Page 40 of Venom's Sting
Venom puts his hand on my shoulder, “Sorry babe, I wanted to tell you earlier, but we needed to make sure our intel was correct and come up with a plan.”
I open my mouth to protest, but he stops me.
“I know I should have told you, but I didn’t wanna get your hopes up until we knew what we were gonna do. But your grandfather has forced our hands.”
Shock roils through my gut. “Holy shit. I’m sorry that I brought this kind of trouble down on your club.”
He doesn’t seem at all upset. Instead he tells me, “You brought down nothing, sweetheart. It’s all down to that old bastard. To tell the truth it’s better if we stand our ground and let him come to us, than have to take that farmhouse apart. Things could go sideways pretty damn quick, and we don’t want your mom near when bullets start flying.”
I glance away as I try to process his words. “Oh, that makes sense. I just hope no one from your club gets hurt. My grandfather can be real asshole when he wants to be, he might not have all his marbles, but he’s still crafty as a fox.”
For some reason that makes him laugh, “That old man will have to get up pretty early in the morning to catch me unawares.”
I stare up at him, my hands fisted in his shirt as I try to explain my grandfather to him. “That old man is cunning and sly. Don’t turn your back on him in a fight. In fact, don’t let him out of your sight full stop. He’ll sneak around and attack you from behind if he gets half a chance.”
His hands come up to wrap around my upper arms. “You’re really worried about me, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
I nod my head, lowering my eyes. “I just found the man of my dreams. I don’t want to lose him trying to get my mom back.”
His expression turns indulgent. “Don’t worry, you’re not gonna lose me.”
Someone calls his name, and he yells, “Be right there.”
Turning back to me, he says, “All the women are relocating. Evan has agreed to escort you to my mom’s place. You’ll be safe there while we deal with your grandfather. After he’s beenneutralized, we’ll go and get your mom from his place. We interrogated Edmund while you were sleeping. He says there’s an abandoned mill on the property, and they stash her there when they suspect someone is going to come looking for her.”
A distant memory jumps forward in my mind. I remember going there as kid. It had an old-fashioned water pump with a rusty metal handle. When we pumped the water, it came out dirty at first but ran clear after a few minutes. We always drank from it because it was best tasting water ever. I don’t tell Ven that I know where the old mill is because I plan to go there and rescue my mom while these men duke it out with my grandfather. Ven would never allow me to go there on my own but I’m not going to let anyone, or anything, get in the way of me rescuing my mother.
“Alright. That’s great news. You and your club are doing a bang-up job of figuring this whole thing out.”
“Yeah, it’s been a trip. I gotta go. You go straight to The Serpent’s Den, alright?”
He kisses me goodbye, and I watch him head back with his club brothers and gear up.
I don’t wait to hook up with Evan because I already know he’s standing guard in the basement. I just rush out, get into my car, and take off. I’m not quite stupid enough to go straight there and risk running right into my grandfather and his men. Instead I go gas up my vehicle, buy a cup of coffee and park up behind some trees so I can see if, and when my grandfather and his thugs branch off on the road that leads to the Savage Legion’s clubhouse.
I sip my coffee and wait. A few minutes later, I get a text from Ven.
Ven: Where are you? Evan can’t find you.
Me: I couldn’t find him, so I just took off.
Ven: You shouldn’t be traveling alone at a time like this.
Me: It doesn’t matter, because I’m almost there already.
Ven: Oh, okay. Drive safe and I’ll let you know when the conflict is over.
Me: Call me right away. I’m really worried something will happen to you. I want to know when you’re safe.
Ven: You got it, baby.
I slip the phone into my cross-body bag and take another sip of my coffee. I feel bad lying to Ven, I know what I’m doing might seem reckless, but I have to get my mom out. While I have every faith that Ven and his club brothers would defeat my grandfather, I couldn’t risk something happening and one of my grandfather’s men going back to hurt my mom before the Savage Legion rescued her.
Suddenly, I spy half a dozen rag-tag vehicles headed towards the clubhouse. Two of the vehicles I recognize as belonging to my grandfather. They are all filled with men. I can’t make out all of them, but I do see Big Joe, Dan, and Hal. With Edmund in lockup, that means there’s no one at the farm to keep me from getting my mother and getting the hell out of there. I wait untilthey are all the way out of view before pulling out and heading to the farm.
As I drive out of town, my mind begins thinking over where my mom is most likely to be, the farmhouse or the mill. My gut tells me that my grandfather would have locked her up in the mill, but I don’t feel like I can drive by the farmhouse without having a look there first, since I’m fairly certain there’s not going to be any of my grandfather’s men there. Some small part of my mind thinks he may have locked her in the basement or attic, chained her to something heavy so she can’t get away.
When I get to the fork in the road and have to choose to go the Grayson ranch or the mill, I take the left turn, to my grandfather’s farmhouse. My stomach is churning, and it’s almost making me nauseous enough to throw up. I have a really bad feeling about all this, but I don’t stop because this might be my only opportunity to find her.