The Viper’s Lair
THE VIPER’S LAIR
Vera
Ihated the sting of fluorescent lights, their harsh glare filling a windowless room. The white walls pressed in, sterile and suffocating, a silent reminder of captivity. My gaze flicked to the correctional officer by the door. My muscles tensed and my stomach twisted into a hard, sour knot.
I stared at the woman who sat across from me at the table.
Saira narrowed her eyes and snarled. Her once flawless face was pale like sour milk. Silver roots emerged from the crown of her head, marring her once-perfect snow-blonde hair, now dry like straw. She looked nothing like her former self on the magazine covers.
I smiled at the viper. “Hello, bitch.”
“Why, if it isn’t my ex-husband’s whore,” Saira hissed. “How’s life? Has Alistair given you any special gifts yet? Herpes? Gonorrhea? HPV? He loves whores, and you won’t be the last.”
I laughed at her bullshit, not hiding my contempt. “Your ex-husband has never cheated on me. He loves me. By the way, do you like your new home?”
“I may be in this rathole, but I still have eyes and ears outside these walls, and they’re watching you,” Saira threatened, not giving a damn about the officer in the room.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I answered indifferently, crossing my legs.
I flicked a piece of lint from my sweater, taking in Saira’s new shade of green. “Chic, but not quite Tiffany. Guess you’ll have to settle.”
She leaned closer toward me. “Oh, you like trinkets from Tiffany? Did Alistair buy your necklace? Did he take you to Manhattan? It’s the same necklace he bought every woman before you. I wonder who he’s fucking now. Maybe one of my girls.”
I clapped my hands slowly. “Well done. You are a good liar. This necklace is a new collection piece, and it’s one of a kind, like no other, just like Alistair. He’s an incredible lover and a loyal one. He wasn’t like that with you, was he?”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. “How’s Julian? I enjoyed fucking him before breaking him.”
“He’s not ruined, Saira. He’s not sitting behind bars. You are. Remember that.”
“I loved Julian.” She beat her heart with her fist. “That snake, Sapphire, took everything away from me. And you? You took everything else. My money, my businesses, my son, his father, and my freedom.”
“You’ve got it wrong, Saira.”
“What?” Her eyes blinked in disbelief.
“You’re the snake.” I smiled, leaning in enough for my voice to cut low. “Fuck with my family, and I’ll fuck you up so bad you wish you were never born. Never underestimate me.”
“You should watch your back. I will destroy you and make your life hell.”
I shook my head and laughed. “You already tried, Saira, and you failed.”
“What do you want?” She sneered, clasping her hands.
“I want answers.” I tapped the table three times.
“If it’s about Julian, you’ve already got your answers. Check the court report.”
“It’s not about Julian. It’s about me.”
We locked eyes, the silence stretching until it cut like glass. At last, Saira folded her arms. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do,” I countered. “You orchestrated every attack on me, didn’t you?”
“Why would I do that?”
I slammed my fist on the table. The crack echoed. “Cut the bullshit. I’ll say it again. How long, Saira?”
She slid her chair forward, a twisted smirk tugging at her lips.
“You conniving viper.” The words hissed out of me.
Her glare sharpened, cold and venomous. “Some people are born to serve. When Julian signed his contract with me years ago, he committed to serving me.”
“It wasn’t meant to last a lifetime.”
“Let me finish, you piece of shit,” she snapped before smoothing her tone again. “I know everything about the people I invest in. And everything means family.”
“Is that all people are to you? Commodities? Pawns?”
“It’s business, Vera. You should understand that.” Her ghost-gray eyes locked on mine. “And you should be more careful about the lovers you choose.”
My stomach turned to acid. Anxiety flooded down my spine, sparking through every nerve until my arms and legs felt like lead. The name tasted bitter on my tongue. “Holly James.”
Saira’s mouth twisted into a cruel smile. “Well done.” Hatred burned in her eyes, pure and unfiltered.
I remembered the first time I met Holly. A work event, nothing remarkable, until she appeared with two flutes of Prosecco, her smile practiced, disarming.
“Have you read the latest edition of the Lester Harbor Daily?” she had asked, pointing toward a folded paper on the coffee table. “Alistair Scott. Hottest bachelor in the country.”
“Do you know him?” I had asked, curious but unsuspecting.
“I know enough through friends,” Holly replied, eyes gleaming.
Now, the memory turned rancid in my gut.
That meeting hadn’t been chance. It had been calculated, part of Saira’s bloodlust to dismantle my brother and me.
The realization left me nauseous under the glare of the bright prison lights.
I glanced at the correctional officer by the door, searching for a flicker of human sympathy.
Her expression remained stone, as if carved for a museum.
“Why, Saira?” My voice cracked against the weight of betrayal. “Why did you do this to me?”
“Simple. I gave Julian one rule: don’t fall in love.
He broke it. Fell for your friend.” Her lips curved in a cold echo of a smile.
“So I planted eyes on his family. Every weakness exposed. Imagine my delight when I learned you, his sister, were sleeping with my ex-husband. Vengeance was inevitable. I destroy my enemies.”
My stomach clenched, bile rising. “You belong in hell,” I whispered, clutching myself as though I could hold the pieces of me together.
The bitch let out a shrill laugh. “Join me in hell.”
“Been there. Now, I’m back,” I replied. “You used Holly to butcher me.”
“What about what you did to me?” Saira’s voice dropped, eyes burning. “I loved Alistair before Julian. But did he ever love me back? No. Instead, he loved a whore like you. I asked myself why. When I couldn’t stomach the answer, I sent Holly to clear the trash from the gene pool.”
“You thought using her would destroy me? Guess you’ll have to try harder,” I shot back.
“Holly needed money to get her sister out of a stinking jail. I offered her a solution in exchange for a favor. You, your filthy brother, and that slut of his deserve the very worst.” Saira snarled.
“You claim to love my brother and Alistair, but that’s not love, honey. It’s a narcissistic obsession,” I bit back. “Burn in hell.”
Saira’s smile was razor-thin. “How does it feel to be barren? To have your ovaries ripped out?”
My jaw tightened. “I didn’t have my ovaries removed.”
“What?” Saira shot to her feet, fury twisting her face. “Holly was supposed to get rid of them.”
The officer barked at her to sit down, one hand resting on the baton at her belt.
Watching the viper slither back to her seat, I smiled. “Holly blocked my fallopian tubes, but I’ve had surgery to reverse the procedure and fix most of the damage. I might still have children. There is hope.”
Saira’s hands began to clench. “She was meant to remove your ovaries, not block them.”
“You hired a desperate woman with a conscience, sweetheart,” I remarked. “You play God, but you’re the devil. You promise the world, but you carve people into becoming your puppets. Jessie, Raphael, and Holly, just to name a few. You failed with Julian.”
“Do you remember the story of Snow White?” I asked.
Saira only arched a brow, her silence heavier than words.
“Holly was the huntsman who failed to finish the queen’s filthy work. And the queen?” I laughed softly. “She’s no queen at all. Just a wicked witch. Just like you.”
“Snow White isn’t a whore,” she spat.
“Neither am I. Here’s another thing: I’m adopting Damian.”
“Oh, hell, no.” She stood up again as she raised her voice, attracting the officer’s attention.
“Back off and calm down,” the officer ordered.
Saira narrowed her eyes, cheeks hollow and taut as she sank back into her chair.
“You’ve lost custody of your son,” I told her. “Alistair and I are building a family, and do you know what Damian calls me most of the time now? Mom.”
Her face flushed crimson. “I’m not done with you.”
“You’ve already lost.”
“Not quite.” Her lips curled into a malevolent smile. “There’s a broken animal on the loose.”
Ice slid down my spine.
“Oh my God.” My pulse stumbled as the realization struck.
Alistair. He was next on Saira’s list. I needed to get to him. Fast. Leave the soulless corpse where she belonged to rot.