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He slaps her again before getting right in her face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, but what does it matter? You won’t be around long enough to see.”
Oakley laughs. “Because you’re gonna kill me, right? Don’t you get it? My father might want me dead for his own personal gain, but I’m still his little girl, still the baby he raised on his own. You kill me, and he will always see you as the man who took his baby girl’s life. You will never stand at his side. You’ve backed yourself into a corner, and he will never have respect for you.”
Santos clenches his jaw before backing up, putting space between them. “If only you knew what fun we have in store for you,” he rumbles, the chilling sound almost enough to send shivers down my spine. “Maybe then you’d be smart enough to watch your mouth.”
With that, he starts making his way out of the room before stopping, something catching his eye. His stare snaps down to the ground, his gaze narrowed as he finds Venom moving across the dungeon. “Well, well,” he says, bending low and scooping her into his hands as my heart lurches in my chest, undeniable fear blasting through my body. “What on earth are you doing here?”
Venom circles his hand as Santos looks back and meets my eye, knowing damn well what she means to me. Every last member of Empire knows about my fucking snakes, but Venom . . . fuck.
I pull against my chains, knowing damn well what he intends to do with her, watching the sick smirk that spreads across his face, the vile, wicked thoughts circling his head. “I swear to God, Santos. You fucking hurt her and I’ll end you.”
But all he does is smile, knowing he’s got me right where he wants me. And with Venom wrapped around his hand, he steps out of the underground dungeon, his voice booming down the hallway beyond. “The bitch is conscious,” he yells as my body starts to shake. “Let’s get this fucking show on the road.”
Chapter 18
OAKLEY
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell Easton, watching the fire blasting through his dark eyes, terrified of what that sick bastard could be doing to Venom. “If anything, they’ll use her against you for leverage.”
“For what? They don’t need me for anything. There’s no value in keeping me or Venom alive,” he grunts, thrashing against the chains, desperate to get free, which only sends him into waves of agony from his broken ribs.
“They could use her to get you to lure Zade to them. There’s a million things they could use her for, and if anything, Santos is just going to use her to bait you, but it doesn’t matter,” I tell him, trying to keep him calm, “because you’re going to get her back, and when you do, you will slit his throat and take every last ounce of power he thinks he possesses and finally put this shit to rest. You hear me, Easton? We can do this. We just need to get out of these fucking chains.”
Easton blows his cheeks out and nods before hanging his head, needing a moment to remember who the fuck he is.
“You need to have faith,” I whisper into the darkened room, my arms and shoulders aching from being suspended from these chains. “If something happened to her, you would feel it. You’d know, and besides, you and I both know the boys are coming for us. Zade isn’t going to let me slip through his fingers this close to the finish line, but you can be sure he’ll never let you try to take me back to your place again.”
“Really?” Easton grunts. “You’ve got jokes right now?”
“Either you laugh at my stupid jokes or I’m going to start crying, and I promise you, it’s not the cute damsel in distress cry, this is going to be the ugly, snotty cry that’ll have you rethinking every decision you’ve ever made.”
“Okay,” he says, hopefully realizing just how on edge I really am. “Your jokes are hilarious, and as always, your timing is impeccable.”
“I know,” I whisper, taking slow, deep breaths as my gaze lowers down his strong body, hating the cuts and bruises that mar his perfect skin. “How are you feeling?”
“Nothing I haven’t handled before.”
A small smile pulls at the corner of my lips, knowing damn well he’s avoiding answering the question properly. “That’s a shitty response and you know it.”
“Pretty,” he murmurs, his gaze softening. “You look at me like I’m your fucking hero. I’m not about to admit that I’m in so much pain I feel like screaming like a little bitch. I need you to have faith in me, Oakley. I need you to believe that I can pull off the impossible and get us out of here, and if you’re too busy worrying about my injuries and how they’re going to hold me back, then you’re going to doubt me, and that’s going to kill me quicker than any of these bastards could.”
