Passion & Venom (Venom Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  I want him to make me come so bad it hurts.

  And as he slams inside me, squeezes my face in his hand, and crushes my lips with his, it finally happens. He gives me what I want and I don’t hold back.

  My legs quake harder than they ever have before. I cry out, gripping him tighter, squeezing as if my life depends on it.

  He’s groaning, watching me unravel, and before I know it, he stills, and his face falls into the crook of my neck.

  “Fuucckkk,” he growls, holding on tight to my wrists. “Tight, wet fucking pussy.” He says this with his lips to my collarbone. All in Spanish.

  I pant raggedly as he rests on top of me. We stay this way for longer than a minute, catching our breath.

  The door creaks and both of us look towards it at the same time. We see long, curly dark hair with bright honey streaks and I know it’s Francesca. The door shuts so fast that we don’t even get the chance to see her face. All we see is her leaving.

  Wait…was she watching? Did she walk in on us?

  “Francesca!” Draco barks. “Nosy fucking bitch,” he mutters.

  Rage ignites my spirit knowing he’s probably done this to her before too.

  Tears swarm my eyes as I stare up at the ceiling, but I don’t let them fall.

  I shove him off of me and then scramble for my panties and jeans. I put them on rapidly, avoiding his eyes. My insides are all fucked up. I feel like I need to vomit.

  “What the hell are you doing, Gianna?”

  “Leaving.” My voice is hurried as I pull my shirt down and adjust my bra.

  I rush for the door, but Draco chases after me, catching my elbow and slinging me around before I can escape.

  “You’re not leaving yet.” His voice is grave. “We have something to take care of. Kevin, remember?”

  “I don’t want to see you kill him.”

  He smirks, raking his fingers through his hair. “Don’t lie to yourself.”

  “I’m tired of seeing blood,” I whisper, staring up at him.

  His face remains even. “While you’re under my roof, seeing blood will become a normal thing.”

  “What are you going to do to him?”

  Draco releases me and then walks away to pick up his pants. He adjusts his red tie and then tucks his black shirt in. When he comes towards me again, he grips my hand in his and then pulls the door open.

  “Whose room is that?” I ask when we’re in the hall and he strings me along.

  He side eyes me before responding. “It’s the room I stayed in as a teenager…before my father died.” He pauses. “He let me stay in it because it’s close to the galería. It’s sacred now. Private. I have a bedroom upstairs that I use more.”

  Oh.

  “What are you going to do to him?” I ask again as he drags me along.

  “You’ll see,” is all he says.

  I clamp my mouth shut because the truth is I want to see this happen. I want Kevin to die. That traitorous bastard will keep on lying and betraying for the next big buck. All he sees is dollar signs. He’s a greedy fucker.

  He needs to go out much harder than Toni did.

  And when he does, I want to be a witness. I want to see blood spill from his head and through his lips just like it did from Toni’s. I want to see the regret on his face, just like Toni before he was taken away from me.

  If that makes me just as heartless as Draco, then so be it.

  I no longer care about helping the people who have only put me in harm’s way.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Day 12 (continued)

  We walk past the pool and he takes a left. My hand is still in his. My heart is racing. I’m somewhat terrified, thinking about what he could do to kill Kevin.

  We walk for about two minutes before reaching our destination. There are two wooden doors that most likely lead down to the basement.

  They are close to the ground—doors that must be pulled open. Draco releases my hand and bends down to yank the doors apart. They hit the sides with a loud thump.

  He dusts off his hands and then glances over his shoulder at me. “Let’s go.”

  He starts down the steps. I watch him disappear and then inch forward. It’s so dark down there. How can he even see?

  I follow suit, though. I know I can’t back out. He wants me to see this—and frankly, deep down, I need to know what he does to him. I walk down the steps quickly and when I round the corner, that’s when I see the single light hanging from the ceiling. It has a blue tint to it, making Draco appear even deadlier as he stands across the room.

  My eyes dip over to Bain, who is standing with his arms crossed in front of him and a gun in his hand. He watches me very carefully, one brow cocked, those beady, ugly eyes of his repulsing me.

  In front of him is Kevin. He’s on his knees, his head hung low. There’s blood dripping from his left hand—the one I stabbed. I’m guessing Juanita didn’t mend him.

  I hold my breath, looking up at Draco. His steps are slow and residual as he walks my way. When he’s close, he threads his fingers through my hair and then leans in to put his lips close to the shell of my ear.

  His arm lifts, and he points towards a few barrels that are close to the light. “You see those barrels?”

  “Yes.” I finally breathe.

  “Can you guess what’s inside of them?”

  “I don’t know…what?”

  “Acid.”

  “Acid?” I gasp.

  “Yes. Hydrofluoric acid. And that’s where little old Kev will be sleeping tonight. In a barrel full of acid, never to be found again.”

  My blood runs cold. I stare at the solid black barrel, my heart sinking down. Bain grips Kevin’s arm and drags him towards the middle of the room, and then he forces him down on his knees again.

  I watch, horrified, as Draco walks away from me, grabs a pair of chemical resistant gloves hanging on the wall, and then slides them over his fingers.

  “Stay back, niñita,” he murmurs.

  I take a leap back, but he walks closer to a begging Kevin. There is gray tape covering his mouth, but those eyes are frantic.

  Draco shifts to the right and takes the lid off of one of the barrels.

  There is a cool smile on his lips, one that sends repeated shivers up and down my spine. I take a look around the basement again.

  It’s full of junk that’s placed against the walls behind me, but this one space where we stand is clear. Probably for shit like this to happen. For him to destroy, kill, and make people disappear.

  Kevin looks at me and muffles something behind the gray tape.

  I narrow my eyebrows. “You should take the tape off. Let him get his last words out before he’s gone,” I suggest, peering up at Draco.

  I notice Bain’s shoulders hike up as if I’m wrong for making suggestions. He looks at Draco, waiting for him to send me backlash, but that’s not what happens.

  “You’re right.” Draco puts his gaze on Bain. “Take the tape off.”

  Bain clomps forward, glaring at me once before ripping the tape off of Kevin’s mouth. Kevin’s lips are red around the edges, and he clenches his jaw, giving a small glare at Bain.

  “Stand him up,” Draco demands.

  Bain yanks Kevin up, but Kevin has his eyes on me right now.

  “You’re trusting him now?” he interrogates, grimacing. “Toni is probably flipping in his fucking grave.”

  My mouth twitches. “Toni isn’t in a grave. It’s because of you that his body is dumped somewhere that I’ll never be able find.”

  “Yeah, but why do you think that is? It’s not my fault he’s dead. If you’re going to point fucking fingers, point them at the fucker that kidnapped you in the first fucking place!”

  My eyes shift over to Draco. His demeanor hasn’t changed one bit, but he is pacing slowly now, absorbing every word.

  He says nothing at all, which gives Kevin the ammunition to keep going.

  “He had someone come to me and hand me $80,000
in cash. I wasn’t going to pass that shit up. Toni was only paying me $19,000 every two months. That shit wasn’t cutting it for me. Why wouldn’t I go for the eighty grand and then get more for killing this bastard? I know that’s why I’m down here.”

  I shrug. “Your lust for money is why you’re in the position you’re in now.”

  “And your greedy little pussy hungering for motherfuckers like Trigger Toni and Draco Molina is the reason your life is fucking ruined and will never be the same again! You get off on shit like this. You want a man with power, but what you fail to realize is that all great things collapse. If it seems too good to be true, chances are it probably is. And you stand there, looking at me as if I’m the bad guy?” He scoffs, and a smile weaves its way across his lips. “No, if anyone is to blame, it’s you, Gia. You put yourself in this position the day you decided to fuck motherfuckers like your dead husband and then him.”

  Kevin spits in Draco’s direction. Draco glares down at the spit, and then he flicks his fingers, gesturing for Bain to bring him forward.

  His patience has dwindled. He’s done listening.

  Kevin jerks and twists, resisting, but Draco grabs hold of him by the back of the neck.

  “Fucking bitches! All of you!” Kevin shouts.

  Draco’s hand moves up to grip the base of Kevin’s head, those blonde strands clasped between his fingers, and then he shoves his face down, straight into the barrel.

  Kevin’s entire head has been dunked in acid, and I hear the sizzle as it happens. His garbled screams are terrifying. And as Draco pulls up, revealing his face, I cover my mouth and back away, bumping into the banister.

  His skin has melted off his face. His eyes…they’re gone. There is only blood and bone, and the sight of it sends me spinning around to face the wall.

  Kevin’s screeches have been silenced.

  All I hear is his head being dunked back into the acid, and then Bain chuckling as Draco grunts with annoyance, shoving the rest of his body into the barrel.

  The sizzling noise is louder now.

  I even smell the melting flesh.

  I dry heave, clutching the banister. My throat is thick with disgust, my heart heavy in my chest. I grip the banister tighter, and then, moments later, a hand touches my shoulder.

  I look up at Draco.

  He runs his eyes up and down.

  I start to step away from him, but he catches me, draping an arm around my shoulders.

  “It’s done. Let’s go.”

  He spins me around and we walk back up the stairs. I hear a loud grunt and a heavy thunk and I get the urge to look back to see what Bain is doing, but I don’t. I keep my eyes forward and my words to myself.

  I have never seen anything like that before. I thought he would use a knife or a gun. But no. He didn’t waste a bullet on his traitorous ass. He used his own two hands and in less than a minute, Kevin was gone.

  I want to be pleased by this—knowing Kevin is gone—but his words ring in my head. They repeat over and over again, and I can’t believe I’m acting like it never even occurred.

  Toni is gone because Draco wanted him dead.

  How can I be with Draco, knowing that he is still the man that slaughtered my husband?

  In a sense, I should still want him dead.

  But if Draco dies, there will be no one to protect me at all.

  I would die here…and I refuse to die. If that means making the enemy my ally, then so be it.

  We make it upstairs and as soon as we meet at the top, I suck in all the fresh air that I can, cleansing my mind and body.

  Draco finally pulls away from me and turns to his left.

  “This way.” He cocks his head.

  I watch him for several seconds before following suit. He walks across a brick pathway, and then leads the way to a gated area.

  The fence is painted a glossy white, and inside it are the chocolate cosmos he sent up to my room.

  There’s at least half an acre of them. I can smell them when the wind blows, and they smell warm and welcoming.

  For a split second I forget all about the ugly that just happened and absorb the exquisiteness before me. Draco pushes the gate of the fence open and strides in. He makes his way across the thin path that’s around the bloomed flowers and then bends down.

  Pulling out a pocketknife, he slices the stem of one of the flowers and then stands up, inhaling it. A sigh falls through his full lips as he lowers the flower and then points his gaze up at me.

  “Come here, Gianna.”

  I walk slowly. When I’m near, he turns and straightens his back. His hand reaches up, and he tucks my hair behind my ear. I flinch, but ease up almost instantly when I realize he isn’t trying to hurt me.

  “Are you glad he’s gone?”

  I remain silent for a moment. “I thought I would be…but I…I don’t know. I didn’t think you’d torture him that way.”

  “Wasn’t torture,” he replies, looking down at the large bed of flowers. “He died quickly, in my opinion. It’s life, niñita. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed.”

  “Is that something your father taught you?”

  “No,” he says, and then he smirks. “It’s actually something your father taught me.”

  I gape at him, not daring to pull my line of vision away. “If you were so close to Daddy, why didn’t I ever see you? Why can’t I remember you?”

  “Because he didn’t bring me around you. I came and left with my father. The only time I could come was during the summer because of school. During summer, you were hardly there. He used to send you to camps to keep you away from the business and violence. Your father and mine worked together often…until mine passed away and I had to take over.”

  I lower my gaze to the day-old scruff on his jaw.

  “Like I said before…he is the only reason you are still alive.”

  “How can you remember me if you hardly saw me?”

  “Oh, I saw you more times than I could count when I used to visit. Portraits, mainly. When I first saw you, it was in person though.” He laughs silently. “You wouldn’t remember. You were clueless—too focused on school and being a good girl like Daddy said.”

  I roll my eyes and then look down.

  “He never wanted anything to happen to you.”

  “But you decide to have my husband murdered and then kidnap me,” I snap.

  “I didn’t fucking know who Toni was marrying. I heard the news, heard it was happening in Mexico, set the shit up, and there was no turning back after that. I refuse to look weak or to lose authority in front of my men, no matter who I’m dealing with. Toni came into my territory thinking he was safe. I had to be quick—quicker than that motherfucker.” He grips the stem of the flower in hand, his eyebrows bunching together as he breathes through flared nostrils. “The men that work for me can be very fucking stupid. No one knew how close your father and me were. None of them, but they did know I did exclusive business with Nicotera before he died. That’s why they didn’t report a name to me. They didn’t know who you were, or that he even had a daughter, and Lion wanted it that way for a reason. In all honesty, I didn’t give a fuck who Trigger Toni was marrying. I assumed his wife was just some bitch that was like him. Greedy and fucking full of herself. I needed to see you for myself—see what all you knew—and then figure out what to do with you.

  “One thing I will give that pig is that he was good at protecting his family. I had people watching him and never caught a glimpse of you or even his mother until the wedding, and even so, my spies couldn’t catch a clear photo of you. You were guarded well…for the most part.” He smirks. I try not to grimace. “I eased up on purpose about a month before the wedding and he took that as a sign that he was safe. He was wrong. Marrying you here on my territory - in my country.”

  “Getting married here was my idea,” I snap at him.

  “Then perhaps he was weaker than I thought, letting you call the shots while knowing he’d been on dangerous ground
with me.” His lips press agitated.

  “But then you saw me and realized I am Gianna Nicotera. Of course he would listen to me.”

  “A fucking Nicotera,” he scoffs, shaking his head. “What were the fucking odds? If I’d known, I would have gone about it a little more carefully. But seeing as I didn’t give a fuck about him or his unknown bride, and I had an important deal to handle, you could rot until I returned. I saw no need to rush as long as he was gone. Trust me, I wanted to kill that fucker myself, but I had business to take care of. My money is more important than that piece of shit.”

  I narrow my eyes. “You weren’t expecting him to marry someone like me?”

  “I wasn’t expecting anyone that worked with Lion to get anywhere near his damn daughter. He was strict about that, but Toni clearly broke that commandment. Fucking pig. That was his problem. He didn’t know how to fucking listen.”

  My eyebrows dip as I look up at him. “He was still my husband.”

  “For less than a fucking hour. And does it look like I give a shit?”

  “You should,” I retort. “I loved him.”

  “What did I tell you about love?” He clasps my chin in his hand. “Love is fucking useless, Gianna. Get rid of the fucking idea. It won’t get you anywhere while you’re around here.”

  I narrow my gaze. “Why do you hate him so much?”

  My question obviously triggers something within him. He rapidly pulls away from me, looking me over. He then extends his arm to hand me the flower.

  I frown down at it, but I take it, hoping it will get an answer out of him.

  It doesn’t. And his silence really ticks me off.

  His cellphone rings and he finally pulls his eyes away from me, fishing it out of his pocket. He answers right away, lifting a finger in the air at me before walking off and speaking in his native language.

  I sigh and lower myself to my knees. I twirl the flower by the stem, getting a whiff of it. They all smell so lovely.

  Such beautiful flowers. I don’t get how all this beauty can survive around people so rotten.

  I lay the loose flower down and then bend down to pluck another one out.

  I pluck out three more, laying them on top of each other, but when I come across the fourth one, my finger hits something hard.