VINCENTI watched her laugh with my brother, and I struggled to keep still in my seat. I had chosen to sit differently from them, with James, so I watched from a distance.I heard James speak beside me, "Surprising how they quickly became friends in such a short while.""They have been friends before now, or at least, acquaintances. The surprising thing here is the level of closeness. I do not trust her. She might try to use my brother against me. As we speak, he probably works as a spy for her. The fool and my mother are alike in one way; the manner in which they are easily manipulated. I would not be surprised in the least if he is planning my downfall along with her. I only wonder why." I spoke, with my eyes still focused on them.James hummed, "Do you plan on confronting him about it?""Definitely." I sat up, arranging my suit, "Right after I give my welcome speech." I tapped James on his shoulder twice, then stood up to my feet and started towards the stage.I climbed the stage a
KATERINAWhen Simon returned from his 'meeting' with Vincent, I was too impatient to wait for until we were on the way home, so I took out my phone from my clutch and I texted,ME: ~ Hey, what's up? What was that all about? ~I turned to glance at him right after sending, seeing that he picked up his phone after it had lit up, only to place it right back after a sigh, looking back up at the stage. Confused, I turned to his mom to see if she was paying any attention to us, and when I confirmed that she was not, I elbowed him.He turned to me with his face still set in a straight expression and I asked in a hushed tone, "Is there a problem?"He shook his head, "We'll talk later. And I'm sorry, I cannot drop you off anymore. Don't worry, I would explain everything when we talk later."There was a moment of hesitation but I eventually nodded and sat there uneasily, glaring at Vincent who no longer paid me any attention as he passed from time to time."My driver is here. He'll take you ho
KATERINAI eventually walked out on him after a dirty glare, even if my heart was racing fast.The driver was already in the front seat, pretending to be oblivious to everything that had happened outside. What if he had choked me to death? He was just going to sit here and pretend he did not see anything happen?The thought caused a lot of a flashbacks to re-emerge in my mind and I fought to stay in the present but lost. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought about history repeating itself again. This just showed how much of a devil Vincent was, and I swore, I was going to bring him down with my own hands.He thought he had reinforced, and he was one or two steps ahead of me. Oh, only if he knew… I thought to myself.I stayed at the backseat, crying silently until I got home. And here I thought he was the only one who could not trigger my trauma; it was always okay with him. But I guess I had hard limits.At home, it was lonely. I really needed to talk to someone, so after retiring
VINCENT "We have been following your brother—by we, I mean.. the investigators have been following him and I just take the reports. His calls and texts are being tracked as well. There has been contact between him and Katerina. Okay, well, there has been some contact, but only from Katerina's end, he has never replied.." James updated me as I pounded my fists into the punching bag in front of me over and over. Beads of sweat trickled down my naked upper body to the hem of my shorts and I blinked as a single one trailed down, into my left eye. "And has he met her once in the last week? It's been almost two weeks since the party. There must have been a couple of meetings. I asked to know the details of those meetings." I informed him and he replied, "They have not met." There was a moment of silence where we looked at each other with the look in my eyes simply saying, 'Be fucking for real..' without words. He sighed and went on, "I know. It was hard for me to believe at
KATERINAThe words had left my lips before I had the chance to take them back. I left them hanging in the air as he stared at me with no emotion on his face, so I could not even tell what he was thinking.At a point, he just answered into the phone, "Yes. I think she said her favorite flowers were tulips. She’s allergic to the smell of roses. Do not get her that."I thought of walking past him, but I did not trust myself to stably walk away, so I stood there and waited for him to finally get his call over with."Attach a nice card to it too. She likes flashy things. Get her something good. I trust you to get that right. Alright. Goodbye." He ended the call with that and flashed me one of his deadly, egoistic smirks.I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him, considering I did that almost all the time with him now. What was he even doing right outside the venue of my shoot? My mind kept telling me something but I pushed the thought away, rebuking it even, whenever it surfaced."How are
VINCENTShe stared at me in silence from across the table. We had been like that since she asked the director to postpone the shoot and dragged me off to a nearby cafe to talk.My fingers rapped against the table and then with a sigh, I broke the silence, "As much as I would love to keep staring at your face, I am a busy man, firecracker. I would love to get back to work. What is your decision?"She blinked, then swallowed, "I'm.. uh.. I'm ready for your conditions."I gave her a single nod, then started, "First. I need you to tell me what is going on between you and my brother. If I do not believe you, I would simply post the video." He said with a shrug."Nothing is going on. Simon stopped talking to me because of you, for God's sake!" She whisper-screamed.I carried on, "Secondly, you talked about achieving personal goals. These goals you are achieving now, they are not personal? Do you have some kind of vendetta against me? If yes, how do you know me? Or, are you working for someo
KATERINAI drove home furiously, parked in my garage and began to storm into the house when I noticed someone in front of the door. I stopped in my tracks because the person had his back facing me. It looked like Kevin. I hoped to the heavens that it was not him. I mean, I had missed him so much and all I did these past few days was pray for his return. But not now of all times, not when all I wanted to do at the moment was lock myself in all day and sulk.Probably just sleep, but I just knew it would not be possible with Kelvin here. He would definitely notice that something was off about me, and there was no way in hell I could tell him that I had mistakenly sent my nude video to Vincent who in turn was threatening me with them and I had to do as he said, so I would not risk being sexualized every single time I stepped out, and the many more consequences that came with your nudes leaking to the public.I was still deep in thoughts, rooted at a spot, when the figure suddenly turned
KATERINA I took the package in but did not open it until the next day. That morning, I had just left my bathroom and I stopped in my tracks on seeing the box on my bed again. I just glared at it for a few seconds, then concluded to myself that I was not going to open it anytime soon. Maybe if I just pretended that it was not there, it would become less scary after weeks. Sighing to myself, I walked towards my bedside table where I kept my phone, and I picked it up then swiped open to see who had been blowing up the device with texts while I had been in the bathroom. My heart stopped beating gif a whole second when I saw his name. He had sent a couple of texts and even called once. He wanted me to wear whatever was in the box for a meeting we both had to attend today. It was a meeting that would be attended by a couple other CEOs who were into the wine business as well, from different parts of the world. My brows creased in confusion. Had he gotten me a dress to wear to the
KATERINAWhitney refused to tell us anything more after that. We stood there, threatening her with all manner of things, but she never budged. She just sat there, smiling crookedly and laughing occasionally.I finally convinced Vincent to leave there and we both went home, hoping to figure out what exactly Whitney meant with everything she said about Ava ourselves.This morning, I woke up in his arms and peered up to see that he was awake already, focused on his phone. He had wrinkled lines in his forehead and dark circles around his eyes, and I could not help but feel a twinge of worry for him.The man had been working so hard these days and somehow, I knew that it had something to do with what Whitney had said about his child.Ava was acting… well, she was still detached from her father but she was every bit the bubbly child around me. Her nanny lived with us now, and continued to take care of her, in better living conditions… it was what she wanted, and she had been very grateful.
VINCENT I slammed my car door shut before I went over to the other side to open up for Katerina. "Thank you," she muttered, looking as eager to see Whitney as I was. She looked even more eager, but then again that was probably because the woman literally wore her emotions like a sleeve. We walked briskly inside the prison walls without really saying anything else to each other; we had talked enough on our way here. It was only when we were getting to her cell, that Katerina turned to face me, telling me, "I am going to let you talk to her. You are the one who is mostly affected by this, I would let you question her and whatnot without any interruptions but I also want to say stuff to her too, just so you know." She informed me, and I nodded, not wanting to say anything in response at first, except that nod, but after a quick glance at her face, I could see the desperation in her eyes for me to be okay and just like that, I just couldn’t keep to myself any longer. I threw m
KATERINA"Oh God, Ava!" I cried out as the little girl bolted away from the living room as we all had reacted too slowly because of course, no one had expected that from her.Vincent was the first to run after her, and also the first to recover from the shock. He was behind her in no time, and I was next, followed by the nanny.Luckily, the butler was quick enough to stop her. Ava was crying and kicking in his arms, demanding to be set free, but he was not having it."You aren't going out of here without adult supervision, woman!" He yelled, but she was not having it."Let me go! My mommy will hurt me, she says he's the bad guy, I cannot be around him, please…" She continued to cry. My heart broke in pieces for her. What kind of a mother was Whitney for crying out loud? "Your mother hurt you, and you still think your daddy is the bad man?" Vincent blurted out and I pinned him with a look, but he did not spare me a glance, his eyes were still transfixed in his daughter who refused to
VINCENT Katerina pulled the door open for me, mumbling to the butler, "Never mind. I got this." And then she smile widely at me after opening the door, wrapping her arms around my body in a tight hug. Her smile was nervous as fuck, as if she had something to tell me, and I knew that she did. A child was in here, at the living room. I had peeked through the surveillance, because my girl sounded nervous as fuck and I had to know what was making her like that. It was either that or me storming out of the meeting I was in. There was a nanny with the little girl too. She was claiming that the child was mine, and Whitney was her mother. But how the fuck did that even happen? Katerina pulled away from me, her face twisting in an offended frown, "You don't want to hug me back?" She started to step aside, but then my hand gripped her waist and I pulled her to me with force so her body collided with mine. Katerina gasped, then burst into a fit of giggles as I planted kisses al
KATERINA There was some commotion outside the front door. I had just heard it as I got out of the bathroom, trying to prepare to go shopping at the mall for a few essentials since I did not have work today. I ended up just throwing on Vincent’s T-shirt and a pair of shorts before heading downstairs to see what the noise was about. The noises grew louder as I approached the door and I pulled it open at once on reaching it. When my eyes met with a little girl's with her dark curls falling softly around her face, clutching a worn stuffed bunny, I almost thought she’d stopped at the wrong house. But then I noticed her eyes—a striking, familiar gray. The same piercing color that belonged to Vincent, with a touch of softness that reminded me of Whitney. Next to her stood a woman, exhausted, holding the little girl’s hand firmly, as if afraid she might lose her any moment. Our butler was asking questions, his gaze shifting between the woman and the little girl with polite suspicion.
VINCENT"I feel like I cannot leave this bed even if I tried to." Katerina groaned and I smirked, turning back to face her."Same. I think you would not be able to walk throughout today. After what that pussy had to go through last night." I muttered, and she was quick to chuck a pillow in my direction, and I chuckled, letting it hit me as I turned my face to the side."You're such an animal in bed…" She whined, trying to sit up, her cheeks pink with a blush. I stopped to stare, my cock hardening again as I watched her. So fucking gorgeous, I always wondered how I was lucky enough to bag her again…Those brown eyes peered up at me through her thick lashes, and I could jog help walking over to her to plant a kiss on her lips. She let me, placing a hand on my naked chest while the other hand held the duvet tightly over her tits.I laughed, pulling away from her lips as I looked down, "Why are you hiding my girls from me?""Because you get hard faster than I snap my fingers and this tim
KATERINAA MONTH LATERThe energy in the room was electric. Owen’s business launch had pulled in a crowd and the air buzzed with excitement and the hum of conversation filled the grand hall. New York City sprawled in glittering lights beyond the tall windows, adding to the glamour of the night. All these did not still sit well with me. The mafia men starting up businesses just to cover up their tracks which consisted of money laundering, drug trafficking, murder and so much more. However, Vincent had recently explained his reason for joining the mafia after swearing off it all his life. There was really no way out, so I had to learn to deal with all these… at least, for him, and the sacrifice he made to keep me safe.Standing near the bar, I sipped my champagne, scanning the crowd until my gaze landed on Owen’s girlfriend, Mae.At first, I did not fully recognize her because I had only seen her in pictures, but then I looked more closer, I realized it was truly her. She was all curls
KATERINAShe missed.Whitney missed the shot by one tiny inch and just as she aimed to shoot the second time, a stick slammed into her head from the back.The gun dropped from her hand and fell with a clatter to the ground. I saw the moment that the blood started to drip down from the side of her head and her eyes drooped almost shut. Whitney fell to the ground in a heap and I looked in front of me to see Vincent finally making it to where I was crouched in a sitting position. I placed my both hands either sides of his face, crying hard. Everything that was happening just did not make sense to me. It was true that I wanted to hurt him in the beginning, but now I just could not stand seeing him like this. My heart broke in pieces just looking at him while he seemed so helpless, so pale, like he could just pass out anytime soon.The room still spun with smoke, thick and suffocating, the scent of burnt wood and fabric searing my lungs. My mind barely registered what had just happened—on
KATERINASmoke filled the room, thick and suffocating, the heat growing unbearable. My throat burned with every breath, and my chest felt like it was about to collapse from the pressure. I could hear Vincent struggling, his body tense beside me as he worked to cut through the ropes around his wrists. The flames crept closer, inching toward us, consuming everything in their path."I'll get it. I'll get it, firecracker. We will get out of here." He swore while he kept struggling to loosen himself.I felt the tears sliding down my cheeks, but it wasn’t the smoke that made me choke this time. I thought about how close we’d been to ending all of this madness, to finally being free. But now, trapped and helpless, every second felt like an eternity ticking down to an end I wasn’t ready to face. Panic clawed at me, making my heart race wildly as I pulled against the ropes that bound my wrists, desperation filling every fiber of my being.Finally, with one last, fierce yank, Vincent broke free