Chapter 10 – Isabella
T wo sleepless nights spent waiting, and here I was sipping more coffee. My nerves were fried, but the excitement coursing through me couldn’t be squashed.
He was going to come tonight. I could feel it.
It was time to prove once and for all that I wasn’t imagining the male intruder who walked in the shadows like some being of fiction. Once I did that, proved he was a flesh and blood male, I’d force myself to see the creep for what he really was: A danger. Having a stalker haunt me wasn’t safe, despite how thrilling it seemed.
“It’s never like he threatened me,” I argued, swirling the dregs of espresso in my cup.
Another sip of the black potion slipped past my lips. I needed to stay alert even once I hid under the covers if I was going to catch the person sneaking into my room.
Stupid, stupid girl!
I ignored that inner voice. It might be dumb to bargain with the ghost, but I had to make him understand the bribes were unacceptable. Whatever he wanted from me, it wasn’t his to take. I was a ship, caught in the current of the don’s agenda. On top of that, I was engaged, for chrissakes. There was already a twisted web of mob business that spun about my life, I didn’t need this complication.
Stretching out, my body ached in protest. To counter my stalled weight loss, Cecilia brought in a strict nutritionist and hired a trainer at the gym. We were in serious countdown mode to the big day, and I wasn’t perfect. The strega could scold, poke, and prod, but she would not make me feel bad about the way I looked. Thankfully, I had thick skin when it came to her. Because there were things about this wedding that I couldn’t fight, I submitted to her plots and schemes while promising myself small acts of rebellion.
The workout today had been nothing short of brutal.
“I hope it gets better,” I muttered.
While I wasn’t a fitness junkie, I enjoyed a good session in the gym. The trainer would see how hard I worked, how much I enjoyed the weights and Pilates, and she wouldn’t be such a drill sergeant. I had to believe that, or I might end up hating the gym.
But the new training regimen was the least of my concerns.
No, I needed to discover what my stalker wanted.
“I have a stalker,” I breathed.
The truth was harder and harder to deny.
I’m dealing with it!
The clock turned to ten. I promptly shut off the lamp on the nightstand and snuggled deep in the cocoon of blankets. My legs twitched, the cloud-like blankets becoming an oppressive weight. The blood in my veins buzzed. I had to clench my jaw to keep the teeth from clacking.
One thought delighted me more than the others. In a matter of minutes, maybe hours, I would meet the spectre. The excitement proved this was the best thing to happen to me in almost a year.
***
I must have dozed off. What was I thinking trying to keep myself awake with espresso? I was Italian! We finished our meals with the potion. Granted, I had three times the normal amount, but exhaustion and bodily strain tugged me into the unconscious abyss that was sleep.
But that sixth sense shot through me like a bolt of lightning.
There was someone in my room.
I tracked the shadow in the dark as he moved toward my…window. The pane lifted. He scooted under the screen before replacing it as if nothing happened.
Kicking the blankets off, I was out of bed in a heartbeat. I raced across the room to peer through the glass. Sure enough, he was scaling the wall!
Good! I would intercept him at the bottom.
Already my gun was in my hand, but I skidded to a halt as I passed my reading nook. On the side table was a book. But not just any regular tome. This was a rare, highly coveted special edition of a book from a series I adored.
My fingers traced the foiled words.
“How did you find this?” I breathed.
The only copies available were outrageously expensive and still sold within the hour they were posted. When I had the disposable income from my parents, not the piss poor pittance I was allowed now, I could have been the lucky owner of this when it was released over the summer. But I had to watch other book dragons hoard the coveted copies, hoping someday I could add it as a trophy to my shelf.
But here it was.
A gift from a ghost.
Pursing my lips, I shook my head. Accepting it was wrong. Although my heart screamed at me, I plucked the hardcover off the table and darted from my room. He was going to take it back. I was firm about that. He had to take it and…what? Dispose of it? That probably meant reselling it to another book girlie or—
“Oh, dio! Don’t throw it away,” I breathed, clutching the book to my chest. Maybe I could make him promise to rehome it.
The backyard was soaked in the eerie stillness that only a cold autumn night could bring. Most of the leaves had fallen, which made the trees seem to be giant skeletons. They shook their garish limbs to the tune of the slithering breeze.
I drew a sharp breath, grateful that I was properly dressed this time. Determined steps brought me past the spot that my window overlooked. Already, the yard was empty. But I anticipated his path out of the property. I caught sight of the spectral presence as it disappeared into the thicker trees.
The ground was slick with dew, glittering like a sea of diamonds under the pale moonlight, casting an otherworldly glow on the grass. Droplets flicked up, wetting my sneakers and splattering my jeans. Still, I ran. Overhead, the eerie clatter of the branches and the few dried leaves rustled in a soft, sinister murmur.
Nature itself dared me to proceed.
Setting my jaw, I pushed forward.
“Hey! You!” I called out in a stage whisper. “Phantom, stop. I need to talk to you, mister.”
Stupid girl, stupid girl!
I squared my shoulders and stepped into the thick shadows draping the far reaches of the yard. The darkness was deep, shifting, making familiar shapes appear strange and unknown.
A trunk moved—moved farther than a stationary object such as a tree should.
“Phantom!” I called. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”
The black mass shifted. There was a momentary pause. Air caught in my throat, my lungs refusing to work. He took a step in my direction. I tightened my grasp on the weapon, focusing my gaze on the shadow creeping closer.
My heart pattered rapidly. How am I not more afraid? I was confronting a ghost!
“That’s close enough.” I swallowed.
The shadow slid in front of me, close enough to hear the whisper of his clothing.
“I said, stop!” I pressed the laser, training the red bead on his torso.
A low, rich chuckle broke the quiet of the night.
The sound trickled down my spine in a sensual caress. My body reacted in the craziest of ways. A rush of warmth curled inside me.
Stop it!
Shaking off the spell his presence shrouded me in, I held up the book. “I can’t accept this.”
His head tipped. Or at least, that was the best guess as to the motion he made. “You don’t like it? It’s the one you don’t have yet.”
Peering into the dark, I demanded, “Who are you?”
That voice came out in a strange, unnatural pitch. It was as if he was forcing the tone to sound abnormal, not an accent per se, but a gruff rasp. “It doesn’t matter…yet.”
“Oh, I beg to differ!” I brandished the pistol. “Tell me who you are and why the hell you keep sneaking into my room to leave me inappropriate gifts?”
His voice held a bite of anger. “Inappropriate?”
“Yes! Very,” I hissed. “Do you even know who I am?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “You’re mine.”
I opened my mouth, but words failed me.
In the distance, the wind howled with a frightful roar, but closer, all was still, as though the night itself were holding its breath, waiting to see how this strange encounter played out. Thick shadows danced, broken in places by the pale silver rays of the moon that pierced through the skeletal canopy above to allow delicate streams to trickle below. One such beam nearly revealed the spectre’s features.
Is he wearing a mask? I couldn’t tell.
No, his eyes were visible, although perhaps there was a cloth tied to conceal the lower portion of his face. I wanted to banish the shadows, stare into those eyes, and discover the truth! The air rushed sharply into my lungs. Why did the mystery excite me? It shouldn’t. Any sane person would pee themselves.
“Take the book,” I insisted, waving it in front of me. “And don’t bring anything else.”
He took a step forward, the tome pressing into the solid presence. “It’s a gift, rusalka.”
That word. It wasn’t gibberish that I made up while asleep. It was real, just like him.
I cleared my throat, refusing to sway from my purpose. “My loyalty can’t be bought.”
A rough exhale barked from his throat. It could have been a laugh. “That’s the thing about gifts. They are about my intentions for you. They’re passive; you do nothing. You aren’t expected to reciprocate—even with loyalty.”
“Obviously you know nothing about the mob,” I scoffed.
He took a step forward, causing my heart to jump as he closed the distance. This time the barrel of the pistol grazed his front. “I know that you’re missing that special edition from your collection. I’d hoped it would be something you enjoyed, after the disaster of the travel journal. Don’t you like it, sweet siren?”
The intensity of his gaze sent a rush of something raw and primal through me. Made Men didn’t look at me this way—like they wanted to devour me.
“You didn’t leave a travel journal,” I whispered because I had to say something, try something. Anything to break the spell his presence cast over me.
“It made you upset, and for that, I’m sorry. That was never my intention.” The way he spoke, low and gravelly, it was as if he forced his voice to sound…different.
“Who are you?” I repeated.
“Yours, Isabella, I’m yours.” His fingers clasped over mine, cutting off any chance of a rational refusal. They were large, strong fingers. The contact was blistering.
That heat leeched into my skin.
Gazing up into the monster’s face, my body reacted with a rush I only felt once before.
“Now, if you don’t want the book—”
“Don’t take my book,” I hissed, wrenching my hand to my chest.
Chuckling, the spectre stepped into me. My nipples hardened, and the warmth in my belly flared hot.
“Go back to bed, rusalka,” he growled. “You need your sleep.”
“Look, you don’t know who these people are. If they catch you sneaking onto the property, they’ll make Guantanamo seem like an all-inclusive resort.”
“Thanks for caring, now get inside. You’re shivering.”
I shook my head. “I can’t be yours, phantom. I’m engaged!”
I lifted my hand, letting a brilliant shaft of moonlight capture the rock on my finger. The stone glittered in the celestial glow.
“Go. To. Bed,” he ground out. If I thought he was angry before, he was downright furious now. It perfumed from his body, creating a menacing cloud that threatened to eviscerate anything caught in the radius.
And yet I was right here, safe and sound.
How do I make him understand? Pushing down the thunderous pulse, I tried once more. “If you’re planning to overthrow the don, don’t. I know him—I know his underboss! You can’t rebel.”
“They have nothing on me.” The dark promise cracked through the night.
I let out a strangled groan. “Fine. Don’t believe me. But if you think for one minute that I’ll sit by and let you drag me down with you, you’re wrong. I’m not lifting a hand against them. Whatever coup you’re planning, I want no part in it.”
His voice hardened. “A coup? There’s no coup. There’s just you and me, little siren.”
And…we were back to this lunacy. “No, there’s not.”
I shoved the pistol against his rib before I took a long step backward. I knew better than to turn my back on this monster. The cold wind swirled around me, picking up in strength as I fled. I embraced the bite of frost that nipped my skin, desperate for it to cool the fire the spectre evoked in my veins.
The ghost didn’t chase me, and I reached the side door without any difficulty.
Which was probably a very good thing.
Taking one more look at the backyard, I sighed. The night, though cold and spooky, held a kind of raw, untamed beauty. It called to my soul as did the monster prowling somewhere in the dark. The silence, punctuated by the occasional clatter of the trees, asked me what I was going to do next. Turn the stalker over to the don? Or keep his presence a secret? Pulling my lip between my teeth, I cradled the book to my chest. The same hesitation from the first encounter remained the best argument in favor of keeping the information to myself. If the don found out I knew for some time now about the intruder, it would not go well. No…I couldn’t have this reflecting badly on me. The wind chose that moment to rise and blast me with frost-drenched air. It was a strange comfort, a resounding confirmation that my fate was sealed in this course of action. Sink or swim, I was going to continue to deal with this ghostly haunting on my own.