Katie's POV
"What… What is this?" I stammered, as I rubbed my eyes, trying to see what was on the paperwork before me. My hand trembled as I reached towards it, and as soon as I got it, I took it over to my eyes, which widened in shock and fear after I had read it.
It was a contract that would officially make me a sex toy in the club.
"No, please" I whispered, shaking my head as tears rolled down my cheeks. "I don't think I can do this. No, I can't!”
The paper fell down my hands and laid on the floor.
"How dare you!" I heard his loud and cold voice which sent shivers down my spine.
"I apologize, but I can't do it. Give me another punishment or job, I will take it but not this" I said, shakily, my nose started getting so runny that it stained half of my face.
He scoffed, and grabbed my chin which he took upwards to face him. "I gave you an option, but you weren't ready for it" He said, his deep voice resounding.
"I don't have the money," I said, shaking my head. "If I did, I would have paid, I swear. The money is too much that I feel I won't be able to save for it, even after many years"
"I don't care," He sneered. "You shall as I asked, since you don't have the money. Sign the fucking paper"
"I have a reason" I squeaked, closing my eyes tightly.
"What?" He whispered, confused for a while. I gulped audibly and slowly opened my eyes, and it fell on his angry looking face, and when my eyes fell in contact with his sharp glaring eyes, I hurriedly carried it elsewhere.
"Do you have a reason?" He scoffed and I nodded quickly, mumbling a "Yes"
"What is the reason?" He asked.
I wanted to respond but it suddenly felt like there was a lump on my throat. I suddenly became dumbfounded, and numb.
"Aren't you going to talk? Or a cat got your tongue?" He mocked, and laughed.
I only nodded, since it was still hard for me to speak. Although, fresh hot tears were leaving my eyes. I was pained and bitter to the core. I was beginning to regret and hate my existence. I hoped that even the floor would just open up and swallow me up.
"Speak!" He yelled. "What is the reason? You can't just make me curious and turn deaf, I won't have it. You shall not take me for a fool because I'm not"
After he said those words, he brought the sharp edge of the knife to the side of my face, and I shook in fear. Even my teeth began to tremble and clatter so much.
"You aren't still talking, huh?" He smirked, as he took the knife to my neck.
I gulped down heavily, and my throat seemed to sake as a result of that.
"I will speak!" I screamed, and his eyes darted to my face.
"Then speak," He said, as his thick eyebrows went downwards.
"I don't think I will be able to work in the club because… because I don't think I will be able to do what the others do" I said, after hesitating for a long period of time.
His left eyebrow went up when he heard that, and he stared perplexed at me. "What is that supposed to mean? Is that supposed to be the reason?" He growled.
"I… I…" I stammered, dramatically.
"Shut up! I got curious for no reason. Sign the paper, I don't want to talk too much" He said.
"I'm a virgin!" I cried, and he turned to face me. We looked at each other for a while, intently and deeply, without uttering a word. However, he broke the long silence with a mischievous laugh.
When he was done, he faced me, and I saw how different he looked- Daring and infuriated.
"You are a virgin?" He asked, trying to be serious.
"Yes" I whispered, nodding my head. "I have never had sex before"
"So, I'm guessing you have nothing? You are simply useless, you are poor and can't pay, and you are a virgin, how will you satisfy the men now? Why did you have to come into my life and cause such a huge mess? It's impossible for you to leave now," he said.
I just stayed there, hoping for a slight miracle. Probably, something would make me go back in time, and I would avoid him at all cost, and even the so-called expensive clothes that I had stained mistakenly.
He said nothing, all he did was to walk around, and think deeply. I let out a sigh, and looked down. I thought of what might happen to me. I just wanted to leave there. I didn't want to see him because he scares me so much.
"I want to go home badly" I whispered, as I felt coldness on my body.
He quickly faced me, and his eyebrows knitted. His eyes turned angry, and there was a frown slowly occupying his face.
"What did you just say?" He asked, and I pointed at my chest before giving him a reply.
"I didn't say anything"
"You liar!" He spat. "I heard you, but your voice wasn't too clear so I could not get the statement. Anyway, you said something behind my back. What was that?"
I swallowed hard and thought of what to say. Something quietly came to my mind, and I heaved in relief. I slowly carried my gaze to him.
"I wanted to beg you" I whispered.
"Beg me?" He asked, coming closer.
I nodded. "Yes. Please pardon me this last time. Just give me a year and I will pay you"
"A year?" He scoffed.
"Yes, I promise," I nodded.
He smirked, and brought the knife to my face. "How about I kill you instead?"
"Huh?" I muttered, shaking in fear, with my eyes widened open.
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