The man—I think his name might be Luca—plants a heavy hand on my shoulder, jolting me out of my trancelike state. “Are you hurt?”
I shake my head, but he doesn’t look convinced.
“You saw him, right?” I ask, desperate for confirmation that Sorrowsong isn’t snatching my sanity.
“Didn’t get a look at their face,” he grunts, pressing a phone to his ear. I take a step farther into the woods, but he grabs my arm and shakes his head.
The air isn’t freezing, but my teeth chatter violently, the inside of my jacket like sandpaper against the goose bumps over my skin.
“Why did you have to do that?” I snap, suddenly frustrated that I wasn’t alone, that I couldn’t chase my stalker into the woods and finish this once and for all.
Luca stares at me for a beat, realizing I’m serious. “Save your life?”
“Intervene.” I sound manic, one hand flying up in the air as I turn to face the forest, but it’s no use. They’re long gone.
He pinches the bridge of his nose and curses in Italian. “Belladonna wasn’t lying about you.”
“What?”
“Survival instincts of a moth.”
I stand on the forest’s edge for what feels like forever, until more of the Morello’s men have vanished into the trees to search and my anger has stewed and stewed until it’s reached boiling point.
I’m in a trancelike state as my legs carry me up the hill, storming across the overgrown lawns and back to the mansion with a plan taking shape in my mind.
Every other emotion inside me has been replaced by rage. I open up my texts and fire off my first reply.
Ophelia Winters
You wanted me to hand myself over?
Unknown
This could all be so simple.
Ophelia Winters
Tomorrow?
A location pings through, a small patch of woodland not far from a petrol station near Lochinver.
Unknown
5am. Leave the gunman behind, this time.
Ophelia
It’s a date.
Obviously, I’m not going to go alone. That’s literally the first mistake that every horror movie heroine makes. Instead, I dial the number of someone who is most likely going to ignore my call.
The line rings for so long that I think I’m right, until Belladonna’s smooth voice comes through the speaker.
I don’t think she likes me. I’m just hoping she likes Alex enough to help me.
“I really don’t think we’re close enough for you to start calling me, Winters. You’re more of a text contact.”
Charming.“Did you tell your men I have the survival instincts of a moth?”
