Venom & Glory (Venom Trilogy Book 3)

by S Williams

  “Yo no soy un buen hombre,” he whispers, voice cracking, breaking. I am not a good man. “I wish I was, for you, but I will never be good. I sometimes wish I was still the little boy who saw you and fell hard for your big, green eyes. I wish I was still that innocent kid who had a raging crush on you—the kid who didn’t give a damn about the guns, the drugs, the cartel, or any of this cruel, vile shit. The kid who made a simple promise to marry you. Cherish you. Protect you. Be good to you. But I cannot be that man. I am broken and cruel. I am corrupt and I enjoy all of this more than I care to admit. I thought I was heartless, but having you around proved me wrong.” He pauses. “I see now that in order to live this life, sacrifices must be made. So this is my sacrifice. I am letting you go. Not for my sake, but for yours. I have only caused you misery and pain, but you, mi reina, deserve to be happy…even if some of the things you have done may have just cost me my life.”

  Those are his final words.

  This is his goodbye?

  I can’t accept it.

  I feel the same way. I have only caused him misery and suffering. I am the reason he will lose everything.

  I have been a burden all along, and he knew that, yet he still dared to love me.

  He risked his life the moment he decided to give his heart to me.

  11

  GIANNA

  This flight is longer than expected.

  I’m still thirsty; I have to use the bathroom, but I can’t pull myself together enough to stop the tears. I hate crying, especially now, after feeling like I was on top of the world—like nothing could stop me.

  This was never supposed to happen.

  I betrayed his trust, shattered his loyalty, and broke his already broken heart.

  What the hell was I thinking—no, what the hell was he thinking?

  He never should have trusted me. He never should have taken me. He should have just killed me, the same way he did Toni. Being dead would be a hell of a lot easier than being brokenhearted.

  He was once the monster in the dark—the man who haunted my dreams and stole my happiness. He was once a man I loathed—someone I would never be able to forgive.

  That’s what I thought.

  But the man who was once a monster in the dark has become everything I’ve ever wanted. He became the only ray of sunshine I had—my only hope. He was the one who restored me—the one who showed me what I was capable of and who I really am.

  He is the only reason I still wish to live.

  Without him, I may as well be back in that shed again—chained. Broken. Beaten. Starved.

  Without him, I may as well be dead.

  Someone taps my shoulder, and I pick my head up, focusing on the box of tissues. My eyes drift up to Emilio’s, whose face is calm and complacent. I take the box, but I don’t use the tissues. Instead, I look out of the window, tears staining my face, as he sits in the seat across from me.

  He’s quiet for several minutes. It’s not awkward, either. He probably doesn’t want to say the wrong thing, and honestly, I couldn’t care less about what he has to say, unless he decides to turn this jet around—which I know he won’t do.

  Forget what I said earlier. I need to get back to Draco.

  “I grew up with Draco,” he says, voice low.

  I continue staring out the window.

  “He is not a bad man—well, not so much.”

  I side-eye him.

  “You want to hate him. I get it. But he was right, Patrona. He is doing this for you. He can’t see anyone else that is close to his heart die. His mother isn’t even in Cabos anymore.”

  That gets my attention. “Where is she?”

  “Somewhere Hernandez will never find her,” he says. “Just like she won’t find you. Draco wants to make sure of it, which is why you shouldn’t come back. Your family knows you are on the way.”

  I swallow hard. “Great.” Sighing, I slouch back in the chair, swiping a finger beneath my eyes. “Can I get a bottle of water, please?”

  He nods, pushing out of his seat and going for the galley. He returns with two bottles of water, one for himself and another for me. I crack it open and chug most of it down as he sips his.

  “She is a crazy woman,” he says, agitation on his breath.

  I frown. “Who?”

  “Yessica.”

  Brows stitched, I sit up in my seat, in need of more details. “You’ve been around her before?”

  “Plenty of times.”

  “Why is she out for him?”

  Emilio cracks his fingers, sitting higher up in his chair. “Because he broke her heart. And from what my mother has always told me, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

  I blink slowly. “How did he meet her?”

  “A territorial deal.”

  “When?”

  “When he was twenty-two.” He holds my gaze, and I stare back. He knows I need more.

  “Tell me the whole story, Emilio.”

  “It is not my story to tell.”

  “I don’t care. I’ll never see him again anyway. I want to know how much of a threat she really is to him—why he never goes into detail about her with me.”

  Sighing heavily, he swipes a hand over his brow, lowering his gaze. “They met when they were twenty-two. Draco had started a new trade with a highly respected mayor in Venezuela. Yessica was an assistant for the mayor. She was from Mexico, always looking for her next power role—or at least, riding the coattails of the most successful men, to try to claim hers.” He swallows thickly. “Jefe stayed in the mayor’s mansion for three nights. He needed to earn his trust, and of course the mayor’s assistant stayed there as well.” Emilio’s eyes harden, focused intently on mine. “Do you want me to keep going, Patrona? I don’t want to hurt you or your feelings with what I am about to tell you.”

  “Keep going,” I command, my voice scratchy, foreign to me now.

  He runs his tongue over his bottom lip. “Yessica stayed in the mansion, and I was there as well. My room was next to his, but I always kept my door open to keep an eye on my boss. I would see her come while everyone was sleeping, and go to his room. Sneak in there. I would hear her moans of pleasure. Hear him cursing at her to get out, but not really doing a thing to stop it. I think he was having fun. Enjoying it.”

  I cringe inside, shutting my eyes for a brief moment. “Keep going.” My words come out quick, biting.

  “They became closer, and by the time he had to go, she begged him to take her with him. At first he refused, but Yessica is good at seducing. I know because she tried to seduce me too.” He grips his bottle of water, pulling his gaze away from mine. “So she told him that she would do whatever he wanted. That she’d work around the house for him, take care of him in ways only a woman can. She was all in for Jefe, and he liked that. He liked women who were willing to beg.”

  My chest tightens. I hate every single word coming out of his mouth, but he can’t stop. I need to know everything.

  “She lived with him for four years, but each year she became greedier. Jefe wasn’t as lenient with her as he was with you. Whenever she did something he told her not to do, she was punished severely. Beaten and whipped with belts and paddles. Choked while she slept until she begged for mercy. She was even knocked unconscious once. You would think I felt bad for her. I didn’t. I didn’t, because she asked for this to happen to her. She would yell in his face, tell him to do something about it if she’d made him angry. She was addicted to it—his punishments. She was fucking insane.”

  “So she’s the reason he likes to punish.” It’s more of a statement than a question.

  He nods, just barely. “He got a thrill out of it, but he was the worst with her. She’d intentionally show up late for breakfast, even when he constantly reminded her. One day she pushed too far. She spit on his food, and he stabbed her in the thigh.”

  My eyes stretch wide.

  “One of the maids stitched her up. One day, during her very last week there, she told him she’d
put up with so much of his shit that he needed to marry her. She demanded that he make her his wife. Jefe refused. He didn’t love her. Truthfully, I think he was beginning to despise everything about her. He was on the verge of killing her, which was his only other option, because he couldn’t let her go. She knew too much, and he didn’t trust her. He told her to her face that he didn’t love her and that he would never marry a psychotic bitch like her. She begged him to. Groveled. He refused every single time. I remember the day he told her: ‘Love is useless. You are useless.’ She’d changed after that. She no longer begged. She didn’t show up for breakfast and didn’t spend her nights looking for him. She hid in her assigned bedroom…and then one day she was just gone.

  “We searched for her for years and got nothing. She’d completely disappeared…until one day she appeared during one of Jefe’s meetings as an associate for one of his well-trusted dealers. We knew then that she had her own agenda, but Jefe wasn’t concerned. He knew her threats were empty. He knew she was still the psychotic bitch who craved him day and night. He was still on top, and she was many levels beneath him. But one day, she was no longer the associate with the big dealer. She became the big dealer. She’d bought them out. Took over. She created her own empire and ran many of the small dealers dry. Now, she only needs one more big cartel dealer to rule all of Mexico—and that’s Jefe’s, but he’s not handing it over without a fight. And she knows that—she knew when she first took you that he was going to start a war. She wanted this—to lure him out. At first, though, she didn’t care to take what was his. Toni was dead, and she wasn’t about to take her business down with him. Henry Ricci was a lost cause to her, but when Yessica heard about you, I’m certain she dug deeper. She needed to know more, and she knew she was only going to get that from Henry. Henry made himself way too easy for us to find after escaping. That should have been a sign to Jefe then that something was going on—that something bad was about to happen. She took Thiago, thinking he’d cave and tell her about you and where Jefe was. It’s a very good thing he didn’t.”

  He sighs, and I sit back in my seat, my pulse thudding in my ears now.

  “Before that,” he continues, “she mostly stayed out of his way. But when she heard about you, oh, Patrona, her jealousy ignited. I know it did, because you are the woman she wishes to be. He loves you, not her. He will never love her. He treats you like a queen and gives you so much mercy, while he treated her like a pile of shit. This is why you have to go. Because if she catches you again, she will kill you this time, just to make The Jefe just as miserable as she is.”

  12

  GIANNA

  The flight becomes rocky minutes after Emilio announces we will be landing soon. Fortunately, the landing smooths out when the wheels of the jet touch the ground.

  The jet drifts along for two more minutes while I stare out of the window, at the mountains and the silky, blue sky.

  I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do. I can’t be with family again after being around Draco for so long. He should know this. It won’t be the same as before. A normal life doesn’t suit me anymore—not after everything I have gone through while in his hands.

  The only family I had left that I know of—and that I trust enough not to try and marry me off—is my dad’s brother, Uncle Jack, and his wife, Aunt Minnie. They have two kids, from what I can remember, Clark and Jennifer, but we were so young the last time we saw one another that they probably don’t even remember me.

  Uncle Jack and Aunt Minnie didn’t attend my wedding. They’d made up an excuse about how they didn’t like to travel that far, but something deep in my gut tells me now that they just didn’t like Toni.

  I remember Uncle Jack coming around, but never directly speaking to Toni. Uncle Jack had even dropped out of my dad’s business when he saw Toni getting higher rank, but he still ran his own business, which still required security guards.

  Daddy has another brother, and a sister.

  My uncle Ken will try to marry me off.

  My aunt Natasha will try to marry me off, too.

  Even my grandmother Veronica, will try to marry me off—all for the money. All because they know how much I am worth, and that the vilest men in his world will pay a pretty penny, just to get me pregnant and weave our bloodlines.

  Dad never trusted any of them but Uncle Jack. Yes, he had Ken working for him, but it was always at a distance. Ken never sat at my dad’s table. He always kept me close and kept them at arms length. The only time we would all get together was for every other Thanksgiving or Christmas, and even then, Daddy always went with two guns, three knives and two of his best guards.

  The jet finally comes to a stop, and as soon as it does, Emilio is standing and reaching into the bin above his head. He takes down two magenta suitcases and then looks at me.

  “Are you ready, Patrona?”

  Pressing my lips, I unclip my seatbelt and stand. No, I’m not ready. No, I don’t want to go. But I know I have no choice. He won’t let me stay. If I had a gun, I’d put it to his and the pilot’s heads and demand they return me to him.

  But I don’t.

  So I go.

  Just as I start to follow after Emilio, I see a black SUV pull closer to the jet. A man in a navy blue suit steps out, sunglasses covering his eyes. He walks in front of the truck with his arms crossed in front of him.

  I frown a bit. He’s unfamiliar to me.

  Emilio sees him too and places the suitcases down before he exits the jet. As he walks down the stairs, I see him draw a black handgun on the way. I rush to the window, watching as he holds it at his side. The man standing in front of the SUV immediately draws his when he spots it.

  Emilio says something, and the man answers, and then the man steps around to the back door, pulling it open. A tall, familiar man with a thick, brown beard steps out. He looks much different than the last time I saw him—then again, the last time I saw him, I was fifteen years old.

  He’s wearing a black leather jacket, a collared gray shirt beneath it. He shuts the door behind him and walks toward Emilio, taking out his wallet and showing him his credentials.

  Relief washes over me, only a small ounce. That’s him. Uncle Jack. He looks different, like he’s gained a few pounds, but in a healthy way. His brown hair is longer, curling behind his ears, and his smile is just as charming as he assures Emilio everything is alright.

  Seeing it soothes the storm brewing inside me.

  After Emilio reads over his information, he nods and hands it back, then turns for the jet again. He hustles back up the stairs and I ask, “Is everything okay?”

  “Great, Patrona. Come with me.” He grabs the suitcases and walks back down. I follow him out, surprised at how chilly it is. I’m only wearing a trench coat over a nightgown, and a pair of flip-flops. As I walk down, I see snow-capped mountains in the distance.

  Where the hell are we?

  I make it down the final step, and Uncle Jack steps forward, smiling broadly—until he notices what I’m wearing. His smile collapses, but he opens his arms, and I walk into them, wishing I was happier than I am in this moment.

  Months ago I would have been eager and ready to walk into his arms—ready to be around anyone who wasn’t Draco—but now…it’s a hollow victory.

  “He kept his word,” he sighs.

  “Who?” I ask, looking up at him.

  “The man who held you captive. The Jefe.” He frowns a bit. “Did he hurt you?”

  “I’m fine,” I tell him, shivering.

  He notices and then looks me up and down. “Come on, let’s get you to the truck where it’s warm.” He starts to escort me that way, but I pause, looking back at Emilio.

  “It was a pleasure serving you, Patrona,” he murmurs in Spanish, smiling softly. And I don’t know what it is about his words, but it hurts my heart to hear them. Tears prick my eyes, but I nod quickly and pull away, walking to the truck with Uncle Jack.

  I slide across the bench to the other side, n
ot without noticing Emilio handing the suitcases to Uncle Jack’s driver.

  As soon as it’s done, Emilio turns, pulls out his cellphone, and walks back on the jet.

  It takes everything in me not to bawl where I sit. I can’t cry. I’m assuming Draco wants them to still be intimidated—to still think he’s dangerous and ruthless. He doesn’t want his reputation ruined by me. He doesn’t want them to know he is soft and that by sending me here, he was doing them and me a favor.

  He never would have killed me…but they don’t know that. To them, he showed mercy. They got lucky, and only because he respected my father.

  “Did he not tell you where we live?” Uncle Jack asks me when his door is shut.

  “No.” My teeth are chattering. I rub my hands over the arms of my jacket to warm myself. Uncle Jack cranks up the heat using the knobs above. “Where are we?”

  “Colorado. Estes Park, to be exact.”

  “You didn’t live here before.”

  “No, I didn’t. We moved here a while ago, right after Lion passed away. It’s quieter here. Safer.”

  I drop my head. “Oh.”

  I can still feel him looking at me. I can’t look him in the eyes right now. Not right now. I drop my arms and squeeze my fingers. “You weren’t at the vigil I planned for him.”

  “I wanted to be.”

  “Why didn’t you come?”

  “Because I was out looking for the man who murdered him.”

  I look up into his eyes. They are so similar to Daddy’s, bold and green. “Any luck?”

  “Don’t play dumb. I know who it was. The Jefe told me who when he sent me notification that you would be flying back.”

  My throat becomes dry and scratchy. “Oh. He told me, too.”

  “I’m glad he killed the son-of-a-bitch. If I’d known sooner, I would have strangled him at the funeral. A final favor for my brother.”

  The driver climbs into the car and puts it in reverse. As he rolls backwards, I stare ahead at the jet, hating each inch he’s putting between it and us. He finally veers right, puts the car in gear, and drives away. I stop staring when I can no longer see it.