6. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Alessandrio
O livia,
Olivia Dolmino,
Dolmino.
Hatred bubbles maddeningly beneath my skin; images of her face come unbidden and with increasing frequency. It’s like she is haunting me, tempting me with her nearness. I let Riccardo slip through my fingers again. His time will come, but for now, my rage has a new, sweeter target. My one thread of relief comes in all the ways I will make her pay.
My fur protects me from the freezing temperatures of my van at night, my supply of protein bars satiating my appetite just enough, but a little hunger will keep the flames of my anger stoked. So will the shit sleep from the lumpy mattress in the back of this van. Sleep has evaded me since I opened that file. Olivia’s image rises behind my closed lids, and before I know what I am doing, my hand has reached out to grasp it, only to catch nothingness. A breath of frustration huffs out my nose as my hand falls back against my chest.
Does she feel how close to death she is? Did Riccardo warn her? Warn her school to up her protection? I fucking hope so. It will make the hunt even more thrilling. I will film her screaming for him to help her like he did to Lucia. His torture will be child’s play compared to what I will do to his sister . Only when she begs for it, will I offer her the end.
“Come on, Jimmy,” I snarl into the blackness.
Patience is not my virtue, and I have no desire to claim it. Obsessing over her file has kept me from dialing him every five minutes, and it’s kept me planting my paws every time the desire calls to blow this all to shit and storm through the entrance to take her. Watch them try to stop me. I’ll rip the place apart for fun and watch her cringe back from the monster coming for her.
Another huff fills the van. I finally give up my attempt to find sleep and my hand is already reaching for my phone as I roll onto my stomach. The file is still open. Studying her face has been like a drug. Staring at all that perfection and imagining her features contorted in fear and pain. Addictive. She isn’t just perfection. She’s smart. Olivia has ‘a bright future’. Her reports are glowing, all except the one blemish on her file. Prone to bouts of depression. That bit of information left me feeling raw. Jimmy asked one of the other tech guys to hack the school's student counsellor files, but I asked him to call it off. I don’t want her humanized. Even now, just thinking about it makes bitterness fill my stomach. Frustrated, I press my face into the mattress.
Ding.
The van rocks with my violent movements as I wrench my head up to bring my phone to my face, excitement burning through me.
Emilio.
“Fuck!”
Disappointment sweeps through me: disappointment and guilt. I should be with him in New York, protecting his back. Instead, I’ve been sending his calls to a full voicemail and ignoring his texts. Long before I found the answer. Now I am in too deep. I refuse to go home empty-handed. My fate is sealed, and he will be better off once the Dolmino line truly ends once and for all. That removes some of the guilt from my shoulders. Rolling onto my back, I close my eyes and mull over all that I have learned since Jimmy sent the file.
Olivia likes to keep active. She has a keen interest in long distance running and still holds the record of our school cross country championship. If you cannot find her in the library, she’s out running the school’s trails.
I feel as though I know her intimately. Rereading her file so much that I know it off by heart. All the notes left by her teachers over her senior year. I know her friends, that she’s the last of her grade still in school. Hell, I even know her menstrual cycle thanks to the school nurse reports. One fact that doesn’t add up is that she has a strict no visitors policy. A legal agreement between her father and the school. Until now, no familial visits have been allowed for Olivia, and if the contract is anything to go by, Riccardo might not have even had permission to see her. That knowledge has left a big question mark for me.
So many questions . Like how this fucking school has remained tucked away here undetected for almost thirty-five years with its sheer size and mammoth wall. It’s more luxury resort than school with its amenities including an onsite day spa, outdoor cinema and Michelin awarded head chef. I guess locking up entitled billionaire offspring behind twenty foot high stone walls topped with barbed wire requires them to soften the blow.
Ring.
Jimmy’s name fills the screen, and I hit answer as my whole being returns to the knife’s edge of excitement and dread.
“Talk to me,” I try not to snap in my eagerness.
“I got you in.”
I exhale sharply, sitting up, the point of my horns scraping against the metal roof and making my teeth grind. “Thank fuck,” I breathe more to myself than to him. “Thank fucking christ.”
“There is an old system that runs beneath the school. Apparently copper in your water isn’t good,” he says, making me blink.
“Wait, how will I fit through the pipes?” I snap.
“Oh, it has a let off that runs out through a stormwater drain. Big enough for you to get through.”
“That seems pretty convenient. Isn’t this school meant to be hyper secure?” Why wouldn’t they have filled such a weakness like that?
“It’s more like an emergency exit. This place has some pretty high-profile students, lots of political offspring, future dukes and duchesses from all over the globe. Your little Mafia princess is the only one with a shady parent. The tunnel is a way to get anyone out if they are under siege, an exit strategy. It’s watched by security cameras.”
“Tell me you have a way to override them?” I practically beg.
“Even better. I have access to the camera’s mainframe.” Even down the phone, I hear the smug smile in his voice.
I laugh, more out of disbelief. “Have I told you how much I appreciate you lately?”
“You don’t need to tell me, I know. Now go get her tiger.”
“Will do.” I don’t even try to hide my eagerness.
I let it out, the slow rumble that has been building in my chest, giving over to the monster whose predatory excitement has been building. The sound should scare me with its depth and ferocity. Instead, it fuels me. I don’t give a shit that anyone around this area might hear my sound of wolfish triumph. Let them hear it. Let it give them goosebumps and make them pause to assess the threat.
I cannot deny my love of the hunt, the way it raises my fur in anticipation. This body was made for it. I barely even register the cold as I move through the woods surrounding her ivory tower. Shirtless, I prowl through the dark, the moon illuminating my breath as it mist out before me.
This school of hers couldn’t have made it easier for me to reach through the dark and pluck her out by her neck. Jimmy sent me a map of the school outlining all details. Every student’s room is listed on the dorm’s register. The student’s every position recorded with casual negligence for someone like Jimmy to find and monitor, thanks to the key cards each student uses that records their use of the library, swimming pool and gymnasium in real time.
That knowledge had my dick hardening. I won’t take her tonight. No, that would be too simple. I want to play with her first. Hunting Riccardo was necessary, like a game hunt. I want the man’s head as my trophy. Hunting Olivia, however, feels different. It feels like I am a starving man, searching for something that will satisfy a deeper, more archaic hunger. And I want to marinate in this feeling for a moment.
The sound of security buggies is the only disturbance to the quiet of the woods. High beam lights from their vehicles cutting deep as they pass. Ironwood plans their patrols to ensure rigid security. That rigidity, however, can be exploited. Ten minutes. That is all I have, all I need. My paws disturb the soil and ground beneath me. The prints will be visible tomorrow if it doesn’t rain. Good.
Olivia’s room is in a west facing corner, on the top floor. That fact creates a bit of difficulty. I won’t be able to climb through her window when I finally take her. There are some plans I need to hash out, so for now, I will be content sowing the seed of fear in the devil’s daughter. When I come for her, I want her to expect me. A low chuckle ripples from my chest at the mere thought of it.
I step behind a large tree as a buggy speeds past. The spotlight dances off a shrub, casting darker shadows amongst the trunks and dead leaves. Sliding my phone from my pocket, I check the time, straining my enhanced hearing to the sound of security passing. Ten minutes… starting now.
Rounding the tree, I emerge from the shadows, allowing my eyes to adjust to the glow of the building before me. Many of the curtains on the lower levels are drawn, no doubt for privacy. My hungry eyes slide up the red brick building, and my heart skips a beat. It was a gamble. I tracked her movements all evening. Her access card flagged her leaving the dining hall, then entering her dorm, and I knew my time was now. The light in her room flicks on and a thrill runs down my spine. Her curtains are open. Olivia no doubt chose the room for its view: I hope tonight she looks a little harder.
The jolt of excitement through my body is like electricity, raising the fur on my arms and making my heart race with wicked desire. “ Too easy. You will make this too easy for me,” I whisper, eyes trained on the glow emanating from her room.
I grip the tree next to me, my claws scraping against the surface methodically as I itch to use them. I could end her at the first opportunity and send a message to Riccardo. But the rat will only bury himself deeper. He will find a new nest to hide beneath and slip from my reach again. Olivia is a powerful bargaining chip. My brother and I could use her in ways that could shoot his chances of freedom to hell. So instead I will take her and if I have my fun along the way, even better.
I catch my breath, a deep raspy sound that fills the silence around me as a shadow moves near the window. It obscures the light coming from within, and my eyes feast on it. Then a golden head appears, the light behind her illuminating the hair on her head like a halo. That is no angel. She stands against the window, her familiar features just visible as she looks out. Look at me, I want to scream the words up at her, drawing her attention, instead I remain still and patient.
She’s so fucking beautiful. As my body reacts to her, even in the dark, I let the inner betrayal fuel the flames of my hate. I watch her profile examine the dark world beyond that warm safety, and collect her sins against me, pocketing them for later penance.
Olivia’s hand moves to reach for the curtain, and she draws one side across the glass. Disappointment wells up inside me and I fight my baser urge to do something drastic as cotton threatens my chance. Her head moves toward me and for a moment, it feels like the breath is stolen from my lungs as her hand pauses. She leans forward, looking at where I stand just at the border of the shadows of the trees, and my heart kicks in my chest. My claws rip from the bark as I tug my hand free, unaware I had buried them so deep. I step out further, the full moon illuminating my entire form. A feast for her eyes.
“Yes,” I breathe, making my breath mist out before me.
She pulls back sharply. I can only imagine the thoughts racing through her pretty head as she tries to piece together what she has just seen. Her reaction to me is as visceral as mine was to her. No doubt she is confused, no doubt she is trying to make sense of me. Her mind must be racing with all the ways she can play me off as something conjured from her imagination. It was exactly the same thing I did when I first saw myself in the mirror. The same way I reacted to Emilio. We shouldn’t exist. Things of nightmares, straight out of fantasy books. Monsters created by her family.
Somewhere in the distance, I hear a buggy, and despite the desire to remain where I am, I melt back into the shadows. Soon she will enjoy the fruits of their labor and I will have my revenge. I chuckle to myself on the long journey back to my van beyond the wall. Careful to cover my tracks, the closer I get to the opening. I want her to know I was there, but I don’t want her telling others who can track me. I hope she goes down to that spot tomorrow to look around and spots the scored marks in the tree bark and my paw prints on the soft earth at its base. It will help solidify her fear and make me more tangible.
Tonight I will sleep well. The success of my venture into her world has left me wired and ready to go. I climb into the back of the van and don’t bother checking my phone. I pull my sweatshirt back on to cover my furred chest and fall on the mattress. My fucking dick is stiff, my balls ache and it disgusts me.
“She isn’t for you,” I growl, rolling onto my back.