Katie's POV
"Rıse and shine, stranger," came the deepest voice I have ever heard in my entire life.
I woke up groggily, trying to fight the sleep off of my eyes as I rubbed my eyes, trying to take in my environment.
"Where are my?" I asked, sleep still deep in my voice as I peered at the shirtless man looking at me with murder in his eves from across the room.
"You're in my palace prıncess," he replied with a smirk, removing the huge tobacco from the parting of his lips as he played with a sharp looking blade between his fingers.
I quickly scrambled from the bed, pulling the duvet over my body, but not before checking if my clothing was still intact.
"What did you do to me?" My voice shook, as I forced the tears away, seeing myself in another clothes.
He chuckled evilly, "Don't worry pet, I did nothing to you," He suddenly stood up, his height scared me, so I pulled back on the bed and was about to scream.
The look on his face scared me, but instead of coming towards me, he walked to the door, so I took that as cue to take my leave.
Not bothering to look at the room I'm in, I look for my dress, the one I remember wearing the day before. The day I caught Paul with another woman.
I couldn't find my clothes, so I dropped to the floor to get a better look at under the bed, but my head hurts a lot and memories of the previous night came rushing to me.
"Oh no!" I kept repeating while holding my head.
The man turned back with a glare and a smirk lacing his lips, "So, you remember?" It was more of a statement than a question.
As he asked the questions, two hefty men walked in holding a suit in their hands, I wasn't too quick to realize what was happening, but when I did, my eyes widened. At that moment, I quickly did a prayer to God, "Rescue me from here and I promise to never set foot into the club ever again."
I squeaked, hearing his voice so near to me, "Yes," I managed to reply, not audacious enough to look him in the eyes, but he has other plans.
He held my chin and forced my face up, "Look at me," the command in his tone brought me to my knees, it made me tremble in fear and I almost wet myself.
"Yes sir."
He hummed, pleased by my response, "Do you know what you did?" He queried, and I nodded.
A minute passed, but I refuse to talk, "What did you do?" He decided to ask.
"I threw up on you. I promise I will buy you another suit, please just let me go." I rushed out quickly, hoping to touch a soft spot in him.
He did his evil chuckle again, "No can do," then he started to touch my face, I quivered in fear, silently praying he wouldn't hit me.
"Please, I'm so sorry, I didn't know what I was doing, I was drunk, but I promise I'll pay you back for your suit, just let me go please." I pleaded, the almost rolling from my face, but he remained unfazed.
He pointed at the suit one of the men was holding, "Look at it, do you know what brand that is?" He inquired and I looked lost.
I have never been one too big on fashion, I don't even know of there is anything called brand, I wasn't sure how to reply so I won't incur his wrath, so I kept quiet, but that didn't sit well with him either.
He chuckled, "Of course you don't know, what does a girl like you know," I knew he was referring to my class in the society, but I dare not make a sound, I kept my head low, but his finger held it up again.
"I'm sorry," I whispered dejectedly.
"A pretty face and a strong figure," he replied, looking at my body. The men holding the dirty suit long gone now.
"What?" I was lost on what my physique has to do with his dirty suit, then I realized he might want me to wash it with hands.
My brain lighted up, if it got me out of trouble, I would gladly jump at it, so I did without wasting a second.
"I'll do it, I'll wash the suit with my hands and it'll be as good as new I promise!" I exclaimed, putting on a sweet smile, hoping he wouldn't see through my jitters.
His eyes looked straight into mine, looking really murderous, "Do you know how much that suit was supposed to bring me?" He yelled, pointing angrily at the suit the men left on the bed.
I curled up, "I'm sorry, I'll pay you back,"
He scoffed, "Hundred billion dollars?" My eyes widened at the price of the suit.
"From a suit?" I wanted to ask, but I kept the question to myself.
"Do you know how much you are to pay me?" He grabbed my neck with his left hand and puff some smoke on my face. I coughed, but he didn't stop his ministrations.
I shook my head mumbling "no"
"I expect a billion dollars from you," he said it like it was some spare change. "And soon too." He finished, leaving me to hope that 'soon' means like twenty years.
So I asked, "Is ten years enough to pay back?" He smirked.
He looked at me indifferently, "You have two option, pay me back in a week…" he said first, leaving me hanging and my eyes wide. "Or work as a sex toy in My club." I was stumped and looked at him incredulously.
"What?" I whispered, totally confused where I would see that kind of money in a week time.
He brought out and flinched the blade in my face, I dropped to my knees bowing down pleading for my life, "Please."
But he wasn't having it, instead he dropped a piece of paper on me and shouted in my face.
"Sign it!"
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