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The second death was discovered the following day - the man had been found sitting in his car with a gun in his hand and a bullet in his brain. Franky had taken great pleasure in showing me the pictures and I immediately recognised him as the man who had run after me in just his towel after I had slipped the envelope under his bathroom door. My blood instantly ran cold and I had to fight the waves of nausea as I tore my eyes from the pictures. “Second lieutenant that Milano has lost in a week,” Franky said with a smile. “You know what that means?”I didn’t answer immediately, so he continued on with his explanation without even bothering to wait for me.“It means that new lieutenants will take their places, and that there will be space for more soldiers. I might finally have a chance!” He sounded so darned excited that I didn't have the heart to douse his enthusiasm with my complete horror at the gruesome images of death. Nor did I have the heart to disillusion him about being a so
Enzo POVThat woman was going to be the death of me. As much as I wanted to keep her at arm’s length, I felt drawn to her like a moth to a flame. And it was only a matter of time before she would burn me. I had been seconds away from kissing her once again. Seconds away from taking her in my arms and claiming her as my own in every way. Hell, I had even considered marking her and making her my mate, but there was no guarantee that a human would survive in my world. “She might look like the princess, but she’s not,” Elijah had firmly reminded me when I had told him about my urges. “You’re just projecting your feelings onto her because of the resemblance.” But I wasn’t. I didn’t like her because of who she looked like, I liked her because of her witty comebacks and the way she melted in my arms whenever I held her, as if she were made to be there. I listened carefully for the door to open and close as Kat left the hotel room, and only then did I let out the sigh I had held back as I
Enzo POVShe was dressed in a little black dress which was far too short and far too revealing for my liking, as she gripped the man’s arm as if she were nervous to enter the club. I was a second away from charging over to her and dragging her out of the club when Eli’s words stopped me. “What the hell is one of your soldiers doing getting friendly with two Milano women?” Eli asked angrily, his eyes narrowed. It was only then that I recognised the man that Kat was with as being Fabio, a soldier a few years older than me that had more muscles than brains. And on the other side of him, giggling prettily as she pressed tightly against him, was a woman with long dark hair that I had never seen before. “Who is the other one?” I asked Eli cooly. He downed what was left of his brandy in one gulp before he responded. “That’s Giulia Rossi, Milano’s favourite whore. At least, she used to be. I hear he likes them a lot younger so she’s probably too old for him now.” My eyes fixed on the tri
Kat POVI felt as if someone had tipped a bucket of ice cold water over my head, instantly cooling the flames of desire which had captivated me just moments ago. I dropped Enzo’s hand as if he had burned me, and walked toward Fabio and Giulia. “Why?” I heard myself asking, but I already knew the answer. Fabio had been seen being intimate with the enemy, and had been disciplined for that. The hypocritical bastard had ordered that Fabio be beaten, while he freely toyed with me - and I was as much an enemy to the Castellos as Giulia was. The beaten man’s face had become nothing more than a pool of blood, his lip split in multiple places, his nose broken and his eyes already swelling shut. From the way he stood clutching his side, I was sure he had cracked a few ribs too. I glanced from Eli to Enzo, catching the look which passed between them as if they were having a silent conversation. In a heartbeat, Enzo moved to Eli’s side and was handed a handgun, which he cocked. Giulia screame
Kat POVI didn’t go back to Mother’s house. The thought of seeing that terrifying woman in a rage after learning that her favourite prostitute had run away sent a shiver down my spine. The events of the evening spiralled in my mind, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. I changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that Giulia had left in Fabio’s apartment, using a hairpin to clip the waistband tighter so that the pants wouldn’t fall down around my ankles as I walked. “The last thing I have left of her,” I sighed, running my hand over the slightly baggy shirt. I glanced around Fabio’s flat before I closed and locked the door behind me, pocketing the key. The flat was Castello’s property, so I would have to give the key back to Enzo when I had managed to sell the furniture - not that I was in a hurry to see the man again. In fact, if Fabio and Giulia hadn’t needed the money desperately, I would have told each piece off at leisure, just to inconvenience Enzo.I sighed a
Kat POV“It’s done,” I announced as I shut the door to Enzo’s hotel room behind me with a bang. Enzo and Eli jumped, looking up from a piece of paper they were inspecting on the desk. Eli looked a bit uncomfortable and picked up the paper, folding it and slipping it into his pocket before he made a rather smooth yet hasty retreat out of the room. “I’ve delivered the blasted envelope, now give me the next one and I will leave,” I said coldly, still furious at Castello for the whole Fabio fiasco. He sighed, running his hand through his hair as he watched me. His face seemed to be marred by the signs of a sleepless night, and I wondered if I looked as bad as he did. I had crept into the house in the early hours of the morning to change my clothes, and left as quickly as I could without being seen by anyone. From there, I snuck into the house of Milano's most terrifying enforcer to deliver the blasted envelope. The man was built like a tank, fueled by steroids and the blood of innocen
Kat POV“Sofia is too soft on you girls,” he roared as he pulled his belt from his pants, cracking it like a whip. “I’m going to teach you your place, once and for all. No one betrays me!” I felt the buckle of the belt hit my cheek, causing me to cry out as my vision blurred from the pain. He raised the belt again and I shielded my face with my hands, only to have the buckle slam into my forearm. “I am your master, you worthless bitch,” he screamed, pulling me away from the wall to kiss me hard, his lips bruising mine as he grabbed my breast painfully. His hands grabbed at my shirt, tearing it down the front as his eyes devoured my chest hungrily. Milano licked his lips pushing me back against the wall, my head slamming back against the bare bricks as he undid the button of his pants. He was going to rape me. That was almost certain, and then he was probably going to kill me for my betrayal. My scream was cut off by his fist as it connected with my cheek, and the tears pricked at
Enzo POVKat fell asleep within fifteen minutes after we left the city, her head pressed against the window of my car. She looked so peaceful that I didn’t have the heart to wake her up, even though she would probably wake up with a sore neck if I left her like that. “She probably didn’t sleep either,” Amarok grumbled, obviously feeling sorry for the woman. The moment I had seen her standing in the hallway, blood splattered across her pale face, I knew that something bad had happened. I initially wondered if it had something to do with the envelope I had given her - the threat inside meant for the consigliere of Milano. Milano wouldn’t have taken the threat on his advisor well, the older man being his number one support in the family of cut throats. I hadn’t suspected that Kat would take the fall for Guilia’s disappearance, nor that she would be expected to take the older woman’s place. But my thought returned to what Eli had told me about Milano preferring younger women, and I imm
Kat POV“My man has been severely injured by one of your rabid dogs,” Dimitri spat out as soon as we entered the room. Just like that, all eyes were glued to my uncle and myself, waiting like vultures for the showdown they presumed would lead to bloodshed between our species. Otis and another elderly man from the council called Yanis, sat with rather smug expressions on their faces, as if they were enjoying every moment of it.“Come, Prince Dimitri,” my uncle tried to reason. “Let us talk about this in private where we do not have such an interested audience.” Dimitri snorted and grabbed the bottle of vodka from the table, taking a swig straight from the bottle which was half empty. “And let you trick me more than you already have? You promised me a union with your niece, but instead she is willing to spread her legs for every man beside me.”A gasp ran through the room as the accusation reached the spectators’ ears, and I’m pretty darn sure that the whole kingdom would be told that
Kat POV“Who would dare to attack a guest in our home?” my uncle fumed, pacing back and forth to the point that I was sure that he would wear a groove in the floor of his office. Vasilios stood by the window, blocking most of the light and leaving a gigantic shadow on the floor. “I don’t know, Your Majesty. But it strikes me as strange that whoever attacked Prince Dimitri and his supporter did not kill either of them. In fact, it appears as if this was a deliberate ploy to stop the union between Princess Katerina and Prince Dimitri.” I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to keep myself from blurting out that there was no way in this universe that I would ever be forced into a relationship with that brute. I would honestly throw myself off the edge of the earth before I could ever find myself in bed with the monster. “Yes, I thought that was strange too,” my uncle mused, scratching his chin as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. I froze, wondering what my uncle was planning.
Kat POVI lay in my bed staring at the ceiling for most of the night, my mind restless as Damian’s words repeated themselves again and again. If I were to be honest with myself, they actually scared me. He seemed to be the kind of man who’s threats were always promises, and who would stop at nothing to see his goals accomplished - even if it meant destroying me. When I eventually fell asleep, it was a fitful sleep, and I woke up more exhausted than I had been the whole evening. Aurora lay on her bed, her head on her paws as she watched me. “Good morning,” I yawned, trying to summon all the strength I could to get out of bed and failing miserably. The wolf got up, padding over to me and nudging my hand before she grabbed the corner of the duvet and pulled it off me, the cool air instantly making goosebumps spread across my legs. “That’s not fair,” I pouted, forcing myself to get out of bed since it was no longer a safe haven. She looked at me smugly - if you can even say that a wol
Kat POV“Not who you were expecting?” Damian laughed harshly as he pushed his way into my room. I stood by the door, my mouth slightly agape in a mix of shock and horror. I toyed with the idea of leaving Damian in my room and running somewhere else, but the look of rage in the man’s eyes made me second guess that option. “What do you want, Damian?” I asked, gathering what little courage I had in the face of his raw masculinity. He smiled slightly as he walked to the window - the exact spot he had held me mere days ago, probably remembering the way his body had claimed mine. But I wasn’t his, and I never would be. “I saw you with Enzo Castello,” he grumbled through clenched teeth, the anger returning to his gaze. “What were you doing with him?”I shrugged casually, brushing off his fury with a flick of my hand. “What has my being with Enzo got to do with you? You do not own me,” I enunciated slowly.He moved so fast that I had barely any time to gasp before he had me pinned up again
Kat POV“How about to Freedom, and all that it represents,” I suggested and he smiled slightly as he clinked his glass against mine. I could tell that he had been disappointed that I hadn’t toasted to our relationship. Sure, I believed him about Amia, and I knew that he was the man that “Kat the thief” had fallen in love with… but there was so much that had changed and I would be an utter idiot if I believed that I was the same person I was back then. “To Freedom,” Enzo toasted, taking a sip of the champagne. A weird tension pulsed between us, and I was desperate to get the joking, happy Enzo back. I slid from the booth, tugging Enzo with me as I dragged him to the dance floor. “What are you doing?” he asked, suspicious of my actions. I laughed and winked at him, turning to face him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I want to dance, and just forget everything that has happened.” His face instantly brightened, and he put his hands on my hips, swaying with me as the music chan
Kat POVI clung to Enzo as he guided the bike down the dark, winding road toward the glinting lights in the distance, butterflies fluttering in my stomach as nervous energy built up in my body. I had no idea where we were going, and Enzo refused to tell me. His answer had simply been, “freedom.” So I had to accept that until we arrived, I was going to be kept in the dark. I was grateful for the warmth which radiated from his body, warming me as the cool air nipped at my exposed flesh. Winter was coming, and I was dreading the cold that it brought. I pulled myself closer to Enzo and felt his chest vibrate as he chuckled at my action, and probably loving it way more than he should. Time seemed to slow down as the town’s lights came closer, and it was only when Enzo pulled up outside what looked to be an abandoned building that I actually looked around me. The parking lot was desolated with not a person in sight, and only a few vehicles which looked as if they belonged in a scrap yard
Katerina POVI sighed loudly, closing my eyes as I collapsed on my bed, not even bothering to change out of the dress I had worn to dinner. After lingering in the garden for longer than was probably necessary, I felt eyes on me and looked up at the balcony to see Damian smoking in the darkness - at least I thought it was him, no other werewolf smoked as far as I knew. My back instantly straightened and I stormed back into the dining hall before he could think to corner me into an attempt to justify his actions. I wasn’t interested. So instead, I spent a tense evening watching Anka throw herself at the bears. By the time she left the room with three of the meanest looking brutes, I had had enough of playing the perfect princess. Luckily for me, the dinner party seemed to be dying down so I could easily slip back to the solace of my own room. I felt a wet nose nudge my hand and opened my eyes to see Aurora, her big pale blue eyes looking at me. “You would have hated it too, girl,”
Enzo POVI should have torn the head off of that obnoxious bear. Every single cell in my body wanted to see his blood spilled, but I knew that I would be executed if I did - and what would it serve if I killed the man who was meant to marry Kat, only to join him in the afterlife shortly after. This political game made my head hurt, reminding me of why I had left Slovenia in the first place. Sure, I had wanted to serve my King as best as I could, but I kept finding myself stumbling in the politics which doused the Royal Court. When Luca had asked me to take over the business side of the family, I jumped at the opportunity. It had been an escape I hadn’t known I had needed. Returning was the last thing I had wanted to do - and yet if I had to choose between my freedom and being close to Kat, I would choose her every time. “Where the hell are your clothes?” I heard Cassie screech, covering her eyes as if my nakedness offended her. I shrugged, putting my hands on my hips in the taunti
Kat POVI watched Madame Zametovka’s face light up with a smile the moment Prince Dimitri and his gang of muscle entered the dining hall. She stood, fanning her face as she watched him out of the corner of her eye - like some middle aged cougar. I half expected her to lick her lips or drool with the way she was staring at him. She could have him, for all I cared. As far as I was concerned, I wasn’t interested in being forced into a marriage with the man. Hell, I wasn’t interested in being forced into a relationship with any man. Dimitri and his men mingled in the room, taking glasses of wine from the passing attendees and downing the contents in a single gulp. Even I knew better than that! Maybe they were the savages Cassie thought they were. “Katerina,” I heard a low voice whisper in my ear and I jumped, whirling around to face Damian, his eyes almost begging me not to walk away from him. “I need to talk to you.” I shook my head, refusing to even acknowledge him as I strode towar