Chapter 301: The Coils of the Viper

22 Years Ago (Flashback) 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Author’s POV

Violet adjusted her attire with intense care, in an utterly poised and steady manner that betrayed not a single hint of agitation, while Morgan donned his jacket, pulling it on with force and precision to organize his masculine appearance. Once they had fully recovered their complete attire and customary authority, they stepped together with synchronized, steady strides toward the massive iron gate and vacated the warehouse.

The absolute moment they emerged into the open air, wrapped in the crisp chill of the weather, Violet’s piercing gaze froze for a fraction of a second no more. Her eyes locked onto the faces of the guards, settling precisely upon one particular individual. It was "Snake" the mysterious and dangerous man she had fucked with pure, wild recklessness a year and a half ago at that chaotic nightclub, driven by the notorious truth-or-dare challenge she had braved in her past. Violet’s facial contours didn’t change in the slightest, nor did she blink; her gaze remained cold, ice-like, and intensely steady, as though she were seeing him for the absolute first time in her life, as though he were a mere passing nobody.

Snake, however, was the exact opposite in his reaction; his entire frame tensed, the muscles of his neck locking, his features instantly registering a violent astonishment and bewilderment at the sudden sight of her. He had never, in his worst nightmares or wildest imagination, anticipated seeing her standing here, this close to his lifelong companion and boss, Morgan.

Morgan advanced with steady, majestic strides toward his men, comfortably placing his broad palm onto the man’s shoulder as he spoke in a proud pitch saturated with esteem: "Violet... I want to introduce you to the closest person to me, my friend and right-hand man in all my affairs, Snake."

A faint, mysterious, and chilling smile carved Violet’s plump lips, and she spoke, directing her pupils like arrows straight into his eyes with a silent defiance and embedded intelligence: "I have indeed been honored to know you... and from quite close, Snake."

Snake swallowed hard with sheer difficulty, his throat going completely dry from the intense tension and the terror of her exposing his secret. He replied in a raspy voice that barely emerged from his throat: "The honor... the honor is entirely mine, Miss."

Violet coldly averted her gaze from him with a lethal, cruel detachment, turning her entire weight toward Morgan as she stated with urgency: "Shall we leave now? We are finished here."

Morgan gave a nod of understanding, opening the car door for her himself: "Yes, let’s go."

They boarded the interior of the luxurious black car, and the vehicle tore away with force, the roar of its engine piercing the stillness of the perimeter. In those swift moments, Violet slowly turned her head, casting a fleeting, decisive look through the dark tinted window that concealed her at Snake who stood there monitoring the departing silhouette in sheer shock.

Snake, the biological father of her firstborn son, Steve, who was currently sleeping in her sister’s house under the illusion that the sister was his mother and her husband was his father. This man would never in his entire life know that he possessed a son of his own blood. Instantly, without a single shred of hesitation, she anchored her gaze firmly straight ahead, discarding the past behind her back.

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Two Years Later

Morgan and Violet’s relationship persisted in this exact wild, powerful, and intense manner for two whole years a complex bond so uniquely forged that it could never be labeled in the human dictionary as a mere conventional or fleeting relationship. It was something entirely unique, profound, intensely mysterious, and secret; a bond built on raw possessiveness that no one could comprehend or process save for the two of them alone.

One placid autumn day, they were laying together atop the expansive mattress of the bed after a chaotic night saturated with passion, their bodies wrapped in intense warmth and tranquil silence. Morgan slowly trailed his rough, warm fingers along the length of her smooth arm, intently studying the contours of her relaxed face as he questioned in a gently reproachful pitch: "Are you never going to finally cease taking those goddamn birth control pills, Violet? A long time has passed."

She coldly brushed his large hand away from her arm with her customary detachment, stating in a decisive, strict tone that brooked no argument: "No, I will not do that right now."

Morgan let out a deep sigh, exhaling his warm breaths as he adjusted his head’s position against the cotton pillow, stating pleadingly: "But I truly want a child to unite us... I want a family."

She answered swiftly, without a single blink or display of empathy: "And I do not want children in my life. That is enough."

Morgan turned his massive frame completely toward her to face her directly, anchoring his eyes with intense focus into hers as he spoke with an overriding emotion and a genuine tone that rattled her core: "I am not requesting a child from just any woman in this world... I want a child from you specifically, Violet."

Violet took a silent, deep breath that filled her chest, stating with hesitation: "There is a fundamental, real problem regarding this matter."

He knitted his brows anxiously, inquiring with intent and apprehension: "And what is this problem that stands between us?"

She replied with her habitual, ice-cold detachment which she utilized as a protective shield: "I simply do not like children, and I do not possess a single shred of maternal instinct toward them."

Morgan smiled with a tenderness and grace that shattered her frozen exterior, leaning his face closer until his nose grazed hers as he spoke: "But I love them insanely, and I will personally take charge of absolutely everything, I promise you."

Violet traced her index finger in a playful, provocative manner over his bare, broad chest, stating with a conditional pitch: "Listen then. If I am to bear you a child based on this desire of yours, we must establish a strict agreement and conditions first."

Morgan instantly cut her off eagerly and hastily, grasping her small palm and squeezing it: "I agree to all your conditions without a single exception."

She arched her left brow in absolute disapproval and astonishment at his haste: "I haven’t even spoken my conditions or uttered them yet, so how can you agree with such blindness?"

He countered in a confident, laughing pitch saturated with adoration: "I agree to them completely without you even saying them or letting me hear them!"

She relaxed her body backward over the bed, stating with gravity: "Fine... the condition is that you are the one who will tend to it completely. You will bottle-feed it, you will change its diapers, and you will perform every single minuscule detail for it without disturbing me."

He anchored his passionate, promise-filled gaze onto her, stating with absolute insistence and cutting resolve: "I will do all of that and more. Just grant me the child."

She nodded her head with extreme slowness, shifting her body away from him to rise: "Fine... I will contemplate this matter seriously, and we shall see."

At that powerful second, Morgan lunged toward her insanely with an overriding passion he could not restrain. He grabbed her breast, squeezing it with a fierce, burning desire between his large fingers, then leaned his head over her neck, sinking his teeth into her smooth skin with a light, warm, and provocative bite that made her entire frame shudder, a strange numbness slithering through her. He spoke in a raspy, husky voice emerging from the depths of his throat: "You are truly going to drive me to the edge of absolute madness with this coldness of yours!"

Violet smiled with feminine defiance, biting her lower lip with her teeth as she stated with pride: "And I don’t believe deep down that you would ever object to this madness."

He slammed his hot lips against her neck once more, whispering as he pressed closer: "No... I will never object in my entire life."

--+--------------

Two whole months after that night, Violet was standing entirely alone in the bathroom of her house, her fingers trembling violently with tension as she pressed against a small plastic pregnancy test device. She awaited the appearance of the result with a pale face and racing breaths that tightened in her chest. The moment her eyes landed on the small screen, her pupils froze upon the two glaring, heavily prominent red lines; the result was positive... she was pregnant. Violet truly did not love children from the depths of her core; even Steve, her firstborn son, she had never treated as a real child of hers, nor had she granted him tenderness. She had never been a good or tender mother to him at any given second of his life, choosing instead to abandon him to her sister. Yet, because she genuinely and insanely loved Morgan even though her pride ensured she never once uttered the explicit words "I love you" to his face, and she never in her life believed she was a weak girl who could fall into the trap of adoration she had indeed fallen into his snares in a violent, sweeping manner she could neither control nor restrain.

For him alone, and for the sake of satisfying this overriding love that consumed her, she resolved to bear this child and keep it. Naturally, in contrast, her mother had absolutely no inkling of anything, nor that her daughter harbored a secret, ongoing romantic relationship with a dangerous man like Morgan.

Suddenly, and without warning, the sound of powerful, consecutive knocks rattled against the brown wood of the bathroom door, and her mother’s sharp voice echoed from the exterior: "Violet... come out swiftly from there! You are late for your university lecture, move it!"

Violet closed her eyes tightly to muster her customary composure and stability, stating in a raised voice: "Yes, Mother, I am coming out right now."

With a swift, professional motion, she slipped the pregnancy test device into her purse. She pulled the door open and stepped out, only to find her mother standing directly there, arms crossed over her chest, scrutinizing her facial features with deep suspicion as she stated: "What were you doing inside for all this time?"

Violet shrugged her shoulders with a lethal coldness, stating with sarcasm: "What do human beings usually do in the bathroom, Mother? I was washing my face."

The mother let out a heavy, solemn sigh, utterly helpless against her daughter’s dry attitude, stating: "Fine, go on then, and do not be late."

Violet turned toward the corridor leading to the living room, stating casually and spontaneously without thinking: "I’ll go see my father and bid him goodbye first."

The mother froze completely in her tracks, her limbs turning rigid. The color drained from her face, turning a ghostly gray as she stared at her daughter with a broken, sorrowful look saturated with intense agony. She spoke in a trembling, tearful voice: "Violet... what the fuck are you saying?"

Violet stopped dead in her tracks, looking back at her devastated mother. In that shocking, cruel second, the bitter reality crashed violently over her mind; she suddenly remembered that her beloved father had passed away and transitioned to the other world a whole year ago! Yet for some reason in the depths of her consciousness, and because his sudden absence was so agonizingly cruel and destructive to her psyche, her mind had accustomed itself to seeing his phantom every single morning sitting in that customary corner, to the point where her subconscious mind entirely rejected accepting his death in her core. Violet vacated the house instantly without uttering another word, fleeing the looks of pity and brokenness from her mother.

Moments later, as she walked along the pavement of the public street, her mobile phone vibrated forcefully with an incoming short text message from Morgan: (Hello, my love. Where are you right now?)

She tapped the glass screen with her fingers, her features relaxing into a faint smile as she wrote: (Hello, my love. I am on my way now, heading to the university.)

He swiftly replied within fractions of a second: (Alright, call me the instant you leave and finish your lecture so I can come to you.)

She answered concisely and briefly: (Alright, I will.)

Violet continued her calm stride along the pavement, lifting her hand to hail a passing taxi. But in those mere counted seconds, a familiar vehicle whose details she recognized exceptionally well swerved and screeched to a halt right before her in a sudden, violent manner, its tires grinding sharply against the asphalt it was the car of Thomas, the man obsessed with her.

The door burst open rapidly, and Thomas disembarked with a tensed frame and features flooded with resentment. He marched toward her with wide, rapid strides, standing directly before her to block her path, speaking in a strained pitch and with sharp eyes: "Violet... how are you? I haven’t seen you in a while."

She looked at him with extreme detachment and glaring repulsion, tightening her grip on the strap of her leather purse as she stated concisely: "I’m fine... and you? What the fuck do you want?"

He stepped a fraction closer, nearly flushing his body against hers, pure deranged passion and malice flaring in his eyes as he spoke with a twisted fondness: "I genuinely miss you, and I cannot possibly forget you."

She let out a heavy sigh of obvious annoyance and boredom, averting her face from him as she stated: "Thomas... have you not grown weary or tired of stalking me in this goddamn manner?"

Thomas clenched his jaw with agitation, speaking in a raised, frantic voice: "Never. I will never grow weary... and I cannot endure the sheer thought of you going with Morgan and being with him!"

She took a swift step to bypass him and terminate the cold conversation, stating decisively: "Thomas, get out of my goddamn way. I will be late for my university lectures."

She stepped away, attempting to walk and escape, but he turned with extreme agitation and pure madness, forcefully and maliciously yanking her by the strap of her handbag. Her body’s balance wavered due to the sudden pull, and the purse slipped from her hand, slamming violently and powerfully onto the ground. It burst open, scattering all her personal belongings across the asphalt of the pavement. She knelt in rage to gather her items, when suddenly, Thomas’s eyes landed on the white plastic pregnancy test device resting clearly among the scattered items.

His hand extended with rapid speed, snatching the test from the ground before she could; the moment his own eyes registered the two red lines confirming the pregnancy, the blood froze in his veins and his face turned deathly pale. His eyes widened in absolute, lethal, and horrifying shock, and he stared at her, speaking in a choked, raspy voice: "Are... are you actually pregnant?! From that fucking bastard?!"

Violet snapped in a towering rage, forcefully, resolutely, and with absolute coldness wrenching the test from his hand. She swiftly jammed the rest of her belongings into the purse, standing tall with a majestic posture as she stated sharply, her eyes blazing: "This personal matter is none of your goddamn business whatsoever. Get the fuck away from me!"

Treachery and vileness flared in Thomas’s eyes, and he ground his jaws together with malice and cruelty, stating in a bizarre pitch: "Fine... wait just one minute then."

He spun around rapidly, marching toward his parked car. He popped open the front glove compartment with speed, pulling out a small chemical glass vial containing a powerful sedating fluid. He swiftly and fluidly spilled several thick drops onto a white cotton handkerchief without catching the eye of Violet, who was preoccupied with zippering her purse and fixing her clothes with agitation.

He turned back toward her with sudden, quiet steps like a stalking beast. In the blink of an eye, a mere fraction of a second, he lunged his entire body against hers, pressing the wet handkerchief with crushing, ruthless force over her nose and mouth to seal off all air vents, while locking his other powerful arm around her arms and body to completely paralyze her movement and resistance.

Violet’s eyes widened in genuine terror and shock, and she attempted to resist with all the power she possessed, driving her body against his chest in a desperate bid for freedom, but the chemical sedating substance was swifter and more powerful than her body. Her limbs swiftly began to slacken, her eyelids grew heavy, and the light faded from her eyes, until she entirely lost consciousness, her frame going completely limp in his arms like an inert corpse without motion.

Thomas swiftly and fluidly hoisted her, placing her into the adjacent passenger seat of the car, then rounded the vehicle, jumping behind the steering wheel and locking the doors. He turned his frame, staring at the features of her pale, unconscious face with absolute, deranged control. He dragged his fingers with sick possessiveness over her cold cheek, muttering in a low, hissing, and terrifying voice: "Morgan will never fucking have you or this child... You are mine, Violet... Mine alone."