Roses and Vipers

Truth Like a Blade

The air in the clubhouse was suffocating, thick with smoke and tension. Raven's pulse hammered in her ears, but her eyes never wavered from the man standing at the center of it all — the monster from her nightmares.

Jaxon's father.

He looked at her with a predator's ease, his lips twisting into a smirk that made her skin crawl. "Well, well. So this is the infamous Rase girl." His voice gravel, soaked in arrogance. "Didn't think we'd ever get this lucky."

Raven's throat went dry, but the fury inside her blazed hotter, sharper. Her jaw clenched so tight her teeth ached.

Jaxon shifted beside him, green eyes darting between his father and Raven. His stomach churned, unease prickling at the edges of his chest. Something was wrong.

And then his father said it.

"You know, girl... I remember your mother. Pretty little thing. She begged before the end." He chuckled, dark and casual, as though speaking about a broken-down bike. "Didn't do her much good, though. I put her in the ground myself."

The words slammed into Raven like bullets. She surged forward against the ropes, her scream ripping through the room, raw and ragged. "YOU BASTARD!"

Her body shook violently, her face wet with tears she refused to let fall quietly. Rage tore through the room, burning so hot she thought it might consume her.

Jaxon went still. The sound of her pain through him, but it was the words that froze his blood. He turned to his father, his heart clawing at his chest. "You... you killed her?"

His father looked at him then, eyes hard, unflinching. "Of course I did. She was the Roses' queen. Taking her out was a message- and it worked. We crippled them that day."

The casual cruelty, the pride dripping from every word, made Jaxon's stomach twist in disgust.

But his father wasn't finished. He clapped a heavy hand onto Jaxon's shoulder, grinning wide. "And now look at you, boy. You went and found her daughter for us. The hidden heir of the Black Roses, delivered right into our hands. "Good job, son."

The words landed like poison.

Jaxon's chest tightened, breath catching in his throat. His eyes flicked to Raven — her face pale, eyes blazing with hatred, every inch of her trembling with grief and rage. And she was looking at him.

Like he was no different than his father. Like he had betrayed her.

Jaxon's throat closed. His father's hand felt like a shackle digging into his skin. And for the first time in his life, Jaxon wasn't proud to be his father's son.