Page 93 of Sweet Venom

And then it hit me.

Maybe, in a way, he was giving me the romance he wanted me to write. Maybe all of this—everything—was his way of saying he loved me. It has to be, right?

But this was happening so fast, although it felt like it had been building for an eternity. My thoughts spun in circles. I needed to know more and my mind wouldn’t settle.

I needed to talk to someone who could help me understand. Someone who could help me understand him.

That person was my Aunt Kadra. She knew Azariel better than anyone—better than he knew himself. She was the most important figure in his life, the one who, alongside Uncle Vitali, had shaped the world he’d grown into after he escaped whatever hell raised him first.

I admired my Aunt Kadra more than words could say. She would be the one to help me understand everything. I couldn’t just walk up to Azariel and tell him I’d found his letters. That didn’t feel right.

I glanced at my phone, feeling overwhelmed with emotions. I opened our chat and typed quickly:

Me: Hi, aunty. I’m sorry for texting you this late. If you can, please message me when you see this. I need you. Love, P.

The message was sent, and before I could find my next breath, my phone vibrated with an incoming video call. Aunt Kadra. She never hesitated to answer no matter the hour. No matter how busy. She was always there for the people she cared about.

When the call connected, there she was as stunning as ever. She wore black satin pajamas, her straight black hair pulled into a high ponytail without a single strand out of place. She wasn’t wearing any makeup—not that she needed it. She was still asbeautiful as she had been when she was younger. In fact, I think she’s even more beautiful now.

My Uncle Vitali was as obsessed with her as my dad was with my mom, and rightfully so.

Her golden eyes seemed to see right through me. For a moment, I felt like she already knew why I was calling. “Poe,” she said, her voice cool and calm but full of affection. She was one of the most feared and respected crime bosses in the country. The first female to run her own crime family and still found in her to be soft and gentle. She amazed me. All the women in my family do. “What’s wrong, darling girl?”

“Darling girl…” Memories of every time she had called me that since I was a little girl flashed through my mind. Like our nighttime tea parties, where I would dress up like her and enjoy catching her up on what was going on in school. Or the times my brothers and I would beg to go over to the Solonik mansion for aWizard of Ozmovie night. When Azariel hurt my heart, I was too embarrassed to face him, so I stayed behind whenever Dad or my brothers visited Aunt Kadra. That went on for years, until he went off to college. Still, Aunt Kadra always found a way to make me feel included. She called almost every day or visited me at our house so we could have our girls’ dates, like Mom used to call them.

Thinking about it, maybe Aunt Kadra knew more than she let on back then.

I hesitated, biting my lip while I looked at my aunt through a screen. “I’m sorry for bothering you this late,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. The pressure in my chest won’t go away. “I don’t even know where to start.”

She smiled softly, and suddenly, I wasn’t nervous anymore. That’s that mother’s touch that always makes everything feel like it’s not the end of the world. “How about you start by telling me what’s keeping you up?”

I stayed silent for a second trying to find the right words.

“Poe?”

“I don’t know what Azariel has told you about… us.” I hesitated again.

“About you? Many things.” Her smile was knowing, the kind that made me feel like she’d always known. Now I’m curious about what Azariel has told his mom about me.

“All this time I… I thought he hated me,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. “I thought he couldn’t stand the sight of me, and that’s why he wanted nothing to do with me. But now he’s pulled me into his world, and everything I thought I knew doesn’t make sense anymore. He’s… He’s…”

“He’s what?” Aunt Kadra pressed.

“He’s turned my world upside down, and I don’t know what to do next. I don’t understand any of this.”

She was silent for a moment, sipping from her tea, studying me. Then, she set the cup down gently and spoke, her voice softening slightly. “You only really need to know one thing, Poe,” she said, her eyes soft yet unwavering.

“And what’s that?”

“He’s not like the rest,” she said with conviction and love. So much love. “Azariel’s always been… complex. Nothing has ever been black and white with him.” Aunt Kadra looked sad. “He’s never known how to be vulnerable—not in the way you expect. He’s like his father and I in that way. Life taught him pain before love, chaos before peace. That’s why he hides his heart in the shadows. He’s afraid of it, afraid of love, afraid it’ll hurt him. But you, Poe... You’ve always been his exception.”

Me?My heart skipped a beat. I was his exception. Why? What did he see in me? I’m just… well… me.

Her words hit me like a wave and every emotion I feel towards her son good and bad hit me all at once. “I found letters,” I whispered. “He wrote me dozens of letters. And theyall had one thing in common.” One thing that made my heart feel like it wanted out of my chest.

“What’s that?” she asked, her gaze steady.

“They were confessions of love,” I said, barely above a whisper, almost afraid.

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