Page 102 of Sweet Venom

Jude slammed someone, and I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn’t. I was surrounded by people in white and…

“Her pulse is unsteady,” one of them said mechanically.

And then Dahlia was kissing a player on TV—Number 19, Davenport.

Why was Dahlia kissing someone from the Vipers…?

The memory slips through my fingers as fast as it appeared, like sea foam, disintegrating with each of my breaths.

And then another grainy, distorted memory hits me—a large hand on my face, hot breaths skimming my lips, and unintelligible words.

I inhale and exhale harshly into the phone. “Was Jude by my side recently?”

“Yes. He kidnapped you, but I saved you in time. You owe me a considerable number of favors, Violet.”

“Kidnapped me? Why?”

“You know exactly why.”

To finish what he started and kill me.

But if he wanted to kill me, wouldn’t he have had many chances to do that while I was sleeping?

Yes, Julian mentioned that Jude would have no access to me while I was in a coma, but knowing how resourceful Jude can be, he could have found me.

And why does my chest ache? Is it a side effect of the coma?

This feels the same as when I learned he sent those people to kill me and Mario.

Those emotions of betrayal I’d hoped to never experience again, because they’re beyond stupid. I’m the one who chose to have naïve thoughts about Jude and his motives.

“Listen, Violet. I better not see you or your sister aroundhere again. Not in Stantonville and certainly not in Graystone Ridge.” Julian’s voice is still calm, but it’s a threat wrapped in silk.

And then, like a knife pressed against my throat, the last words slide in. “For your own good.”

The line goes dead.

I stay there, the phone still clutched in my trembling hand, the silence pressing in around me. The white walls. The untouched furniture. The frozen world outside.

I’ve been gone for three months.

Mario is in a coma because of me.

And Jude still wants to kill me.

Even though I woke up, I want to go back to the nothingness of whatever I was in.

Things didn’t goas Julian planned.

And I’m not sure whether it’s a blessing or a curse.

It’s been over three weeks since I woke up from the coma, and I’m now living in Graystone Ridge.

It’s due to many reasons.

For one, Dahlia is dating the Vipers’ captain and Jude’s best friend, Kane Davenport. They got together because she approached him to avenge me.

For Dahlia’s sake, Kane offered Jude the rest of the folders containing names of the people who were present during Susie’s death with the sole condition that he wouldn’t hurt me.