POV: KATHERINA
“Happy birthday, honey!” Mom sang over the phone, making me chuckle.
“Thank you, Mom,” I replied while placing parchment paper on a baking sheet.
“When are you coming back, honey?”
It’s the same question every day, and my reply is always the same.
“Very soon, Mom.”
I haven’t told them that I love him, and though it’s fucked up, I can’t seem to do anything about it.
I heard Dad’s voice and Ara singing, “It’s my big sissy’s birthday, she’s got a big butt with a big cake, and I can’t wait to eat the cake.”
“She’s making up the song, isn’t she?” I asked mom.
“Yeah, she is.”
Mom laughed on the other side, and I smiled, scooping the cookie mixture and dropping it onto the paper when the main door opened and Luca walked in.
He smiled warmly at me, placed the grocery bags on the table, and walked toward me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I spoke to my father and my sister, who was screaming the happy birthday song and asking for me to come back home. Luca stayed silent but kept kissing the side of my face and neck, distracting me.
Once the call ended, Luca pulled me around and lifted me up, placing me on the counter. He kissed my neck and my earlobe.
“Happy birthday, love.”
“Thank you,” I said and pushed him off me before things could go further and went to put the cookie tray in the oven.
It’s been a week since Luca told me about his childhood, and even though things are pretty rough, we’re doing fine.
I haven’t been able to have sex with him since the image of him fucking some other woman pops up in my mind and ruins my mood, and we end up arguing.
He keeps apologizing and defending himself, saying that he didn’t do it, and I walked on them at the wrong moment, and he lost hope in us.
But I can’t shake off the fact he would give up so soon after giving me a hard time for so long.
“These are for you,” Luca gave me a bouquet of roses and sunflowers and a box of chocolates. I mumbled thanks and kissed him on his cheek.
Luca arranged a birthday party tonight, even though my birthday present was supposed to be a plane ticket to see my parents and friends.
Sheriff Newman has been giving them a hard time since the news of Megan and her father traveling around, and it’s impossible to leave the country.
It’s my twentieth birthday, and for the first time, I’ll be celebrating without my family and friends.
“I’ll be back before dawn, be ready.” Luca pecked my cheeks and left the house.
I spent the rest of the day video chatting with Isabella and Anna, who were happy and not happy with me when I told them that I loved him.
They immediately broke into a series of discussions about being a lover and then a wife to a criminal whose life revolves around guns and death.
Isabella downright called me an idiot, and Anna was worried about the problems I might face in the future if at all things work out between us.
“Gangsters have a lot of enemies,” Anna explained. “And they always target the lover or the wife and blackmail them.”
“Right,” Bella agreed. “They’ll kidnap you, torture you, and try to get information about Luca, and by the time he comes riding in like a damn knight, it might be too late.
“Things will not work out because you were not born in that world. You can’t adjust to it.”
“Guys, things have always been complicated with him. Each time I think I’ve solved a problem, it just divides into new branches. It’s never ending, but I love him, and I think we can work it out.
“Luca did tell me that he wants to work it out, and that has to mean something,” I justified.
“I understand, but how long will this go on?” Anna asked, “You can’t possibly live a life without peace, and what happens when he gets killed? You’ll end up miserable.”
“What happens when you guys end up having a child? And then more?
“I’m surprised you haven’t ended up with at least ten babies with the amount of sex you guys had,” Isabella ridiculed, making Anna nudge her with the elbow.
“I’m on the pill, Bella,” I chuckled.
“But still, how come even one of his seeds didn’t make it? I guess that’s where he’s the weakest.”
We laughed heartily.
“Or maybe he tells his sperms, ‘touch her eggs, and I’ll kill you’ before shooting a load of them inside you,” Isabella went on.
“Tell me again, why’s Kevin still dating you?” I asked once my laughter died out, and she shrugged.
“Before things get complicated, confess your love to him,” Anna said.
“Doesn’t matter whether he feels the same or not. He was ready to let you go anyway. So, tell him and see what he does. That’s the way you’re going to figure it out.”
I agreed with Anna, but Isabella still believed the best solution would be to simply cut his dick off.
I didn’t realize how much time I’d spent with them till Anna reminded me that she had a date night with Taylor and had to leave.
Wishing me happy birthday again, my best friends ended the call, and I went to take a quick shower and got ready for the party.
I was waiting for Luca, munching on some cookies, when the doorbell rang, and I quickly got up to open it.
Instead of Luca, I saw a stressed Parker standing at the doorstep, and I already knew something was wrong.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I’ll tell you on the way. Come with me,” he replied.
I got in his car while he spoke to Victor before taking off.
“What happened?” I asked once we left the estate.
“Cruz went crazy all of a sudden and attacked the police station,” Parker replied. “Sheriff Newman attacked the casino.”
“Is Luca okay?” I asked.
“Emmalyn wasn’t in the station, so Cruz killed the cops and went on the run. Luca went searching for him with Rickard while the rest of us tried to fight the cops in the casino.
“Everything’s going down now. There’s going to be a war between the Underground and the cops. I must keep you in a safe place.
“There’s no way you can go back to your hometown, so for another few days, you’d be shifted from place to place.”
I started to sweat, praying that Luca would be okay, but I couldn’t calm my nerves.
Parker reached the grounds where Luca took me to before I left him, the place that had a fun pack with girls and boys living their lives.
However, there was no DJ, the racetracks were empty, and the swimming pool had no couples in it. The mansion stood empty.
Parker took us to the hotel, where the guard who watched me while I was drunk came jogging toward us.
I would’ve probably been embarrassed if the situation was different since I called him a baldy.
“Katherina, stay here, and if there’s anything, Sabastine will be here,” Parker informed me and hurried back.
“This way, please,” Sabastine motioned me and got going.
He already had everything arranged and gave me the keys to a room, and left without further ado.
I spent my birthday night alone in a hotel room before getting off to bed.
The news said nothing about Luca, but the casino being raided and the shootout were all over the TV and newspaper.
They’d locked down the casino, and Sheriff Newman refused to address the press and media, leaving everyone wondering what was happening.
They also claimed up that the police station was burnt down due to a faulty electrical circuit.
I spent around three days in the hotel and wasn’t moved elsewhere. None of Luca’s friends contacted me, and Baldy didn’t reveal much of the information I needed.
When Luca finally arrived, I was pissed off and yet relieved.
“I heard what happened,” I said as he moved inside and closed the door.
“Yeah, Cruz can be reckless sometimes,” he replied and slumped down on the couch.
He looked exhausted, and beads of perspiration were glistening on his forehead.
“Are you okay?” I sat down beside him.
“I’m fine,” Luca replied. “Cruz is not. In spite of what he did, he couldn’t find Emm. I had to send him away, but he downright refused. He’s going crazy without her.”
I wasn’t listening because my eyes fell upon a bulge at the side of his stomach, and I pulled his shirt up. There was a huge bandage on his abdomen, and I gasped in fear.
“What happened?’
“A cop shot me,” he replied casually. “It’s nothing I’ve not experienced before.”
But it’s something I haven’t experienced.
I’d seen Luca at gunpoint when his hotel was attacked by Megan’s men, and he shot them down without mercy, but this was different, and I was more scared for him than of him.
The conversation I had with Anna and Isabella came rushing back, and my eyes filled with tears.
It wasn’t this hard when I didn’t love him. I couldn’t help but think of this dangerous life I’d been thrown into and how it wasn’t safe, even for him.
“Look at me, Katherina,” he demanded, but I couldn’t avert my eyes from the wound.
Placing his finger below my chin, he lifted my head up to meet his eyes, and his expression tightened. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“Will it always be like this?” I asked softly.
“For now,” he replied. “Once Karen goes down, Bill will stop, and things will settle down for a while.”
“Karen’s still involved in the case?” I asked, surprised since Isabella and Anna told me that Karen was out of town for a case.
With Chris back to school, the sheriff was working on the case along with the Italian cops, and things had settled down in town.
“She’s the root cause for everything that happened,” was all Luca replied, but it only increased my confusion even more.
“No, she’s not. She did what she had to for Chris and me.”
Luca chuckled softly and leaned on my shoulder, wrapping his arm around me. “She did it for herself, and she’ll pay the price very soon.”
I pushed him off me. “Keep her and her family out of it. They almost lost their son because of you” I spat at him and his expression hardened.
“I didn’t fucking break his legs only to teach you a damn lesson. I wanted his mother to stay out of my business, but she’s a selfish bitch who only cares about herself,” he snapped back at me.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, recalling the dreadful night when he’d almost killed Christopher.
None of them knew about Luca back then, except the sheriff, who refused to believe me since he thought Luca was dead.
“You’re lying,” I said. “Karen didn’t know you then.”
“I was dead to the world for two years, and I stayed two months in a town which is the home of the man who tried to kill me.
Nobody even noticed me or realized I own a damn club there, but you come into my life, and suddenly your boyfriend hunts me down where I live and comes to your rescue?” Luca asked.
I thought hard about it.
“There’s a lot of things that you don’t know, and there’s a lot of things that I’ve kept from you. Let’s keep it that way.’
“You can’t keep things from me if it involves around people that I care about,” I tried to explain to him calmly. “Please, tell me what’s happening.”
“No,” Luca refused firmly. “Besides, I’ve already taken care of her.”
I didn’t like that tone.
“Taken care? You mean you’re going to kill them?”
“I don’t do good with the hurdles on my way, Katherina. Brace yourself,” He said and got up.
“Lay a finger on them, and I swear to you, Luca, you won’t like what’s coming,” I said, staring at his back. He stopped and turned around.
“Was that a threat I heard?” His voice was calm, and he took slow steps toward me.
“Take it however you want.” I stood on my ground in spite of the fear.
“I’ve already sent men to finish her husband and her crippled son. Do what you can.”
“You don’t have to do this, Luca,” I said softly as a lonely tear left my eye.
“I’ve got no choice, Katherina. She will come back as soon as she gets the news that her family is dead, and that’s when she’ll die too,” he said calmly.
I closed my eyes and tried to compose myself, but I just couldn’t. I wanted to pounce on him, gouge his eyes out, but at the same time, I wanted to rip his clothes off and make to love him.
I was so damn conflicted.
“This is me, and this is what I do. This is my world.”
I opened my eyes and looked straight into his dark soul.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” I begged him desperately. “Let’s leave… leave all of this behind. There is a world out there amidst this cruelty, and it’s beautiful. Let’s leave all of this behind and start―”
“I’ll stop you right there. Just who do you think you are to tell me what I should do and what I shouldn’t?”
He drew himself up. “You fucking live with me and get adjusted to this lifestyle. I’m not leaving this behind because this world gave me everything that yours couldn’t.
“If it weren’t for Accardi, none of us would be here right now, and I owe my fucking life to him.”
“It’s because of him you turned into a monster!” I snapped back.
“Everybody’s a monster, Katherina. I just decided to feed mine and keep it close. If you want to leave, I already told you, put a bullet in my fucking head and then leave.
“I swear to God, my men will not torment you, hurt your dear ones or even touch you, but if any man comes near you, they will kill him. And if I escape death again, then I’ll do it myself.
“You have no idea how deep my obsession runs for you.”
He’d just proved to me he was a whole new level of crazy, making it harder than it already was for me, and I was rendered speechless.
“I’ve already taken a bullet for the man who brought us up,” he lowered his voice. “I won’t mind doing it again. Karen has not only planned to take me down; her main target is my boss.
“I can’t let that happen.”
“You are not going to kill Chris and his family, and you’re definitely, definitely not going to die for your boss,” I said, taking a step forward him.
“You’re not the one to decide that,” he said.
“Fuck you for thinking that way,” I snapped. His eyes widened for a second, but he composed himself. “Ask your men to come back and keep Karen out of this.”
Luca looked irritated and huffed in annoyance.
“I’ll ask them to come back, but keep in mind you’ll regret this.”