Chapter 113Cephus’ POVA shower of fists falls over his face, and expletives shoot from her lips while he laughs like an idiot.My jacket slides to the floor as she sinks her fists into his face.I loop my arm around her waist and pull her back into my chest while she kicks him with her legs, oblivious to anything around her.These vile emotions must’ve been bottled up for some time.Her fury is so visceral and raw her chest heaves and her skin burns, and I have to turn her around and lock her in my arms to make her stop.Shame glints in her eyes before she presses her brow against my chest and begins sobbing, which is a whole lot of things wrapped into one.Maybe she’s upset with her stalker, her family situation, or the lack of money.Whatever it is, I press my hand on the back of her head and shush her quietly.By now, Vito has the man out of the chair and his gun connected to his head again.Regardless of how I’d like this evening to play out, we constantly get to the point where
Chapter 114Katie's POVThe rug lining the floor muffles the clicking of my heels as we make the trip to what I believe to be the lobby.The man assigned to take care of me doesn’t spare a glance in my direction.He only shows me the way as we navigate an intricate maze of hallways separated by thick doors.At some point, we are deep in the dimly lit underbelly of the hotel, and I clench my jaw to prevent my teeth from chattering.So many things have shaken me to the core and put a strain on my body.What happened to Beau. The men who came to my rescue and our trip to that room, where I frankly didn’t know what to believe.I didn’t know what to expect.I thought they’d leave us there––Beau and me––and maybe deal with us in the morning.The prospect of being with Beau in the same room scared the shit out of me.I didn’t know how much longer I could rely on these people to create a buffer between Beau and me.I honestly think the more moments like this Beau and I will have, the more ven
Chapter 115Katie's POVMy first trip is to the wall of windows.Oh, how beautiful this is. I have a balcony. A balcony? I can’t believe it. I open the door and walk outside.My heels echo against the concrete, highlighting the quiet evening. Despite the chaos swirling in the city not far from me, the night is silent up here.The view showcases the mountains' outline, the glowing lights of the city, and the stars looking like dust across the sky.It’s not like I’ve never seen a starry sky before, but not from the balcony of a hotel.The lights adorning the balustrade are so pretty.I’ve always liked the strings of lights bringing out the magic of a place in the evenings.I liked them even when I worked at the restaurant.And then I remember Tina loves them too, like so many other insignificant things.I wish I could hear her voice.I wish I could have her here right now.All the precautions taken don’t mean that much right now.All my efforts were for nothing.I was so paranoid about
Chapter 116Cephus’ POVEarlier“I knowwho the fuck you are,” Beau mumbles through his swollen, blood–stained lips.“Then why the fuck are you here?”“I’m not dealing if that’s what bothers you,” he says, desperation beaming in his voice.“Color me unimpressed. I don’t care whether you’re dealing or not. You won’t fuck with my women or threaten me. You’re lucky you’re still alive––I’ve told you that already. But your luck won’t last forever. Do you know why people like you never work for me? Because they can’t get anything done. They always get caught up in some shit. Like you, motherfucker,” I say, washing my hands in the sink and rolling my sleeves down.He’s wrapped in towels as Vito is still very much concerned with the floors more than anything else.“What do you want me to do with him, Boss?”Drying my hands with a towel, I ponder.“Clear the fucking van of those losers and put him in. Let him contemplate his life for a while, then send him home.”I drop the towel on the edge
Chapter 117Katie's POVMy belief that you need a more vicious predator to deal with a predator has just been confirmed.It works despite coming with undesirable consequences.It’s why I’m alive and not tucked in Beau’s car.It’s also why I’m scared. Predators are predators for a reason. They need to feed themselves. All the fucking time. And I’m as juicy as they come. Small, young, vulnerable, inexperienced, and dependent.I depend on other people’s goodwill to survive.And sometimes, like now, I might just reap the benefits of being targeted by different parties.But then I might just need to pay a price.So I’m a little scared when I unlock the door, crack it open, and look through the small opening like he’s there to deliver something.Words of encouragement, news, or a surprise.Good thinking, Car.A surprise. Sure. Why not? Pff.“Yes,” I say, hiding behind the door.He’s changed his clothes. How do I know? They look fresh, not that the others looked bad, but he has that air abo
Chapter 118Katie's POVHe uncrosses his arms and straightens as if getting ready to leave while I suck in a long, tense breath.“All right,” he says, appearing to be set on walking out when I speak again.“Are you working?” I ask.He swings his gaze to me.“Are you working now?” I ask, suspecting that he is.He could also be on his way to a different hotel room where he might fuck someone.I don’t know what makes me think I’m an expert in reading Cephus Salla’s expressions.I guess trying to avoid dangerous situations with my father has sharpened my perception.It's a survival mechanism, I suspect. Trying to stay alive and telling the bad guys from the good guys.I’m not an expert, but I rely on my budding intuition.He doesn’t answer.Or maybe he’s looking for an answer.“Would you mind staying with me a little longer?” I ask in a wavering voice. “I have a hard time falling asleep.”And that’s the truth.These past twenty-four hours have been a rollercoaster. A race for survival. I’
Chapter 119Katie's POV“Server?? Are you sure?”I ask, unable to stifle my surprise.Is this all I’m getting after all the shit I’ve been through?I’ve almost gotten myself killed for this??To work as a server?Didn’t I just quit a job like that?The man in front of me studies my face for the fifteenth time. And no, he’s not studying my expression.He simply can’t take his eyes away from me. I don’t know what I’ve done or if I’ve done anything to have him so interested in me.Other than brushing my hair, putting some product in it, and amateurishly styling it.I’m trying to look my best, with my hair bouncing down my back and my eyes highlighted by mascara and dark eyeliner.I put on some makeup and did my hair, but I didn’t expect to stop the traffic with my appearance.He likes what he sees and tries to be as professional as he can be, not crossing the line, but he is still very much obsessed with my face.I wonder if I could have the same effect on everyone else.But back to being
Chapter 120Cephus’ POVLater that dayI round the corner and enter the largest gambling room in the back of the casino.The place is packed, the crowd is loud, and the money flows. I signal to Vito to follow me, and we walk down the corridor and enter one of the chambers.My eyes fly to the screens.“How many do we have?”He crashes into a chair while I round the desk, claim my own seat, and check out the livestreams.“About twenty.”I lift my eyes and lock his gaze.“Any problems so far?” I ask.“No. They behave. Boris will be here tonight.”It’s not the first time the Russians have paid us a visit.We don’t mix business with pleasure and mostly cut deals and try to get along.I don’t mind them in my casino.They are big spenders and like our women.They are too flashy for my taste, but I don’t care about that part and have no problem taking their money.The business we discuss has mostly to do with staying out of each other’s territories. Once in a while, some clean-up is needed in
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