Page 40 of Hollow Forest

At last, peace and quiet.

I continued my research, growing more and more agitated with what I dug up. A quarter of an hour passed, and then another. The other five men Ophelia—Samantha—listed in her report were dead.

Antonio Ferretti was the only survivor…for now.

Finally, I swiped my phone off the desk and stabbed the screen until the call rang through the speaker.

“Pronto?” Camillo barked.

I grimaced. “I need you to put a detail on someone.”

“Who?”

Without proof, I was asking him to break the code. The don would throw a fit, but I could care less what Lucian thought. Antonio might be the son of a capo, groomed for a powerful position in our organization. But it wouldn’t save him. Death had already marked him, and I was going to help her make the kill.

“You know what, never mind,” I snapped.

It was better if this stayed quiet. Drusilla already knew I was sniffing around. She would only keep her mouth shut if it served her, and right now that was my top priority.

“Fine,” Camillo groused. “Anything else?”

“No.” I cut the call.

It might only have been a short time since my little monster fell into the darkness of the underworld. But I knew her.

My very soul called out to her.

I was going to be the only cretin haunting her future. In order for that to come about, two things had to happen. First, I had to destroy her past. That was the easy part. I had plans for her soon-to-be-deceased target. The vivid picture painted itself in my mind. It would happen the night of the harvest moon.

But the second factor was the more delicate of the two. What I had planned for the demon wearing thousand-dollar shirts and driving exotic cars courtesy of daddy’s money, was something Samantha needed to see.

She needed to watch him die. Only then would her nightmares end.

In order to do that, she would have to see my true color—black. Soulless black. Everlasting black. If Sam could accept my darkness, she would be perfect. Time was running out. I needed her to be mine so I could show her just how dark I was but how safe she would be.

Part of me, a kernel of doubt, wondered if it was too devoid of light for her to stomach.

If she’s my soulmate, she’ll accept that piece of me.

It was time to start praying that she really was the mate destiny intended for me to have.

Chapter 15 – Samantha

Warm water slipped over my skin. A sigh of contentment whispered through my lips. This really was a beautiful bathroom. There was so much care and thought, hell, even the details weren’t ignored. There were little leaf hooks, the stem curving up for towels. A soap tray had teeny tiny pumpkins and gourds sitting on the vanity counter. And the wallpaper, although abstract, felt like sunlight dappling through the trees of the forest.

One more night of relaxation. My ankle was healed, and tomorrow I would resume the hunt, and by the weekend I would close in on my target. It was time to take action. If I stayed much longer in the Cove, it would be all the harder to leave.

Especially since my thoughts strayed again to the man in the mask.

But for now, I was going to enjoy the shower, which was now twice its original size. An overhead faucet took up most of the space, and when I turned that on, it was like standing in the rain. There were several other shower heads, and I plucked one, ready to chase away the ache gathering between my thighs. If I could relieve it, then I wouldn’t do something foolish.

Like touch my stalker.

I knew he would keep his word. He wouldn’t take me if I didn’t touch him.

It was becoming harder and harder not to do.

Changing the setting to a pelting force, I held it between my legs. It felt wrong. The bursts of water were too harsh. The heat wasn’t human.