Venomous King (Venom #2)

6. Issy

Chapter six

Issy

“Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices.” Alfred A. Montapert

H is light blue eyes meet mine, and I witness utter devastation in their depths. With one word, I’ve destroyed whatever he thought was happening here. He came to protect me as a white knight does a frail and fragile princess, the one I once was, but she’s gone now. In her place is this version, this woman who will do anything and everything to protect her daughter.

I release my hold on the cup, the sound of it hitting the sand drowned out by the low howling of the wind. I force my hands into fists to avoid reaching up and touching his face, not to soothe the lines that have appeared, and mar his forehead, or the dissatisfied tilt of his lush mouth. I no longer have that right. He’s beautiful, even now, with sadness filling his every cell. I have once again hurt him, and I wish there had been another option. I wish I had let him forget me and move on, but I can’t... she must come first now. She is my beginning and my end, my legacy and my future. With or without him, she will always have to be my priority. If I must hurt him to save her, then so be it.

He steps away from me, his hands rising to his thick, sunlight-filled blond hair as he attempts to work through my confession. I can almost see the war playing itself out inside of him. There is a part of him that wants to walk away from me. To turn his back on the woman who continuously hurts him, but the honorable part, the part I fell deeply in love with from the moment I met him, can’t bring himself to abandon me, not now in my condition. My white knight, always ready to sacrifice his own heart. It’s a pity he didn’t fall for someone worthy of him.

It’s a cruel trick of fate to have brought us together, over and over, so that I can hurt and destroy him, for I have no doubt that is what I am doing here. I am taking an honorable man, one who loved me and tried to help me overcome my issues, and making him an accomplice to my deceit.

“Tell me what they found with your... daughter,” his voice chokes off on the last word, and my heart tightens in my chest. My eyes soak up all his features. He looks haggard, as if the world’s weight is on his drooped shoulders. He’s lost weight; his clothes hang off his tall, athletic frame, and his hair is longer than I have ever seen it. Deep purple streaks reside underneath his eyes, providing me with further guilt of the damage my actions have caused. I wreck everything around me, whether I mean to or not. I wonder if that will always be my fate.

I almost beg him to walk away from me, to turn his back on me, and pretend he never heard from me. I’m being selfish once again, the old Issy Stratford reappearing, but I know my situation is no longer just about me. I must harden my heart, and consign myself to do what is best for my child. He is one of her best chances at surviving, unless I go to my grandmother for assistance. If I do that, though, she and I will be locked behind the Stratford gates for the rest of our lives, as Stella keeps us under lock and key, and Diego tries to get us back.

A shudder runs through my body, at the vision of Stella’s anger at being deceived all these months, and then realizing that Diego’s bloodline will be mixed with hers, and a future heir will be his offspring. No, she can never know. I don’t want that life for my child or myself anymore. Freedom is a siren song that I cannot abstain from.

“There is a congenital heart defect they detected during a fetal echocardiogram. The term they gave me was double-outlet right ventricle, and I was told she would require immediate surgery once she’s delivered.”

“ Fuck . How far along are you, and is she already in distress?“ The seriousness of his expression, and how he immediately steps into his pediatric cardiologist role, tries to pull a smile from my lips. He has always been an amazing doctor. He could have practiced medicine in any of the top hospitals worldwide, yet he decided to stay in a public hospital, to help those who don’t have insurance. His caring nature, and need to help everyone regardless of circumstance, have always spoken glowingly of his character.

He steps back towards me, and his hands cradle my baby bump with a gentleness that brings tears to my eyes. Everything I have agonized over in the last couple of weeks since the diagnosis has led me here, to an impossible choice; I need him to save my child. I need him to ensure her survival. “Hello, little one,” he whispers in a hushed tone to my stomach, and my daughter rewards him by kicking out.

“Thirty-five weeks, but they don’t believe she will make it to term, and want to induce and perform the surgery immediately. I’m so scared, Kai. I don’t want to lose my baby.” His body tenses entirely, and for a moment, I think he will walk away from me and leave me to handle mine and my daughter’s fate all alone. A moment of weakness and desperation overtakes me. “Please don’t abandon me, Kai. Don’t abandon us, you are my only hope for her survival.”

It pains me to utter those words out loud. The new me, the stronger version who survived a madman and a jungle filled with perils, demands I take them back and look for another solution, but I know I’m running out of time. It’s either Kai, or I will have to contact my grandmother.

His large hands rise and cradle my face, as his blue eyes stare into the depths of my soul with a fierce expression, one that calls to me, and causes my knees to tremble. I place my hands over his, as his warm, rugged scent of mandarin oranges, and rich, smokey cedar fills my senses.

Home. Safety. Love. All of those terms slide through my mind as I refuse to look away from his intense gaze. My eyes track the movement of his tongue, which peeks out to moisten his lower lip, before his teeth sink into the plump pink flesh.

Fuck. I miss kissing those lips, and his scent all over me. I miss being in his arms and surrounded by his warmth. I always felt secure and safe in the embrace of his arms, and my soul always felt at peace in his presence. Why did I ever leave him?

His jaw tightens, and a severe look graces his handsome face. The look gives me pause, and for a moment, I can’t breathe. He will deny me, he will walk away from me and leave me to my fate. I deserve no less for all the harm I have caused him. “I promise you, Isabella, nothing will happen to your daughter. Even if I have to rip out my own heart and give it to her, she will survive. Our daughter will survive.”

“Our daughter?” The two words slip from my lips in a hopeful whisper, even as shock causes me to tremble.

“From this moment forward, you will never be rid of me, little rose. You will belong to me, and so shall she. I promise to protect the both of you with my last breath. I love you, Isabella, I never stopped. I will never let you go now.”

His lips meet mine in a mere brushing of warm flesh against warm flesh. I can taste the coffee he must have had earlier, and his own unique flavor. A flavor I have both missed and longed for. I rise onto my toes and press my small body firmly against his. My daughter between us, our daughter between us, and I deepen the kiss.

A moan rips from my lips as his tongue intertwines with mine, and one of his hands grabs the nape of my neck, sliding his fingers through my shortened locks, and holds me firmly just where he wants me. His other hand trails down my back until he reaches the globe of my ass, and he squeezes tightly, causing butterflies to erupt in my stomach, and the desire for more intimacy to envelop me. I want him. I have always wanted him.

He pulls back from the kiss with a chuckle, and pecks my nose, cheek, and chin. “You are so beautiful, little rose. I’ve missed you, and now there is more of you to love.” He laughs as he squeezes my asscheek again, and I feel my face getting hot. Immediately, I’m self-conscious about my new body. I’ve been eating healthy and walking a lot, but still, I know my ass has definitely gotten bigger, amongst other things. I refuse to meet his gaze, as I try to step back and away from him.

His grip on my hair tightens, and he nips my lip with his teeth. “None of that shit, little rose. I can see those wheels turning in your head. You’re fucking perfect, Isabella. Sexy as fuck , and if we weren’t on a very public beach, I would make you ride my face, while I licked that pretty pussy into an orgasm that I have missed so fucking much.“ He pecks my lips, once, twice, and on the third attempt, I kiss him back, warmth filling me despite the chill in the air around us.

“Kai, Jesus,” I moan. My fingers trail across his shoulders and arms, as the muscles underneath ripple with my caress. I know shit is far from resolved, and there are so many obstacles we will still have to cross, one of the largest being keeping my existence a secret from my family, and Diego Cabano, but at this moment, I feel a glimmer of hope.

At the thought of Diego, a tinge of sadness tries to overtake me. I loved him too, and I still do, if I am being honest with myself, regardless of what he did to me and how far he crossed the line, in his obsession with attempting to keep me for himself. He will never get to meet his daughter, or understand the love and connection I already feel for her. I am robbing him of that, just as he tried to rob me of my freedom. We are both thieves, it seems.

Kai pulls away from me, releasing me from his embrace, and I almost complain that I don’t want to leave his arms. “We are going to need a place to live together, Isabella, and I need to see any of the reports and scans the doctors have provided you with.”

“What about your life back in New York?”

“What life? Once you left me, I stopped living. I was just slowly dying without you. There is nothing there for me if you’re not there. You are where my home is.”

I kiss him again, joy and pain mixing inside of me, into a kaleidoscope of emotions that threaten to drown me. “Wait ’til you meet my roommate. Hmm, actually, she might try to maim you a little; she’s very protective of me.” A snort escapes me at the understatement I just uttered. Fuck, I hope Rachel doesn’t try to stab him with one of her fancy Katana swords.

“Maim me? What the fuck have you gotten yourself into, Isabella?” We walk arm in arm towards the street access. I take a final glance back at the waves crashing onto the shore, and the seagulls playing in the sand. Magical. Maybe a little of that magic will rub off on us, and we will get our happily ever after with our daughter.

My mind warns me that things are never that simple, and tomorrow is never promised. Plus, I am still being hunted by a serpent, who won’t give up that easily on his prey, and release me from his grip. For now, though, I will enjoy a moment of peace and freedom, with one of the men my heart has always called out for.