POV: KATHERINA
I don’t remember when and where we landed. We were taken into a hotel with two rooms combined, and I was given Chris’s room to stay for the night.
Sheriff Newman interrogated me about Luca and if I knew anything at all that could help them to catch him since he escaped them.
But even without Luca with us, I was scared to open my mouth and go against him.
I told the sheriff that I knew nothing and that Luca kept me confined in his home and said nothing about his business when I was around. The sheriff wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t push me.
He gave us train tickets to the Amalfi Coast, said that we would be leaving tomorrow morning to meet my family and Grams, and left the room with Chris.
The room looks like nothing ordinary. There are computers, papers and a lot of other instruments that I didn’t recognize.
One side of the wall is completely covered by a bulletin board with pictures of Luca and his men pinned on it and markings in red.
They had certainly laid out a plan to capture Luca and save me, but I didn’t understand how Kevin and Chris got involved in this neck-deep when it was an official law enforcement operation.
It was already midnight, and Chris hadn’t come back since he left with the sheriff. Kevin ordered us some refreshments since I didn’t have an appetite before heading to his room.
I stayed awake, watching the city through the huge window, unable to hold onto the excitement and anticipation that I’d finally be able to see my family.
I’ve never been away from my parents this long. Even when I stayed with Grams when I was young, it usually only lasted for a week or two.
My eyelids felt heavy after a while, and I lay back on the couch and closed my eyes.
I was woken up shortly when I felt something caressing my cheek. My eyes fluttered open, and I saw Chris in his wheelchair silhouetted by the city lights shining through the window.
He smiled softly and took his hand away. I sat up on the couch, and saw him clearly, his blue eyes strikingly bright.
“You look different and beautiful,” he said softly.
My eyes went down to his wheelchair, and his legs looked as normal as the last time I saw them but totally numb. I looked away to the window.
“I had two surgeries,” he went on, looking out the window with me, “Before the doctor gave up. Mom asked me to try homeopathy. I’ll be trying it once all this settles down.”
“It’s settled,” I whispered softly. I didn’t even know if I meant it. I just knew it was all over now.
“It’s not settled till the bastard is captured,” Chris hissed in anger, and I looked at him. “After everything he did to you, he shouldn’t be alive.”
“How’s my family?” I diverted the topic.
“They’re fine. They’ll be at your grandmother’s before we land there.”
“Isabella and Anna?”
“They keep asking me about you, and I tell them whatever I can. I’ll make sure you talk to them too once we reach the coast tomorrow.”
I nodded my head and let the silence fall over us. I wanted to apologize to him for what happened, but no amount of apologizing was going to help him.
The sky was still dark, so I must have slept for an hour maybe.
“I missed you, Kat,” Chris said, but I kept quiet, finding the silence much more comfortable than the noise in my head trying to speak to him.
“Each day was hard without you. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. My thoughts were running wild, and all I could think of was his hands on you. It was pure torture. That bastard deserves to rot in hell… and I’m sorry that he forced you—”
“He forced me on the night he broke your legs,” I whispered calmly. I shouldn’t have told him that, but I’ve wanted to talk about it to someone for a long time.
Even though Chris should be the last person to hear it from me, he has to know either way.
“I think I told him to stop, I don’t remember, but then I was consumed by pleasure. But he didn’t force me ever again, and neither did he manipulate me.”
Chris took in a sharp breath beside me and ran his hand over his face.
“You’re just traumatized with everything that happened, Kat,” Chris said firmly. “You were gone for a hundred and ten days, almost four months!
“You had no one with you but him, so you found your solace in your abuser.”
“He’s not my abuser,” I snapped. “He did what he had to because he has this sick obsession with me, and once I learned to obey him and stop trying to escape him, he did nothing to me.”
“Well, once the bitch is trained, the owner no longer uses a stick, but that doesn’t mean he’ll see her as more than what she actually is to him!” Chris snapped back.
I got up from the couch, went to the bedroom, and shut the door behind me. It didn’t hurt that Chris put it that way. What hurt was he might be right.
Luca never mentioned anything more than wanting me as his, and even though it shouldn’t mean anything to me, he got my submission, and I thought I was obliged to feel this way.
I didn’t get out of the room for a while, and later when I did open the door, Chris wasn’t there.
I lay on the bed for the rest of the night until Kevin knocked on the door at dawn. He gave me a set of clothes and asked me to get dressed and meet them for breakfast.
After a quick shower, my eyes burning due to lack of sleep, I walked out to see the room empty. Kevin’s door was ajar, and I walked closer.
I saw Chris struggling to put on pants, pulling them up while seated on the bed. It hurt me to see him like that. He was always sporty, energic, and active.
It was so fucked up to see him struggling to do normal tasks, all because of me.
“Let me help you.”
Chris looked embarrassed at me but nodded weakly. I walked toward him and pushed the wheelchair aside, near his feet. He held onto my shoulder and raised himself a bit to pull his pants up.
“Wait, wait. Hold on to me, and I’ll pull them up, okay?” I suggested.
He simply nodded after blinking his eyes. Placing both his hands on my shoulders, he raised himself, trying his best not to put too much weight on me. I quickly pulled the pants up and let go.
“There, all done,” I said. He zipped his pants, and I felt awkward all of a sudden.
“Nothing you haven’t seen, Kat,” he chuckled.
I looked away from him.
“About this morning… I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”
“No, you shouldn’t be,” I replied. “You were right. Maybe I should start thinking about the therapy classes that Sheriff Newman suggested to me.” I chuckled dryly, but he didn’t.
The bathroom door opened, and Kevin came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. He frowned when he looked at Chris.
“I only remember giving you the T-shirt,” he said.
“Not my fault you left the pants on the chair.” Chris motioned to the chair that was closest for him to reach.
“I did tell you I’ll help you out, man.” Kevin walked toward his closet, took his clothes, and went back.
“So, you’re ready?” I asked.
“Nope. Comb, please,” he asked. That’s when I noticed his tousled hair.
“Right.”
I picked up the comb from the dresser. Instead of giving it to him, I started combing his wet hair, and he let me. Since it was wet, I didn’t comb it flat, just pushed the hair down evenly.
“My wheelchair,” he said once I was done.
With a heavy heart, I pushed the wheelchair closer to him. I followed his instructions and turned the small handle at the side so the chair would come a little lower, level with the bed.
Chris pushed himself slowly and placed himself on the chair with his legs on the bed. When he moved back and held his legs, I pushed his hands away and did the work.
He moved the chair back slowly and turned while I held onto his numb legs and placed them down.
“Grab my phone, please,” he said, motioning to the nightstand.
I quickly went for it, and Kevin came out all dressed.
“Ready?” he asked, looking at Chris and me. I nodded.
“I’ll call Bill,” he said and went away.
Chris wheeled himself by pushing the button on the chair, which made the chair move effortlessly. I knew the chair was Karen’s choice. She’s always made sure he had the best.
We waited for the sheriff to arrive before leaving for the railway station.
My eyes were practically bugging out, scared that Luca might attack us any time and I would never see my family again, but nothing happened, and we reached the station safely.
With a few cops and the sheriff himself, we took off to the Amalfi Coast. I felt relieved since Luca might not know where I was.
Even if he did, it would take him to plan everything and come for me, and by that time, I’d figure something out.
The journey was short, and the closer we got to our destination, the more restless and relieved I felt.
When the train stopped, I quickly got off. A car was already waiting for us, and once we buckled up, it took off to Atrani, where my grams lives.
We passed through the familiar roads and the places and shops I’d seen. My stomach churned in excitement, and when we reached Atrani, I grew more restless.
Grams’s cottage is situated on the land between two mountains and a vast stretch of vegetation. The cottage is big and has four rooms and a small garage.
“We’re here,” said Sheriff Newman, and the car stopped. I felt Chris squeeze my hand before I got out of the car.
Opening the small gate, I stepped inside, my eyes wandering to the garden and to the open door of the cottage.
I didn’t see anyone until my eyes fell upon the porch and saw a familiar teddy bear resting on the couch. Then a head popped up, and she looked at me.
“Kat! Mommy, Kat is here!” Arabella screamed before taking her teddy bear and running toward me.
My heart felt so heavy, and I started to cry when I lifted her up in my arms and hugged her to me. Her arms wrapped around my shoulder, and she told me how much she missed me.
I kissed her cheeks, my hand quickly going to her neck. The wound was not there anymore.
“I missed you. I missed you so much.” I kissed her again and saw my parents and Grams on the doorstep.
Mom rushed toward me. “Oh, honey” She wrapped my arms around me and cried with me, “You’re all right. You’re all right”
She cupped my face and kept repeating the words as she kissed my cheeks and forehead.
Dad placed a kiss on my head and wrapped his arm around us. “I’m glad you’re all right,” he said.
“I thought I’d never see you all again.” I chuckled dryly and wiped my tears at the back of my hand. “I’m glad you all are fine.”
And just like that, everything feels right.