The Antidote Wife

Chapter 3:) The hunt

Donte Russo's Pov-

I stand outside Nina’s door, the city breathing down my neck like a cold wind. Streetlights bleed into the narrow hallway, casting a sickly glow across peeling walls. My fingers tap a slow, deliberate rhythm against the doorframe the only sound daring to exist in the oppressive silence.

She’s inside.

I feel it.

The television flickers, light stuttering beneath the door, throwing restless shadows across the floor. My instincts hum, sharp and insistent. Nina Evans is not accidental. She is something I’ve been searching for long before I know I was looking.

I would lie if I say I’m unaffected. My cold heart and my restless body wage war inside me, a conflict I haven’t known in centuries. I use this body as a vessel for punishment ,for being born with power I never asked for. An immortal god, forced to suppress the instinct to reduce mankind to ash.

I’ve built something among humans instead. Empires. Legends. Fear.

Some worship me. Some despise me.

I never fall.

Yet the idea of standing outside a woman’s door hesitating nearly brings me to my knees.

The dream leaves a mark. A hook sinks beneath my skin, refuses to loosen. And now, with the scrap of fabric burning a hole in my pocket, I know I can’t walk away.

I knock.

The sound echoes down the corridor like a death knell.

The door creaks open. Nina freezes. Her eyes widen as they land on me, golden-brown and impossibly alive. For a suspended moment, we simply stare two worlds colliding, the universe holding its breath.

“You’re… real,” she whispers.

Her voice barely carries over the frantic beat of her heart. The recognition in her eyes sends a pulse of satisfaction through me. I offer a slow smile, though it feels more like a grimace.

“I’m real, little miss,” I say quietly. “And I’ve been looking for you.”

Her gaze flicks sideways. Escape route. Denial. Dream or danger. I recognize the calculation instantly. The thrill of the chase coils through my veins, ancient and electric.

I lean closer, lowering my voice. “You’d do well to invite me in.”

Nina’s eyes snap back to mine, defiant. “And what makes you think I want you here?”

The challenge sharpens my smile. I chuckle softly, the sound curling down my spine.

“You don’t know what you want yet, Nina.”

Before she can respond, I step past her and into the apartment.

The space is modest. Too small. Too fragile to shelter her from anything that hunts in the dark. It’s clean, orderly nothing out of place. The air carries traces of her lavender scent, and a spark of satisfaction flares in my chest. She values control. Discipline.

Interesting.

“Nina, is that my package?”

A woman’s voice calls from the hallway.

One of the roommates. Emily.

“No—it’s just someone passing by,” Nina answers quickly.

Ah.

She hides me.

Good.

She backs away, never breaking eye contact, as if her stare alone might keep me at bay. I move toward her slowly, deliberately, until she’s trapped between the wall and my body. Her breath stutters.

“What are you doing?” she whispers.

I lean in, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. The reaction is immediate heat, tension, awareness snapping tight between us.

Nowhere in hell should I be affected like this. And yet-

“You know exactly what’s going on,” I murmur. “We’re connected. And I intend to understand why.”

Her breathing quickens. Fear radiates from her in waves.

Good. Fear keeps humans alive.

I pull back, my gaze locking onto hers. “Tell me, Nina what’s the last thing you remember before you wake up?”

She looks lost. Confused. To her, it’s only a nightmare.

“Don’t give me that look, little one,” I say softly, darkness gathering around me like a living cloak. “Or perhaps you don’t want to know.”

A spark ignites in her eyes curiosity edged with defiance. “Yeah,” she says. “I am curious. What’s a guy like you doing in my dreams?”

The air crackles between us, tension stretched tight as a live wire.

Then my phone rings.

The sound shatters the moment.

I answer without breaking eye contact. “Speak.”

“Boss,” the voice says urgently, “the King is on his way to your house.”

Damn it.

I step back, already fading into the shadows. Nina doesn’t blink. She watches as if she knows ,as if she feels it,when I slip past the door and vanish into the night.

Leaving her with questions.

And a connection she won’t escape.