Always watching. Always making sure I was safe.
It was strange to have someone look after me. I didn’t hate it. But…I needed to end it. Good things never lasted.
Chapter 29 –Amanda
The computer screen flickered. I jerked upright in bed, reaching to make sure the cord was in the side. It was. I refreshed my inbox. Still, there was no explanation from my job. The HR department at the law firm hadn’t reached out. Neither was there any correspondence from the senior attorney. St. Just said he would try to fix it, but I wasn’t going back to work tomorrow morning. I was officially unemployed.
And that wasn’t the worst thing that happened to me this weekend.
With a beep, the lights turned off. Every single one.
The pixelated glow of the screen cast an eerie blue shade over the space.
Heart in my throat, I shut the laptop, plunging the room into darkness. This wasn’t my teenage bedroom. That house had been sold a couple of years ago. But I was familiar enough with this space from the times I stayed here that I crept to the window without bumping into anything.
The neighbors’ houses were still lit.
“You monster.”I shook my head and stepped back.
Anticipation coursed through my veins, and my nipples hardened in response. I shoved my hands through my hair, tugging at the strands. I was freaking Pavlov’s dog. Vincenzo played these twisted games, and my stupid body responded with an embarrassing eagerness.
Why the hell didn’t he just come over like a normal person to interact with me? I ruffled my hair and then dropped my hands. Straightening my shoulders only made the sleeper shirt brush over my breasts, which were far too sensitive.
“It had better be you,” I hissed, facing the partially open door.
It was entirely possible that my father had other enemies who’d be brave enough to break into his house. But my money was on a particular mobster of Italian heritage.
That left me with few options on how to deal with this.
Why didn’t I have pepper spray? If it was someone else, a gun might be handy, but…. I rubbed my chest. I didn’t want to hurt Vincenzo. Not like that. Whatever he’d done, I didn’t hate him. Not enough to wish him dead.
Despising the feeling of being at a disadvantage, I crept to the door. He probably used the blackout to sneak into the house. I was almost positive that the alarm system was linked to a battery for backup.
I listened. No beep. No sound of the door being forced.
The hallway was quiet, as was the foyer below.
I can hide somewhere.Crap. Why didn’t I have a spot picked out for that? “Because normal people don’t have hiding spots for when a monster in a mask comes over.”
At the thought of him wearing a mask, my nipples tightened to painful nubs.
“I’m not enjoying this,” I told myself firmly. That was not excitement sparking in my veins.
This would not be a repeat of the sauna.
Stopping at the top of the landing, I called out, “I’m not running this time, Vincenzo. This isn’t funny!”
“Who’s laughing?” The words were right there. Hot breath skating down the side of my throat.
I jumped—and would have fallen down the steps.
If those hard fingers didn’t wrap around my wrist.
He wasn’t even in the garage where the breaker box was. He was right here. He’d probably been watching me through the door as I worked. Prickles broke over my skin, and a shiver slid down my spine.
“You should be sleeping,” he growled, tugging me against his body. “It’s late.”
“You’re not,” I pointed out. “No, you’d rather just creep through the dark and break into people’s houses—”
