POV: KATHERINA
I don’t know how long I walked aimlessly before stumbling on the pavement and sitting down. My emotions were all over the place, and nothing mattered but the fact that he cheated on me.
I didn’t even know why it bothered me so much when there were times I prayed that he would leave me alone and find some other chick.
I was so tired and done with him.
Pulling my knees up, I sat here for a long time, just looking around at people. The bandage on my hand clearly looked like Luca did it, and without a second thought, I removed it.
I wanted to believe that what he’d said was a lie because he was a damn liar when he was pissed off.
But he was naked with a woman, even though I didn’t see him fucking her, and she was a moaning mess under him.
It didn’t matter whether he fucked her or not. The very sight of being naked with another woman is enough to make me throw away all the good times we’d spent together and walk away from him.
I wanted him, I truly did, but after this, I couldn’t get low on self-esteem. He could have as many chicks as he desired. This needed to end.
A sleek black car screeched to an abrupt halt in front of me, and Cruz got out.
I looked away from him. I can’t handle this bastard right now.
“Get in the car.”
“What do you want, Cruz? I don’t care,” I replied and looked away from him.
“Just get in the damn car if you don’t want me to pick you up and throw you in.”
I stared at him.
He stared at me too.
I narrowed my eyes.
He narrowed his eyes at me too.
Finally realizing he was not giving up, I got up and hopped into the passenger seat.
His phone rang.
“I got her,” he said and cut the call.
Instead of going to Luca’s familiar house, we went to a different one.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“My place,” he answered.
Terror filled me.
“Why the hell are we here? Get me back to Luca. I can’t go in there!” I snapped.
“Chill. I don’t keep pythons and crabs in my closet.” he chuckled.
“How…it was because of you that Luca punished me that night.”
“Great. Now get the fuck out.” With that said, he got out of the car, and I had no choice but to follow him.
The house looked cozy for someone like Cruz, and they were pictures of him and Emmalyn decorating the walls.
I sat down on the couch, and Cruz went to the kitchen and brought me a beer from the refrigerator, which I refused. He shrugged and sat down opposite me and drank the beer himself.
I was staring at the happy couple in the picture when Cruz pulled me out of my trance.
“You going to stay with him or leave?”
“Leave,” I said without a second thought.
“Wow, that escalated quickly.” Cruz gave me a smug shrug. “And you’re pretty sure he’ll let you leave?”
“He has to. I can’t stand him anymore.”
“But you still want him.”
“No!” I snapped back.
He shrugged again. “I don’t like you, so I’ll help you out and talk him into leaving you.”
“Why do you hate me?” I asked.
“Because Luca turned into a damn pussy when he met you, and pussies don’t last long in our world. Look, we are no saints. We don’t live in a world of peace and tranquillity. We kill people.
“We do illegal stuff. The cops are forever chasing us. You people call us criminals, monsters, and so much more, and we always give you more reasons to hate us.
“Not everyone chooses this life willingly. My mother was a whore. She fucked every man in Spain and didn’t even know who was the father of her child.
“By the time she realized that keeping me in her womb was a mistake, it was too late. She became penniless because no one would fuck her with that huge belly.
“I was seven months old when she wanted an abortion and gave birth to me. I was kept in the incubator and taken care of by nurses while my mother was out there stripping for men.
“She didn’t want me but kept me anyway. I couldn’t go to a normal school, couldn’t work in a normal place because of her. Everyone teased me, bullied me.
“My mother brought home a number of men every day, and I kept asking myself why I was still living with her.”
He took a deep breath. For the first time, I witnessed sadness in his eyes.
“I was a slave for her who did all the chores at home. I was only nine when I was raped by a thirty-year-old man. He was apparently a pedo, and while fucking her, he got turned on by me.
“Even though my mother didn’t agree in the beginning, he waved the cash in front of her, and she let him. I was bleeding by the time he was done with me, but the real nightmare started later on.
“She made me a sex slave, dressed me up like a girl, and caked up my face, inviting men to have their way with me. I was beaten, abused, fucked by those men.
“She just watched and enjoyed it because she received extra pay. I was traumatized, and after five years of suffering the hell I lived in, I ran away from her.
“I slept on the street, ate from trash cans, and slept in alleys. I was dying day by day, and Luca found me when I was eighteen.
“He was just a year older than me, but he was nothing like the men I’d known. He overpowered them all, and it surprised me that a young man like him could bring down anyone to his damn knees.
“I don’t know what he saw in me. He just took me to a restaurant, made me eat, and brought me here to his home. I did everything he ever asked me to do.
“I didn’t mind killing people or smuggling and kidnapping women and doing business with them because I didn’t care.
“Everyone’s got their story to tell, and you either let it define you and mold you to be a saint, or you let it make you a powerful being.
“I promised myself I would never let another woman take control of me, but life proved me wrong when I found Emmalyn, and the control she had was different. It set me free.”
“Your mother… I can’t believe this. Why didn’t you go to the cops?’
“Some of the men were cops.” Cruz smiled at me. “You called us monsters last night. Real monsters wear a crucifix and drag people down to their level and make them kill themselves, Katherina.
“We just goof around with the cops and do business in our way and live our lives. We don’t kill innocents because we don’t care about them.
“The girls we kidnap are the only sins we commit, and we don’t really give a fuck, because we are only the dealers.
“The customers who receive them are the worst sinners, and they deserve to burn in hell because what they do to their pets is beyond your imagination.
“You live in a damn box, and you haven’t witnessed even half of the world’s cruelty. All you know is your town, perfect boyfriend, and a perfect life living in a cocoon.
“You want Luca to suffer and apologize to you, but from his point of view, what he did to you was nothing. He just wanted you, so he scared you so you wouldn’t leave him.”
“You’re justifying Luca’s behavior,” I replied softly.
“Because he’s my friend. Luca doesn’t know how to behave politely. He doesn’t know anything but rage and malice. He’s given you the power over him. Make use of it. Talk to him.
“If you had cheated on him, he would’ve confronted you. You confront him, beat the shit out of him. I’m pretty sure he won’t stop you.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that, even though my eyes were brimming with tears.
“I don’t understand why he hurts me when he says he can’t stand to see me cry.”
“That’s Luca.” He handed me his kerchief. I wiped my tears away before looking at him.
“And I’m so sorry for everything that has happened to you. And I really hope Emmalyn makes it out safe.”
“It’s all right. It’s been a long time now.” He waved his hand. “Time doesn’t heal. The pain just lessens and becomes a scar with time.
“You always bear a mark, and whether it’s a mark of being a victim or bravery, you get to decide. Emmalyn always wore her mark proudly; she’ll definitely hang on till I come for her.”
I gave him a tight smile, and he held my hand and squeezed it tight.
“Everything will be fine, baby doll.”
His phone rang, interrupting us. He quickly removed his hand from mine and spoke in Italian briefly before ending the call and turning back to me.
“I need to go. Make yourself at home. You can cook if you’re hungry. You look like shit, so have a bath and put on some Emm’s clothes.
“There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom. Bandage that hand,” he said and stood up from the couch.
“Lock the door and don’t step out. If anyone knocks, just remain silent until they leave,” he said and left.
I nodded my head and locked the door behind him once he left. I had a bath, put on Emm’s clothes, and bandaged my hand.
There was nothing in the kitchen other than cereal, ice cream, and tuna in the fridge. Tuna not being my favorite, I went for cereal and the ice cream, which helped my mood.
There were only two rooms in the house: one was the guest room while the other was his and Emm’s.
The guest room appeared neat and clean with no unnecessary items, while their room had everything.
While going through Emm’s closet to pick out a dress, I found loads and loads of lingerie and a pink vibrator. It was hard to take my eyes off it because I’d never seen a vibrator in real life.
I didn’t dare to touch it.
I couldn’t imagine the wonders Cruz would have in his closet, so I didn’t go to his.
I fell asleep on the couch and woke up due to the furious knocks on the door.
“Katherina!” Cruz screamed, banging senselessly.
“Coming,” I called out and went to the door.
“Jesus! What took you so long?” He sounded annoyed when I opened it.
“The fact that I’m hearing Jesus from your mouth instead of any other word is unimaginably funny,” I replied.
“Ha ha ha, very funny. Now go, Luca is waiting”
I opened my sleepy eyes completely and looked out. His sleek black car stood facing me. I stared at the man behind the wheel. All the hatred and emotions started to resurface.
“I’m not going back to him.”
“And I’m not keeping you here,” said Cruz.
“Then I’m going to sleep on the street,” I said and walked out.
Within no time, Cruz gripped my arm and pulled me toward the car.
“No! Leave me. I’m not going to him!” I screamed and thrashed in his arms, but he kept pulling me unfazed
“Cruz, let go of my fucking arm, or else I’m gonna kick you right where the sun doesn’t shine!” I kept screaming at him.
“Just go to him, Katherina,” he said calmly.
“LEAVE ME!”
I finally came out of his death grip and ran to the opposite side. I’d almost passed his damn car and reached the main gate when an arm snaked around my waist and lifted me in the air.
“Cruz! CRUZ!” I kept screaming, and he kept pulling me away from the gate.
He pushed me in and banged the door shut. My hands quickly went for the door, but Luca was quick to lock it. It didn’t open even when I tried.
He started the engine, and Cruz stood on his porch, waving at us with a wide smile on his face! Opening the window, I put my head out and screamed.
“I wish I could shove that pink vibrator in your asshole!”
“Pleasure is all mine, Katherina!”
“I’m not going to spare you! Let Emmalyn come back! You’re dead, Cruz!” I screamed one last time when we went out his gate.
He still had the stupid smile on his lips.
The car ride was silent, and I didn’t even turn to look at him. When the car stopped at his estate, I quickly got out and went inside.
The house was still in the same condition as last night, and I stared at the couch where he’d made out with a woman this morning.
“You’ll be leaving for Bridegehills this weekend and never coming back,” Luca said, walking past me to his office.
“You’re finally letting me go?”
“Sì” was all he replied.
I don’t know what came over me, but I ran for him and pushed him hard on the back. He stumbled but immediately found his balance and turned to me.
I started slapping his chest madly and then started to punch. He held my hands in a firm grip, and I started to kick his abdomen.
“Stop acting like a kid, Katherina!” he snapped at me and let go of my hands.
I took deep breaths and launched for him again. It’s crazy how comfortable I’ve grown toward him.
“You fucking bastard!” I started beating him while Luca walked calmly away from me like the beatings didn’t hurt him at all. “You made out with a woman.”
“You interrupted before I could pull my fingers out and stick my dick inside her,” Luca replied calmly.
I pushed his rock-hard body into a wall and punched his jaw, making him hiss in pain. He glared down at me, but I punched him again.
He swiftly turned me around and held my arms to my stomach, leaning down to the nape of my neck.
“You’re going to be the death of me, woman,” he rasped before biting the flesh until I screamed and thrashed in his arms before he released me.
I rubbed the spot and turned around to him.
“Bloody bastard. Go fuck a bagel and stick your dick in a drainage pipe!” I screamed at him and walked away.
He snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me back to his hard chest again.
“Don’t fucking touch me with those hands, Luca!” I screamed and scratched his arms till they left a mark. I pulled his hair, making him scream.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked.
I punched him again and again.
“You can touch me without my consent, and I can’t touch you?” I asked.
His leg came forward, and I tripped on it and went flying in the air, but Luca caught me before I could kiss the floor.
I pulled him down before he could pull me back to my feet, and he lost his balance and fell. He quickly hovered over me and held my wrist at the side of my head, glaring down at me.
“Cheater. Man whore.” I gritted my teeth.
He leaned down and captured my lips for a soft kiss. I kissed him back.
When his hands loosened around my wrists, I flipped him over and sat on his broad shoulders, gripping his throat tightly with both my hands.
He smirked wildly at me. “My my, would you look at that? My feisty woman.”
“Don’t call me your woman when you were ready to fuck another.” I tightened the grip around his throat, but he remained unfazed.
“You pissed me off and clearly said you didn’t want me. I was hurt.”
“So, you hurt me by bringing a woman home?”
“I needed closure.”
“You needed a fucking” I seethed. “You needed to hatefuck someone because you knew I wouldn’t let you touch me.”
He remained silent, and I went on.
“I don’t care that you didn’t do it with her. I’m hurt and pissed off that you even thought of making out with someone, just to teach me a lesson? What are you, five?”
“I’m so sorry, Katherina. You said yourself that I don’t deserve you, and no amount of trying is going to change your mind. I knew then you wanted nothing to do with me, and I knew you’d leave.
“So, I thought I’d go back to the way I was before I met you. After all, men like me are beyond redemption.”
“Shut up,” I said and pecked his lips.
“You’re my feisty woman, whether you like it or not,” he went on. “I saw it in your eyes several times. I saw it last night. I see it now. You can leave, but you’ll always be mine, and I’ll always be yours, mi amore.”
“I don’t want you,” I said.
“You’ve always been a terrible liar who believes my lies.”
“Stop talking, Luca.”
He pushed his head down and kissed my sex. I gasped in surprise, but he remained blank underneath me.
“Pack your stuff. Four more days, and you’ll be gone forever. I will not hunt you down. I promise.”
***
I couldn’t believe that Luca was finally ready to let me go. Even though I was so damn relieved and happy after the night at the casino, things have taken a drastic change between Luca and me.
It had been two days since Luca tried to cheat on me and promised to let me go this weekend, and these two days have been the toughest.
Luca wouldn’t look me in the eye, and the only time we were under one roof was at breakfast. He would cook for us and finish his breakfast before me, then leave the house till early the next morning.
We haven’t slept in the same room for the past three nights, making it worse than it already is. I’ve spoken to my parents but didn’t tell them that I’m coming back home.
All the furniture in the house has been changed. I practically kicked out the couch in which he’d made out with the blonde bitch.
He didn’t care that I’d wasted his money, but he was pissed off at what I did to his office since every document was important. I smiled at his rage like the sassy bitch I am.
Though Luca wanted to punish me for what I did, he couldn’t bring himself to even shout at me. He huffed in annoyance and left the house.
Today Luca decided to work from home and hasn’t left his office since morning. I wanted to barge in there and confront him, but I’ve never been the first one to make a move.
Since I’m an open book, Luca knows everything I think and don’t say, while he remains a mystery all the time.
It’s either his ego, or he’s really coping with his emotions and trying hard to express as much as possible.
I’ve relaxed since he didn’t fuck the chick, but still, I’m pretty pissed off and want to beat the hell out of him. But if he swallows his ego and asks me to stay and work things out, I’ll think it over.
I don’t know how long I kept staring at his office door, but when it opened and Luca emerged, I didn’t feel like I’d been caught and kept staring.
His eyes met mine briefly, and he walked toward the kitchen. He’s been cooking every day since I came back, and though I enjoy his delicious cooking, I know he does it so that he can be closer to me.
He’s gone soft since the night I submitted to him before leaving, and he and I firmly believe that I can never let another man in my life ever again.
“You want to join me for lunch?” Luca asked me from the kitchen, and I nodded.
Putting the book back on the table, I walked toward the kitchen and sat on the stool while Luca set the table and sat down opposite me. Lunch was my favorite dish, chicken pasta.
He didn’t look at me as he ate his lunch and texted on his phone, while I couldn’t avert my eyes from him.
When he was done, he put the dish in the sink and went back to his office, making me sigh and push away the pasta.
I went back to the room and slept away my problems.
I was woken up by Luca’s fingers tracing the side of my face, gliding down my cheek and jawline slowly as his warm breath fanned my side.
My eyes fluttered open, and he was towering over me with his head in his hand as he laid beside me. I remember very well locking the door before going to sleep.
“What?” I asked, “Is it dinner time?”
He snickered at me and leaned down to kiss my cheek, but I moved away and got up. Leaning back at the headboard, I looked at the time.
It was half-past midnight, and I realized this was the last day I’d be here. Tomorrow, I’d be gone from him.
Luca took my hand in his, and I immediately looked at him. He brought the back of my hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on it.
“You should leave,” I said quietly.
“I need a favor from you,” he said, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Changed your mind?” I asked mockingly, even though I was yearning to hear that.
“No,” he replied calmly. “Before you leave, put a bullet in my head as the punishment for everything I did to you.”
I instantly snatched my hand from his grip. “Stop trying to manipulate me, Luca.”
He let out a laugh and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer to him and facing me.
“I’ve already told you, I don’t manipulate. I don’t deserve you and your forgiveness, and I can’t live without you, so please do this for me, and you’ll forever be free from me.” He spoke genuinely.
“I’m not a killer like you,” I whispered as my heart clenched at his words that were so broken.
“You don’t turn into a killer when you kill a man like me, Katherina. Men like us are beyond redemption and don’t deserve to walk this world. By killing me, you’d be doing a lot of people a favor.
“Sheriff Newman and the entire department is mad at you, and the day I go down, they’d do everything to prove you guilty too. The world always believes lies and their satisfaction.
“You’d never live in peace again if cops start investigating you, but you’ll be a hero if you kill me, and then you can walk freely in this world,” he explained.
With teary eyes, I raised my hand and slapped him across his face. He took a deep breath and dipped his face into the nape of my neck.
Wrapping his arms around my waist, he pulled me onto his lap and held me close to his body.
I wiped away my teary eyes and took deep breaths, calming my nerves.
Pulling his head up from my neck, I cupped his cheeks and stared down into his mesmerizing eyes. “Ask me anything else, and I’ll do it.”
“Then stay,” his voice quavered. “Don’t leave me. I promise I’ll make everything right. I want you, only you, nothing else.”
“Okay,” I replied back and kissed his forehead before hugging him to my body.
We stayed wrapped in each other’s arms for a long while before I broke the silence between us.
“Tell me about your mother,” I asked softly, recalling the night when he opened up to me about his childhood, and I didn’t care much to listen.
Luca stiffened in my arms and let go of me, and leaned back on the headrest.
“The abandoned cottage in the middle of the woods where Edward took you through the tunnel from my office was once my home.”
I was surprised and recollected the drawings of a child on the wall and his and his mother’s clothes that I’d rummaged through to tie up Edward’s bullet wound.
“My father’s name was Stefano Ricci, and the day he finally hunted my mother and me down, I was nine years old. He killed Rick and Leo’s mother, Greta, in cold blood.
“Her husband, Francesco, took the three of us and tried to run away, but Stefano caught us. He made Rick and Leo watch him as he gave me the gun and pulled the trigger at him.
I shot the man who was a father to me. Rick and Leo managed to run away while Stefano took my mother and me back to his home and threw us in two different rooms, next to each other.
“Every night, I would hear my mother screaming and begging for mercy which he never showed. He didn’t hurt me but kept me away from my mother.
“We would talk through the thick wall that separated us and carried our muffled voices to each other.
“After five months, he finally allowed us to see each other, and I saw how much pain he had caused my mother.
“We escaped him the same night and ended up in that cottage. Mom worked day and night in a coal factory and would lock me in and ask me to remain silent inside.
“She didn’t return for three days straight, and I was starving and crying when her coworker came with the news that she died from the smoke.”
I rubbed his arm slowly, and he closed his eyes, reliving his past. He was sweating profusely even though he wore nothing but shorts, and the room was cold.
“I couldn’t live in that cottage and end up on the streets at the age of ten. I roamed around, begging for food and shelter, which I never got. I slept near my mother’s tombstone at times.
“Life’s hard when you end up homeless at a very young age. I witnessed murders, rape, and a lot of things that happen when the world goes to sleep, and they left me traumatized.
“Rickard and Leonardo found me after years, and they weren’t alone. They came with a huge beefy man, Accardi De Gasperi.
“He took me in and provided shelter and food in return for working with him for our entire lifetime. When I thought things were finally getting back to normal, they took a turn for the worse.
I’d witnessed murders but never committed them. Even when Stefano made me hold the gun and pulled the trigger at Francesco, he kept telling me that it wasn’t my fault.
“I was forced to do this, so his blood was not on my hands. I was fourteen when I first killed, and it was my own father. Accardi helped me get my revenge.
“I had this big hammer in my hand, Katherina, and I kept hitting him till his brain splashed out. I didn’t stop and probably wouldn’t have if Rick and Leo hadn’t pulled me back.
“I thought I’d get my peace and finally be able to sleep at night, but I couldn’t. I started doing Accardi's dirty work and went on covering up the guilt as I kept killing for a living.
“By the time I could get out, it was too late. I had blood on my hands, and this life consumed me.”
My heart ached for him, and I couldn’t imagine how horrible his life had been.
It was hard on me when he threatened and scared my parents and when I believed the gunshots that rang in my house as he took me away. I thought a part of me died there.
But he had to witness his family being killed in front of him when he was so young. I complained about the mark he left on me while he carried a ruined soul.
I could no longer be selfish or compare the pain he caused me with what he’d been through.
“I used to stare at the mirror and see the reflection of my father in me,” Luca spoke softly.
“I never raped a woman, and at the night when I took you in the shower after breaking his legs, it wasn’t my intention to fuck you.
“You gave in to me willingly before, and after he mocked me, I wanted you to submit to me so badly. I knew you wanted me. I saw it in your eyes.
But you didn’t want it in that way and that time because you were consumed by sadness and guilt for what I did to your boyfriend, and that simply fuelled my anger.
“I wanted you to forget him and only think of me, but you were torn between pleasure and guilt, am I right?”
I nodded, unable to say anything.
“I’ve told you before, I’ll tell you again, and I will forever keep telling you. You are mine, and I am yours,” he confessed, placing a kiss at the corner of my mouth.
Suddenly everything seemed clear to me as he let me into his mind.
There was no point in denying that I’d utterly and miserably fallen in love with Luca.