Venomous King (Venom #2)

17. Issy

Chapter seventeen

Issy

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.”

Elvis Presley

“ I ’m your father, Julia. Just like your cousins, you have more than one daddy. You’re a lucky girl. You have two, and you have such a beautiful momma.” Diego’s words, and how he utters them with complete sincerity and calmness, have me choking on my breath, and cause me to break into a cough. I have to brace my hands on my knees to try to catch my breath. At least he didn’t deny that Kai was her father; who knows how Julia would react to those words?

“ Jesus , Isabella, are you alright?“ Kai leaves our daughter’s side and approaches me, grabbing my arm while I try to regain my breath. My eyes rise and meet his, and in their light blue depths, I see worry, but also a calmness that is solely Kai. My white knight always rescuing me.

My daughter races over, her little breaths leaving her in small pants that terrify me, as she wraps her small arms around my legs, almost taking me right off my feet with her enthusiasm, as she clutches herself to me. “Momma, he’s lying! I don’t have two daddies, do I?” Shit , how do I answer that question without either confusing her, enraging Diego, or hurting Kai? There are no right choices here, and someone will get hurt no matter what I do.

Before I can articulate a single word, Santiago rushes into the room, his face fierce, and large body strapped with weapons. “ Jefe (boss) , we are under attack. Somehow, Stella’s mercenaries have found us. We have to leave now, before we become trapped under enemy fire. The Reina de Hielo (ice queen) is coming!”

“Gammy!” Julia exclaims excitedly. I grab her and lift her into my arms, preventing her from trying to rush out of the room and into danger. “No, Julia, Gammy is not here, just her soldiers.” The momentary chaos gives me a temporary reprieve from answering my daughter’s question, and right now, I’ll take all the breaks I can get.

“That fuck-” Diego seems to catch himself as he’s about to spew more profanity, and of course, Julia, the little minx, immediately picks up on it. “Momma, he said a bad word.” She points her little finger in accusation at Diego. “He needs to put a dollar in the bad word jar, and lose his tablet privileges!”

A humorous chuckle escapes Santiago. “He’s going to fill that jar, and buy you a pony, within the week, preciosa peque?a (precious little one).” Santiago waggles his dark, bushy eyebrows at Julia’s excited face.

“ A pony , momma, he says I’m going to get a pony .“ A groan from Diego has a smirk breaking across my face. That will teach the asshole to control his temper, and Julia’s not likely to forget the pony bit, either. She’ll keep bringing it up until one shows up. I blame Stella and my sister, Mia, for that. They both spoil her rotten, while Kai and I do our best to try to keep her grounded, not that it’s working in the slightest.

“We don’t have time for this. Listen, little cherub, if you behave and do as you’re told, I’ll buy you a whole stable of ponies.” An excited woot leaves my daughter, who has no understanding of the danger we are all facing. “Diego...” My words are silenced, as the sound of gunfire can be heard from a distance.

“Time to go, Princesa .“ Diego approaches Julia and me, as I watch Santiago grab Kai’s arm and force him out the door, even as he struggles to release himself from the enforcer’s grip. “What are you doing, Diego? Where is Santiago taking Kai?” I lurch out of his grip, Julia being jostled in my arms and releasing a little, frightened whimper, as I try to go after Kai. “KAI!”

“Calm down, Issy. The pretty boy will be fine. We are all leaving here now.“ Diego tries once again to grab me and force me towards the door. “I don’t trust you, Diego. If something happens to Kai, I will never forgive you.”

“Daddy! Where is Daddy, momma?” Julia starts to cry, tears falling down her swollen face.

“Shit,” Diego drags his tattooed hands down his face, his eyes stormy, and his body tense, as the sound of gunfire keeps getting louder and closer.

“That’s... two... ponies ... and... and two dollars ,“ Julia sniffs, her wet, tear-stained face pressed against my neck. Diego huffs agitatedly, “Little extortionist, you get that from my father, your Abuelo (grandfather) .”

I step forward rapidly, trying to catch up with Santiago, and wherever he’s taking Kai. “I’m serious, Diego. If something happens to him, you will have dug my heart’s grave.” Diego’s warm palm presses against my lower back, as he guides me down a different hallway in what feels like the bowels of the house we are hiding in. I lose all sight of Kai, and my blood pressure rises, along with the fear that is drenching me from head to toe, and making my limbs feel heavy.

“Relax, Princesa . When, and if, I remove him permanently from your life, it won’t be because we are running from your grandmother. I want his eyes to be watching me reclaim you, as he takes his final breath.”

My exhausted body protests the cramped position I have been in for hours. Julia’s slight weight and limbs are tightly wrapped around me, preventing me from stretching my numb arms. “Here, let me take her for a bit,” Diego mutters quietly from my side, in the SUV we are traveling at rapid speeds in. My eyes keep the dark SUV in front of us firmly in my sight, which is carrying Kai. When I protested being separated from him, Diego gave me an irate look, and had one of his men punch Kai in the stomach, to teach me a lesson about where my concern would lead. The sounds of approaching vehicles were enough to force me to shut my mouth, and comply with his demand to get into this vehicle with him.

He reaches gently around me, and carefully lifts Julia’s exhausted body off of me, cradling her to his chest with a gentleness I would never have imagined him capable of. The large, rough-looking, tattooed, and scarred gangster cradling the tiny dark-haired child is a sight to behold, and I can almost feel my damn ovaries exploding. Fuck, is it possible he’s even sexier with a child in his arms?

Julia releases a little whimper in her sleep, before snuggling into his chest like the action was customary for them. My heart lurches painfully, watching him with her, and guilt once again tries to drown me. I prevented him from being in her life all these years, for fear of the monster he was to me. The trepidation that he would be the same with her, that he would use her against me. He will, don’t let this fool you. He’s a monster.

“Where are we going, Diego? This war between you and my grandmother is getting tedious and ridiculous. How many lives have been lost on both sides as you both try to destroy the other? When will this all end?”

“I didn’t start this war, Issy, as you well fucking know.” His green eyes grow wide as he stares down at Julia, to see if she is awake enough to hear him swear. The fucker really will be giving her a stable full of ponies shortly. “She forced you to break up with me back in Casbury. I just did what I deemed necessary to prevent you from leaving me. As for when it will end, when Stella is entombed under dirt and rubble.”

“You drugged and kidnapped me, Diego, stole me from my family, and hid me in a jungle for months. I don’t think any of that was reasonable or necessary!” I hiss at him. “You also got me pregnant on purpose, you asshole.”

He looks me dead in the eyes, a crooked grin crossing his handsome face, and pulling on the scar that isn’t a deformity as much as it’s an enticement. He leans forward until his lips are mere centimeters away from mine, and his warm breath lingers across my lips. “I would do it all again, and I plan to fill you with many more of my babies. I will keep coming for you, Issy. So go ahead and try running again, baby, but not even death can stop me.” His lips meet mine in a searing kiss that has my whole body instantly on fire, as if it was doused in gasoline, and he was the match.

My lips part, allowing him access to plunder and taste me. Our tongues tangle and war with each other as he consumes me. My blood heats like hot, thick lava, and my traitorous core contracts and feels far too empty. I need him with a desperation that makes me want to hurl myself off a cliff, to rid myself of these overwhelming feelings. This madness that he continuously provokes in me that will just lead to death.

I release a heated moan, which he swallows and groans in response, biting my lower lip and making me chase his tongue. A throat clearing from the front seat brings me back to reality, and breaks our connection, and I can feel my neck and face heat in embarrassment and shock. Jesus, how can I keep allowing myself to be entirely consumed by him?

Diego’s head arches towards my ear, his spicy citrus scent invading all my senses. I bite down on my tongue to keep from groaning, and humiliating myself further. I’m a weak woman where he’s considered. I always have been, and at this rate, it’s fair to surmise that I always will be. “When we get to my father’s compound, I am going to fuck that pretty pussy until you cream all over my fat cock, and beg me for forgiveness, Issy. Then I’m going to fill all your holes with my cum. Get ready to not be able to sit for days, baby. I owe you a spanking.”

Jesus, Diego, and his filthy mouth. I can feel my panties already dampening, and it makes me uncomfortable, in this car filled with his men and our daughter. Not to mention my injured fiancee being held prisoner in the car ahead of us, as we race to parts unknown.

Thoughts of Kai cause me to pull away from Diego, as guilt gives me a reality check, and I put some needed distance between our overheated bodies. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse his features hardening in irritation, and it amuses me that his daughter makes the same petulant look when she doesn’t get her way.

“Tell me about her illness. Is there anything that can be done?” He quietly asks as his fingers trail over her back soothingly. A part of me doesn’t want to answer his question. Julia is my daughter, the true love of my life. I don’t think I ever knew what love really was, until I first heard her heart beating on a monitor in the doctor’s office. I have never been more terrified than when I gave birth to her, and the doctors and Kai rushed off with her, to perform her first heart surgery, without me even getting the chance to hold her. Not even when I was trapped in that jungle, and Diego killed Paulo in front of me. Nothing compared to the thought that I could lose her.

Diego could use Julia’s illness to control me, to control us. Neither Kai nor I will ever put Julia’s health at risk, and because of that, it’s the leash and collar that Diego needs, to wrap around our throats and force us to heel.

A deep, annoyed-sounding sigh leaves his lips. “I’m never going to hurt her, Issy. She’s a part of me and you, she’s precious. No matter how angry I am with you, and my broken doll, I am fucking furious, I won’t use her as a way to punish you.” His words cause me to expel the breath I didn’t even know I was holding, and a tear slides down my cheek that Diego’s finger catches, before he brings it to his mouth and licks it clean. I don’t know why I believe his words, but I do. I also note that he didn’t mention using Kai against me, but that is another battle for another time, I guess. My only hope is to force him to spare Kai, if I don’t attempt to leave him again.

“It’s a form of congenital heart disease called ‘ double outlet right ventricle’, or ‘DORV.’ It’s where both of the large arteries in the heart connect to one ventricle instead of two.“ I release a huge breath. Even talking about it causes anxiety to rise within me. “She also has VSD, which means there is a hole in the tissue wall that usually separates the right and left ventricles. Her heart passes oxygen-rich blood through the left ventricle to the aorta and pulmonary artery, but it’s never enough, and her poor little heart has to work so hard, making her so very ill.”

His hold on Julia tightens, and she groans in her sleep. “She’s had two surgeries already on her heart to repair the hole, and to reconnect the aorta to the left ventricle, but she will need more as she grows older. We didn’t realize she was having hearing issues until she wasn’t hitting her milestones. We were so worried about her heart that we missed it.”

“Can her hearing be repaired?” His fingers reach out to touch the side of her head, where her little pink hearing aid can be seen behind her ear.

“When she’s a little older, they can attempt a reconstructive surgery on her inner ear, but she’s still too young, and with all her other heart complications, another surgery is very risky. She’s done very well with the hearing aids and, as you have witnessed, picked up sign language quickly.”

A quirk appears on his full lips, causing the scar on his face to lift, as he gazes down at her. “What did she sign to you back there?”

I bite the inside of my cheek, unsure whether I should answer him, but finally give in as he keeps intently staring at me. “Bad man.”

A loud chuckle rumbles through the back seat, and Julia shifts sleepily in the cradle of his arms. “She called me a ‘bad man’, that was very brave of her.”

“That’s Stella and my sister’s influence, I’m afraid. They have taught her to fear nothing and no one. She’s a little warrior now.” A chuckle escapes me at the memory of Julia taking on her twin cousins, and Diego. I’m going to have my hands full with her as she gets older. The world has no idea what is about to hit it with the combination of her lineage and genes.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think she got that strength directly from her mother.” My gaze rises to meet his, and the heat in his olive green eyes causes a forest fire of instantaneous heat to again sizzle between us.

“Perdón por interrumpirte, jefe. Estamos aquí. (I’m sorry to interrupt you, boss. We are here.)” The gruff voice from the front seat breaks the thickening silence between us, and I pry my eyes away from Diego’s, to look out the window at all the tall evergreen trees surrounding a half-hidden, steel and concrete structure.

Fuck, we’ve made it to our new prison. Here’s hoping it won’t also be our grave.