Venomous King (Venom #2)

25. Kai

Chapter twenty-five

Kai

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

W here the hell is everyone? I put my bag down as I go searching for my girls. The house feels too still, empty, and ominous, as if it were just a shell, lacking life. The usual laughter and sunshine that my daughter and Isabella radiate are dimmed, and a shiver races down my spine with unease.

Maybe I am just tired from a day spent in the operating room, and I’m reading too much into it. I am sure everything is fine, and the girls are just out shopping, or at a playdate. I raise my wrist and read the time on my watch. It’s almost seven, it’s nearly time for Julia’s bath. Isabella wouldn’t have kept her out so late. I pull my phone from my pocket and call her, but it goes to voicemail. I try a text next, hoping that she sees it, and puts me at ease that they are just running late. Maybe they are somewhere with Diego, and she forgot to mention it.

I move through the lonely, empty house until I reach the kitchen and grab a beer from the fridge, undoing my tie, and stripping off my charcoal suit jacket as I go. I’m just about to take a sip when the sound of the front door slamming open, and heavy boots rushing through our house, makes me pause. What the fuck was that?

“ Princesa! Julia! “ Diego’s voice is loud, and almost shrill, as he yells for the girls. His boots rapidly race up the stairs, and I can hear door after door slamming open upstairs as he searches for them. I place the beer on the counter and quickly return to the entrance, my heart pounding in my chest. What the fuck is going on here? Why is he in such a panic?

“Diego! What the fuck is happening? Why are you tearing the house apart looking for the girls?” I yell up the stairs, and he finally appears at the top. When I get my first glance at him, my mouth drops open. He’s covered in blood and dirt, and looks like he just walked out of an attack. “What happened to you?”

He races down the stairs, his green eyes wide with panic, and his usually golden skin as pale as our walls, and I realize that he has a gun clenched in his fist. “Where are the girls? They were heading to the park earlier, but they should have been home by now?” The information about the girls heading to the park is news to me. I left for the hospital at the crack of dawn, and I haven’t heard from Isabella since her good morning text.

“They weren’t here when I got home. The house is empty, and I tried calling Isabella, but it went straight to voicemail. Are you hurt? Is any of that your blood?” The doctor in me wants to assess him for injuries immediately, but the other part of me, the one that always feared that he would bring further trouble to our door, wants to throttle him within an inch of his life.

“Never mind the fucking blood, none of that matters. We have to find the girls. I was ambushed today by one of the other cartel families. I still don’t know who, but I barely made it out. We need to get the girls to safety. We are exposed here, and I don’t have enough men left here to protect us.”

Jesus fuck, this is a nightmare. This asshole being a target for rival gangs puts our girls in direct danger. I knew we should have never allowed him to return with us. “What have you done, asshole?! If something has happened to Isabella and Julia because of your fucking cartel, I will end you.” I lunge forward and fist his ragged black shirt, pulling him off the last step and forcing him to stumble. He doesn’t even try to fight back or release himself from my hold. In his eyes, I witness nothing but complete terror.

“I have men posted with her, but none of them are answering their phones. Something is not right here, and I have a bad fucking feeling in the pit of my stomach. So can you fucking release me, so I can find our girls? You can try to beat me fucking later, cabrón (asshole) , we don’t have time for this shit right now.“ He pushes away my grip, and shoulder-checks me as he passes me, heading for the kitchen, his phone already at his ear. That same cold sensation dashes through my body, and my breath becomes trapped in my throat with the fear that is now choking me. Could something have happened to Isabella and Julia while they were at the park? Could the same people that ambushed Diego have done the same to the girls?

Fuck! We were just getting back to some semblance of normal, as normal as having to share the love of your life with a deranged gangster can be. Julia was finally settling back into her routine. As much as it pains me to admit, Isabella was happier than I have ever seen her, with all four of us becoming some bizarre family. I had my doubts about this working out in the long run. Diego was too quick to agree to come with us, and a part of me always believed he planned to take them away again, or possibly murder me in my sleep, so he could have them all to himself.

“ JEFE! (Boss) “ A frantic voice yells from our front door, and I turn in that direction to see one of Diego’s lieutenants storming through our entranceway, like a man on a mission. He doesn’t even acknowledge me, heading determinedly for Diego. “You need to hear what the man we captured had to say!”

Man they captured? No, fuck. I take off down the hall to the kitchen, fast on his tail, and almost slam into him as he abruptly stops in front of Diego. “Tell me what the hell is going on? How much danger are the girls in, asshole?”

Diego’s menacing eyes meet mine before he blatantly disregards my questions, and gives his man all his attention. “Speak.”

His man takes a step back, putting himself further out of Diego’s immediate reach, and the thought that it was an intelligent move flows through my mind. Diego is dangerous on a good day; right now, the fucker looks utterly unhinged, and ready to go on a killing spree. “Sanchez. We managed to get it out of him before he succumbed to his injuries. He was part of the Sanchez cartel, and boss, please don’t kill the messenger, but it gets fucking worse. They have your girl and hija (daughter) .”

A frightening roar, that sounds like an injured animal, leaves Diego’s lips. He picks up one of our leather counter stools and throws it at the wall, before lunging for his man, and my stupid ass decides to place myself between them. If he kills his own man right now in a fit of rage, we won’t know any more about what has happened to the girls. I can’t allow the psychopath to lose control of himself. I swing out when he attempts to push me out of his way, slamming my fist into his jaw, and forcing his head to slam backward at an odd angle. The impact, and the sound of my knuckles crunching on his skull, brings me a moment of soothing joy, so I do it immediately again. The pain and terror I’m feeling, at the thought of my girls being once again taken overrides my good senses, and the need to make this asshole pay is the only thing at the forefront of my mind.

Two thick arms wrap around me from behind, and yank until I’m forced to back up a couple of steps, and Diego is out of my immediate reach. “FUCK!” I shout as I shake out my throbbing hand. My glare meets Diego’s furious eyes; he’s ready and willing to retaliate. Maybe I should have attempted to kill this fucker after all. Perhaps I would have died in the attempt, but fuck knows, I would have taken him with me to the underworld, and then my girls would be free of him, and all the danger that surrounds him.

“You try that shit again, and I’ll put a fucking bullet between your eyes, no matter how much my Princesa loves you.“ His hand rises, and he pulls the gun from his chest holster and points it straight out at me. “I should kill you now, so that when I regain my girls, I have one less enemy to deal with.”

“Do it, fucker!” I step forward, ready to take him on again. I’m fucking sick of this asshole always pointing weapons and threatening me with death. “Get it over with, I’m right here, Diego!” I spread my arms wide in front of him, taunting him. “It’s what you’ve always wanted, right? You want me out of the picture, regardless of whether it will break Isabella and Julia’s hearts? Go ahead then, pull the fucking trigger and end this shit, once and for all.”

I see the indecision in his eyes, and the tightening of his jaw. He wants to murder me, but some part of him that still thinks rationally must realize that to do so would mean he would lose Isabella. “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” He fires the gun into our wood floor, and the sound explodes in the air around us. “One day, I will murder you, pretty boy , but right now, I need to find our girls.”

“ Jefe (Boss) , we don’t have enough men, not even with the reinforcements that your father sent, and it will take too long to bring in more from Colombia. We need an army if we are going to go after the Sanchezes.”

We both turn to look at his man, and he takes a hasty step backward, sensing our aggression. The adrenaline is still running through our veins, as the scent of danger and malice still permeates the air around us. In our need to pummel and kill each other, I had forgotten his presence in the room, until he pried me away from Diego. Fuck, this toxic asshole is tainting me a little more every day, and turning me into the same violent monster he is. I use the palms of my hands to press against my eyes, in an attempt to stem the vicious headache that has exploded in my skull, causing my head to feel like it will split open.

“An army?” Diego repeats the word, as if his brain is trying desperately to make sense of it.

A thought appears in my mind, and I grimace, already knowing how he will react. If it’s the only way to save my girls, I’ll crawl over broken fucking glass to beg her for assistance. I know she hates Diego and me, but she loves Isabella and Julia with all her heart. She will move heaven and earth to save them. She might also have the two of us murdered in the process, but that is a risk, and consequence, that I am more than willing to face, if it means my girls are safe.

“Diego, we need Stella. She has an army, and she will do whatever is necessary to save the girls.”

“Fuck, anyone but her,” he groans and rubs at his jaw, the spot already red and swelling from my attack. Indecision wars on his menacing features, but after a few seconds, the look of unwanted acceptance at my words can be observed, and I’m finally able to take a deep breath.

“Is your pride more important than Isabella and Julia’s safety?” I fold my arms across my chest to prevent myself from reaching out, and thrashing him, if he doesn’t answer my question correctly.

“Fuck my pride, do you really believe ANYTHING could be more important than getting them back?“ His dark eyebrow rises, and his face becomes a mask of pure rage. The scar on the side of his face draws up grotesquely, giving him an even more sinister appearance. The days of this fucker intimidating me are over. I’m no longer afraid of him; I only care about Julia and Isabella.

“Then let’s get her on the phone, Diego. We need to save our girls.”