Rina Kent’s Sweet Venom is the second installment in the Vipers series, which features several members of a clandestine organization known as Vencor. This secret society was established and is controlled by four elite, founding families of the affluent town Graystone Ridge and its university: the Callahans, Davenports, Armstrongs, and Osborns. As detailed in the novel, these families have monopolized key sectors such as pharmaceuticals, energy, and real estate for generations, allowing them to operate with impunity above the law. Vencor maintains a strict hierarchy, with members advancing through the ranks of Trial, Member, and Senior, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Founder. Jude Callahan, as an heir and a senior member of Vencor, embodies the extreme privilege and lack of accountability that define his world.

Violet Winters is the foster sister of Dahlia Thorne, the protagonist of the first novel, Beautiful Venom. Dahlia’s story revolves around the mystery of who kidnapped Violet and put her in a coma. She begins investigating the Vencor organization and Graystone University’s hockey team, to which many younger Vencor members belong. There, she meets Kane Davenport, with whom she begins a complex, violent sexual relationship.