Sweet Venom (Crazy in Love #1)

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  She bites her lip, adorable in thought. “I want to stay here … I want to be a part of somethin’.”

  I grin, watching her relax within the comfort of my wickedness.

  “Then it’s sorted … we stay, and we fight …” I state, fueled by grief, supported by those closer than family. “By this end of this, I want us to be free men.”

  My cell rings, grabbing it, I unlock the message on my screen and find myself staring at a still frame of Eden in the hospital, and I look up at her. Right now, she’s the picture of health, in that photo she’s anything but. She’s completely clueless to the insight I’ve been given.

  “What?” she asks, stalking toward me.

  I say nothing, allowing her to take the cell from my hand and look at what’s on the screen. Lifting my gaze, I see her entire expression change, and she represses a low moan of anguish. She says nothing and hands the phone back.

  “You don’t need to see that,” she tells me, disdainfully.

  Then I receive a video.

  The square box is black, but the play button is too tempting. I silence everyone with the show of my hand, and I press play, waiting for the video to fill my screen and play.

  “What is it?” Eden asks, watching me intently.

  “You,” Ashley states from over my shoulder.

  It’s of Eden curled up, swamped by a hospital bed, hooked up to machines and IVs, Liam looking over her from the seat by her bed, taking a bedside vigil. I can hear Eden’s soft sobs and see Liam’s pained expression.

  “You need him,” Liam says to her. He leans in toward her, a hand pushing onto the bed to take her hand and uncover her face, forcing her cries to be louder. “Lie to me and tell me you don’t,” he adds, squeezing her hand. “He is one phone call away.”

  “They’ll kill him, too,” she whispers, her voice raw.

  I take a moment to look up at Eden, and she’s watching me, barely blinking, as she looks haunted. There’s more to her leaving than she’s had the chance to say to me.

  “If I stayed we’d get each other killed,” her voice speaks through the speaker, stealing my attention back to the cell. “They wanted Lawson and me, Liam. They only got me … they told me if I hung around they’d kill him. I had to look after him. I had to save him.”

  “He would’ve protected you had he known,” Liam states, a fury lighting his words.

  “Would he?” she asks, hiccupping on a sob. “After what happened … he has every right to hate me.”

  “Your disappearance is making it worse for you,” Liam tells her, offering tough love. “He proposed, Eden … that guy has been buildin’ up to that point in his life for years. I thought you loved him.”

  “I do!” she bursts, taking her hand back. Tired, painful sobs ring out as she curls her hand around the bed sheet. “I love him enough not to get him killed. That threat was very real … it was him for me. Even Leo said there was no stoppin’ what they have planned.”

  “Lawson isn’t Leo,” Liam tells her, keeping up the good fight. “Remember that, okay? Lawson has destroyed more men than Leo ever could.”

  “Not this time,” Eden says, her entire faith in me destroyed. “He thinks he’s invincible … we both did, but look what that mentality did to me, Liam! Look what I’m left with!” I can sense her agitation as she shifts her body gingerly across the bed. “He deserves so much better than me … he deserves a woman who isn’t ruined like me.”

  “I thought you both decided that wasn’t an issue,” Liam comments, furrowing his brow. “You were both so alike, you both did the same bad things, Eden. You were both ruined … that’s why you were able to love each so much.”

  Silence settles, Eden shakes her head. It gives me a moment to catch another look at her. She stands before me with an apologetic look on her face, and I know why my father sent this – he wanted to weaken us by using our emotions against us.

  By sending this he gets Eden right where it hurts, he sucker punches me, and as for Ashley, she has to live seeing how much the other girl in my life loved me.

  “They said somethin’ to me after I hit the floor,” Eden starts to say, her voice small and soft. “They knew where he was at that exact moment. They knew everythin’ about us. They knew who we were going after next, who was after that … Liam, they knew everythin’ because they had been plannin’ this.”

  “And what did they say that was so bad?”

  “He’ll only love you when you’re pretty and fucked up,” she admits, tears thickening her voice. “He’ll never love you if we fuck with the rest of you.”

  “You can’t believe that,” he says, shaking his head incredulously.

  “Yes, I can,” she argues, no conviction in her wary tone. “You’ve seen me … seen what I’m left with.”

  “It’ll heal,” he comforts her.

  “No,” she tells him. “It’ll scar. It will never heal.” She shudders on a sob. “But they knew I ran away. They knew I ran scared. They knew a way to make me never go back. And they did it.” She releases a shuddering breath, hiccupping once more. “And I watched my dad die in front of me, Liam … I couldn’t bear it if he died, too.”

  “So, you do love him?”

  “Yes!” she bites, aggravated by his constant instance. “Without a shadow of a doubt … but we were set to destroy each other, weren’t we?” he asks, lifting a hand to wipe her face. “I was going to throw caution to the wind and say yes because every single part of my being hated me for runnin’ … but then this happened.”

  “He still loves you,” Liam continues to fight, ignorant of a figure coming into the room.

  “No one can love her anymore,” I hear Annie’s voice speak, the hate fueling it is painful.

  “Please, stop,” Eden begs, not even bothering to move as she covers her face up.

  “Nice to see you again, Annie,” Liam says, sitting up straighter.

  “I need to speak with my daughter,” she says, saying the term with such disdain. “I think it’s time you leave.”

  Liam looks ready to argue but stops himself.

  “I have a job to get to,” he tells Annie, sounding regretful about that. He turns his attention to Eden as he goes to stand. “I’ll be back later,” Liam says, leaning in to dot a kiss onto Eden’s cheek. “Keep strong … and remember he’s only one call away.”

  He gets no response, and he looks understanding about that as he stands entirely and starts to move around the bed. Annie catches Liam’s arms as he goes to pass, stopping him from leaving.

  “I don’t know what good you think filming everything will do … I’ll be making sure she never comes home.”

  “She’s your daughter,” Liam growls. “She’s in pain … she needs you.”

  “I warned her this life would destroy everythin’, but she was just like her father … and her actions to be careless with the life she was given ended up killing him. She’s got to live with that, but I don’t.” She learns in, and I now notice the Annie Roberts I knew no longer exists. “So, take your cell phone, delete the videos and forget Eden ever existed.”

  “Never,” Liam defies her, tossing her hand away. “You’ll regret this decision, Annie.”

  “We’ll see,” she says, sounding so final.

  Liam leaves Annie’s side, walking directly toward where the footage is shot from, and I catch a look at his expression before he picks the cell phone up, and the screen is a mess of movements until it settles by his side and he starts to leave the room.

  “This is the last time you’ll see me, Eden,” her mother says as Liam slowly walks away. “We’ve buried your father … you have no reason to come home.”

  I just catch Eden’s sobbing as Annie shuts the door and shuts the world off from what was clearly Eden and her mother’s last altercation.

  As the video ends, my fingers curl around the cell and anger beseeches me.

  “I didn’t know he filmed it,” Eden quickly says. I can hear her desperation for me to believe her.
“Honestly, Lawson, I didn’t know.”

  “I believe you,” I tell her. “Liam clearly had another plan for them.”

  “I would’ve made him delete them,” she says, shame filters her words. “I would’ve never expected you to see them and me expect a thing.”

  “It’s fine,” I utter, unable to comprehend the confusion of emotions in me. “My dad clearly knows what he’s doing by sendin’ them.” I look at the screen of the cell again, and it’s bugging me to see how her mother treated her. “Did Annie really disown you?”

  She shrugs at me. “She had every right to.”

  “No, she didn’t,” I tell her, my brow furrowing. “She might have lost her husband, but she chose to lose her daughter. No parent does that.”

  “Mine did,” Eden tells harshly. “As far as I’m concerned my parents are both dead to me.” I can’t know the hidden pain she has at having to say that, but she doesn’t let it openly show. “I only have Alex in this world now.”

  I nod my head and clear my throat. “And my life was threatened? Is that the God’s honest truth?”

  “Yes,” Eden breathes, hurt at my doubtful nature. “Everything in that video is the God’s honest truth, Lawson. I have no reason to lie.”

  I feel everyone’s eyes burning on me and I know I’m falling apart. I need to be strong when I want to be weak. I need to decide who I want without breaking hearts in the meantime.

  “I need some air,” I mutter, feeling claustrophobic.

  I push the doors open, leaving everyone behind me as I allow the New Orleans air to wrap around me, forcing fresh air into my lungs.

  “Follow him,” Eden says, pressing someone to follow him. “This is your chance, Ashley.” Her voice is clipped, the heartbreak threatened to eclipse her forcefulness. “You’re the only one on the outside that can help him … use that in your favor.”

  “Why are you being nice to me?” Ashley bites back. “We all know he’s in love with me.”

  “He was,” Eden remarks, her voice getting closer telling me she’s moving toward Ashley. “Until you happened.”

  “I saw you,” Ashley admits bitterly to Eden. “On the bed with him … he kissed you.”

  “And I stopped him,” Eden cuts he short. “He’s hurtin’, Ashley. Like really hurtin’. Compared to what you’re feelin’ right now, he’s breakin’. You’ve only been on the scene a short time … a really short time … so you don’t know how he works, but he needs savin’.”

  I close my eyes as I grip onto the balcony railing. I hate how much a woman knows me. I had forgotten it was possible. If anything, I had forgotten a lot in the time since Eden was gone.

  “Only you can save him,” Eden says, her voice thickening with her unshed tears. “So please, save him.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah, you,” Eden finalizes.

  I take the final steps until I can brace myself against the railings and try to settle every thought and feeling in me. I know Ashley will be here any moment and I actually need to contact.

  “Hey,” Ashley’s voice bursts from behind me and all at once I feel her beside me.

  I close my eyes, knowing that she deserves the truths of what’s happening.

  “I asked Eden to stay,” I admit, opening my eyes only to look out at the skyline. “She wanted to leave, but I made her stay.” Her hand starts to slip down my back, unhappy at that statement. “But only because I’m a greedy bastard and can’t bear the thought of her not being here.” I hang my head, knowing I am everything my father doesn’t want in a son. “I lost Liam … I couldn’t bear to lose someone else ... not tonight anyway.”

  “It’s okay,” she says, but I can hear the lie quiver in her tone.

  “I want you here, too,” I quickly tell her and finally look at her. “I need you to stay.”

  “I have nowhere to go,” she tells me, reiterating the statement like before. She offers a small smile. “How many times do I have to say that to you, Lawson? I said I had nowhere to go … and then I told you I’d fight for you.”

  “So, you will fight?” I ask, and I realize how lost I feel. “Even with Eden here?”

  She nods, unwilling to drop her smile. “Whatever it takes.”

  “Thank you,” I exhale, finally feeling like a ton weight has shifted from my shoulders.

  I see Ashley go to speak, but my cell rings out and my heart bottoms into my stomach. I know it can only be my dad calling and I begrudgingly take my cell and answer it, just catching his name on the screen.

  “Hello?” I bite down the line.

  “It’s sorted,” my father’s voice says down the line. “You don’t utter a word to anyone. The cause of Liam’s death is a robbery gone wrong …” He doesn’t hesitate to pack a punch on the call. “We go forward tonight, Lawson. I hope you understand how serious I am about this. I need my son in The Firm … and when I say in The Firm, I mean in The Firm. You don’t get to call the shots anymore. You’re done being your own person. You have a lot of expendable people around you now … you made them all easy targets.”

  “You don’t touch any of them,” I warn him, my tone suddenly dangerously low. “I already warned you, Leo. I told you that you don’t get to touch another one of my men.”

  “What about your women?” he asks, uncaring at the lack of fatherly sentiment I have for him. “Who would you rather lose? The blond or the brunette?” He chuckles at me, taunting me more. “Do you go for the girl who knows all of your secrets or the one just learning them?”

  “You don’t touch either one of them,” I continue, feeling my anger manifesting.

  “How will you stop me, Lawson?” he asks, giving pause. “How will you stop me from takin’ each of them and leave you all alone?”

  “I’ll play you at your own game,” I announce, now uncaring completely. “I will tear this city apart again,” I growl, my teeth clenching tightly together. “You think my men are expendable … the same goes for yours.”

  Leo chuckles, quite heartily. “You’re going to turn up for work in the mornin', Lawson, and you will find out how this will work out. You will be the son I gave life to and you will work toward taking your rightful position.” He quietens, taking a heavy inhale. “And if you know what’s good for her, you’ll tell Tess that it’s time she came home and took her place as well.”

  He ends the call and my anger surges, causing my hands to shake as I draw the cell away from my ear. I try to steady myself, telling myself to hold back, but I can’t stop the low growl that escapes my chest.

  This was the catalyst.

  My father wanted a doting son, one who he could groom to take over, but what’s he actually created is the villain who’s going to steal it all. He created a monster out of me and yet he still doesn’t take my threats seriously.

  I can feel Ashley beside me, trying to decide what to do to help me. Rage doesn’t cover this burning in me. I can feel it burn from me and I know that’s what has her worried to touch me. I’m unstable, ruined entirely by my father and his actions.

  “What did he say?” she asks hesitantly, unaware of the bigger threat against her.

  “He thinks I’m just going to lay down and allow him to destroy my life,” I tell her, looking away and staring back over the city. “He’s got another thing comin’.”

  “Was that Leo?” Eden asks. I look over my shoulder to see her coming out with my sister. “It was, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” I mutter. “He’s prepared to use you all against me.”

  “He has to know he can’t,” Eden says, pushing a steady tone. “He has to know we won’t all come back without you.”

  “Oh, he knows,” I say, moving my head back around. “That’s why I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.” I release the railing, roll my shoulders and stand taller as I look over New Orleans. “I want to tear this city apart at the seams,” I announce, no thread of weakness in me anymore. “This city will be at my knees … and he’ll regret everythin’ he’s
ever done.”

  “Lawson,” Tess starts.

  “Any man my father ever had a business deal with is not safe anymore.” I continue without listening to her cautious tone. “The deal they got with my father is off the table. They may have paid a great deal, but that wasn’t to me … they can’t run from their sins any longer. I won’t allow them.”

  “Lawson, do you know what you’re doing?” Nate asks, edging forward. “Leo will have your head.”

  “And why do I care?” I ask, looking at each of my men. “He’s willin’ to kill my men … I’m willin’ to kill his.”

  Every fragile part of me falls away as it’s replaced with harsh coldness. I become void of grief as revenge is the only thing that makes sense to me. I felt like this once, back when Eden and I were forced to accept our birthright. We were so sick of being pressured into The Firm that we rebelled. We chose our kills, based them on a point system, and we taunted them, played with each of them until we picked the perfect moment they would die.

  “This city will regret ever lettin’ The Firm get to the point it has,” I caution, seeing the idea interest my men. “He wants his son by his side, but I’m not sure he’ll want this son by his side.” I can feel a wicked little smirk tug on my lips. It doesn’t falter, not even as I take in my sister’s expression. “What’s wrong, Tess?”

  “Liam wouldn’t have wanted this,” my sister says, shaking her head. “He wouldn’t have wanted you to go on a rampage.”

  “Well, he doesn’t get to decide.” I know I’m harsh, I see it in her reaction, but I can’t hold back. “Liam is gone, so he doesn’t get a say.”

  “He’s barely stopped breathing, and you’re already forgettin’ about the goodness he helped you with,” Tess announces, disgust isn’t lost.

  “There is no goodness in this world, Tess,” I tell her, uncaring of who I hurt with that. “You were always naïve … I made sure you stayed that way.”

  “I’m not naïve enough to not understand the implications of being part of The Firm. I know dad makes you sort every loose end. He’s a money grabbin’, egotistical bastard … he screams about family, but he doesn’t really have one. He’s more concerned with ownin’ the city.”