Venomous Darling: A Novella

Never forget where you came from, Venom.

Venom. That's what they call her in the underground world of blood and contracts. Born Saph Calais, she's the heir to The Syndicate, a multigenerational kill-for-hire empire known for its flawless assassins. Her reputation precedes her, she's been trained since birth to never flinch, never hesitate, never love.

But her father has grown paranoid, twisted by decades of power and control. His latest contract isn't political, or personal-it's symbolic. He wants to kill Rowan Vale, a rising tech entrepreneur whose algorithms threaten to unmask the black-market web her family thrives in. It's a message to the world: No one is untouchable.

Only Saph doesn't expect Rowan to be... so human. So infuriatingly curious. So fearless in the face of death. And worse, so kind. She shadows him to learn his habits, to plan the perfect kill, but the closer she gets, the harder it is to pull away. He sees through her armor-not to the killer, but to the girl underneath it.

And when the night of the hit finally arrives, she does the unthinkable.

Can she ever escape the twisted fate written for her in a poisonous scrawl?

Or will saving him mean losing herself completely?