Chapter five_A stranger's shadow
303 Words
The music of the carnival still rang in Isabella's ears long after the masked man vanished into the crowd.
She pressed her back against a stone wall,her chest rising and falling as though she had run a great distance.
Her fingers trembled.His words echoed in her mind_ " You'll see me again... and next time.bella,you won't run?
She swallowed hard.who was he? and why did her body betray her with longing when every part of her mind screamed danger.
"Isabella ?"
She froze. The familiar voice cut through her thoughts.It was marco_the son of her father's business partner.His mask was tilted carelessly on his head.revealing flushed cheeks from too much wine.
"There you are!" he exclaimed, seizing her hand as if he had every right.
" I've been looking for you.Dance with me"
"I _ I can't," Isabella stammered, trying to pull away.
But marco only tightened his hold.
"of course you can. Don't be shy. it's just a dance."
The music swelled again, and couples spun across the square.yet Isabella felt trapped,her heart pounding _not with excitement, but with dread.
She opened her mouth to protest, when suddenly a shadow fell over them.
A voice, smooth as velvet but sharp as a blade,cut through the night.
"she said no".
Isabella's breath caught.The masked Stranger was back. His eyes glittered dangerously beneath the lantern light,his presence filling the space like a storm.
Marco stiffened. "And who are you to tell me want she wants?"
The stranger's smile was slow, cruel, and full of promise." The man who doesn't ask twice".
The crowd around them hushed,drawn by the tension. Isabella's pulse raced as the two men stared each other down,sparks of danger thick in the air.
She realized, with a shiver, that the carnival had become something far darker than she had ever imagined.
- Writer
