Thank you for reading another chapter ❤️ I was supposed to finish this one sooner, but it wasn't easy writing this particular one on a train full of passengers 🤭 Finally, I decided to wait until I got home... Thank you for all your support!!! 🥹
CATHERINEI had a dream. I was running through a dark tunnel. Shouts and rough grunts echoed behind me. I couldn't understand them. I only knew that if I stopped, I would die. So I kept running, even though my lungs burned and my muscles turned into stone. I was cold. I was hopeless. I was alone…‘You can stop now, Catherine,’ someone's voice coaxed. ‘You can go back.’The voice sounded familiar, although it was etheric and breathy. It didn't seem to come from one place. It vibrated around me. It pierced through me. I wasn't even sure if it came from the tunnel or I heard it in my mind.‘Catherine, stop.’ The sound was gentle, pleasant, and yet filled with strength and confidence.I slowed my pace, then dug my heels into the cold ground. “Mom?” I whispered, looking around as if the voice could somehow materialize.‘Go back,’ she said. ‘He's waiting for you.’Hot tears gathered in my eyes. “He?” I croaked.‘It's over, Catherine.’ A warm smile filled every note. ‘Go there. Celebrate your
A hand on my shoulder jerked me awake. Wincing in discomfort, I straightened up in my seat and blinked, adjusting my vision. The sympathetic smile on Lazar's face told me I must have looked like shit. His eyes drifted to the side of the bed where I held Catherine's hand.“No changes, I see,” he muttered.I looked at his sleeping great-niece and shook my head. Then I turned to him and cleared my throat. “The doctors say this might take a while before she wakes up.”The night she had gotten shot, I'd nearly lost my mind. Luckily, Lazar's doctors had taken care of her immediately. Ironically, the shot might have been the thing that saved her. The massive blood loss had lessened the Pink Opium's effect, and after the blood transfusion, the poisonous drug had left her body.Lazar fixed his eyes on me. “But… she will wake up.” I wasn't sure whether it was a statement or a question, but I still nodded. A sliver of relief relaxed his features, but then he clenched his fists. “I should have pr
My finger turned heavier, curling on the trigger as I imagined his brain splattered all over this fucking corridor. But I wasn't the only one feeling bloodthirst. Dante wanted to kill me just as badly; I saw it in his rage-burning eyes. He tried to mask it with cold amusement, but I could nearly taste the fury radiating from him.“Is she inside?” he purred, jerking his chin at the ajar-open door to the storage. “Such a stubborn little thing, isn't she? She's dying because of that stubbornness.”Every fiber within me filled with lethal calm. “You did this to her? You gave her the Pink Opium?”The fucker smiled, triggering a new urge. No. He wouldn't die from a single bullet. He deserved to be skinned alive and torn to fucking little pieces.He lifted his gun, aiming at my head. “She will die within an hour. The latest booster works that way. Although, I have to admit she used it well. Did she tell you she killed five of ours until the initial effect wore off?” Cold laughter slipped free
HUNTER“Explain to me again, why do we trust this guy?” Rowan grunted as we marched through the tunnel.“We don't trust him,” I corrected. “We're taking a necessary risk.”Rowan glanced at Remo and Ferro as if hoping they would back him up. Luckily for them, they kept their mouth shut. Rowan, however, chose otherwise. “This looks like a trap. Why would this guy, who's apparently Lagunov's general, help us get into their fortress through some backdoor? It doesn't make sense!”I gave him a wry smile but didn't slow my pace. “I don't get it either. Then again, he had a chance to kill me twice. He didn't even try. Maybe he actually wants to switch sides.”Rowan gave me a look. “He killed Arianna without remorse.”“Perhaps he can't work around every order Lagunov gives him,” I reasoned. “Or maybe he simply hated Arianna.”“That I can imagine,” Remo commented dryly.Rowan lined up with me. “Basically, you dragged us into those tunnels because he wrote something about the documents signed by
Twenty-four hours had passed without Dante showing up in my prison cell, but that hadn't made me relax even for a second. I had been on constant alert, listening to every sound coming from the corridor. My muscles tensed every time I heard someone approaching my door, but I knew that I finally had to get some sleep…I'd used Maxim's trick to block the handle, but even then I allowed myself to rest for merely three hours. Drifting into a deep sleep wasn't an option, although I realized my body would soon run on fumes.My anxieties threatened to devour me, but each time I was close to panic, Maxim's words appeared in my mind. “They're coming, Catherine,” I mumbled to myself. “Just hold on a little longer.”A few more hours had passed, and I was slowly losing the fight to keep my eyes open. I was on the verge of falling into unawareness when the sound of heavy footsteps made me jerk up to my feet. Barefoot, I rushed to unblock the door. A second later, the door slammed open, and three me
My whole body began to rattle, and a high-pitched tone rang in my ears. It was a struggle not to fall apart as I silently prayed Hunter was alive. But if they had attacked the estate in Scarsdale, how many people had they killed? What about Gianna, Ferro, Enzo, Remo, or Rowan?“Thank you, Maxim.” Aleks Lagunov's icy laugh tore me out of my frantic thoughts. “That's great news,” he crooned as his eyes shifted to me. “Not so great news for you, I'm afraid. You see, Catherine, I can assure you that no one will come for you. Tomorrow, we will attack the Fedorov's estate and crush Lazar's little army. We know more than a little about your plans…” He pointed at one of the Italians sitting by the table. “Mr. Messino was kind enough to share more than a few details.”My hands fisted into tight balls. “Fucking traitor,” I strained through my teeth.Messino glared at me, but Lagunov laughed. “Such feistiness… Just like Katerina.” Then he locked his eyes on me, a grim smile stretching his lips.