POV: KATHERINA
It had been two days since Ara and I were taken by a taxi driver to the mysterious guy who was staring at me in the club.
Even though no one had arrived at my doorstep the day after, my fear wouldn’t settle down. I jumped every time the doorbell rang or the clock struck five.
His cruelty and cold-heartedness had seeped into my veins like some kind of disease and threatened not to leave me any time soon.
I remembered those hard steel eyes staring down at me with nothing but raw lust and dominance, waiting to maul me if I didn’t obey.
Chris was sure the trouble had passed, but I couldn’t convince myself it was over and get over it. I’ve dreaded telling my parents since this started.
Part of me hoped they would understand even though I was wrong. So, I decided to prepare their favorite dishes and tell them over dinner at any cost.
I was deep in thought when Ara entered the kitchen, hugging a stuffed bunny to her chest.
“What is it, Ara?” I asked.
“I’m feeling sleepy, Kat,” she replied, rubbing her eyes.
“Give me a few minutes. Dinner’s almost ready,” I said and turned up the flame on the stove.
“Okay.” She sighed and walked back to the living room.
Once dinner was ready, I made a plate for my sister and went to the living room. I found her fast asleep on the couch with the TV still on.
Switching it off, I sat on the coffee table and took the bunny from her tight grip, which made her stir and let out a small wail.
I lifted her nightgown up and gently tickled her bare stomach. She pulled her dress down and turned over. My hands found her bare belly again and brushed it softly. She stirred and opened her eyes.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“I don’t want it. Go away,” she said sleepily and curled up in a ball.
“Wake up, baby,” I said, lifting up her sleeping form and making her sit on the couch. Her eyes opened just a fraction and closed.
I shook her head to and fro, and she finally opened her bloodshot eyes, crying and kicking.
Ignoring her wails and screams and kicks, I took a spoonful of rice and popped it into her open mouth, making her snap it shut.
She started munching the food silently. All her cries and kicks stopped once the food entered her system.
She was sleepy all the while as I fed her. Her eyes were closed, and her legs spread. Her mouth kept opening, closing, and munching.
Once she finished eating, I carried my sleepy sister to her bed and covered her with the blanket. I kissed her forehead and left, closing the door behind me before heading downstairs.
The doorbell rang. Glancing at the clock, I made my way to the door. It must be Mom.
I quickly opened the door with a gentle smile on my face.
Chills ran down my spine like a bucket of ice as I stood rooted to the spot, staring at the man who scared the living hell out of me.
He looked just like I remembered: a tattooed masculine body in a black shirt and jeans. My hand tightened on the door, and with my heart beating rapidly in my chest, I slammed it with all my might.
It didn’t shut. He had stopped it with his foot. His head lifted up, those dark eyes gazing into me.
“Open it,” said the calm, threatening voice.
“What if I don’t?” I challenged him, my hand still on the door as he stepped forward. His cologne hit my nostrils like a wave.
He pushed the door open with one hand, making me stumble back. I steadied myself and was about to confront him, but my eyes fell on my parents.
They were being held at gunpoint by the taxi driver who’d kidnapped Ara and me.
“Katherina, what’s happening?” My mom’s fearful voice made me avert my eyes from the deadly gun.
“Move,” the guy said rudely and marched my parents into their own house like it was a prison.
Each step was treacherous, and a lump rose in my throat as tears threatened to spill. I should have told my parents. They should have even gone to the cops directly without Chris.
My naivete had led us all to this situation.
I watched my parents look helplessly at the man in charge as he looked at the family photos on the wall with his back to us.
Two more guards entered and stood with their arms folded in the front, guns in their holsters.
“Mom, Dad, I am so sorry. This is all my fault,” I whispered to them.
Mom smiled worriedly and rubbed my arm, but Dad remained stiff, watching the scene unfold in our living room.
The man turned away from the photos. He looked at me and then at my parents.
“Take a seat, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood.” His voice was calm again as he scrutinized my parents.
My father stood rooted to his spot, examining the man who dared to enter his home uninvited. Mom pulled him along with her, and they sat on the couch facing him.
“What did I tell you to do yesterday, Katherina?”
His question caught me off guard though it shouldn’t have. He looked up coolly, waiting for me to reply and for an instant, I forgot my parents were here too.
I thought about Ara, the way he swung her in the air like she weighed nothing. I decided to answer the question, trying so hard to keep the fear at bay.
“You told me to be ready by five,” I whispered quietly.
“Did you―”
“What’s happening, Kat?” Dad’s stern voice cut him off.
He looked back at Dad, who was staring at me.
“Dad―”
“I saw your daughter in my club, partying with her school friends. I confronted her two days ago and asked her to be ready, so I could pick her up.
“She disobeyed and stayed at her boyfriend’s house with little Arabella,” he answered for me.
I was surprised how he knew my sister’s name and that I stayed at Chris’s place.
“Your daughter has caught my eye, and I can’t stop thinking of her. I want to take her away with me.
“Don’t worry. She’ll be in contact with you, and I promise she won’t die at my hands,” he said coolly.
Mom gasped and started to cry softly while Dad looked at him dumbfounded.
“Give her to me, and no one will be harmed,” he added when he received no reply from my parents.
“No one will be harmed?” Dad hissed and stood up from his seat, followed by my mother.
“Are you out of your fucking mind? What are you? A gangster? Surely you’re not from this town.
“Listen, boy, I don’t know what the devil you’re playing at here, but ’she is my daughter, and this is my home. So get the fuck out of here, or I’m calling the cops.”
Dad’s threat hung in the eerie air like a ticking bomb.
The man’s lips lifted in an amused smirk, but I didn’t miss the way his fingers were digging into the couch as he stood rooted to the spot.
“She’s mine,” was all he said, sending shivers down my spine.
Dad lost it. He lunged forward, though Mom tried to hold him back, and landed a hard punch on his face. There were loud clicks as the three men aimed their guns at us.
I gasped loudly and immediately pulled my father away from him.
“I’m calling the cops! Get out of my house!” Father shouted, unfazed by the guns aimed at us.
The man snapped his fingers at his men, and the guns went back into their holsters. He then walked swiftly to me and yanked my hand from my father’s arm, and pulled me with him.
“Let go of me!” I screamed and twisted my hand in his grip. I saw my father approaching us, but the man nodded to his men, who quickly blocked my parents from reaching us.
“Why didn’t you do as you were told?” he hissed in my ear.
I didn’t reply but kept struggling to break free from his steely grip. He pressed my back roughly to his front, wrapped his arms around my waist, and placed his chin in the crook of my neck.
Then he ordered his men to punch my father.
His man landed a hard punch on my father’s face, and he immediately lost his balance. Mother’s scream echoed through the walls as she held him and cried.
“Don’t. Please don’t,” I begged him. “What do you want?” I sobbed, and his grip on my waist loosened.
“You.”
I turned around to look at him.
“Why? Why me?” I asked pathetically as the tears came down.
“You caught my eye, baby girl. That night when you were grinding your ass on your ball-less boyfriend’s dick, I realized you should be in my arms, grinding my dick,” he said, smirking down at me.
My eyes widened at his blunt confession.
“You’re crazy! Are you even listening to what you’re saying?” I yelled at him.
“I’m not here to listen to myself. I’m here to make you listen to me, tesoro,” he replied.
“I’m begging you to leave us. Have mercy on us. I promise I won’t even utter a word about this to anyone!” I cried in front, not caring about anything but having him gone.
He chuckled at me.
“What makes you think I’m scared of you talking about me to people?”
He let go of me, and I immediately rushed to my father. His nose was bleeding, and my mother was crying her heart out.
“I’m so sorry, Dad. This is all my fault.” I said as I wiped away the blood off his jaw with my bare hands.
“It’s not your fault, princess.” He grunted in pain before looking up to the man.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, bastard? Why are you doing this?” Dad screamed at him.
“I’m just here to take what’s rightfully mine, Mr. Blackwood,” he simply replied.
“She’s not yours! I’m not giving her to you.”
“Then I’m taking her―”
“Over my dead body!”
“So be it,” he said and motioned toward his men. My eyes widened, and I immediately stood up and faced those men.
“Don’t you dare come any closer.” I mustered up as much courage I could and spat the words at the men. They stopped right on their tracks and turned toward their boss.
“Feisty, aren’t we? Won’t last too long” He chuckled darkly at me, and the men stepped back.
“Please, I’m begging you. You don’t have to do this, just leave. Find some other girl,” I reasoned.
“I could have any girl, but what’s the use when I want you, Katherina?” His eyebrows furrowed.
“Please, I’m begging you,” I sobbed.
“Begging, eh? C’mon, beg me.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me with amusement lacing in those cold eyes. I watched him in utter confusion.
“Get on all fours, crawl toward me, and beg me with your head bowed down. Maybe I might reconsider,” he continued.
“You bloody bastard!” Dad shouted and charged toward him, but Mom and I held him back.
“Fuck you,” I muttered with loathing. For a second, the thought of stabbing him in the heart felt unbelievably good.
“I will, eventually.” He smirked wider.
“Get out, you fucking low life,” I hissed, anger getting the better of me.
His smirk disappeared, and his lips became a thin line as his eyes turned dark. His hands clenched into tight fists, and I knew I hit a nerve. If he was angry before, he was fuming now.
I could practically hear my heart beating through my ribcage as fear ran through my veins faster than blood.
“Kill everyone,” he commanded.
Before I could say anything, he came forward and threw me over his shoulder, then started walking toward the door. The men grabbed my parents, who screamed my name and tried to reach me.
One of them hit my father in the jaw when he tried to run toward me. I screamed, yelled, and did everything I could, but the grip on my thighs was so tight.
I punched his back repeatedly with all my strength. He didn’t wince, didn’t complain, didn’t say anything. He just walked out and threw me in his car.
I started banging on the window and trying to open the door. All of a sudden, gunshots rang out, and I stilled. The car took off as I sat there motionlessly.
No. It wasn’t possible…