Page 102 of Renascence

“I know you will. How you’ll do it is the problem.”

“What do you want me to do, Emily? Write a strongly worded letter?” I move away from her, sliding off the bed. She sits up, watching my flailing arms. “They came in to my business, took a nude of my woman, and posted it on the fucking Internet!”

“Venom….”

“You wanted to know about my club, so guess what? We don’t fuck around. You hit us, we hit back a hundred times harder, driving you into the fucking ground. You have no idea about the things we’ve done. The thingsI’vedone.”

“Like what?”

“You really wanna know?” I ask, not holding back my anger.

“Yes.”

“Benny, the boa? I watched him wrap his body around a man’s neck until it broke.”

She gasps, fingers covering her lips.

“Your asshole of an ex? Do you really think he signed those papers because I had aconversationwith him?”

“Liam, what did you do?” she demands.

“Don’t fucking call me that! My name is Venom… just like what I injected him with, and then I watched as he squirmed before I gave him the antivenom.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah, so what do you think I’m going to do to the fucker who violated you?”

She climbs out of the bed, coming straight for me. She cups my cheeks, pulling my face down to hers and resting her forehead on mine.

“You want to protect me, I get that. Just not at the expense of your soul.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, Emily. I lost that bitch a long time ago.”

“I don’t believe that. You have so much goodness inside you.” Letting out a humorless chuckle, I break our contact. “You do,” she persists. “Look at what you’ve done for me. I’m nothing like the woman who showed up in Stony View just a measly two months ago. You saw something in me and you didn’t stop until you freed it. You freed me. You unlocked the cage I was trapped in andsavedme.”

“I’m no savior.”

“You’re mine. Aren’t you trying to save me right now?”

“This is different. This is revenge.”

“Call it whatever you want, Liam. Hell, even your name means ‘protector.’”

“How do you know that?” I ask, pausing my tirade to turn to her in confusion.

“My mom told me.”

“You told your mother about me?”

I think she realizes what she’s admitted, because she turns her back to me. Her shoulders droop, head falling forward.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t filled her head with any promises of a son-in-law.”

“Emily, that’s not…. Will you look at me?” She doesn’t budge, so I spin her around to face me. “One thing at a time. Let’s just get through this, all right?”

“Not if you plan on killing anyone.”

“Emily—”