Chapter 1

ONE

Katherine's head was spinning and her eyes were half closed as she went around the kitchen, trying to get dinner ready as quickly as possible so that she could go to bed. 

As she stirred the broth, her shoulders ached badly from all the cleaning and scrubbing and mowing she had been doing throughout the day for the rich family she worked for, and the noise coming from the living room did nothing to help her aching head.

Her step-father, Ivan and her step brother, Wilson were arguing yet again over Wilson's recent fight that left him brutally wounded and almost arrested, and she forced herself not to listen to Ivan chiding his son for gambling away money that he had even stolen.

She didn't feel strong enough to intervene and be the peacemaker this time but when she heard the crashing sound of wood and the banging of the front door, she knew she had no other choice.

With a sigh, she turned off the stove and cleaned her hand on a napkin but when she turned towards the door, she gasped and almost lost her balance.

Standing at the door was a large man dressed in black, staring back at her with a sly grin on his face.

"Help!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and turned around to grab the closest weapon she could find.

But the man was faster, and even before she could raise the knife he had already grabbed her wrist.

"Help!" She screamed again in fear and tried to struggle out of the man's firm grip.

"Let go of me!" She yelled at the man, driving her elbows into his chest as hard as she could with the little strength she had but the man didn't even budge.

"You'd better stay still, bitch!" He growled and bent her elbows behind her back.

Katherine winced in pain but didn't stop struggling. The man raised her frail body above the floor and carried her to the living room.

"Let me go!" Katherine yelled again, her legs flailing around in the air.

The man dropped her with a thud but didn't let go.

Katherine, now breathing heavily looked up, searching for her family. Her eyes widened with shock when she saw that her step father was also pinned to the floor, with the foot of a hefty man on his back.

Wilson was also being held around his neck with blood flowing down the side of his face from an old gash on his forehead and about ten other men in black occupied their small living room. Tears were streaming down Wilson's face and he was shaking with fear.

"What is going on?!" She whimpered as tears began to flow from her eyes as well.

"What's going on, Papa? Wilson, what did you do this time?" She asked.

"You're talking way too much, bitch!" The man holding her said and smacked her head.

"Boss is here," one of the men announced and a pin drop silence descended immediately.

All eyes were towards the door, waiting for what was next. As if in slow motion, a man elegantly walked in with his left hand in his pocket.

There was a certain demonic charm around him with his dark and droopy eyes, his straight nose, the sharp set jawline and the most inviting lips any human had ever seen.

An unspeakable sense of royalty and power radiated with every step he took forward.

Ivan gasped in shock as he recognized the young man to be Lucifer Cain, a powerful and ruthless mafia lord that ruled one of the Five Families that controlled the States. 

Wilson also went cold as he looked up at him. He had heard of how merciless Lucifer was; he knew he lived up to his name. But never had he had the opportunity to be in such close proximity with the man and even the temperature of the room seemed to drop drastically immediately he walked in.

"Sir... Please... I.. I ... We can fix all this..." Ivan began to stutter, throwing both Wilson and Katherine into a state of confusion.

"You know, Mr Cassius," Lucifer began in a voice so calm that made Ivan even more afraid.

"When you do something wrong, and decide to run away from your wrongdoings, the consequences are worse..."

"I know.. I know..." Ivan started to say but Lucifer raised his palm to shut him up.

"I have been provoked to the point of showing up in person, and that, Mr Cassius, never ends well. You really didn't think you could hide from me forever, did you?"

"I wasn't hiding, sir. I swear, I'll pay up," Ivan said with tears. He, of all people knew that it would only be a miracle if a man like Lucifer left him alive.

"You weren't hiding?" Lucifer asked with a slight raise of his brows. With a chuckle, he elegantly moved to one of their sofas and sat on it with his legs crossed.

"Then explain why you've been moving from house to house in the last six months. This is the fourth house you've moved into, if my calculations are correct, hmm?"

"Fifth... sir, but it's not because I was hiding. My fruit business has been terrible, sir, and I swear I've been gathering a lot of money to pay up but I barely even make any sales..."

"Liar!" Lucifer growled and simultaneously threw a pen knife in Ivan's direction.

The knife stopped right in above of his head with it's sharp tip buried into the wooden floor.

Sweat began to pour down Ivan's face as he realized how closely he had just avoided being stabbed in the face.

Lucifer then rose and began striding towards him.

"Please, sir, please," Ivan begged as Lucifer squatted in front of him and drew the knife out of the floor.

"If your business has been bad, explain how you got five thousand dollars to gamble with at Giovanni Ivanovo's casino two nights ago. I'm sure you didn't think I had my men planted there as well, hmm?"

Katherine gasped at this new revelation. Her stepfather that always yelled at Wilson for gambling with stolen money was also guilty of the same thing! She felt her stomach churn with disgust and she was now too weak to even struggle. The whole situation was too much to deal with in just one night.

"I.. I'm sorry, sir, I'll pay up soon, I swear," Ivan pleaded, hiding his face away from the glistening end of the pen knife.

"It's a little too late, Mr Cassius, my patience has thin out. Now, I want you to die a slow death," Lucifer brought the knife closer to Ivan's eyes with every word. Ivan's breathing became uncontrolled as he tried to struggle free. 

He searched his head for a bargain that would be appealing to Lucifer but none came and the knife seemed to be just in front of his eyeball and an idea then struck him.

"Take her! Take her instead! You can keep her until I pay up!"

Katherine's eyes narrowed in confusion at his words, and before she could register what was happening, Lucifer turned and stared at her, his dark eyes boring holes in her body. She cowered at the intensity of his gaze and her blood ran cold.

With smooth precision, Lucifer stood and started walking towards her. She heard her stepfather sigh with relief.

"W-what's going on?" She asked shakily and began to struggle again.

"She won't disappoint you sir, trust me, she can cook and clean and can even offer bedroom service! She's fitter than she looks sir, trust me!" Her stepfather continued as if he was advertising a product to be bought.

The man holding Katherine stood her up to her feet when Lucifer advanced. 

"Let go of me!" Katherine yelled, panting. Several strands of hair fell across her face as she struggled and she glared at Lucifer with contempt when he stopped just in front of her.

He looked her over with indifference and raised her chin up with his index finger. She looked a little lean and her eyes were sunken with stress but he reasoned that she'll look perfect after she had been well fed.

"Yes, yes, take her and let us all go, please,” Wilson pleaded with tears still cascading down his face.

"Get her to the car," he said to the man holding her.

"What? No!" She protested. 

"And what about him?" Lucifer asked, ignoring Katherine's yelling.

“M-me?” Wilson stuttered and felt a hot wetness flow down between his legs.

"I don't think he'd be of much use, sir, He's as useless as a hole in the head" Ivan said, shaking his head.

Lucifer looked Wilson over with expressionless eyes. Ivan was right. Lucifer definitely did not want a sissy like Wilson under his wings.

"Keep your eyes on them," he said to his men as he placed the penknife back into his pocket and walked out to see Katherine still struggling with all her might.

She kicked the man holding on to her as violently as she could and when that didn't seem to work, she bored her teeth into his arm.

"Fuck, bitch!" He yelled and reflexively slapped her hard across her face, causing her to fall to the floor.

The man had barely recovered from the sting of the bite when he felt a hotter slap across his own face making him to stagger backwards. He held the affected area and looked up to see Lucifer's angry face.

"My girls are never to be beaten. Understood?!" He asked in a stern voice.

Without waiting for a response, and to the unmasked surprise of his bodyguards, he bent and picked up Katherine's unconscious body from the floor and into the limousine.