Page 151 of Craving Venom

“Because I was fucking multiple girls.”

“Excuse me?”

“You ever answer a phone mid-thrust, Carrie?”

Laughter ripples through the courtroom.

My blood boils.

Carrie, to her credit, doesn’t react.

The judge, however, does.

“Order.” The gavel slams. “Mr. Valehart, let’s keep the testimony appropriate.”

“Just answering the question, Your Honor.”

“What’s the connection between you going back to the VonKraus estate and Ella?”

I can hear the way Zane smiles before he even speaks.

“I hate when she’s pissed at me.”

My teeth grind as my feet pound harder against the treadmill, my pulse roaring louder than the rhythmic thud of my steps.

“So, to lighten her up, I wanted to steal my father’s car.”

“So, you admit to stealing?”

Zane laughs, the kind of sound that makes me want to reach through the speakers and strangle him.

“Did I say that?”

“Christopher was on a business trip. How exactly were you planning to steal his car when he wasn’t even in town?”

“My father has a backup car at the VonKraus estate. I was going to take that one out.”

“So let me get this straight.” I hear a brief pause followed by the quiet shuffle of papers. “You were planning to steal and then drive drunk in your father’s car… just to amuse a girl?”

“And to piss off my father.”

“If that was your motive, why didn’t you take the car?”

“Because the lights were still on. I figured Mom was awake, and I didn’t want to get caught stealing the car.”

Of course.

He wasn’t worried about getting caught for the crime; he was just worried about getting scolded.

“So what did you do?”

“I slept in the gazebo near the fountain.”

I nearly trip on the treadmill.

“You… slept?”

“Yeah.”

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