Page 4 of Venomous King
“Hello?” The rough voice on the phone has my insides tightening, and sweat beading on my neck and chest. What if I’m doing the wrong thing? What if this puts him in danger? What if my grandmother finds me through him? “Hello, is someone there?”
Worst of all, what if he tells me to go to hell, and hangs up the phone? What will I do then? How will I help my baby?
Survive, we will survive, with or without him.My hand rests against my rounded stomach, the curve now present and impossible to hide on my petite frame. I have no choice but to survive and keep going; it’s no longer just about me anymore.
“Kai, please don’t hang up.” I hold my breath for his reaction, and my heart beats furiously inside my chest.
“Isabella?” The name is said with disbelief. “What the fuck! Isabella, where are you? I thought you were dead. The newshas been reporting your death for weeks. They say you were kidnapped, and taken for ransom against your grandmother.”
“KAI! I don’t have much time. I can’t explain now, but you can’t tell anyone that I am alive. I am beinghunted, Kai, and they will recapture and take me back.“ I brace myself against the stone wall surrounding the beach, my legs threatening to buckle at just the thought of what Diego Cabano would do, if he found me now. The violence and ruthlessness that he is capable of terrifies me.He loved you.No, that wasn’t love, that was ownership. He wanted to own and possess me, like a pretty item he could remove from a cupboard when he felt like looking at it, and then place me right back when he had had his fill.
“Isabella, holy shit. Are you safe, baby?”
His voice soothes me immediately, and his use of the word‘baby’reassures me that I have done the right thing, and pulled on the right thread. “Do you remember where you told me the seagulls like to play in the sand, and waves feel like magic at twilight?”
“Seagulls, waves? Isabella, just tell me where you are, so I can come to you to keep you safe, please, baby.”
“Come find me in the waves, Kai, and keep me a secret, or it will mean my death.” I disconnect the call, pull the SIM out, and snap it, throwing both it and the phone into the nearest garbage can. Then I continue down the beach, waiting for my prince charming to arrive, while hoping the beast doesn’t find me first.
“It’s okay, baby, we will be safe. I’ll make sure of it.” I stroke my belly and stare back at the tempestuous ocean. I’ve done the right thing, right?
Chapter four
Kai
“Even before we met and long after we’re both gone,my heart lives inside of yours. I’m forever and ever in love with you.”
Crystal Woods, Write like no one is reading 2
Four and a half years ago
The phone rings, and I tear my eyes away from the screen, which is in a vicious cycle of playing images and news stories I’ve saved, about the one woman who I have never been able to get off my mind. I almost don’t answer it. It’s so hard to look away from her smiling, beautiful, radiant face on my television. It’s the only place where I can still see her now, that and in my dreams. Dreams that have become nightmares, now that I know someone took her and snuffed out her life.
My Isabella, the one woman I would have given up everything for. The one woman who brought life to my heart and soul, while in equal measures destroying it. I should have never let her go. I should have fought harder for her. Instead, I abandoned her, just like everyone else in her life, and made her feel less than, when the truth was, she was my everything.I was never worthy of her.
How could Stella Stratford have allowed this to happen? Someone took my Isabella and made her last days terrifying, in order to punish her power-hungry tyrant of a grandmother. The intent was to punish Stella, but my beautiful, soft Isabella paid the price.
Rage fills every part of me, lighting up dangerous parts of my mind, ones hell-bent on retribution. She took something from me. She took the most important thing from my world, and now... now it’s gone forever, and I have nothing. Not even a desire to continue on living without my girl. Although I am not usually prone to bouts of violence, I crave it now against Stella Stratford, and all those who harmed Isabella.
I groan as I get off the sofa and reach for my phone. My head swims a bit, causing my vision to blur, and I stumble with all the alcohol that I have consumed in the last couple of days, to help dull my senses, and drown out the heart-wrenching sorrow that is all-encompassing.
My hand drags through my messy, knotted, chin-length hair that is in complete disarray. I raise my arm up towards my nose and take a sniff,fuck, when was the last time I showered?I’ve been sitting here on this sofa, unable to pry myself away, terrified that if I do, I will never see her again, not even her images. She will become only a ghost that haunts me, along with all the mistakes I have made. I should have never walked away from her. Fuck, I have no one else to blame but myself for my broken heart. I could have kept her safe.
“Hello?” I almost drop the phone in my clumsiness to grab it before it stops ringing. I squint to see the numbers, but don’t recognize the caller. Fuck, if this is some telemarketer or scam, they just picked the wrong person to call. I need an outlet for my rage, and they are about to be my unwilling victim. “Hello, is someone there?”
“Kai, please don’t hang up.” A soft voice utters from the other side, and I stumble forward, crashing into the wall as my knees shake and give out on me, bringing me down to the floor.What. The. Fuck.
Is my mind playing games with me? Have I finally fucking lost it? How much have I had to drink? It can’t be her, there’s no way... she’s dead. Her sister confirmed it to me just a week ago. I pull the phone back away from my ear and stare at it, to ensure the call is indeed connected, and I’m not imagining this whole scenario in a drunken state.
“Isabella?” I utter her name with pain and disbelief. My heart races in my chest, and my throat threatens to constrict with the syllables. “What the fuck! Isabella, where are you? I thought youwere dead. The news has been reporting your death for weeks. They say you were kidnapped, and taken for ransom against your grandmother.”
This has to be some fucked up scam, there is no way that my girl is on the other side of this line. Even as I think it, my heart pounds furiously in my chest, and nausea races up the back of my throat.Please be real. Please be alive.
“KAI! I don’t have much time. I can’t explain now, but you can’t tell anyone that I am alive. I am beinghunted, Kai, and they will recapture and take me back.“ Her voice trembles with fear and desperation, and has me longing to wrap her tightly in my arms, and promise her that I will keep her safe. That I will always protect her.
Hunted?She says she’s being hunted, and they are trying to recapture her. I drag myself to my feet and start pacing back and forth. I have to get to her, I have to protect her. I can’t let anything happen to her. “Isabella,holy shit. Are you safe, baby?”
She pauses for a moment, the background noise coming through, and it’s the only indication that I know she’s still on the line with me. That and her soft breath, a sound I have never been more relieved to hear in my life. What the fuck am I hearing in the background? Is that water? I’m almost positive that it’s the sound of waves.