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Cephus’ POV
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2024-02-17 19:19:10Related chapters
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 89Katie’s POVIt’s about one o’clock in the morning when I shake Tina’s tiny shoulder, waking her.She jumps upright––we all do it in this house––and looks at me with saucer eyes.“Shh…” I whisper, pressing my forefinger to her lips before she has the chance to talk.Her eyes widened even more.She swings her legs over the edge of her old twin bed and tears my hand away from her mouth as if knowing.“What’s going on? Is he back? Is he drunk again?”The words shoot like bullets from her lips, her voice still quiet, yet very much drenched in fear.The fear that permeates our brains all the fucking time.I hate it.It’s like a bad rash that never goes away, mold that can’t be removed, or an ugly nightmare you can never wake up from.She can’t stop trembling, her collar bones sticking out through the opening of her raggedy pajamas.At twelve, my younger sister, Valentina, is in a continuous battle with herself, and her life and circumstances, as kids are when they’re too young to
Last Updated : 2024-02-22Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 90Katie’s POVWitness days and nights like this one when we jump, startled, and frightened every time the doors get slammed in the house, and his voice is loud, his speech slurred, and his short fuse brings upon us dire times.Abandon her here, fearing that I may never see her again.That my father might do something stupid.That he might make a mistake.That someone else might snatch her because he didn’t pay attention to her while living in a daze, imbued with alcohol, or getting high.Whatever heart-rending circumstances he might create would also get her.Dark scenarios swirl in my head as I weigh my decision.The risk is enormous, and this endeavor is fit for a real adult, which I’m not.This is a test of maturity for me, and whether I pass it or not remains to be seen, but my decision has been made.I haven’t discussed it with her, and she is terrified as if she knows what this is all about.My heart bleeds while hers beats with unsuppressed desperation in her wet blue e
Last Updated : 2024-02-22Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 91Katie’s POVI also needed a place to sleep until I got my first paycheck and rented a room at a motel or something.And hopefully, that first paycheck will come fast, as the money I still have after paying for my car is nowhere close to what I need to survive.“It’s okay,” I say, talking about my car.“What color is it?”“Navy.”We chat about it, mostly to forget that I’m about to leave.This is probably the most important thing that’s happened to us.We’ve never been apart.Since my mother brought her home from the hospital after giving birth, I’ve always been by her side.She was a tiny baby—I was too when I was born, my mother said––and quite happy.Less moody than I was, my mother had also said. But then my mother passed, and I’ve been my little sister’s sole support since she was six.I helped her with her homework and tried to make things better for her.It didn’t always work, but now it will.Things will be different.I will make this work even if it’s the last thing
Last Updated : 2024-02-22Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 92Katie’s POVLas VegasThe next dayFuck it’s hot.It’s not like I’m not used to the warm weather.I’ve lived in LA my entire life, but this is more than I expected, and trying to look fresh after spending the night in my car at a truck stop––how ironic, I know about this place from my father––doesn’t help me in one bit.I freshened up, showered, washed my hair, put on some makeup––mostly mascara and lip gloss––and did my best to look all right’––clean and rested before squeezing my limber body into a skintight dress and putting on my heels.They’re all Jen’s size and fit me like a glove.Okay.Surprise, surprise.I’m not interviewing for a manager position, and the job I’m looking for needs to start tonight.I could live out of my car for a week, maybe two, but not more than that. The weather is hot in September, and my AC is busted, blowing hot air.But I do my best, walking on my heels, as I look at the piece of paper in my hand with the hotel's address where Jen’s cousin
Last Updated : 2024-02-22Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 93Katie’s POVThere must be a convention of sorts. Or there's also a convention. Several events must be taking place here.I'd been warned this was a huge hotel, which fueled my optimism that I might find some work.For now, something else bothers me, though.I swing my gaze over the cars and people and even look across the street. The construction workers are gone.So, it can’t be someone from that crew looking at me.I am paranoid, but can you blame me?If I think logically about it… No one knows where I am.There’s no way my father already does.The only person who knows exactly where I am is Jen. And Jen is the kind of woman who doesn't run her mouth and can hold her own. Maybe she’s overdoing it in some instances.But still… I don’t want my father’s wrath on her.Despite all that, she wouldn’t talk.No, for sure, she wouldn’t.With that pacifying thought, I glance around the area one last time before sucking in a long breath and walking inside.* * *KatieThe person I ne
Last Updated : 2024-02-22Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 94Katie's POVI prop my hand against the wall to steady myself, catch my breath, and put my shoes on.The silence is sobering, making me painfully aware of my clipped breaths.Silently exhaling, I study the area.Polished marble with a medallion design lines the floors while a crystal chandelier dangles from the ceiling.All right.Where is the exit?I start walking, hoping to find the door to the stairwell, since the elevator is no longer an option.Beau must be waiting for me downstairs.Unless he’s making the trip up as well.The thought puts a spring in my step. I need to get out of here as quickly as possible, and then I remember that I have a job interview.Or at least I had one.I’m already late and curse quietly as I can’t believe I blew it. But how will I work here if my ex knows where I am?He couldn’t stand the idea of seeing me with other people, especially men.He won’t be more agreeable to the idea now.No way. He can’t be here. Or I can’t be here.Panic soars th
Last Updated : 2024-02-22Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 95Katie's POVI lied many times to protect Tina and myself, but other than that, I never lied to other people aside from my father.He has a sly glint in his eye, and something tells me he has followed me.“How did you know I was here?” I ask.He uncrosses his arms and reaches inside his pocket before extracting a small object.“I know the guy who sold you the car. I placed this inside your tire. Easy peasy.”A fucking GPS tracker??I feel like smacking him.“Why would you do that?”Does he know––the fucking dick––that he’s destroyed my younger sister’s chance to a better life?”“Why wouldn’t I?” he says, tucking the small device back into his pocket. “Where did you think you’d go? And does your father know about this trip?”Oh, no. Not my father.Please don’t bring him up in the conversation.I freeze, trying to put two and two together. There is some good news in his stupid remark.My father doesn’t know that I’m gone?I doubt that.But even if he does, Beau is asking me ab
Last Updated : 2024-02-22Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
Chapter 96Katie’s POVThey all have swift reactions consisting of smooth, rehearsed moves, and I don’t have time to figure out what they mean when my eyes slide to the stranger’s face.His gaze meets mine with a hint of curiosity and deliberate purpose.His focus is sharp while his eyes glint with questions, and he collects his own answers from how I look and how the man accompanying me behaves.Moving his gaze from Beau Anthony to me with a concerned, steady expression on his face, he probably notices the invisible tendrils of tension flailing around us.I use the brief reprieve to step toward him, and the suits behind him rustle once again with threatening impatience when he repeats his clipped gesture, and they draw still.Their shoulders are broad like his, and their eyes are divorced from any human compassion––not that the man in front of me has any, although he seems more concerned with what is going on while they seem blind at everything except his quick commands.“There you a
Last Updated : 2024-02-22
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Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
Indebted To The Cruel Mafia Boss Katie's POV
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
