3: I Will Kill You Myself

Katherine's POV

"Your taste is absolute shit as always."

Harrison’s cold, cruel voice kept echoing in my mind. Like a curse.

Why was he staring at me at that time? Did he recognize me? What would he do if he found I was working here?

"I will kill you myself." His words still hurting me until now.

Fear crawled through me. But what terrified me more was the strange sting I felt when his eyes lingered on my body. The desire. Like something inside me stirred. It shouldn’t be like this…

"Are you okay?" Lucien’s voice came from above. I looked up numbly, and found he was watching me with concern.

"Yeah, thank you." I said, taking a deep breath of relief. That’s when I realized he was still holding me. "I-I'm okay. Thank you Sir..." I stumbled back in a rush. Panic making my steps clumsy, but I managed to steady myself.

"Really?" Lucien studied my face. “You’ve been trembling ever since Harrison walked in. You’re scared of him.”

I bit my lip and chose to change the subject. "You don’t seem to get along with Harri...I mean, with the Alpha."

"You’re smarter and stronger than I thought" he shrugged, "I’ll tell you what happened between me and Harrison someday. But for now, you can trust me. Since I made the deal with Andy, I will make sure you can work and live here. Harrison may be the Alpha, but most of the time, I call the shots here."

Maybe he saw how tense I was. Lucien smiled at my nervous nodding and added, almost teasingly, "Don’t you think I deserve a thank you?"

"I really want to..." My gaze landed on his left chest, rising and falling with each breath. " But I think the one I should thank… is Andy."

Lucien apparently hadn’t expected my answer. He chuckled softly, his dark eyes flashing with some unreadable light. "You're indeed the straight A Beta’s daughter I heard before.”

The elevator stopped at the 25th floor. I followed him out and arrived at the manager’s office. After giving instructions to the manager, Merry Harold, Lucien left me there.

"Nice to meet you." I murmured, tried to give her a good impression. She looked to be around forty. With heavy makeup, tight pink suit and a low-cut blouse. The best part was her friendly eyes. That put me a little at ease.

"I didn’t think Lucien would actually hire you," she said with curiosity. "He’s never gone out of his way for any she-wolf before. And he asked me to arrange housing for you. Weird enough. We never give cleaning staff a place to stay."

Maybe she thought Lucien liked me. But I knew the truth. Everything was Andy’s trade.

"Thank you," I said quietly. Merry nodded, still scanning my face. "Are you really the Katherine Dalton? Don't make me wrong. I’m not interested in the crimes you’ve committed. But I need to know my staff is trustworthy."

"Yes…" I replied. Her doubt made sense. I was the straight A Beta’s daughter. Everyone said I was the pride and hope of Blackwood Pack. The perfect Luna material.

But three years of torture had ruined me. My voice, my skin and my overly thin and weak body. I was no longer the Katherine Dalton everyone knew.

I pulled out my ID card and handed it to Merry. She checked it, eyes widening. But soon her shock faded.

"You’ve changed so much. But maybe that’s a good thing. Alpha won’t recognize you. As long as you stay careful, you might avoid getting hurt."

I nodded. But I’d rather never cross paths with Harrison again.

Merry helped me finish the paperwork, gave me a dorm key, and told me to start work tomorrow. I said goodbye to her, and headed to my dorm alone. Merry has told me that my roommate was Nancy. She worked part-time as a bottle girl and private room service. Lap dances and all that... but that’s not part of my job.

The moment I stepped into the dorm, Nancy's scream jumped me. "Oh bitch! Don't bring your filthy ass into the room."

She scanned me from head to toe and asked, "Are you here to do waitress too?"

"No. I’m a cleaner." I answered flatly. Put my only bag at the corner. Nancy seem satisfied with my answer, nodded and pouted her lips. "Makes sense. Girls like you only get cleaning jobs here."

Before I could answer, she gave me a fake smile and added, "But just a word of advice. Don’t try anything stupid with the guests. A girl like you? Even the omegas wouldn’t choose you."

Her tone was light and nice. But her words were not. I didn’t respond. I just turned away and went into my room.

Moments later, I heard her on the phone outside.

"My new roommate is so ugly. Like, how did the Moon Goddess even let someone like her be born? And she’s jealous of me. You can tell."

"Alpha came today, but I missed the chance. But I asked the floor lead! He will come in tomorrow. I’ve got a super sexy shirt that shows my perfect cleavage. He’s definitely going to notice me."

I sighed, rolled over and pulled the blanket over my head to block out her noise. I was used to being insulted by everyone. Her words didn’t hurt me anymore. What did get to me was the news. Harrison would be here tomorrow again.

Did he recognize me today? Just thinking about it and his gaze made my heart skip a beat. I took a deep breath, sat up and stood in front of the mirror.

Under the dim light, I saw myself stared back. Thin. Weak. Skin dull and lifeless, bruised and covered in scars. Whip marks all over the body. Ribs stuck lout beneath the damage.

"Hi Katherine..." I murmured. My eyes burned with tears. Katherine Dalton has died in the jail. I was just a woman who happened to share her name. Even if Harrison stood right in front of me, he probably wouldn’t recognize me. Would he be satisfied of my status now? Or hate me even more?

For some reason, along with the relief came a crushing pain. The man I loved for five years had destroyed the proud girl I used to be. It had been three years. I still couldn't accept what he did to me.

He didn’t trust me. Threw me into prison with his own hands, and destroyed me.

I took a deep breath, turned off the light, and curled up on the bed. I just hope I never see him again.