POV: KATHERINA
In spite of knowing the possible danger I might put myself in, I couldn’t help but address the note that came to me.
I’d been ignoring Sheriff Newman since I came back to Luca, and I thought he’d finally given up.
Romero informed me that Luca was working in the garage, the same dreaded place where Victor took me when Megan was captured.
It was stupid, but I found myself in the parking lot even though Luca was just under me.
The cars obscured anyone that might be hiding in here, and I was getting impatient and scared when Bill didn’t arrive.
“I thought you wouldn’t come.”
I turned around to see Sheriff Newman standing a few feet away from me.
“I shouldn’t be,” I replied quickly as he removed his hoodie. “Luca will not spare you or me.”
His lips thinned, and his eyebrows scrunched in dissatisfaction.
“After all the struggles, you went back to him?” he asked in a disgusted tone.
“I had to, Sheriff. There’s no escape from him.”
He scoffed in response.
“We gave you protection and were willing to help at all costs. Your one reckless decision put us all in trouble, and now we can’t even reach him.”
“I’m sorry that you don’t see it the way I see it. We live in a normal world, and I can’t let Luca’s cruelty touch my family. They’re safe now because of the decision I made.
“I’m grateful for all the help you provided for us, but you should understand that even though this is not what I wanted, I can’t do anything about it.
“This war no longer involves me; it’s just between a criminal and a cop.”
He ran his hand over his grey and black hair, and I got to see how exhausted this operation had made him.
His retirement was close, and I’m pretty sure he wanted to finish what he started before that deadline. Running his finger over the scar on his face, he regarded me carefully.
“When all this is over and Luca’s dead, I hope you realize that you will be in trouble. The department is as cruel as Luca is, and there is no running from it.”
“I’m ready to face anything as long as everyone’s safe,” was all I replied, and the sheriff shook his head and released a sigh.
“Megan and her father have been captured again,” he said, making the blood drain out of my face. “And we’re afraid they won’t make it out alive by the time we rescue them.”
“Megan had other plans when the last time she was taken,” I replied calmly. “I don’t know her intentions, but there is nothing I can do to help.”
“Let me know where Luca has kept them. The mayor has a lot of information.”
“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything.”
Sheriff Newman stepped forward and gave me a smile. His hand brushed my cheek affectionately.
“I have a daughter your age, Katherina, and I see it in your eyes that there’s more than fear you have for him. This is wrong, he’s not human, and it’s only a matter of time he starts to feed on you.
“A devil like him can’t have a pure soul and not damage it.”
Before I could reply, we were interrupted.
“Tsk, tsk, what an emotional reunion. My heart aches. Does your heart ache too, Luca?”
I quickly turned around to see Cruz and Luca. The blood in my veins ran cold, and a shiver ran down my spine. Luca had a grave expression while Cruz took sick satisfaction in it.
“You look super hot when you’re scared. I see why you chose her, mate.” Cruz gave a crazy laugh, nudging Luca in the ribs.
Cruz stepped forward, and the sheriff pulled out his gun and aimed right at him.
“Woo… someone came prepared. I’m sure those bullets can take down all the men in the casino.” Cruz chuckled, though his eyes blazed like fire.
“You’re seriously stupid if you think you can hide behind a woman and escape from here.”
“I’m not hiding behind a woman, and I’m definitely leaving this place. If I don’t make it out alive, your shipments go down,” Sheriff threatened him, lowering his gun slowly.
“They are going down either way since you have them. My customers can fucking keep their dicks in their pants till I find another bunch of bitches to sell them.
“You become a hero by sending those bitches back or keeping them to entertain you and your department. After all, you’re no better than us,” Cruz said, all humor gone from his face.
Sheriff Newman smiled at him. “I still got my morals intact, Cruz. I’ll release those sixty-eight girls, but I’ll keep one in our custody.”
“You cops are bad at math. They were only sixty-eight,” Cruz said in a monotone.
“The sixty-ninth was an extra bonus when we broke into your place. What’s her name again? Emmalyn?”
Cruz clenched and unclenched his fists. His eyes turned a darker shade, and he looked so fucking scary, ready to pounce on Bill any moment.
“Make her shed even a drop of blood, and I swear to Lucifer, I will tear you apart with my own hands,” Cruz said and took a step forward.
Rick appeared and averted his eyes from me, whispering something in Luca’s ears who was pinning me down in his death stare that clearly told me he was going to punish me for making this move.
“Of course not. Maybe I’ll let her entertain my corrupted department.”
Cruz came running for Bill, who instantly aimed the gun at him but didn’t shoot when Rick held him back and pulled him away from reaching us.
I stepped away from them, my eyes never leaving Cruz, who was thrashing in Rick’s arms like a wild animal trying to get out of a cage.
“Leave, Bill. He will rip out your heart if you stay any longer,” Luca said, still not moving from his spot.
Bill started to leave, and Cruz became even more restless, making it hard for Rickard to hold him down.
“No! EMMALYN!” Cruz screamed in agony.
It shocked me to see him suffering.
“Calm down,” Rickard consoled. “Nothing will happen to her, I promise.”
“No! She’s already suffered enough! Don’t let that bastard leave!” Cruz screamed, and when his eyes fell upon me, he glared at me furiously.
“This is your fault, all your fault!” Cruz shouted at me.
Rick pinned him down on the floor, but Cruz tried to reach me.
“I knew Emm would be furious and think that I betrayed her when she trusted me. I hated that you came into my best friend’s life! You don’t deserve him!
“You’re a filthy whore who doesn’t care about anyone, not even her own family! You enjoyed fucking my friend when your family and your boyfriend were suffering!”
I looked at him, stunned as his words sank deep into my flesh, hurting every fiber of my being. I wanted to scream back at him, but words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
“I hate you! I fucking hate you! Luca may not be able to live without you, but he will die if you’re with him! Just go away! Fucking leave, you lowlife!”
“For God’s sake, get the hell out of here, Katherina,” Rick hissed at me.
“I did nothing,” I finally managed to say. “I did nothing.”
It was more like I was trying to convince myself.
I knew Emmalyn suffered with them when she was kidnapped by Cruz in the beginning. Even though she’s tough and criminal-minded, she was innocent before.
There is no way I was taking her burden on myself.
“I didn’t ask for any of this!” I snapped back, “And your best friend pulled me into his life! You all are heartless and selfish and blame everything on me!”
My arm was held in a death grip and pulled by Luca. I tried to wriggle out of his hand, but he tightened it even more, making me scream out in pain before he dragged me behind the parking lot.
I started crying from the pain while Luca pulled me toward the garage. It was difficult to keep up to his pace, and I stumbled and fell forward, losing my balance.
Luca held my hair, making me scream as he pulled me to my feet without remorse.
“Luca, please—”
“SHUT UP!” he screamed at me and pulled me down to the garage.
The men who were working stopped and looked at us.
“I’ll feed your eyes to the eagles if anyone lifts their head and looks at us,” Luca warmed.
Immediately everyone put their heads down and resumed their work. We entered the elevator and soon went down to the cells.
He dragged me all along the dirty dark hallway with just a light at the end. I was thrown into a cell, and I screamed in agony when I hit the floor hard.
My knees were scraped and started to burn, and my arm hurt so much that I couldn’t lift it. I raised myself from the dirty floor, whimpering in pain, and my eyes fell upon Megan.
Her lifeless eyes were staring into me, and I saw how horrible she looked. Her face was swollen, and there was dried blood on her arms and legs. Her body was covered in filthy, shredded cloth.
Her father sat at the corner with his head hung low and a dark stain of dried blood on the white shirt he wore with his expensive suit.
His ankles were twisted at a horrible angle, and I had to control myself to keep from sobbing.
“If I thought staring would bring my dad back to life, I would have been doing it for the past three days,” Megan said hoarsely.
I was shivering as I got to my feet, unable to avert my eyes from the dead mayor. His hands and face looked pale with prominent veins, and a bad odor drifted to my nostrils, making me feel nauseous.
I choked on my sob and stepped back. Even though Megan and her father had had bad intentions, I didn’t want to witness this horrifying treatment they were receiving.
“I’m so sorry, Megan.”
“Come on. Even I didn’t cry so much when your new boyfriend killed him,” Megan commented.
My eyes fell upon Luca, who was looking at me with a blank expression.
I looked around for the first time, and I saw Edward, Becky, and Parker in the room. Parker had a bloody knife in his hand while Becky had a gun.
“Let’s get down to work, shall we?” Luca asked in an amused tone.
“You’re fucking sick,” I spat out, and he smirked evilly at me.
“I know you’ll take care of me just the way you did on New Year’s Eve,” he replied calmly. “Now, let’s get to your punishment first, and then you can treat me.”
“Luca,” Becky called out hesitantly, “You don’t have to do this.”
“You’re kidding me, right? They have Emm, and Cruz is broken,” Luca spoke softly.
“Broken?” I scoffed. “He was broken on the night when he couldn’t rape me. How did you fix that?”
“Utter another word, and I’ll make this harder for you,” Luca threatened, but I didn’t care at this moment. I was sick of their selfishness.
“You didn’t confront him and you blamed me!”
“Shut up, Katherina!’
“And you call me yours due to some sick obsession, but you didn’t confront your best friend who tried to fuck me while you were gone!”
“I don’t need to give you an explanation. I dragged you here because no matter how much I’ve tried to get it through your skull, you just don’t understand that you need to stay put.
“You were pulled into this mess without knowing it, and I let it slide, Katherina. But tonight, even knowing the consequences, you decided to help Bill to find this bitch and her pimp of a father.”
I remained quiet and stood on my guard, staring into his dark eyes.
“Now you know where they are. Go on, call him.” He held his phone in front of me.
I took it from him.
“Very good. Now the easy part, Katherina. You will tell Bill where they are, and Megan, you are going to kill Katherina. Catch.” He threw a knife at her, making my eyes widen.
“The fuck is wrong with you, Luca!” Edward snapped, just as shocked as I was.
Luca just stared at him, and he backed off unwillingly.
Megan looked at the knife at her feet with hope and then back at Luca, who stepped back and leaned on the gate of the cell with his arms folded across his chest.
“You’re crazy.” My voice was a mere whisper.
Megan picked up the knife and got to her feet, staring at me with murderous eyes.
“You ruined my life, Kat. Took away my Chris, my goals in life, my happiness, and now my Dad!”
She wobbled on her feet, approaching me with the knife aimed at me, and she looked like nothing I’d ever seen before.
“Do you know your boyfriend killed my dad right in front of me? He had this screwdriver in his hand, a pretty long one.
“I was being held by his friends, screaming and thrashing in their arms when your boyfriend slowly plunged the screwdriver right into his chest and drew it down, slitting him open.
“My father couldn’t stop him because his friends had already broken his ankles and elbows. He couldn’t even scream because his throat gave out.
“Then he just thrust his hand inside the slit and pulled out his beating heart like a cupcake.” She giggled.
I was shivering, taking my steps back as she kept coming forward.
“He threw the beating heart right on me. After that, he straightened his suit and just walked out. You wanna see his heart? I have it with me. I’ll go get it.”
She was about to turn around, but I’d had enough.
I ran toward the exit. Megan pulled my hair back and slapped hard across the face, making me spin around and lose my balance.
She came down with a firm grip on the knife, and I threw the phone at her, hitting her in the eye.
“You bitch!” Megan cursed and held her aching eye.
I got up from the floor and ran toward the exit, but she was fast. Pulling my arm, she turned me around, cornering me, and her knife drove toward my stomach as I stood shocked.
Before the knife could plunge inside, a loud bang resonated in the cell, and a hole appeared in her forehead, oozing blood instantly.
Her movements stopped, and the knife fell down with a clank as she stared into my eyes, and I saw her color draining out of her face as she fell down to the floor.
I stepped away from her corpse, my heart beating wildly in my chest as I looked at the girl I’d known my whole life.
My hands were shivering, and my breathing was erratic and short. I wanted to scream and cry, but I just couldn’t.
My eyes turned blurry, and before I could hit the ground, Luca’s arms wrapped around me, and I saw his dark eyes staring at me before everything went dark.
***
I woke up in a hospital with the IV set up on my left wrist and Leonardo monitoring my heartbeat.
He smiled at me warmly, but I was looking right through his eyes as the past events came rushing back to the surface. The monitor started to beep faster, and Leo tried to calm me down.
“You’re fine. Calm down, Katherina. Take deep breaths.”
I took deep breaths till the monitor went back to normal, and Leo relaxed.
“How long was I passed out?” I asked him in a steady voice.
“Roughly thirty minutes.”
“What happened to me?” I asked.
“You had a panic attack,” he replied. “You’re fine now. Once the IV bag is empty, you can leave. Also, is your period late?”
His question was like a bucket of cold water splashing on my face.
“Yes,” my voice was a mere whisper, “But I’ve been taking the pills.”
Leonardo nodded quietly. “Come back to me if you don’t get your period by the end of this month.”
I nodded back, and he exited out of the room, leaving me with another terrifying thought to occupy my mind.
When Edward arrived in the late afternoon to pick me up, I was pretty shaken up by how things had turned out, that I hardly had time to dwell upon his newly found hatred of me.
When he dropped me off at Luca’s place, I got out and went toward the main door, which opened even before I rang the doorbell.
I stared at Luca, who simply glanced at me, left the door open, and went back to the kitchen. I went inside, unable to take my eyes off him.
What if I did end up pregnant with his child?
Is this what I came for? I make plans, but fate already has something up its sleeve, leaving me clueless and helpless in the end.
I sprinted to our bedroom, and I heard him leaving after a while as the eerie silence wrapped around the mansion.
When Luca kidnapped me in the beginning, I didn’t know what to do other than run far away. Amidst the fear, as time passed, I grew attached to him and started developing deep feelings for him.
I didn’t pity him when he narrated a part of his childhood, and I didn’t pity him at his worst either.
I didn’t know what he really expected from me, considering he just wanted me, and only me forever. I was so consumed by him I didn’t realize that my life was passing.
I’d already lost my graduating year, and all my future plans would be in vain if I didn’t leave him soon. Even if I accepted my fate and ended up with him for life, what kind of a life would it be?
The sexual tension would ease, and I would want more than pleasure. Love and care were foreign to Luca. I would jeopardize the situation even more when I started yearning for love.
It felt like I was having another panic attack as the thoughts rekindled a new fear: fear of losing my own self as Luca fed on me even without realizing it.
Maybe things would’ve been easier if he’d just talked to me instead of demanding.
He gave me mixed feelings. Sometimes he touched me with love, sometimes with malice. His words confused me, and his emotions put me in a whirlpool.
In spite of making the right decision to keep my family and friends safe, his friends blamed me for leaving him. When Cruz tried to rape me, no one spoke for me, and they kept it a secret from Emmalyn.
Everything wrong was right to them, and there was no way I could cope.
Cruz was wrong when he said Luca would die if I was with him.
I would eventually end up dead if I stayed with him this way.
These four months have put me in all the worst possible situations, traumatizing me for life, and I didn’t have anyone to lean on when I needed comfort the most.
Even though my parents were suffering, they had each other. Christopher had his mother, and the sheriff had the department.
Megan had her father, and she’d brought all this on herself, while Luca always had his friends for support while I had to go through all of this shit alone.
I was so damn angry at everything and every single one of them. All I could see was red, and the fury in me kept building up when I saw Luca’s belongings in the room.
I wanted to beat the hell out of someone so badly.
I created a mess by throwing it all off the balcony of our bedroom. From Luca’s expensive clothes to his expensive colognes, I threw them out, catching the guards' attention.
Taking his last piece of clothing from the closet, I doused it all with cologne and lit a match. I threw it on the pile of clothes, and they immediately caught fire.
I could hear banging on the main door downstairs, but I didn’t care as I tore the mattress and broke the dressing table mirror.
Picking a dagger-like shard out of the shattered glass, I descended the stairs and went to his office.
I emptied every fucking shelf, tore up all the papers and documents, and flipped the desk.
Victor was screaming for me to open the door, but I wasn’t listening.
The patio doors were locked, but the curtains weren’t drawn, so the guards witnessed through the glass doors as I ruined the living room, throwing the TV at the wall and flipping the coffee table over.
I was so fucking mad that I tore the couch with the dagger in my hand that was sinking deep into my flesh, letting the blood drip down to the white floor.
I screamed in agitation, clutching my hair in exasperation as the tears rolled down my cheeks. My throat gave out, and I laid back on the floor, curling myself as I cried softly.
The banging on the door stopped, and the landline started ringing in the eerie silence.
Crying, I dragged myself to the phone that had fallen on the ground and picked it up with my bleeding hand.
“Katherina, what’s happening there?” Luca’s voice came out from the other end, and I closed my eyes, controlling myself by taking deep breaths through my mouth. “Open the door right now.”
“Why? So your men could have their way with me, Master?” I asked coldly.
“I’ll strip, but I’m afraid I’ve ruined your couch, so tell me, will you tell your men fuck me and kill them and make me drink their blood?”
I mocked him, recalling the horror he’d caused me, and there was a moment of silence on the other end.
When he finally spoke back, he sounded desperate and hurt, almost begging me, but I couldn’t allow myself to show him any sentiment this time.
“Open the door, mi amore. I promise we can sit and sort it out, whatever it is that you want.”
I threw the phone across the room to hit the kitchen wall and break into pieces.
We’ll definitely sort this out tonight.
Getting up from the floor, I opened the door and searched for Victor frantically, who came running toward me.
“Take me to Luca,” I commanded.
He looked hesitant but nodded and went to get the vehicle from the garage. We took off into the cold night, and I was getting more impatient and angry with each passing second.
Luca kept calling Victor, and I snapped at him not to pick it up, or I would open the door and jump out.
Victor obeyed me, and the phone kept ringing till it finally died out and we reached where Luca was.
I got out, and Victor immediately took me to the top of the casino where Luca and the others were. Cruz, Edward, and Rickard saw me before Luca did.
I was wearing nothing but a buttoned-up white shirt that reached just below my butt, and the hairs on my thighs stood up due to the cold.
Luca was looking over the vast stretch of the city with a phone glued to his ear before his friends brought him back to reality when I reached them.
Luca looked at me in surprise, raking his eyes over my body before taking a step toward me.
“Sort what?” I snapped back in the silence of the night. “What do you want to sort out, Luca?’
“Anything,” he replied. “Everything.”
“There is no sorting out till you fucking let me out of this hell!” I screamed,
“What did you say the night when I walked away from you? That nothing’s wrong if we’re willing to work it out, but guess what, nothing is going to work out! Do you hear me? Nothing!”
His hands clenched at the sides, and he wanted to respond to my outburst, but he was out of words.
“You are fucking heartless, Luca. You are selfish, cruel, and a damn opportunist who doesn’t respect others feelings and decisions and thinks the whole world revolves around you!
“I saw the happiness in your eyes when I said I submitted to you, but I did that for the sake of my family, the people I love. You can fuck my soul, Luca, but that’s all you can do.”
“Listen to me, love—
“I’m not your fucking love,” I hissed. “Don’t call me that when you don’t mean it! You brought me into this mess, and I hate you for everything you’ve ever done to me!”
“Shut the fuck up and get back home right now,” Cruz spoke.
“You shut the fuck up and stay out of this! This is between him and me.”
“Don’t you dare raise your voice against me, or I will tear—”
“And you don’t threaten her. Or I will kill you, Cruz” Luca cut him off before he could finish. “She’s my woman, and she’s got all rights on me, so stay put.”
Cruz scoffed in annoyance. “Stay put? Are you serious? After the trouble she almost put us in?”
“She doesn’t know anything, and it’s not her fault,” Rickard replied to Cruz.
I didn’t understand what they were talking about, but I didn’t come here to listen to that either.
“It’s her fault. She fooled all of you, acting like she cared, and ran away from Luca,” Cruz snapped back.
“Stop your nonsense and leave right now,” I commanded Cruz, and if it wasn’t for Luca there, he would’ve surely thrown me from the edge of the railing.
“Don’t command me again.”
“I don’t need a rapist like you telling me what to do.”
“Rapist?” Cruz chuckled dryly. “That’s the best word you got to describe me?
“I wanted to fucking kill you and hang you from the balcony so that when Luca came back, your corpse would be the first thing he saw. You don’t deserve him.”
“None of you deserve to walk this earth. You all are nothing but the incarnation of evil. No wonder everyone wants you dead.”
“Katherina, please—"
“You are no better, Rickard,” I cut him off. “You are as sly as a snake, and in spite of knowing what Luca was doing to me, you refused to help.
“All of you refused to help me while your friend abused and raped me after breaking Christopher’s legs!
“And now that I finally did something to save my family and friends, you all are furious at me and blame me for everything!
“I don’t deserve any of this, and all of you deserve to burn in hell for all the sins you’ve committed.”
“Katherina!” Luca shouted, “You have no idea what each one of us has gone through in our lives.
“You’re complaining about the mild torture I gave you in the beginning, and I’ve been working to earn your forgiveness. You almost forgave me for everything, so don’t fucking complain!
“You have not seen even half of the cruelty this world holds, and it doesn’t come from us. It comes from people like you.” He pointed an accusing finger at me.
“Tell your sob story to some pathetic bitch that’s dickmatized by you!” I snapped back in outrage.
“And what forgiveness are you talking about, Luca? This damn chain that you gave me on Thanksgiving?
“Or the damn fortress where you kept me caged or all the luxury that you threw in my face, just because I came from a lesser background? When all the while, you treated me as a whore.”
Luca sighed and ran his hand over his face.
“Just leave, all of you,” Luca spoke softly to his men, and everybody left without another word.
Luca took another step forward and looked at me with desperation in his eyes. “Didn’t I show you how much you mean to me? Didn’t I show you with my eyes, my touch, and my kisses?” he asked softly.
I shook my head. “All you showed me was hell, Luca.” My voice was a mere whisper.
“I’m so sorry that I didn’t try harder. I already told you the night I made love to you that I would keep trying. I’m sorry that I’m taking so long. I’m sorry that I kept your family away from you.
“I’m sorry that I made you cry,” Luca’s eyes teared, and so did mine “I know nothing other than this cruel life I was introduced into, and I wanted you to teach me how to be gentle with you.”
“Why?” my voice quavered. “Why me?”
“Because you accept me for the way I am. You turned out to be my light and my strength to overcome the darkness. You shone so brightly that I felt you in here.” He pointed to his heart.
“Your light thawed the coldness, and I liked the warmth even though it was burning me.”
“You ruined my happiness, shattered my peaceful life for your sake,” I cried, the tears flowing down my face.
“Katherina—”
“You’re a monster,” I hissed. “You are beyond redemption, and I will always loathe you and never forgive you for what you did.”
Luca’s jaw tightened, and he turned angry with glassy eyes. For the first time ever, the situation was out of his control. He was battling with himself, and I had the upper hand.
“I don’t love Christopher anymore because you broke the bubble I was living in but also threw me into your world without any remorse.
“I didn’t ask any of this, and I really wish you were dead and all this would be over.”
“You don’t mean it,” Luca spoke softly. “You don’t mean any of that.”
“I do,” I stared hard at him. “You deserve to suffer. You don’t deserve love and gentleness because monsters like you have no place in this world.
“You’re delusional if you think I accepted you just because I adapted to you.”
“You’re lying” Luca shook his head, but I knew he believed each and every word I spoke. “You’re lying, love.”
“Christopher was my first, but you will never be my last because you were never there in my heart” I chuckled dryly.
“Stop talking, Katherina.” Luca took another step forward.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” I mocked, “It hurt me too when you broke his legs.”
“Please stop talking.”
“I loved him so much, and you wanted me to teach you how to be gentle and make love to a woman? Why don’t you take classes from him?”
“Katherina, fucking stop talking.” Luca closed the remaining gap until his face was just an inch away from mine.
I looked up at him without an ounce of fear, and even if he decided to kill me at this point, I wouldn’t back down.
“You don’t even have any right to be jealous, Luca, because you don’t deserve me.” I stepped closer and whispered, “You hear me? You don’t deserve me.”
Luca gulped hard and closed his eyes before stepping back. When he opened his eyes, they were blank as the night sky and held none of the emotions I witnessed just a few seconds ago.
“You’re right. Men like me are beyond redemption.” He turned around to pour himself a scotch and walked toward the railings, dismissing me.
I let out a deep breath, feeling light from finally seeing the pain in his eyes.
I no longer knew how things would turn out now, but I’m glad I was able to talk back to him. I was so consumed by anger that I didn’t listen to what he was trying to tell me.
I got out of the casino and went back home.
***
Luca didn’t return home that night, and by the time I was calmed down, I felt numb. No pain, no anger, no guilt. Just numb.
Also, I felt a sort of closure with Luca. I’d never had the guts to speak to him like that and just wanted him to come back so we could move on and talk it through in a civilized manner.
I don’t know when I fell asleep, but when I woke up, I swear it was because of a woman screaming.
The sun was shining brightly from the windows, and my eyes were burning from lack of sleep, but I came wide awake when another scream tore through the silence.
There was a bandage on my right hand where I’d cut it on the glass, and it hurt when I pressed on the wound.
I’d fallen asleep in the guest room since I’d turned our bedroom upside down. Getting off the bed, I pressed my temple, feeling the soaring pain there.
I went out of the room, and I could hear noises. The woman screamed again, and… moaned.
I stopped dead in my tracks, as everything seemed clear, and I almost sprinted down the stairs. My vision blurred when I saw Luca naked with another woman on the damn couch.
His head turned toward me. The woman got up, covering herself as much as possible.
“Oh my God, Luca. You already had a woman at your place! You’re such an idiot.” She squeaked.
She dressed hastily and ran out of the house.
My eyes never left Luca, neither did his leave mine as he stood naked without an ounce of emotion in those soulless eyes.
As the last night’s events came rushing back, I remembered what he told me and how much he meant all of it, but this ruined it all.
A tear rolled down my face, and I stood naked in front of him even though I was the one clothed. My heart clenched, and all the pain I felt earlier turned out to be nothing compared to this.
“How could you?” I managed to ask as I cried silently.
Luca averted his eyes from me, put on his boxers, and walked past me to the kitchen.
“I came back to you. I left everything and came back to you.”
“You came back for your family, not for me,” Luca replied unemotionally.
“I yearned for you in spite of everything you did.”
I was so tired of all this and stopped crying altogether, wiping away the remaining tears and just looking at him.
“You shouldn’t have,” he replied calmly, “You said it yourself, I’m a monster, and you can expect nothing but hell from a monster.”
“Luca, please tell me, what do you want from me? Why can’t you just let me go and save me from all of this? Or just kill me with your own hands.”
“You honestly think I didn’t fuck any women when you left me?” he asked.
“Stop it, Luca,” I said.
“Or do you think that I never fucked any other woman after you came into my life?” He chuckled at me.
“Luca, please stop talking.”
But he didn’t. He took another step toward me and stopped.
“God, you live in a fantasy world, Katherina. But let me be clear, I fucked many women after you came into my life.” He took a huge step toward me.
“Luca, please stop talking.”
But he didn’t. He took another step toward me and stopped.
“Most of the time, while fucking you, I imagined that it was some other sexy woman and not you under me.”
I slapped him. Hard.
“I was right. I’m nothing but a whore to you.” My voice was barely a whisper. His eyes widened, all the rage and anger replaced by realization.
“Your woman, huh?” I chuckled dryly.
“Your light in the darkness. Your strength, your confidence, damn all those words. Damn you too. I can’t do this anymore, Luca.
“I lost all my strength, all my confidence, my very dignity in trying to make you talk to me. All I ever wanted was for you to open up to me.
“To confess what exactly you feel so that we could work on things but now…I feel so horrible.”
He took a step forward and stretched his hand out to hold me, but I moved away from him swiftly.
“Don’t you dare touch me. I don’t want those filthy hands on me.”
“Katherina—”
“Why is it so hard for you to speak to me directly?”
“I did last night. You weren’t listening,” he replied.
“So, you bring another woman home and fuck her in front of me to hurt me?” I snapped at him, “Is this how it’s going to be?”
I don’t know what else to say. I quietly walked out the door, out the gate.
He didn’t follow me.