Venomous King (Venom #2)

3. Issy

Chapter three

Issy

“We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live.

We shall endure.”

Cesar Chavez

Four and a half years ago

I wait with bated breath as the doctor re-enters the room, with a look of stern concentration across her friendly face. I force my hands into tight fists to stop them from shaking, as I prepare myself to hear that I have contracted some disease, or parasite, out in the fucking jungle with that psychopath, Diego. Nothing at this point would surprise me. I haven’t been able to keep food down for over a month; everything I eat decides it wants no part of me, and the constant exhaustion is kicking my butt. I can now fall asleep standing up.

“Miss Delburne, ma’am? We have your test results. The reason you have been feeling so tired and unwell isn’t due to infection, as we thought.” The young female doctor at the community clinic gives me a look of deep sympathy, and my hackles instantly rise. Oh my god, I am going to die, he gave me something terminal. Fucking bastard. If I am dying, I will kill him.

“I know you said that you had an IUD and couldn’t be pregnant, but we found no evidence of the IUD present when we did the ultrasound on your abdomen. Your blood work also confirmed my suspicions. You’re pregnant, Annabell, just under five months along. You had lost so much weight that it wasn’t noticeable.”

WHAT. THE. FUCK. My ears are ringing, and my vision blurs, with the sudden dizziness that assails me. There is no way that I heard her correctly. There is no way this woman, this doctor, just said I was pregnant. The urge to jump off this exam table, and run from the room screaming, is a living fire in my blood. “Recheck it, you’re wrong. You have to be wrong.”

“I did, miss, twice, in fact. There is no mistake, you are expecting a baby in about four short months.” She reaches out and grips my shoulder in sympathy and support. Her words keep replaying over and over in my mind, each time getting louder and louder, until I want to scream.

No, this is not happening. This can’t be happening. I get another chance at life, at freedom. I didn’t survive that jungle, and a madman, only to end up here. A tear slides down my face, followed by another, as I angrily swipe them away with my hand, and try to keep the sobs that want to escape me from wrenching from my body.

I sit there, shocked to my core, not understanding what she is telling me. How can the IUD be missing? They don’t just fall out. She has to be wrong; her tests have to be incorrect. I can’t be pregnant. Then it hits me: the reality of the life I was living with him. Anger races through my veins like hot lava, and causes my whole body to shake. That fucking bastard would have done anything to keep me with him. Nothing was ever off the table with Diego, there is no level of depravity he wouldn’t have debased himself to. Even stooping so low as to remove my method of birth control, and impregnate me while I was unconscious.

No wonder he couldn’t keep his hands off of me. It was his plan all along, to make sure that I would never leave him. He knew I wouldn’t be capable of leaving my child behind, and I’m sure he never planned on letting me take it with me if I left him. Son of a bitch, he covered all his bases to ensure that I would always be trapped, a mouse facing off with a deadly cobra.

“You have choices, Annabell,” the doctor tries to reassure me in a soothing tone, but there is no solace to be had. My choice was already taken from me. I meet her dark brown eyes with my own, and know that my life has irreparably changed in just mere moments. One word, ‘pregnant’, and my world has gone careening on its axis.

“No, I really don’t.” The mere thought of this baby inside of me, a piece of Diego and I together, forever intertwined, has me laying my hands on my mostly flat stomach. Joy replaces anger, and the need to nurture, and keep it safe, fills me. Mine. This child is mine. It is a blessing for a future I never planned on, but somehow, deep inside, I always wanted.

A new beginning, that is what this is. My grandfather Jaxon’s words from long ago enter my mind and cement my decision. “Fate has a funny way of giving you what you need most without you even knowing it, my beautiful little doll. Trust that what happens in life is meant to be; fate makes no mistakes when it casts its weave. It’s up to you to pull on the correct thread.”

The thread was there for me to pull all along, just waiting until I was strong enough to bear the next part of my journey, and now I am. I will be this baby’s mother, protector, and cheerleader. This baby will be mine and mine alone, and I will destroy anyone, friend or foe, that tries to take it from me.

I can never let Diego know that this baby exists. He would use it against me as a way to tie me to him forever. He would use our child as a noose around my neck, until the day I took my last breath on this earth. I’m sure he never counted on me getting away from him. A love forced is a love scorned. He will never understand that, and I have no intention of ever going back to teach him.

Love will fill this baby’s life; I will ensure it. It will be the two of us against the world, and I’ll give it everything I lacked when I was growing up. It will always know it is wanted, needed, and valued, and I’ll destroy anyone who tries to hurt it. It may never get to know that it is a Stratford, but that won’t stop me from instilling our Stratford strength into it.

Joy fills me with the possibility of a new life, one where I am no longer alone. I will do what I need to, to survive this world, because I am a Stratford. You can’t keep us down. A Stratford never forgets, and always pays their dues. I will be no exception to the rule, and neither will my child.

“Annabell? Girl, we have to do something about that tramp stamp.” I look over at my roommate, and witness the look of disgust on her face. I don’t blame her; I wasn’t overly thrilled when I finally caught a glimpse of it in a mirror four months ago. The fucking audacity of Diego. I can’t believe that asshole branded me with his name, like property, like goddamn cattle. Yet, despite the rage at knowing he did that, without my permission, I have yet to remove it or tattoo over it.

Some irrational part of me believes it is still a link back to him, a piece of him remaining on my body as a reminder of the love we once shared, regardless of whether it was toxic. It certainly wasn’t the only thing that he forgot to mention. A snort leaves my lips at the thought, and has Rachel’s eyebrow instantly rising.

I’m apparently a glutton for all the things he leaves behind on my body. My hand slowly rubs circles over my aching stomach, feeling the rippling of my child moving beneath my palm. Strong, this little one will be fierce once she enters the world. How could she not be when she will be a Stratford, and a Cabano. The world’s not ready for that combination, but it better prepare itself.

“Annabell?” Rachel tries again to get my attention.

Shit, my mind keeps wandering off, and I need to get my shit together. At least my mind is being pulled back into happier memories; that one was bittersweet. It was the first day of my new life. The day I knew I had to not only survive for me, but for my baby. “I can’t see it, so it doesn’t bother me, Rachel.” I smile and take a sip of my water, as I turn away from her, and stare back at the soothing ocean.

So much has already happened since that day, when I discovered that I was going to be a mom. Now, I’m once again facing a crossroads, and I’m unsure of the road to take. I wanted to do this alone, to hide away from the world and have this beautiful life with my baby, but life has once again thrown me a curveball. I have to do whatever I can to save my child, and for that, I need him .

Memories and dreams plague me in this peaceful town. Signs of him are everywhere, even though I never visited here with him. All of his stories have left his ghost everywhere I look.

I can no longer ignore what my heart is begging for; I need to reach out to him, and hope he doesn’t betray me. Although I don’t need a savior anymore, I still need him. He wouldn’t, he loved me.

Yes, loved, as in past tense, as in no more. I live with the guilt daily that I caused that to happen. Do I even have the right to drag him into this mess? Do I have another choice? I can’t keep going like this; this baby is my everything, and without his help, it may not survive to live a full life. The risk is too great to leave it up to fate. I must make the choice myself, and pray that I don’t end up endangering us all.

I return to my feet with a slight groan, a chuckle escaping me at Rachel’s worried expression, as I waddle back and forth on the sand like a fat penguin. The image of me sitting on an egg has another snort leaving my lips, and causes Rachel’s thick red eyebrows to furrow. She sometimes reminds me of my sister’s best friend, Raegan. She’s fiercely protective and takes no shit from anyone. She’s also bat-shit crazy, and believes in ancient gods walking amongst us in disguise.

I miss my sister Mia, Raegan, and my grandmother, but I know that I can’t contact them. To do so would ensure that Diego finds me, and I can’t allow that to happen. I have to remain in the shadows, hidden and out of prying eyes, if I am to hold on to the meager freedom I now have.

“I’ll be right back, just taking a walk to stretch my legs.” I smile down at Rachel, as she gets the look of an overprotective mother hen. I know she’s worried about me and the baby. If I’m being honest, I am too.

I grab my burner phone, walk down the beach, and dial a number I never thought I would again. My heart races in my chest, and I almost disconnect the call on the first ring. My palm begins to sweat so much that I nearly drop the phone. Get it together, Issy; we are doing this for her.

“Hello?” The rough voice on the phone has my insides tightening, and sweat beading on my neck and chest. What if I’m doing the wrong thing? What if this puts him in danger? What if my grandmother finds me through him? “Hello, is someone there?”

Worst of all, what if he tells me to go to hell, and hangs up the phone? What will I do then? How will I help my baby?

Survive, we will survive, with or without him. My hand rests against my rounded stomach, the curve now present and impossible to hide on my petite frame. I have no choice but to survive and keep going; it’s no longer just about me anymore.

“Kai, please don’t hang up.” I hold my breath for his reaction, and my heart beats furiously inside my chest.

“Isabella?” The name is said with disbelief. “What the fuck! Isabella, where are you? I thought you were dead. The news has been reporting your death for weeks. They say you were kidnapped, and taken for ransom against your grandmother.”

“KAI! I don’t have much time. I can’t explain now, but you can’t tell anyone that I am alive. I am being hunted , Kai, and they will recapture and take me back.“ I brace myself against the stone wall surrounding the beach, my legs threatening to buckle at just the thought of what Diego Cabano would do, if he found me now. The violence and ruthlessness that he is capable of terrifies me. He loved you. No, that wasn’t love, that was ownership. He wanted to own and possess me, like a pretty item he could remove from a cupboard when he felt like looking at it, and then place me right back when he had had his fill.

“Isabella, holy shit. Are you safe, baby?”

His voice soothes me immediately, and his use of the word ‘baby’ reassures me that I have done the right thing, and pulled on the right thread. “Do you remember where you told me the seagulls like to play in the sand, and waves feel like magic at twilight?”

“Seagulls, waves? Isabella, just tell me where you are, so I can come to you to keep you safe, please, baby.”

“Come find me in the waves, Kai, and keep me a secret, or it will mean my death.” I disconnect the call, pull the SIM out, and snap it, throwing both it and the phone into the nearest garbage can. Then I continue down the beach, waiting for my prince charming to arrive, while hoping the beast doesn’t find me first.

“It’s okay, baby, we will be safe. I’ll make sure of it.” I stroke my belly and stare back at the tempestuous ocean. I’ve done the right thing, right?