Page 1 of Impenitent Claim

Chapter 1 – Isabella

There was someone here. It took every drop of strength not to bolt upright in bed. I forced myself to lie still, to keep my breathing soft and steady. But whoever was in my room could no doubt hear my heart pounding in my chest. I strained my ears to hear even the smallest of sounds. I needed confirmation that this wasn’t a figment of my imagination, a remnant of my nightmare. The only proof I had was the prickling at the base of my neck and the screaming sixth sense that warned me I wasn’t alone.

Just shoot the intruder!

Slowly, I inched my fingers under my pillow until they wrapped around the handle of my pistol. The cool metal was reassuring. The golden rule was shoot first, ask questions later. Straining my eyes, I focused on the dark, trying to pinpoint where in my room the spectral presence actually was. Before I could decipher the location, something moved across the carpeted floor.

Footsteps, solid and with form.

I froze.

It wasn’t an otherworldly presence, but a flesh and blood being, which made it so much worse. The door opened. Shadows on darker black moved in the space. And then, the softest click sounded as the door fell closed.

A cold sweat broke out across my skin, making my palms slick and my clothes cling uncomfortably to my body. The room around me seemed to close in, the walls pressing tighter, the shadows growing darker and more menacing with each passing second. My breathing was shallow and rapid.

Therehadbeen someone in here!

I spent five more seconds trapped in my fear before launching out of bed. This was ridiculous! I was the daughter of the late don, and I spent my days around the scariest men in the criminal underworld. I did not show fear!

Or so I told myself as I scrambled to the door. There was something about that spectral presence that made the men of the famiglia seem like children.Thiswas the real monster in the dark.

And I was the little idiot chasing him down the hall instead of calling for the guards.

As my bare feet padded across the floor, I yelled at myself in my mind. This was exactly like the blonde in the horror films who never showed an ounce of sense. But—and I couldn’t explain it—the monster was inmyroom. That had to mean something. If I summoned the guards, and if they caught the intruder, they would haul him away and I would never be privy to who the fiend was and what they wanted.

I stopped at the top of the stairs and listened. There were only so many paths the intruder could have taken. I peered into the heavily shadowed foyer and stared hard into the inky blackness.

There was movement in the corner. The darkness near the frosted glass of the front door shifted. Light from outside tried and failed to illuminate the dark, but the monster stepped intothe shaft of light and the harsh cut of brightness fell across his eyes.

I couldn’t breathe.

Twin slits of silver stared back at me from behind a mask of contoured black plastic.

The taste of fear was sharp on my tongue, a bitter, metallic tang. My throat tightened, making it hard to draw in the air I desperately needed. The distance between the intruder and me felt thick and suffocating, charged with an electricity that made the fine hairs on my arms stand on end.

And yet all I could think was that the spectral presence wasreal. This hadn’t been a dream, but a living nightmare!

I blinked, and the form vanished.

My eyes darted around, straining to see into the corners where the light didn’t reach. Every shadow seemed to hide something sinister, every flicker of movement a potential threat. I battled down the primal urge to run away and took a step toward the unknown threat. Ever so slowly, I descended the stairs.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Yet I wouldn’t succumb to the all-consuming fear!

This predator was stalking me. I could play the game without falling into a trap. Aiming my gun into the shadows of the foyer, I swept each nook and cranny. But that sixth sense told me the intruder wasn’t here. Passing the dozens and dozens of doors, I crept into the belly of the house. Somehow, I knew that when I turned down the second hall in the west wing, I would find the door to the day parlor open. It was, and so was one of the French doors that led to the stone patio outside. The fiend wanted me to know where it left.

Making sure to watch my surroundings for potential danger, I hurried to the door.

Out in the back garden, a swath of black whispered through the unlit landscape. I lowered my pistol and simply watched.This twenty-thousand square foot mansion was more compound than home. And yet this phantom came and left as if it weren’t heavily guarded.

The monster came forme.

Slipping my pistol into the pocket of my satin sleeper shorts, which sagged under the weight, I rubbed my eyes. I should tell the new don his headquarters had been breached. It was the right thing to do. But for several reasons, I couldn’t bring myself to care. Not only was Don Aldo Bruno not blood, but he wasn’t even a friend. If he couldn’t protect his base of operations, then it wasn’t my job to do it for him.

A shiver rippled over my skin. The fear was slowly dissipating, and questions I would never be able to answer remained in the wake of the rush of excitement. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming, something terrible and inevitable, and all I could do was wait for it to find me.

It would be a lovely change of pace from the Greek tragedy that my life had become. I almost called out for the phantom to come back to take me with him so I could escape.

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