Page 25 of Lovely Venom

“I talked Noel out of it. I know you,” he says low with a smile. “We will be crowning a newkyreagain if you haveto live with Tahiri against your will.”

Finally, someone who understands me.

“I don’t know if I can kill someone,” I admit. “On purpose. By myself.”

“Connor Quinlan isourenemy. You’re not alone anymore. You have us.” His words sound reassuring, but my brain has trouble processing them.

I have no job, and I’m all but blacklisted from getting another decent one. Noel will announce my address to every enforcer in every organized crime house I’ve messed with.

It seems doing shady shit is my only option. One bullet in one guilty man’s brain, and I inherit a fortune and a brotherhood of people just like me.

“I’ll be in touch,” I say to Valdrin just to keep them guessing.

CHAPTER TEN

Raina

Afew days later, there’s a knock at my door. Fingering the Walther on my belt, a gun I wear all the time now, I glare into the peephole. Relaxing, I open the door for Ruby.

“Have any coffee? Michael is sleeping on the sofa again, and I don’t want to wake him up fussing around the kitchen.” She’s been calling her father by his first name for a while now.

I think it’s a defense mechanism to distance herself from the emotion ingrained in us to love our parents no matter what.

“Sure. I just made a pot.” I step aside and let her in.

Wearing a satin baby doll top with matching shorts and Ugg slippers, Ruby glances around the apartment that’s gone unkempt because I haven’t left it. I’ve been binging ice cream, Chinese food, red wine, and Netflix to avoid thinking about what Valdrin and Noel hit me with.

The truth.

Their version, anyway.

“You okay?” Ruby asks, sounding worried.

It’s usually the other way around.

Clearing my throat, I say, “Actually, no.”

And I don’t mean my arm. The busted stitches were swapped out with surgical glue at the walk-in center, and my knife wound is healing much better.

“What happened?” Ruby takes a seat at my narrow kitchen table.

I pour her a cup of black coffee. Her father doesn’t keep fresh milk in the fridge or buy sugar, so she’s used to the bitter stinging taste. I haven’ttold her I was fired. I’m not sure how long I can afford this apartment, and mentioning that I will probably have to move will stress Ruby out.

I sit down next to her and fiddle with Valdrin’s card. “I found out who my father was, sort of.”

“Shut up.” Her eyes go wide. “Who is he? You said your mom didn’t name him in her letter.”

“It’s a complicated story,” I utter the understatement of the century. “He’s dead.”

“Really?” She sounds jealous.

Without knowing anything about Levin Berisha, I would bringhimback to life in a heartbeat if I could trade his soul for that scumbag Ruby has to live with.

I open my mouth to tell her more, but an impatient knock makes me jump. “Hang on, Ru.”

I amble to the door and glance out that peephole again.

Valdrin.