avement. It was a quiet night, the kind Sophia Moretti usually enjoyed-cool air, the faint

the darkness f

own her spine. Maybe it was just exhaustion. Or maybe it was the way the st

route a hundred times. But as she turned the corner onto a

was wat

shadows stretching along the sidewalk, flickering beneath th

, inside a black S

hing he had ima

ht. Her lips, slightly parted as she breathed in the night air, looked inviting. Tempting. But i

er of his gloves. She didn't belong t

ld belon

s," Dante murmured, shif

voice controlled, though his

d his attention for years. The girl who would soo

uickened

d hadn't disappeared. If any

w. She could already see the warm glow of her bu

the fo

d. Not rushed,

ed. She glanced behi

wasn't im

r street. The feeling of unease morphed into full-fledged pan

en it h

ack against a hard, unyielding chest. A large, gloved

t to break free, but the grip was ironclad. Her heels scraped agains

ainst her ear. The sound of it sent a violent

clawing at the arm wrapped arou

" the voice continued, smooth and

o full-blown terror. Who

he know

mused, tightening his grip. "I'v

e gut. This wasn't some random abduction. T

ffled scream, her nails

only c

it when th

er panic. It

many nights he had imagined this exact moment. Her softn

shing the shell of her ear.

g the ground. It didn't matter. She was already being lifted off her

V swung open, and s

d her whole as the

old, unyielding emerald eyes of the