t jerk away or recoil from my touch. Her hazy blue gaze shifts to look at me.
“Kinsley, I told you it’s complicated.”
Her tense muscles relax a little under my fingers.She lets out a breath and closes her eyes. “Complicated isn’t an excuse for murder.”
She’s right. My hand slides from her back to the cool stone bench. I keep replaying what she saw, and aside from the pain I caused—opening her barely healed wound of losing her dad—the thought of my girl at the UG makes me want to punch the shit out of something.
My girl.I drag my fingers through my hair again. The UG is the last place I ever wanted her to be—again. My world slowly closes in around me as everything settles into place. I knew this day would fucking come. I just wasn’t ready for it this soon.
“I never wanted you to see me like that,” I admit.
She looks at me then. “Like what? A murderer?”
It’s my turn to duck my head.Python—fuck!Things got way out of control the night her father was murdered. I felt as though I was possessed by the assholes running the show. I did things that night that would haunt me forever. “I wasn’t the one who killed your father.”
“But you would have!” she lashes out. “If you were in that cage that night instead of Python, you would have taken the orders just as easily as he did. Just as easily as you did Friday night.”
I don’t say anything for fear of what I’ll lie about, who I’ll make excuses for, or worse, because she’s not wrong. She has every right to hate me.
“After you pinned Python, I saw how you looked at Venom to see what your next move should be.” She blows out a harsh breath. “Python did the exact thing right before he killed my dad. He waited for some kind of fucked-up command or something.”
She’s right again, and we both know it. My father controls me and the rest of us. The worst fucking part is the girl I’m falling hard for is the key to all of it. Ninja is who he really wants. She has been all along. Killing her father was only to get to her. This is something I can no more admit to her without implicating my father or, worse, giving her the perfect out to never speak to me again. I can’t face that—not when I know what she fucking tastes like, the feel of her next to me, the pure passion she exudes.Fuck!
And worse still, what will she do with that information? I planned to shut it down before now, but there’s no stopping Venom when the stakes are raised to immeasurable heights. If Ninja were a fighter for Venom, she would bring in millions. And that’s the problem.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.There’s no way out of this unless I put both our lives on the line, and I’m not sure I’m ready to do that yet.
“I know you watched your father die in the most horrific way.”
In that single nod lives a thousand reasons why she went to the UG on Friday. Strands of her black hair fall against her face as she bows her head. I brush her hair away from her damp cheeks and tuck it behind her ear.
In a hushed voice, she says, “You knew it was me the whole time.” With her head lowered, she waits for me to respond.
“I’ll admit the black hair threw me at first, but the second I saw your fearless blue eyes, I knew you were the girl with blondehair I saw at the fight that night. Then, in gym class, your tattoo confirmed it. It’s the same one your father had, except yours has cherry blossoms.”
“It was you that night at the fight? You told me to leave.”
I purse my lips before giving her the truth she already knows. “Yes.”
She tilts her face just enough to look at me. I hate the betrayal dwelling in her eyes. “You stabbed me.”
I jerk at her accusation. “What? No! I would never.” She looks like she believes me, though it’s another half-truth on my part. With utter shame, I close my eyes and whisper, “It wasn’t me, but I know who did.”
When I open my eyes, she’s staring at me with absolute horror etched into her face. “You know who stabbed me?”
“I tried to get there in time, but?—”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” She bursts up from the bench.
I grab her arm before she runs off. “Kinsley, I know you hate me right now, and you don’t owe me shit, but I need you to hear me out.”
