Page 75 of Matteo

“That whole time you were getting your ass kicked, I was looking for a weapon. Found this in the master bedroom…”

I grinned and finally dipped low to kiss her, her mouth never looking more perfect than it had in that moment. “That’s my girl…”

“Oh, am I?”

I nodded. “Yes…you’re my woman now, Rain.”

She seemed thoughtful for just a moment. “That man…do you think he’s coming back? And what about the others?”

“Shhh,” I whispered to her. “The others are dead. And that asshole will be too if he tries to come back for us.”

“He left his jacket,” Rain looked over at the plant stand and I followed her gaze.

I walked back over and picked the jacket up. It appeared to be brand new. His cologne lingered on it, and I checked the label to see Armani stitched into the label tag.

“He would wear something expensive to kill me,” I grinned over at Rain.

“Check the pockets?” she shrugged.

Finally, I began to rifle through the pockets and pulled out a thin black card that seemed to shimmer in the light.

A symbol stared back at me.

A crescent.

A double helix.

I knew that symbol because I’d seen it every day of my childhood.

Around her neck, and in her books, I thought.

This had been the symbol around my mother’s neck and drawn in her books.

A chill rippled down my spine as I glanced back at Rain. “We need to get out of here.”

“What, why?”

“This is deeper than I ever thought…where are your keys?”

“Still downstairs,” Rain’s eyes were wild with worry again. “Wait…dead bodies?”

“I’ll call Mason and Carmine from the road. We’ve got to go…”

“The road?” Rain stared at me as I went to start walking back towards the basement.

Pausing in my movements, I went back to her, rubbing her face softly. “Yes…Rain, if you go back to your apartment, they’ll come for you. They will take you and they will breed you with him...”

“Who and what the fuck?!” She exclaimed.

“Trust me,” I whispered. “I’ll explain more but we need to get out of here.”

Finally, she nodded, and I hurried down to the basement to retrieve her car keys and some of the stuff I’d had down there.

There was a feeling in the air that I couldn’t shake. The discovery of the symbol was still rolling around in my mind.

I just knew I needed to keep Rain safe and the only way to do that was take her on the run with me.

I would die to keep her safe.

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