Page 140 of Lovely Venom

“That better be true,” Valdrin says.

“It is.” Connor pulls me to his side and turns me to face him. “Now, what’s your idea?”

The room quiets, heartbeats slow down, and breathing turns shallow. For a moment, all attention is on me. For the first time, I feel powerful inthisworld.

“This could be a long shot, butmy friendwas with theIrish capo the night he died.”

“What?” Griffin goes rigid. “Who?”

I keep Ruby’s name out of it, and Connor doesn’t out her either. That is her truth to own up to. She might want to keep her assault a secret.

Connor squeezes Griffin’s shoulder. “We thought it was just an unfortunate coincidence that Hendrix hired Raina’s friend. Hendrix only fucked whores.”

My skin crawls, hearing Connor call Ruby a whore, but that’s to further make her invisible to his brother.

“My friend said three men killed Hendrix and then raped her.” My voice cracks, saying it out loud.

“All three?” Valdrin asks with a hitch in his breath, suggesting he might have figured out I’m talking about Ruby.

“Yes, allthreeof them raped her.” I keep my stomach from revolting. “They took turns with her.”

Shane stands up. “We have a witness to all three committing a crime?”

“She said they had on masks,” I argue. “But they spoke with thick accents.”

“We assumed they were contract killers. Not the actualleadership.” Connor scrubs a hand across his jaw. “Not links in the chain to destroy your brotherhood. We need a reliable, undisputable way to identify these scumbags and what they did.”

Shane holds up his phone. “Noel Tahiri has three planes at LaGuardia Airport registered to one of his shell accounts. I’m hacking a commander’s order to have the jets impounded so the knights can’t leave the country.”

“Trace and Rhys, kill their pilots if they resist,” Connor adds with zest.

“Hang on,” Griffin objects like asaneboss.

Connor is lighting a match for World War III on the streets.

“I’ll speak to someone in the mayor’s office about what our options are regarding the rape.” Griffin turns to me. “Yourfriendwill need to speak to a prosecutor.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I say, hating to use Ruby’s attack to our advantage. But it will be the justice that she deserves. “We have to get the knights out of the way to take down Noel.”

“Tahiriisstill a don,” Griffin says, running a hand through his hair.

“He’s illegitimate,” I argue.

“Without the knights, the whole organization is sheep,” Valdrin adds, sounding on board with our plan. “Ican handle them.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Raina

Griffin orders Valdrin to a Quinlan safehouse somewhere outside the city. I won’t know the location.

“Wait,” I call out to Rhys, who’s steering Valdrin to his Audi. “Can I have a minute with my...father?”

It makes me dizzy to say that.

When Rhys steps back, Valdrin opens his arms. “Can I hug you?”

Nodding, I let him pull me into a hug so tight that I can barely breathe. But I fold into it, into him. It’s a feeling I never had before. My mother loved me, but her hugs felt cold, unsure. Maybe she knew my whole life that Valdrin or even Levin would come for me, and she protected her heart from the pain of losing me.