Page 37 of Venomous Kiss

“I’m over you, Reon. It’s why I’m here… to tell you I’m moving on.” I smile at him. Tomorrow, I will meet with my father’s therapist. The one who can help me. Or so he says. But I need to start fresh, away from what has held me captive for the last year.

Him.

If steam could leave his ears right now, it would. It would shoot straight out and set everything alight. His jaw is hard, his teeth clenched tightly.

“You’re over me?” he asks, gripping the counter so tightly his knuckles turn white. “Over me? Is that how you’re putting it?” I remain quiet. “You can’t simply get over me, Caterpillar. I’m a part of you at this point. There’s no escaping me, whether you like it or not.” I gasp. “Do you want me to break you again? Break you so you can see that no other man can compete?”

Little does he know he’s already achieved that. Literally, every second of those nights we shared was perfect for me.

Even the part where my husband found us.

Perfection.

And I knew I had to run; otherwise, it would be ruined.

Why ruin a good thing?

“You would break me?” I ask.

“Don’t sound like you wouldn’t enjoy it, caterpillar. You did once before.” He smirks, dipping his hand into his jacket pocket. He pulls a box out and hands it to me. It’s a ring box, and I don’t want anything to do with it. “Take it,” he insists.

“How about no?” I glare up at him.

He opens the box, but there is no ring inside. Instead, it’s a pendant in the shape of a broken heart. He turns it over, and on the other side, it reads, ‘Mine’. Four simple letters that hold so much power.

“I’m not taking that. I’m not yours, and you are a fool to think otherwise.”

He pulls it out of the box, and I see a delicate chain attached to it. He moves to stand behind me. After brushing my hair from my shoulder, he fastens the necklace around my neck.

“It’s cute you think you can tell me what to do,” Reon growls in my ear.

“It’s cute you think I would listen to you,” I bite back, turning my head so I can see him. He’s smirking. I turn my face as he leans in, and his lips land on my cheek. “I didn’t give you permission to kiss my lips.”

“It’s not those lips I want, Caterpillar.”

“And I don’t agree with infidelity.” I pull away, but he tugs me so my back slams into his front.

“I’m not cheating.”

“You are. She and everyone else think you’re with her. I couldn’t care less what you think.”

“It’s an arrangement, Caterpillar.”

“One you agreed to,” I point out, the chain hitting my bare skin, and it’s burning a hole where it touches.

“One I had to agree to because I haven’t chosen a wife yet,” he explains. I’d heard stories of The Creed of the Forsaken choosing wives for their members. They place a necklace on their intended so anyone in the Forsaken knows they are taken. My hand touches the necklace, and I wonder if it’s the same, even though I am not taken. The truth and fiction of the Society are just that—only they know what the truth is, and no one ever corrects the fiction of the outside world. Who would believe that filthy, deadly rich men have a Society that protects them? Doesn’t their money do that already? No, they add more influential people to give them greater control.

It’s all a game of money and power.

And only those who are members know the true extent of it all.

“I’m going to choose a wife now.” His hands go around my neck, and I feel the cold of the necklace being placed there, with the heat from his hands almost searing me. “Mine,” he whispers, his teeth nipping my ear.

I pull away, and this time, he doesn’t stop me as I unlock the door and walk out as fast as my heels can carry me away from him.

When I look back, he lifts something from the neckline of his shirt. I see the necklace I lost that night hanging around his neck and a deadly smirk on his lips.

FIFTEEN