Chapter 1
Chapter 1
She sat in the confessional. Her head down, hands clasped, professing her sins to an old white man who claimed to have the power to wash away her wrongdoings and send her to eternal paradise. As if divulging your deepest darkest secrets to a stranger could fix everything you’ve ever done wrong.
I never did quite understand this belief in a higher power. But if there was a God up there, I was a damned man.
She did this everyday, at the same church, with the same priest, at the same time. The only thing in her daily life that was routine. A risky move for someone who was supposed to be on the run. And it happened to be exactly how I found her.
Sophia Denaro. The runaway mafia princess who disappeared 5 minutes before she was supposed to walk down the aisle, leaving a disgruntled groom and an unformed alliance. The woman who had damn near a dozen of the best privately contracted bounty hunters and private investigators looking for her.
Yes, I had found her. And therein lies the problem. I found her 2 months ago, in this small shitty town, and still had yet to take her in. Because as soon as I laid eyes on the little princess, I knew I would never let her go. She would be mine. She was mine. But I had yet to figure out a way to deal with that fiancee of hers. Or her father. Time was running out for me. This I knew. If I didn’t turn something over to her father and fiancee soon people would start to question my skill. My reputation. And that was something I didn’t take lightly.
I was the best of the best. Bounty hunter, kill for hire, a jack of all trades some would say. No witnesses found, no evidence left behind, no job left unfinished. But as far as her father knew, I was still searching for his precious little girl.
The precious little girl who had turned out to be a lot more woman than he let on.
My eyes traced her figure as she rose from her seated position and stepped out of the wooden box. Her knit sweater dress did little to hide her ample breasts and generous ass. And fuck those thighs. If I ever did pray, it would be to worship that body of hers.
She paused for a second, scanning her surroundings, as if she felt someone was watching her. As if she sensed danger. Of course, someone was watching her, but she wouldn’t be able to catch sight of me from where I was sitting.
Finding nothing, she shook it off, probably writing it off as paranoia and hurriedly made her way to the exit.
I waited 3 minutes and 56 seconds. The exact time it usually took for her to get from the front of the church to her car. Then I followed after her, keeping in the shadows as much as possible.
Sophia Denaro was a slippery little thing. She knew how to hide her tracks well, keeping her face well out of view of public street cameras, using cash only to pay for any necessities. She was a clever woman, that much was clear. My smart girl.
Tucked away in an alley, I watched as the piece of shit car she called her own passed me by. Little princess had no doubt bought the junk on wheels on her own after abandoning her father’s life of wealth for one of near destitution. She needn’t worry though, soon I’d implant myself into my Sophia’s life and would buy her anything she could ever wish for.
In a small town like this, there wasn’t much open on a Sunday evening. So there wasn’t anywhere else for her to go except the shoddy apartment she was currently renting out.
If I was being honest, the place was a shit hole. But then again so were most of the places in the area.
The old couple she was renting the place out from seemed nice enough, and the background check I ran on them came up clear so I wasn’t much concerned about her safety.
I took my time following after her, lingering back to keep her or anyone else from seeing me. I’d found out pretty quickly that a vehicle would hurt me more than help me, seeing as very few vehicles were out on the road at a time.
Flickering street lights illuminated the concrete pathways. The only road in and out of the town was littered with cracks and potholes from what seemed like years of neglect.
Her apartment took me no more than a 10 minute walk to arrive at. Her car was of course already in the driveway, engine cold. Due to both the cold biting weather and the short duration of time it took her to drive home.
I watched her shadow move past the patchy curtains, her movement rhythmic, graceful. My eyes danced with her.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third and final time, before the light in her apartment shut off.
This had easily become my favorite part of our everyday together. When she was dead asleep. So unaware. So vulnerable. Getting into her apartment was incredibly easy thanks to her shitty locks and oh so trusting landlords. That would have to change. I couldn’t leave my girl unprotected. Even if the only thing dangerous in a 50 mile radius of her was me. No one accounted for the man in the shadows coming out to play.
Easing the door to her apartment open, I took a quiet but deliberate step forward. Her floors had creaky spots and I had taken my time to get familiar with them. Couldn't have my princess waking up and seeing me before it was time.
Her studio apartment smelt stale, paint chipping off the corners of the walls, the leaky faucet dripping at a slow yet steady beat.
I crept towards her bed that was placed in the center of the northern most wall of her apartment. Her small form curled up into a ball, taking up only a fourth of the bed. A thin blanket was strewn across her body, and it obviously wasn't doing a very good job as my princess shivered in her sleep. Another thing I'd have to fix once the time was right.
Shrugging my jacket off and kicking my boots onto the floor, I crawled into bed with my girl, wrapping my arms around her shivering form careful not to wake her. Her body melted into my touch, her tremors becoming less and less evident as my warmth caressed her skin. Even unconscious my princess knew who she belonged to.
I wouldn't fall asleep here. I couldn't. But sleep never came easy anyways, though her presence did always seem to relax me more. I'd stay until near dawn, soaking up every minute of time that I could with her in my arms, basking in that sweet addictive scent of hers. And then I'd leave before she woke, and do it all again the next day. Watching over my darling Sophia.
