Page 146 of Lovely Venom

After Mariella reluctantly agrees, we all decide to go together.

Outside the house, a guard escorts us down the long driveway in a black SUV. At the end, the gates are still locked, and Ares waits for us on the other side.

When we exit the vehicle, his gaze falls on Mariella, and a current of tension passes through him as he observes her swollen eyes.

I think it’s the closest thing to real emotion I’ve ever seen in a man who otherwise seems impervious to it.

“Why are you here?” Mariella asks.

“I want you to know I have all my men out searching,” he tells her, his voice absent of the usual sarcasm. “We’re doing everything we can to help.”

“For what purpose?” She stares through him. “You can’t tell me you’ve developed a sudden affinity for philanthropy.”

“Not suddenly, no,” he admits. “But occasionally I do the right thing.”

For the briefest of seconds, his eyes flick to me, and I swallow when Mariella notices.

She glances between us, undoubtedly recalling the night Ares brought me into her life.

When I arrived in Seattle, his men delivered me straight to her. My injuries were bad, and I needed medical attention, but Ares couldn’t risk exposing either of us. He assured me she would take care of me and never tell a soul, and he was right.

Mariella didn’t question the flimsy backstory about me being found on the street, and she didn’t pry into what happened. She was the first person in this city I could trust, and as she continued to check in on me, we slowly became friends.

She brought me into her world and introduced me to the people I now consider my family. But as she replays those events, I can see her questioning everything.

It’s what I’ve been afraid of, but right now, my heart hurts too much to care about my own fate when we don’t know Cristian’s.

Eventually, she must reach the same conclusion because she returns her attention to Ares.

He offers me a silent apology in the form of a shrug, letting me know his slip was intentional. I can’t find the energy to be angry with him, so instead, I ask the most relevant question.

“Have your men found anything?”

“Not yet. But we’re not giving up.”

A long stretch of silence follows before Mariella finally breaks it.

“Was that all you came to say?”

“Do you need anything?” His voice softens a fraction.

“No,” she answers stiffly.

He nods. “If you do, you know how to reach me.”

With that, we all part ways, but as we ride back to the house, I feel like I should be doing more.

“Can we help with the search?” I ask Mariella.

“The estate is locked down,” she says. “It’s protocol until we know who was responsible. This is the last thing Cristian asked of us.”

“What was?”

“That we’d keep you safe when he wasn’t around.”

A fresh wave of pain washes over me as I consider that his last request to his family was to protect me.

He was still thinking of me.