Cephus' POV."Give me the strongest drink on the menu," I slapped my hands on the counter, startling the bar tender for the night. The place is mine, so no one dared question my actions.To say I was pissed after Romeo informed me of Felix's moving would be an understatement.I took a swig of the drink and felt the burn down my throat, momentarily easing the anger coursing through my veins. I couldn't believe Felix had the audacity to move without consulting me first. We had a deal, and he knew the consequences if he ever tried to break it. I looked around the bar, taking in the dimly lit room and the hushed conversations of the patrons. This place was my sanctuary, a place where I could escape the chaos of my life and unwind. But tonight, even the comforting atmosphere couldn't calm my nerves. I needed to figure out what to do about Felix.As I pondered my next move, a voice interrupted my thoughts. "Cephus, can we talk?" It was Sophia, my ex-girlfriend. I hadn't seen her in months,
Katie's POVMy eyebrows arched as I tried to apprehend whatever he was saying. I realized he was really drunk at that point, and I couldn't be so nervous, when I noticed that his whole body was against mine, like we were couples.I looked around, and sighed in relief, when I noticed there were only a few people around, and even those there, looked like they weren't concerned about us. Instead, they were all focused on their business or whatever they came for."Freya" I heard Cephus's whisper, and my eyes blinked."Why does he keep saying that?" I whispered to myself, and hissed before slightly pushing him.Even without using enough strength, he fell to the floor, like he was light and loose. I gasped shockingly, and crouched low."Gosh! Why did he drink to this extent" I muttered, releasing a soft, depressing sigh.I wanted to help him and lead him to the sofa at the side, but he was quite heavy, and I was exhausted already. All the dancing and moving that day, made me so tired.I nev
Katie's POVMy eyes blinked, and I tried not to allow the tears to leave my eyes. I couldn't believe he treated me that way, despite helping him. I felt my heartbreak and at that point, I couldn't hold the tears any more, so it started leaving my eyes.I felt like a fool, and I regretted bringing him to my place, and even seeing him at the bar. If only I ignored him and left before he dropped drunk."Asshole" I sniffed, rubbing my itching and runny nose with my hand.The door suddenly opened and when I looked up, I saw Cephus. He was glaring stonily at me, like we were both enemies before birth. I felt flabbergasted to notice his sudden and uncalled presence.He walked closer to me, and I shifted back. I prayed that he wouldn't hurt me, but what was he doing back here anyway. Did he probably hear me when I called him an asshole.My heart kept beating fast as he walked closer. I couldn't even look him in the eye, so I kept dodging it."Look at me" I heard his cold voice order. I slowly
Katie's POVI was still crying, and sobbing loudly, with my body laid down, and my face on the floor, when I heard another knock. I jerked, and slowly looked up at the door, whilst trying to control my heart which was beating very fast.I couldn't even say a word, as I was too scared and nervous. Was it Cephus again? Why won't he just let me be for once? What did I do to deserve this mess! I shouldn't have been born if I knew that my life would be so cruel.The door started shaking as a result of the force and continuous knocking. I sniffled quietly, and slowly stood up, then walked to the wooden door.Touching it with my palm, I stuttered in a whisper. "Who… Who is that?""Open this darn door before I break it down!" I heard a very familiar voice yell, and my eyes blinked fast as I tried to apprehend the person's voice.My eyes widened when I thought of who might have the voice- It was the landlord!"Mr. Landlord?" I stuttered, as my hand reached towards the knob, before opening it.
Cephus' POVThat morning, my eyes slowly opened, and it came in contact with a strange ceiling. I felt my head aching and I groaned, hurtfully.I stood up, and sat on the sofa which I had been lying on, with my eyes looking around. "Where the fuck am I?" I murdered, my eyes slowly squinting.My eyes widened in shock, when I saw a picture hanging on the wall. It was none other than Katie."What the hell" I whispered, as I slowly stood up. "Don't tell me that I am…"I paused and swirled around to understand the whole thing, and that was when I realized where I was- Katie's poorly furnished room which disgusted me to the core."Fuck!" I screamed, and it didn't take long for Katie to appear before me. I was feeling furious, not minding the pure and innocent look she kept on her face. I was glaring hard at her, that she feared that my ears would shoot lasers and bullets to her face."Are you awake?" She asked in a whisper"What is this!" I abruptly yelled, causing shivers to run through he
Katie's POVCephus donned a white shirt, a pair of blue trousers and a black suit jacket. He stood by the mirror side and checked himself. When he was satisfied with his look, he turned back to me who was still struggling with finding a decent dress to put on.“You will come with me today and pretend to be my wife, no questions, get dressed,” he had told me and walked away, leaving no room for questions. I shook my head and followed the order.I was ferreting the closet but I didn't like any of the clothes in time, I hadn't checked it until now, a small scowl marred my face as I rummaged through the closet. 'Why would Cephus get me such indecent clothes?' I hissed inwardly, I was not used to exposing my body, and I won’t start that now."Haven't you figured out what to wear?" His cold voice propelled quakes to my insides, but I didn't respond to him. I continued the search and got hold of a blue dress that looked longer and covered more parts of my body. I picked it up and heaved a s
Katie’s POV"You said my name when we were taking the wedding vows." I reminded him, playing along to his game of being his wife."I wouldn't have asked if I still remember." He retorted."I'm disappointed. Who am I to you?" I asked him, as tears stained my cheeks, I was trying hard not to cry but it didn't work. How can my so-called husband not know my name?"That question is unnecessary now. What I need to know is your name." He insisted.I picked up my purse and glared at him."You should figure it out." I left the room with a flounce. Cephus went after me, he hated that I was making things difficult. He gripped my arms when I got to the living room."Stop making this hard, tell me what your name is." He said, looking into my eyes. I shook my head disappointedly. "Katie!" I shouted and pushed him away. "That's it if you care to know." I hissed and left the living room, I walked into the garage with numbness in my heart, I was too sad to think that Cephus didn't know my name.They
Katie’s POVI introduced myself to other members of the family, I met Phoebe, Jonathan's daughter who was some years younger than me. Jude, the consigliore and his wife, Betty, who was a little woman and I wondered how she got married to a man that huge. I thought of how their bed experience would be and cussed at myself for being so silly. I met Kevin, the underboss and Abigail, Kelvin's wife. Blake, one of the soldiers smiled at me. Carrie, his wife to be was also present. I met a few more people and the others weren't on seats, some were in our outfit that was in another city to handle some businesses.The few ones I met seemed to be very nice to me, aside from Kelvin who didn't spare me a smile, his face was always cold and I was quick to form a nickname for him in my head. "Cold fish," My “husband” was no less different from Kelvin, he was as cold as him, if not colder.Jonathan called on Stella, the cook, to serve the table and in no time, the table was filled with varieties of
Chapter 183Katie's POVAll I see is a blur of him as I try to get my mind and body to function so I can answer him. My legs hit the floor as he pushed me down, releasing me to walk away. His hand grips his hair as he stares at the gun in his other hand and back down to me.“No. No, it’s not true,” I whimper, tears still falling. “Don’t listen to him,” I plead, looking him straight in the eyes.“Silence,” he orders, walking over to me with his hand raised. Will he hit me? Will he hurt me?“That isn’t true!” I shoot back. “Nothing he is saying is true…”Silence ensues for a long second before Cephus speaks. “Get the ropes and tape!” he yells to Mack. I’m lying on the ground on my side when his face comes into my vision.“Was it all a lie, Katie? Was it all some fucked up lie so that you could get into my head? So you could get the inside job done and walk away unscathed?” His voice is so loud in my ears, I push away from him.“Was it?” he shouts, demanding a response, his fingers gripp
Chapter 182Katie's POV“I see it as more of a protective arrangement for both of us. There are legal protections for each of us… incentives to keep one another’s secrets.”I fixed him with what I hoped was the most vicious look I had in me. “I never went to the cops after you kidnapped me, didn’t go running to my parents begging them to find someone to break your kneecaps, and you thought you needed some other way of getting me to keep your secrets?”“It matters…” I can hear the anxiety in Mack’s voice. Something is very, very wrong.“Why does it matter? She was nothing before this whole incident and will be nothing after everything takes place. She’s clean. I know it.” Cephus sounds confident, and though I know I have done nothing wrong, if Mack convinces him I did something, I know I am as good as dead.“It matters because I know she’s not clean. After Jared called me and told me what Luccio said, I did a little digging on her and found some shit out.”Horror fills my mind. What i
Chapter 181Katie's POV“I was seven or eight, in a regular primary school not far from here.” His right hand moved, grasping for his phone, then he left it alone and pulled my hand he was still holding onto his knee, placing both of his hands over it. If the ring I was wearing was digging in, he didn’t give any sign. “It might surprise you to hear this, Katie, but I was not the best of children.”“Shocking revelation.”“I was always targeting kids a bit younger, a bit smaller. The ones I knew wouldn’t be able to give me any shit in return. Except this one time, there was this kid—Billy Burke, I remember his name vividly—and he did give me shit. He told me he wanted me to stop pushing him around and trying to scare him, and no he wasn’t going to give me his lunch money, by the way. I’d never run into this situation before when I was running this scam, so I panicked a bit. I hit him in the face. Told me to his parents.”I didn’t know what to say to this. It took me all too quickly b
Chapter 180Katie's POVEven when it gets worked out in the end, it sucks for long-term relationships.”It had to be even harder to find someone you could enter into the sort of long-term relationship most people were especially keen on with. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised Cephus had jumped at the chance to get me on board as a future wife.And speaking of my future husband, I had half-expected he wouldn’t be there when I returned. Then when I saw him sitting on the couch in front of the TV where he’d been when I ran out to get in Caroline’s car—where he’d probably slept for all I knew, he’d gone out the night before and hadn’t been back before I admitted defeat and crawled to bed—I half-expected to spot Angel somewhere in the room in the next moment. She didn’t have anything further to add to her roster of manipulations for the moment: we were alone.“What was your day like?” asked Cephus without looking at me. I let my bag slip by degrees from my fingers, frozen in place by the p
Chapter 179Katie's POV“Cephus isn’t supposed to be a part of this side of things, he can’t do it… and I doubt you’re in a position to ask your mother for assistance. Caroline is an ideal choice.”I didn’t like it, but she was right. I couldn’t go about this the wrong way if I ever wanted to be on Cephus’s good side. I didn’t want to go about it the wrong way. And while I was surrounded by Cephus’s family I needed to make connections unless I wanted to be treated the same way I was on my own. Caroline seemed like the safest option there so far.“If you’re sure I won’t be inconveniencing you,” I told Caroline. “I could use the help. I don’t have much experience with the whole wedding business, that much is for sure.”Caroline broke out in a little golf clap of delight. There might actually be some benefit in spending trying to absorb as much as I could of her elegance. “I’m so pleased to help. Now, I was thinking, I have the whole of tomorrow afternoon off work, so that would be a g
Chapter 178Katie's POVI sat up with a gasp.It was just like the morning before when I had woken to unexpected voices. But this time I was in a strange bed again, and at least one of those voices didn’t seem familiar at all.I’d learned my lesson from the day before. I couldn’t get myself into the single bathroom in the apartment, but I pulled on a proper outfit, brushed out my hair, and cleaned my face thoroughly with some wipes. I didn’t dare put on makeup without a full mirror, but I was young and fresh enough that I could probably get away without it.Once I was decent, I made a quick and quiet tidy of my room and then stepped up to the door for a bit of strategic eavesdropping before I joined the action.A childish female voice was doing most of the talking. “She’ll need someone to guide her through the process.”Cephus’s voice sounded both amused and exasperated. “Someone who has never been even close to getting married before?”“You know exactly what Caroline means.” The thi
Chapter 177Katie's POVI kept trying to convince myself that what I was craving was the worst craving anyone had ever had, including anything that had been thought up by a brain on pregnancy. But it was ridiculous to be so worried about whether I did or didn’t sleep with him when I was already making myself vulnerable to him, right? Or was this just how I was convincing myself to go along with wherever my lust took me?I don’t think about looking at my plate. Then when Cephus abruptly slid his chair backwards and stood, I startled like a tiny animal that could run away if provoked further. I knew damn well I couldn’t run.Cephus came to my side and put his hand out for mine, drawing me to my feet when I complied.“You have sauce on you,” he said and pointed it out on my shirt—his fingertip pressing slightly into my breast in a way that was, I’m sure, entirely necessary.I looked down at his hand there. Well, I’d managed to at least try to eat something.I thrust my chest forward in
Chapter 176Katie's POV“Madonna and child.” Cephus folded his arms and leaned back; it felt like an acknowledgment that I’d landed a hit, but I didn’t have any idea how. I’d just been trying to give a voice to my frustrations. “So you know a little bit about art, then.”“I think that’s kind of something I picked up through pop culture actually,” I said. I was hoping to screw with him while I seemed to have an advantage, and he did appear to deflate a little in response. “You’d be more eager to get a leg over if I was the kind of girl who t art and how to engage with you because I have any desire to ‘get a leg over’. And I have no intention of scorning you because you lack cultural polish. I assure you that I will be able to provide for you sexually in every way you might require.”“What kind of statement is that? Trust me, I’m a sexy beast, even though from the way I behave you would expect pretty much any Arctic land to be less frigid than I am?”“Do you want me to provide referen
Chapter 175Katie's POV“Am I supposed to believe you are shy?”I was so startled by Cephus's Voice that here I dropped the capsicum I’d been fidgeting with. It rolled across the bench, and Cephus caught it with one hand while he continued dicing its unlucky sibling with the other.“I guess you wouldn’t,” I admitted, “but if any situation was going to make me feel that way… I mean, we’ve gone from you having me dragged out If bed to trying to cook with me?”“You’ve got to roll with the challenges life presents you sometimes, Katie,” said Cephus, rolling the second capsicum into the path of his knife.“Are you talking about me here or you?”“Both of us, for once.” His expression visibly dulled. It struck me then just how much more animated he had become since we had first met. It was just a handful of hours but there was someone behind the mafia man front he was slowly letting me see, whether by choice or unconsciously I did not know.It bothered disappearing again. It was messing wi