Venomous King (Venom #2)

19. Issy

Chapter nineteen

Issy

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”

Henry David Thoreau

“ H e helped me escape, Diego. It was Santiago that helped me escape the jungle, and leave you behind. Please... please don’t hurt Kai anymore, please for me.” The minute the words leave my lips, I know that I have just signed Santiago’s death warrant, and possibly my own.

Jesus fuck , what have I done? He would have killed Kai if I didn’t, so I had no choice. I saw that deranged look in his eyes, saw that he wants to end his life. He thinks if he kills Kai, somehow it will mean that I am only his, that I will stop loving Kai, but nothing could be further from the truth. I was in love with Kai before I ever met Diego, and I will still be in love with him, no matter what happens between us. You love Diego too, though.

A shadow casts over Diego’s face, and for a moment, it’s as if he were made of stone instead of flesh and bone. Fuck, fuck, fuck , this is not good. Rage and violence, I expect, but it’s when he’s calm and collected that he’s at his most dangerous. “Diego...” I don’t even know what to say. All my words become lodged in my throat as fear takes hold of me, and makes me its prisoner. The voice in my head that tells me to run, gets louder until it overtakes all other sounds in the room, except for the sound of my thunderous heart.

“Why would he do that, Issy? The man has been completely loyal to my family since I was a child, and you want me to believe he helped you escape me?” His tone implies that I’m lying, and he doesn’t believe me. If it wasn’t for that gun still clutched in his tight fist, I would tell him to fuck himself and walk away. I can’t though, because the psychopath will continue shooting at Kai if I do. God save me from deranged assholes with God complexes.

I feel defiance and irritation rise within me, regardless of how dangerous my current predicament is. “Believe me or don’t, Diego. It won’t change the truth. Santiago was the one who arranged for me to leave the jungle with one of his cousins. He arranged safe passage for me out of Brazil, and even gave me a new identity to hide from you. As for his reasons for doing so, you’ll have to question him.”

“You have your answer, you deranged fucker, so leave Isabella alone. Let us all go.” Ah, shit , why does Kai keep bringing Diego’s wrathful attention back on himself? Does he not understand that Diego will murder him without the slightest fear of retribution, and sleep peacefully at night? I swear I’m surrounded by lunatics with death wishes.

Diego waves the gun at Kai, and my whole body tenses, waiting for the sound of the next bullet to blast through the air and murder Kai. “You shut your fucking worthless mouth, cunt. I’ll deal with you right after I deal with Santiago.” Diego marches angrily from the room without another glance in my direction, and cold fear races down my spine. Shit, he’s going to murder Santiago. I have to stop him somehow.

Why? Santiago hates us. The thought runs rampant through my mind. I almost hesitate, the innate need to be a coward rising within me, but I push it away. It doesn’t mean he deserves to die. No matter his reasons, he gave us a way out, he helped us escape.

“Shit, Kai, we have to stop him. He’s going to kill Santiago.” I jump to my feet and race towards the entrance of the room, the sound of Diego angrily shouting Santiago’s name throughout the compound forcing my legs to move quicker. “Issy, wait! Don’t rush after that monster,” Kai yells from behind me, but I don’t even consider listening. I will not have Santiago’s death on my hands.

I round the corner in pursuit of Diego, my mind attempting to devise a way to talk him down from the rage he’s in, with no solution making itself readily apparent, when my eyes take in the terrifying scene before me. Santiago’s large frame is pressed against a wall by Diego’s body. Diego’s forearm is digging into Santiago’s throat, cutting off his air, and his other hand holds a gun pressed firmly at his temple. “Tell me why I shouldn’t put a bullet in your brain, traidor (betrayer)?”

“Let... me... go.” Santiago’s aged face is turning an alarming shade of burgundy, fuck, I have to do something. Here goes nothing . I take a running leap toward the two men and throw myself onto Diego’s back, wrapping both my arms around his strong neck, and legs firmly around his trim waist, and yanking him as hard as I can, away from Santiago. “Stop this, Diego! You... don’t want to... murder him. He’s... family.” My breath comes in ragged pants, as Diego releases his hold on Santiago, and tries his best to dislodge my orangutan hold. “Stop hurting him!”

“Isabella! Release him, baby, before he hurts you!” Kai jumps into the fray and tries to get me off of Diego, but I tighten my grip, refusing to heed his request or be extricated.

“Release... me, Princesa , I don’t... want to hurt you!“ Diego growls, releasing his grip on the gun that goes skating across the floor, and using both his hands to pull at my arms around his neck, while Kai grabs at my legs.

“Too late, fucker! All you do is hurt me!” I scream, losing myself completely to my overwhelming rage at this whole fucked up situation, and how, once again, I’m the victim and a captive. At the absurdity of loving two men who are complete opposites of each other, and knowing that I can never let either of them go. At the fact that all I want to do is raise my daughter and survive, and these men are making my life a living hell.

The Stratford rage fills me, and refuses to allow me to back down. I slam my head backward and nail Kai in the chest, and he releases a pained grunt. Satisfaction fills me at the sound, but it’s not enough to get the fury within me to recede. I want more, I want bloodshed for all the times I have ended up crying because of one of them. All the times I have cowered, and given up a piece of myself to one of these men, who don’t see me as their equal, and instead see me as something fragile and easy to control. I lunge my head forward and bite Diego’s earlobe until he screams, and the tinge of blood hits my tastebuds.

“Isabella! Get a hold of yourself, let him go!” With a final huff, and a menacing glare behind me at Kai, I release my hold on Diego, and we all tip forward, limbs entangled, and end up on top of each other. Diego’s body breaks my fall, as Kai stumbles and crashes on top of both of us with his heavy weight. FUCK, that hurt!

“Jesus fuck, you both weigh as much as elephants. Get the fuck off me!” Diego grunts with my elbow in his face.

“WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN HERE?” Manuel bellows from the doorway. My eyes almost pop from my skull with shock. As I glance in that direction, I see Julia grinning back at us and waving her little hand. “They are playing Twister, Abuelo (grandfather) . I love Twister!“ She races across the room and throws herself on top of Kai, and each of us releases a groan as more weight is added to the pile.

Just when I thought this situation couldn’t get worse or more humiliating, here’s fate to show me I’m fucking wrong.

“Now that Julia has gone off with her nurse and Carlos to ride her pony, can one of you please tell me what the hell was happening in here? We could hear the commotion across the lawn.” Manuel turns his furious green eyes in Diego’s direction. “And you, I told you not to fire any more weapons inside this compound while my nieta (granddaughter) is here! Were you even listening, Diego? Did I not make myself clear?”

Diego points his finger across the room to where Santiago sits, winded, in a chair, his face swelling from a punch Diego laid on him immediately after Julia left the room. “He betrayed us, betrayed me. He’s the reason that Issy was able to escape me. He fucking helped her.”

“I did it for you, hijo (son) . You were entranced by her, blinded by your desire for her. You weren’t seeing reason anymore, all you cared about was her. She was destroying you, destroying everything your father has spent years building, and turning you into La serpiente (the serpent) .“ Santiago runs his shaking fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair. “You killed one of your men, Diego. Made others watch as you fucked her like an animal. How many more would have died because of her?”

Diego paces back and forth, the furious rage that still holds him making his body tremble with energy. My eyes keep watching his tightened fists, and wondering when he will lash out again. Thank fuck Manuel made him hand over the gun. He’s just moments away from unleashing that outrage and violence on everyone in this room, and right now, I fear for my and Kai’s safety. I doubt even Manuel will be able to pull him back from that abyss he’s on the precipice of falling into.

“I am not your son, old man. You have no son, and you had no right to take what was mine from me. You cost me years without Issy and my daughter. You watched me spend years fighting a relentless war with her grandmother, while the whole time you knew she was alive. Did you also know she was carrying my child before you cast her out?”

“He couldn’t have,” I say, and Santiago replies simultaneously, “Yes. I knew. It was why she had to leave then, or you would never be free of her.” The bottom of my stomach drops out from under me, and my head sways with the sound of bees buzzing in my ears. That can’t be right. How could Santiago have known I was pregnant? I didn’t even know until I went to the clinic in Oregon.

My eyes meet Santiago’s pitiful brown eyes, and in them, I see regret staring back at me. “We couldn’t be a hundred percent sure, but my mother was a midwife back in Columbia, and she told me Isabella was embarazada (pregnant) . I couldn’t risk you falling deeper into her trap. You were already so lost, Diego. You started a war with her grandmother, to keep a girl who didn’t want to be with you. You would have led us all to our deaths.”

“ENOUGH! This is all in the past, hijo (son) , and while it hurts to hear of this betrayal, Santiago is not wrong. You were unreasonable. I warned you that this war with Stella would destroy us all, but you refused to listen.“ Manuel meets Diego’s furious eyes, and grabs onto his shoulder firmly. “Let this go, boy. He was trying to protect you and our family.”

“No. I will have my retribution. I will have his death at my hands for costing me years without Issy.” He pulls away from his father’s hold and marches to where Santiago sits. His hand strikes out and grabs a fistful of his hair, yanking his head up, until Santiago has no choice but to meet his glare. “Your death will not cleanse your sins. I will ensure I wipe your name from the history of our cartel, a befitting punishment for betraying me.”

“I will not allow it, Diego! I am still the head of this family, and this cartel. You will not take the life of a man who has been by my side faithfully longer than you have been breathing, especially when what he did was to save you from yourself. Ask for something else, son, to assuage your wrath, but not his death.”

Silence fills the air, and my fear crawls higher and higher until it feels like it might strangle me. Diego is so stubborn and pigheaded he will never let this go, and if he takes action against Santiago without his father’s permission, I fear that it will drive a wedge between the two of them. I can hear Kai shifting beside me, and I wonder what is going through his head, watching all these cartel men threaten violence and death. I wonder if he regrets taking my call, and returning for me all those years ago. If he hadn’t, he would be oblivious to this mess, living a normal life in Manhattan, practicing medicine. He might even have been married to a nice, ordinary girl by now. Instead, he’s a prisoner of a cartel boss, in a compound in the mountains in Washington state, and being threatened with guns and death daily, never mind how many bullets he’s already taken from Diego alone.

“He cost me almost five years with Issy. I would have never known about my daughter, if Carter hadn’t tipped me off about their wedding.” Diego nods towards Kai and me. His mention of Carter’s name causes me a moment of confusion, and then clarity hits me like a ton of bricks. That son of a bitch was the one to tell him where we were, probably out of some misguided bro-love. If my sister hasn’t already ripped off his balls by now, when I get my hands on him, I am going to make the fucker a eunuch.

“For every year that I was separated from Issy, Santiago will lose a finger, and because Issy conspired with him, she will be the one to remove them, or I will end her lover’s life, and Santiago’s.”

Shock makes my mouth go slack at his announcement. Of all the things I thought would come out of Diego’s mouth, I never would have imagined it would be that. I want to refuse his demand, but the words won’t leave my lips. It could be worse, he could demand that you kill Santiago. He could start a war with his own father over you.

“Don’t do this, Diego. Please don’t make her complicit in your crimes,” Kai pleads from my side, but Diego doesn’t even acknowledge his words. His eyes are solely focused on mine, and my reaction. Rage. Pain. Desperation. I see all of those things, and so much more in his gaze. I glimpse the years of suffering, while I lived happily with Kai and our daughter. I see the scars of the wounds inflicted on his body, in his war with my grandmother. I witness all the death and destruction he has caused in my name.

“It is a fair punishment, I will allow it. I am sorry, my old friend, but it is better than him taking your life,” Manuel pronounces, and I’m positive I am living in a nightmare that I can’t wake from. How could this all be happening? How could Manuel approve of this insanity?

Manuel moves towards me, a large blade in his hand. “You will do this, girl. You are the cause of all this misery. You will do it so we can finally have some peace, and my son can put this behind him.” Is he right? If I do this unspeakable act, will this finally end? Will Diego finally be able to let go of the past, with this act of bloodshed? My fingers tremble as I reach for the blade’s dark handle, and clutch it as Manuel releases it. All the while, Diego watches me with that cold mask he likes to wear, hiding his feelings from me.

The scent of acrid sweat, blood, misery, and hope are all intertwined in the air around us. This is who I am now, who I was always meant to be. Fate is a fickle bitch. She heard my silent pleas over the years to make me stronger, worthy of the Stratford name, and has answered yet again with a sick test of violence. A Stratford would not hesitate to mete out justice on an enemy. My grandmother and sister wouldn’t hold back against any of these monsters. They would meet them with their heads held high, and so will I.

“Isabella,” Kai utters quietly in a pleading tone, his eyes boring into mine as if by his will alone, things could be different, and we could be free of this mess. The truth is we will never be free, not now, not ever. I must make a stand here, if I am ever to have a chance at living a life as anything other than a prisoner.

“Shhh, Kai. It will be alright, it has to be me. He will never let this go if I don’t do this, and we can’t continue this way. I have to do this for Julia and... also for me.”

I stand from the chair and move towards Santiago’s defeated form. Diego grabs my elbow before I can reach him, and pulls me into his embrace. His lips meet mine in a frenzied kiss that sears through me, lighting a fire, and laying waste to all my senses. He pulls back, his expression grave. “If you do this, I will attempt to forgive you, Princesa . I still will never let you go, but there will be peace between us.”

My eyes close, as a tear slides from underneath my lashes, and Diego’s lips kiss it away. “You are my queen, Isabella Stratford, the mother of my child, and the future of this cartel, and I will always be your venomous king, ready to destroy the world, and place its ashes at your feet.”

His words should fill me with dread, after all, what woman craves the destruction of others by one of the men she loves? What woman would ever want the life that he is bestowing on me, as the queen of a cartel? Yet, as I stare into his eyes, I know now that I can never leave him. Even if he were to release me in this instance, I don’t think my heart would allow me to turn from him and walk away. The truth is, he’s already seeped beneath my skin like a vicious virus, corrupting and working its way through my blood. I have never been able to resist the madness of him. Toxic or not, he is mine just like I am his. What does that mean for my future, and that of my daughter? What does that mean for Kai? I can’t let him go, either.

I lean into him, inhaling his rich, spicy scent and allowing it to fill me with the strength and determination to carry this out. “I will stop fighting you and attempting to escape, Diego. I will even consent to stay at your side and be your queen, if you accept Kai as your equal, and you both share me. No more attempts to hurt or murder him, no more using him against me, or vice versa.” My fingers trail across his scarred cheek, and he inhales deeply, closing his eyes at my touch. “You will both be mine, my lovers, and Julia’s fathers. I can’t and won’t let either of you go.”

At the center of all our chaos, it comes down to this one answer. Will he choose me, or his need for control? His green eyes open, and he stares into the depths of my soul. I hope he witnesses the validity of my words. I will never choose between them, and I am tired of fighting this losing battle with him. I never truly wanted to leave him. If he hadn’t behaved like an unhinged psychopath, I might have remained in that jungle with him forever. I’m glad I didn’t, despite everything that has happened.

Leaving him, and dealing with all the hardships that came after, has strengthened me. Before, it was always as if an overwhelming weight, a millstone, was tied around my neck, pressing down on me, and constricting and dulling the world around me. I felt helpless, lost, and useless, but now that has all changed. Leaving Diego has allowed me to shed the skin of that weak girl who never truly knew, or trusted herself, and I have been reborn as this woman who will battle anyone who tries to hurt her family.

“Seal your words in blood, Princesa, and you will have my agreement to your demands.”

“Isabella, you will not do this! I will not fucking share you. You’re my wife, the mother of my child.” Kai’s furious glare meets my eyes over Diego’s shoulder. He makes a move towards me, and Manuel places himself in his path.

“You will lose me, Kai. Is that what you want? Do you want to walk away from me, from Julia? Don’t you understand? This is the only way forward for all of us?”

I don’t wait to hear his response, and I won’t have my decision altered. I clutch the blade tighter in my grip, moving away from Diego, and heading to where Santiago awaits his fate. “I am sorry, Santiago, but I have to protect my family. Place your hand on the table, close your eyes, and look away.”

“I will meet my fate with my eyes wide open, Isabella Stratford. In this moment, I realize I may have been wrong about you, and you might just be what that boy needs after all,” he replies in a hushed voice, his dark brown eyes meeting mine, and steeling himself for the grim task ahead.

Fuck you, fate, here you go, you miserable bitch. Here is your sacrifice paid in blood. I bear down and slice through the first finger with the sharp blade, as Manuel grasps Santiago and holds him firmly in the chair, as his screams fill the room. The smell of iron, sweat, and pain permeates the space, but it doesn’t dissuade me from my grim task.

This is just another layer of skin to shed until I am once again reborn. Perhaps I was always destined to be the queen of serpents.