Katie's POV"There's nothing you can say, Cephus, I won't go and live in a club like some prostitute." I refused to, I was on the verge of tears, but I couldn't let him see the effect he had on me."Oh, but you'll go, remember how you owe me your life and everything you are? I saved you, I'm housing you, you need to pay back, but you know I have no qualms taking your life if you're not cooperative," He retorted, the hatred I have for me spreading in me even more. And to think I was trying to get to know him."Why are you like this? What did I do? What changed?" I whispered, making sure the fury in my face is evident, he didn't mind though."What changed is that I want you to leave this house and go to the club, you'll be working there anyways," he was getting frustrated, I could tell.As I opened my mouth to argue more, he pulled out a knife and held it to my throat."I knew that would shut you up," he snickered."Yes, it does," I shot back. He was still holding the knife to my throat
Cephus’ POV“Bring her back for today, we’ll go together for a full day tomorrow,” I instructed Romeo before letting him take her to the club. I probably knew getting her away from the house was not a good idea, but, I needed her out, I ensured her safety though."A casino is this big?" Her jaw dropped as her eyes kept ogling the skyscraper in front of her."Yeah, different activities are carried out here. What do you expect? Come with me." I put on my dark glasses and extended a hand out to her. She shook off and didn't take my hand."There is no need to put on a show, we don't usually do this." She said, waiting for me to start walking so she could follow behind me.I shrugged my shoulders and walked away from her, Katie trotted behind me, admiring my very tall frame and how my well-tailored suit fitted every one of my muscles, yes I could feel her eyes on me."Hey, wait up!" She stopped me when they got to the entrance. Looking around, she asked. "Is this place some kind of suite
Cephus’ POV"Come in," I called, hearing a knock at my office door.Freya waltzed into my office with sluggish gaits, she donned a long red skirt that stopped after her knees, a shirt that fully covered her chest and there was a blazer hanging on her shoulders."Good morning, sir." She greeted, scoffing as she gaped at me, thinking I haven't heard her."Freya, have your seat." I motioned to the chair before me. "Have you seen the proposal of Derrick's Firm?" I looked up from my papers to look into her eyes."Yes, I have and I have gone through it too." She affirmed, trying as much as possible to avoid my gaze. I have been mean to her since the day I warned her about her revealing dresses. She had tried to seduce me into sleeping with her like I used to do, but her efforts had been futile and she probably wondered what kind of woman I was with that I chose to remain faithful to her."What's your take on them?" I demanded, ruffling the papers in his hands. When Freya wasn't acting like
Cephus' POV.I stood abruptly from my chair, pulled my phone from my pocket, "Romeo, meet me at the club," I ordered and ended the call. I needed to see what Katie was doing to get my money back.As I entered the club, it was already packed with people willing to spend their money for a piece of ass."Cephus! My man!," I heard my name and turned to see a man who I usually share a drink with, whose name I never remember and he always takes offense to it.I forced a smile and exchanged a quick greeting before scanning the room for Katie. She was the best dancer in town, and I knew she could seduce any man she wanted. I spotted her at the center stage, her body moving in perfect rhythm to the music, and a trail of mesmerized men following her every move.I made my way towards her, my eyes locked on her, as if I was under a spell. Katie noticed me and gave me a sly smile, her hips swaying hypnotically as she danced towards me."What brings you here, Cephus?" she purred, her sultry voice s
Katie's POV"What do you think you are doing!" Cephus barked furiously, his eyebrows knitting. He had a heavy frown on his face which almost created wrinkles on his handsome face."I should be the one asking you that, Cephus. What the heck do you think you are doing right now? Can't you see that you are abusing my customer. First, you tell me to make you money by selling my body to men, and next thing, you are beating up the men who want me for no reason" I said, shaking my head. I was sounding annoyed.I wished that I was even stronger and powerful than him. Then, I would have ripped him to pieces."Freya… How could you?" He suddenly whispered, looking pitiful and hurtful.My eyebrows arched, confused. "What do you mean by that?" I asked."Freya…" He asked, coming closer to me, like he was hypnotized. The moment he got to me, he placed his warm hands on my cheek and smiled at my face. I quickly closed my eyes tightly and took my face to the other side, my lips were folded firmly."Ha
Cephus' POV"How dare she. She has got some guts!" I seethed, angrily, my teeth gnashing against each other. I was so mad that I couldn't hold myself any longer.I dashed out of the room, and ran after her in front. When I got to her, I grabbed her hand, and held it firmly, digging my long fingernails purposely into her skin."Ouch!" She cried. "What do you think you are doing? Let me go!""Come with me. It seems you have forgotten the hand that feeds you" I said, angrily as I pulled her away, even when she felt reluctant."What is going on?" She questioned. "Can you explain what is happening?"Fear was in her voice, and I liked it. I would use it against her, and make sure that she regrets biting the hand that feeds her, and that was my hand.I stopped suddenly and pushed her to the wall. She groaned painfully and looked at me. "What are you doing? Why are you doing this to me?" She asked, fearfully."Don't act oblivious, Katie. You know that it's your fault that I'm being this way,
Cephus' POVIt had been three days since Romeo and Katie were put in the cell. I tried not to worry or overthink it, but it was difficult. That morning, I took a cool bath and dressed up before ordering that food be given to the prisoners.Afterwards, I left the mansion and headed straight to the club. As I entered, I noticed people whispering and stealing glances at me. I couldn't hold it in any longer and approached two girls who were whispering to each other and staring at me, obviously."What is going on?" I asked the girls who shivered, and went mute immediately."Excuse me?" The girls asked, and avoided sharing eye contact with me."What are you two talking about? Why were you staring at me?" I asked, and they both gulped audibly, and I noticed how pale and nervous their faces looked."We are sorry, It's nothing important though" The second girl, who seemed different from her friend replied."You had better talk if you don't want me to punish you. Don't annoy me!" I growled, poi
Katie's POVI sat at the dimly lit corner booth of the cozy Italian restaurant, my fingers nervously tapping against the wine glass. Romeo, my best friend and confidant, slid into the seat opposite me, a concerned expression etched on his face."What's eating you up, Katie?" Romeo asked, his voice filled with genuine worry.I sighed, my eyes fixed on the flickering candle between them. "It's Cephus, Romeo. I just can't seem to get him out of my mind."Romeo leaned forward, his eyes searching for me. "You know he's our mob boss, right? It's not exactly a healthy obsession, Mar."I rolled my eyes, frustration evident in my voice. "I know, I know. But just imagine, Romeo, how incredible it would be if Cephus actually liked me back. We could be together, truly happy."Romeo chuckled, shaking his head. "You've got quite the imagination, Mar. Cephus is a powerful man, and he's got a lot on his plate. I doubt he has time for love."My eyes sparkled with determination. "That's you're wrong, R
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