Page 35 of Unholy Vows

Malachai

T he coffee shop was too bright and too fucking loud for me to think straight. But Noah liked public places. It kept people civil, which was ironic, considering he was the least civil person I knew.

Well, aside from me.

He slid into the seat across from me, all charm and lazy grins. No one would suspect the things he was capable of. That’s how men like us survived. We preyed on people’s assumptions long before we preyed on them .

Noah and I had worked together a few times before.

I wouldn’t call him a friend, but we were friendly .

Whenever I hit a digital dead end, he was the guy I called.

He was a mercenary with access to more systems than most governments.

Public, private, off-grid — if the data existed, Noah could find it.

And he was my only shot at nailing Layla’s other stalker.

I’d been able to rule out The Boston Phantom. Once I had his name, Barry Watson, it was easy enough to follow his digital footprint and eliminate him as a suspect.

While he’d been hunting in the shadows, chasing women who looked like Layla, he’d never actually known who she was.

Not her name, not her address, not even her socials.

Their chance encounters had been nothing more than dumb fucking coincidence he mistook for fate.

And now that he was off my list, I was back at square one.

“You look like shit,” Noah said, placing his phone face down. “What’s wrong? Sunday confessions piling up, or did the holy water finally turn on you?”

He grinned at his own joke, but I only stared, unimpressed.

“Are you done?”

“Aww, come on, Malachai. That was a good one.”

His green eyes twinkled with mirth, but I wasn’t in the mood. Noah sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

“Fine, you grumpy ass. What do you need?”

My gaze flicked to Layla as she ted with an elderly woman over her laptop. The older lady was a client of hers, and just as I had promised, I’d accompanied her every time she left her apartment. She’d grown so accustomed to my presence that she barely even noticed anymore.

Noah followed my gaze and arched a brow.

“She yours?”

“Don’t fucking look at her!”

Noah chuckled as he raised his hands in the air.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Someone’s been watching her. Broke into her home and left a threatening message.”

I pulled the card out of my pocket and tossed it on the table between us.

“That was on her bed, scattered among rose petals as if it were a grand romantic gesture.”

Noah picked up the note, and his lips pressed into a thin line as he read.

“I’ve gone over every second of surveillance in the neighborhood and surrounding streets, but I’ve come up empty. It’s as if the guy walked through walls or something. None of the footage looks tampered with, which means whoever he is… he’s fucking good.”

“If he’s as good as you say, why hasn’t he done anything? I mean, you’re still breathing. He can obviously get around without being seen. Why not get rid of you and take your girl for himself?”

A low growl rumbled up my throat. The sound was threatening, and Noah lifted his hands in surrender once more.

“I’m not defending the asshole, but something about it feels off.” He glanced back at the note. “This is personal, and it’s only a matter of time before he escalates.”

“I know that,” I hissed. “That’s why I need you to work fast.”

Noah stood and tapped the card on the table.

“Will do.”

He turned to leave, already typing away on his phone as he went.

“…something about it feels off.”

Noah’s words played on repeat in my mind. That’s exactly what I had thought when I looked into BeastMode458.

“Wait,” I called, and Noah paused, casting a glance over his shoulder.

I waved him over, and he slumped back into the chair he’d just left.

“There’s something else.”

I ran my tongue over my teeth as I sorted through all the information I had stored in my head.

“A while ago, another guy made a play for Layla on a site called The Wild Hunt. Ever heard of it?”

A slow grin spread across Noah’s face.

“I have.”

“You can wipe that stupid fucking look off your face before I do it for you.”

Noah chuckled, not at all intimidated by my threat.

“When I looked into him, everything was hidden behind obscure VPNs and endless shell companies. I couldn’t find a single tangible trace of him anywhere.”

“And you think it’s the same person?”

“That’s just it. I don’t think it is. The guy online threw a tantrum when I deleted his post and blocked him from Layla’s account. If he was that tech savvy, why the fuck couldn’t he figure it out?”

“I’m not sure I’m following, Malachai,” Noah said as he rubbed at the stubble on his chin.

“I don’t have any concrete answers myself, but something is definitely off, and my gut is telling me they are connected.”

“You want me to look into both?”

“I do. And don’t leave any stone unturned, even if you think it’s irrelevant. I want you to thoroughly investigate this guy before ruling him out, got it?”

Noah gave me a curt nod.

“Send me everything you have on him. IPs, screenshots, timestamps. I’ll pull up what I can from socials, metadata, and underground forums. If he so much as sneezes near a data trail, I’ll find him.”

This time, when he rose from his seat, I let him go.

Leaning back in my chair, I laced my fingers behind my head as I stared at Layla. My mind turned everything over piece by piece.

BeastMode458.

The break-in.

The message.

The timing.

The fucking rose petals.

It was all too convenient, yet none of it made any sense.

Until I could unravel all the pieces, Layla was still in danger.

Someone had been in Layla’s space. Breathing her air. Watching her. Knowing I wouldn’t be there.

And I hadn’t seen it coming.

I was good. Better than good. I saw the angles, the patterns, the cracks people tried to cover up. I made monsters bleed. But this? This was something else.

Calculated. Controlled. Close.

I didn’t like close . Close meant vulnerable. It meant it could happen again.

I exhaled slowly, the weight of it all sinking into my bones. Whoever this stalker was, he’d made a mistake.

He let me find out.

And now he was in my crosshairs.

I snapped out of my darkening thoughts when Layla finished up her meeting and sauntered over to me.

“Ready to go?”

Instead of answering, I slipped out of my seat and grabbed her hand as I tugged her along beside me.

“Aren’t you worried someone from the church will see you?” Layla whispered.

“Not really.”

And it was the truth. I’d already decided I’d be leaving the priesthood as soon as I had removed the threat against Layla.

“In that case,” she said, sounding nervous.

I said nothing, only craning a brow as I waited for her to continue.

Layla puffed air into her cheeks.

“I have this work thing coming up. It’s an awards night. Happens every year, and I force myself to go and pretend to care about the trivial lives of my clients in order to secure my contracts.”

Layla glanced up at me from under her lashes.

“I was thinking… maybe you’d like to accompany me?”

A broad grin split my face.

“My, my, Layla. Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Not if you insist on being an idiot.”

I laughed at that and pulled her close to my side.

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Layla beamed at me.

“Then you’ll need a suit.”

“A suit?”

“Yeah, it’s black tie.”

I groaned. Formal wear.

Ah, fuck.