Page 3 of Venom (St. Sebastian’s at Cravenmoor Academy #1)

Viper

“ S o, you didn’t get her actual name? Or a copy of her legitimate passport?

” I ask Eric for the hundredth time, absolutely livid that he bypassed every single fucking security measure we have for this woman.

I may deal in arms and racketeering, but I don’t fucking traffic women, and I want them to know they are safe with me.

If this gets out, it will be all over the city in an hour that Viper fucking Stone hired an unknown, and the speculations and accusations will be rife.

“She didn’t want to give it. She said her dad would find her, and she didn’t want that.”

I take a moment to calm the white-hot flare of temper and then think, ‘fuck it.’ I slam my hand into his face so hard his nose flattens and sprays blood out everywhere.

“You put her in danger by not following the rules. You put my business under the fucking spotlight,” I growl as he drops to the floor.

Eric whimpers on the floor, clutching his face as blood pours through his fingers, staining the plush carpet of my office. I feel no remorse. Only the cold, satisfying crunch of his cartilage giving way under my knuckles. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.

“Her dad?” I sneer, kicking him in the ribs. “You think I give a fuck about her daddy issues? My rules are there for a reason, you stupid cunt. To protect them. To protect me .”

Landon stands by the door, silent and impassive. He knows better than to step in when I’m like this. The trouble is, he is as much to blame, and he will feel my wrath next.

I crouch down, grabbing a fistful of Eric’s hair and yanking his head back. His eyes are wide with terror and pain. “A sniper took a shot in my club. At a girl who doesn’t exist. On my fucking lap. Do you have any idea the shitstorm you’ve just brought down on us?”

He tries to mumble an apology through his snivelling, but I cut him off. “The next time you think with your dick instead of your head, I’ll cut it off and feed it to my fucking snake. Get out of my sight.”

I shove him away, disgusted, and rise to my feet. The image of her, those defiant green eyes, is burnt into my mind. Summer Heat. Whoever she is, she brought a war to my door. And I’m going to find her before it burns my entire empire down.

“And you,” I snarl at Landon as he steps aside for Eric to make his hasty exit. “You know better than this.”

Landon’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t flinch. He meets my gaze head-on. I expect nothing less, and I’d be disappointed and disgusted if he cowered. “I fucked up. I didn’t check. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“A mistake?” I stalk towards him, my voice dropping to a dangerous low.

“A sniper’s bullet through my fucking window is a fucking mistake, Landon.

An unidentified woman with a target on her back grinding on my cock is a fucking liability.

Who the fuck are her enemies? Who did she piss off so badly they’d try to take her out in the middle of a packed club? My packed club?”

I stop inches from his face. I can smell the stale cigarette smoke on his jacket and see the faint scar above his eyebrow.

He’s been with me since the beginning, but right now, I could kill him for this oversight.

That fucking posh accent, the way she moves like she was born for violence… Nothing about her adds up.

“I don’t know,” he admits, his anger simmering just beneath the surface. “But I’ll find out.”

“You’re damn right you will. I want a name.

A real one. I want to know who her father is.

I want to know every cunt she’s ever crossed.

I want to know why someone wants her dead and why they chose my club to do it.

Dig. And don’t come back to me until you have something other than a stage name and a hard-on. ”

He gives a curt nod, his expression grim. “I’m already on it. Ran the CCTV footage. Facial recognition is running now against every database we have access to, and some we don’t.”

At least his brain is working. “Get it done.”

He turns to leave, but I grab his arm. “And Landon? Find her first. Before they do.” Before her enemies finish the job. Because for some fucking reason I can’t explain, the thought of that bullet hitting its mark makes my blood run cold.

He nods once and vanishes from my sight, knowing I'm about to blow every fucking gasket I have.

My phone vibrating cuts into my rage. I snatch it up off the desk and glare at the number I don’t recognise. “What?” I snap, answering it anyway. Who knows… maybe it’s her.

“Mr Stone,” a refined voice with an edge so dangerous to it, I feel the bite from here. “It’s Anton Corbyn-Hale.”

I raise an eyebrow, my attention fully diverted to this phone call.

“Do you know who I am?”

I snort. “Do I know who you are?” I repeat. “Anyone with half a fucking brain knows who you are. What do you want with me? I’m a little bit out of your jurisdiction.”

He chuckles darkly. “Quite. But it seems you have unwittingly found yourself in my debt.”

“Oh? And why is that, then?”

But unfortunately, my brain is perfectly clear now that my cock isn’t raging to get inside that bitch’s cunt, and I don’t like where these pieces are falling.

“It appears that you saved my daughter’s life tonight. I don’t take that lightly. Meet me at my estate at eight sharp tomorrow morning. We have things to discuss.”

He hangs up before I can utter a word of thanks, but no thanks.

I drop the phone onto my desk and inhale deeply before I turn and ram my fist into the wall behind me.

“Corbyn-Hale,” I growl. This nightmare just went from bad to the fucking worst it possibly could.

Despite his words of owing a debt, I’ll be lucky if I walk away with my head still on my shoulders.

This is a fucking trap if I ever saw one, but the problem is, if I don’t show up, he will take it as a slight, and that, that in our world, would be the stupidest fucking thing I could do.

I’m the big bad, but he is the monster even men like me don’t want to cross.

“You fucking cunt,” I mutter. But I’m not sure if I’m talking to me, him, or his goddamned daughter.