Page 98 of Violence and Vice

“You were always going to,” Juliet says. “Chicago likes women who bite back.”

That makes me laugh. It also makes me feel seen.

I’ve never been one for crowds. I prefer to blend in at a party, but here, with this crowd, I feel like I’ve finally found my tribe. I can just exist. I can be me. I don’t have to pretend anything, and they still like me for who I am.

The music shifts.

Softens. Slows.

I feel him behind me before he speaks.

“May I have this dance?”

I turn, smiling up at Ares, and nod. He takes my hand and pulls me gently to the center of the room, where couples are beginning to sway under the fairy lights strung across the rafters.

He draws me in, hands on my waist, my arms wrapping around his neck. The music melts into the air like smoke.

“You look like a goddess, Vengeance,” Ares says softly into my hair as he holds me tight. “Chicago has been good to you.”

“I feel like one, Venom,” I say, letting a soft smile pull at my lips. “It feels like everything finally slid into place. Like the universe had to upend everything to land us exactly where we were supposed to be.”

“I never saw it coming, but I absolutely agree.” His voice is a rumble I feel throughout my entire body.

I rest my head against his shoulder, and we sway. The lights blur. The music wraps around us. The crowd fades.

All I feel is him.

Everything was so heavy. There was so much violence. So much went wrong. There were so many times I thought I would lose this man who is my greatest vice.

But we fought tooth and nail. Through life and death.

We earned each other.

Suddenly, the crowd around us starts chanting in unison.

“Ten!”

Ares cups my face in his hands, his eyes burning into mine.

“Nine!”

My heart stutters.

“Eight… Seven… Six…”

“I love you,” I whisper.

“More than forever,” he replies.

“Five… Four… Three…”

I rise onto my toes.

“Two…”

His lips brush mine.

“One—”