Page 10 of Unhinged

She will.

Her guard is slipping.

It’s time.

She’s mine.

* * *

Chapter4

ANISSA

I thought maybeI’d been imagining things, but the dream is always the same.

I fall asleep, and the room is quiet. Empty. But there’s breathing—low, measured, too close.

I jolt awake, my pulse hammering too fast. But there’s always silence. No movement. No shadow. Nothing out of place except the weight pressing down on my chest.

So I finally cave and call in a favor with the Irish to do a sweep of my apartment.

They must think I’m crazy because no one’s here. Just me.

Then why do I hear someonebreathing?

I tell myself it’s just stress, just my mind fucking with me. But I haven’t forgotten the little things out of place.

Yes, that was a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, there was no sign of forced entry.

Yes, I have no verifiable proof.

But my instinct knows better.

I’ve made enemies in my line of work, but I thought I was covered under the Irish’s protection.

Now I’m not so sure.

I wake from another night of bad dreams, throw the covers off, and swing my legs over the edge of the bed. My muscles ache, and the effects of too little sleep for too long are wearing on me.

I need to figure out why I’m having these nightmares and why I’m freaking out. I need to get out of this apartment. I can’t shake the feeling that someone’s been here.

I stand and stretch.

And then I see it.

My stomach drops to the floor.

The far wall—the one I was facing. The one just feet away from where I slept.

Marked.

Slashed across the drywall in thick, dripping red is a single word:

MINE.

A scream locks in my throat.

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