POV: KATHERINA
I cried silently at the thought of my dead parents and sister. I’d felt pain before, but nothing like this.
An irreparable void tore my heart, and the pain intensified as my mind raced with guilt.
There was no chance of escaping from this place. The man dragged me in and locked the door before I could get out. The windows had bars, and trying to break the thick timber door was futile.
The pain and fear were both unbearable, and I just wrapped my arms around my knees, sitting on the cold floor and crying silently in the empty room.
The loneliness was seeping into me, the loneliness of not having a family anymore and being alone in this world, thrown at the feet of a devil.
If only I had listened to him. If only I had obeyed him. Things would’ve been different, and my family would’ve still been alive.
My selfishness, my naivete, my underestimation of that man have led me into this situation. It’s all my fault.
The door banged open, and I shivered. Slow footsteps approached me and stopped in front of my feet. I stared at the shiny black shoes and didn’t lift my head, already knowing it was the devil.
He then lowered himself on his toes, his face level with mine. I kept my eyes down on the floor, fearing what might happen next—fearing him.
“Look at me,” His cold, steely voice commanded me calmly, which only made me tighten my arms around my knees and pull them closer.
I remained motionless, my eyes on the white marble floor.
His hand grabbed my chin and made me look at his angry eyes.
“When I tell you to do something, you do it. Understand?” he said.
I looked at his handsome face, and I felt the fear and pain numbing as the fury rose in me. My fingers dug into my knees, keeping me from doing anything stupid.
“Open your fucking mouth and answer me, Katherina,” he said calmly, though his body was shaking tremendously due to anger.
“No, I won’t,” I hissed. My family is dead because of this man. There is no way I’m listening to this bastard. I’d rather die than obey him.
He just stared at me before landing a hard slap, knocking me off my balance. I blacked out a second, clutching my cheek that was throbbing in pain.
The slap was uncalled for, and before I recovered, he clutched my neck in a tight grip and smashed my head on the wall. I screamed as my head started to throb.
“Let’s try again, shall we?” he said in the same calm voice, but his grip on my throat was cutting off my oxygen supply. “When I tell you to do something, you do it. Understand?”
I scratched his hand, trying to release myself from his death grip. It only tightened, making me see stars.
“Understand?” He stressed the word.
“Fuck you,” I spat on his face.
He wiped the spit off his face and smirked at me before releasing his grip on my throat. I greedily took in gulps of air before he grabbed my hair.
I glared at him, which only made him chuckle softly before dragging me with tremendous force, leaving me no choice but to cooperate.
I was lifted onto my feet and thrown on the bed. I was quick to get off the bed, but he was quicker than me. He grabbed me by my ankle and threw me back on the bed like I weighed nothing.
When he leaned down, I started punching and kicking his hard chest. Without remorse, he grabbed my legs and pulled me down, making my back hit the floor.
I cried out in pain, but he just towered over me, watching. I struggled to get myself up, but he cruelly pressed his shoe into my stomach, keeping me down on the hard floor.
He put enough pressure on my stomach to cause a bruise before leaning down, grabbing my hair, and yanking me to my feet.
“The more you try to fight me, the more I’ll hurt you,” he threatened calmly, pinching my hip, causing me to cry loudly, before pushing me back on the bed.
Before I could gain my balance, he grabbed my legs and spread them apart before smashing his body on mine, holding my wrists above my head in an iron grip.
“Let go of me!” I screamed and wriggled in his hold, but he pressed his body on mine, cutting off my oxygen supply, and remained still till I tired and lay motionless under him.
“That’s all you’ve got?” he whispered into my neck before licking the spot and looking up at me.
“You’re a murderer. You killed my parents,” I said with teary eyes.
I tried not to show him any weakness, but the pain of losing my family was just too much to handle. I didn’t even know why I was alive. “What do you want from me?”
I gulped in fear, my throat dry as sand.
“You,” he replied, his pupils dilating. “All of you. I want to claim you in every way.”
“Why?” I sobbed quietly.
“Because you’re my pet,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“You are crazy. So fucking crazy!” I coughed, tears spilling from my eyes.
“I’ve been called worse,” he whispered in my ear before tying my wrists to the headboard.
I immediately stiffened, anticipating his next move. I tried not to cry, but the tears wouldn’t stop as he ripped the clothes off my body till I lay naked under his lustful gaze.
There was no use in fighting him. He’s strong and lethal, and fighting him is only going to cause more trouble.
“Perfect, you’re so fucking perfect, baby,” he whispered, grabbing my breast. “Never hide your body from me.”
He dipped down and captured my nipple. I bit my lips, controlling my sob threatening to escape as he assaulted me. His touch was gentle, and the pleasure became impossible to neglect as the pain drowned in. My eyes closed shut when he bit down on my nipple, his hand fondling with my other breast. His kissed my stomach and rose on his knees, staring down at me.
He removed his shirt, revealing his ink chest and arms that were carved with symbols, and shapes. The most beautiful art was Goddess Kali on his stomach and the lotus on his neck. It hurts to look at this marvellous man who is rotten from the inside and is beyond redemption for the sins he committed.
I will never forgive him for killing my family. Never.
'Rape me,' The words came out even before I could comprehend 'It's what you want, isn't it? Just do it and leave'
His eyebrows scrunched in dissatisfaction as he stilled above me, trying to read my eyes but there was nothing but void inside of me.
His hand moved up and down my thigh before slipped into my folds. I gasped and tried to close my legs, but he moved forward in between them. His thumb rubbed my clit and moved in circles, increasing the pleasure inside me. I started to pant, my wrist struggling to release from the tight knot. His other hand held my waist, preventing me from moving away from his touch as he continued giving me the pleasure I couldn't deny.
Two fingers slipped inside my hole and I turned my head to the side, biting my lip from moaning out loud. His thrusts were slow at the beginning, and then they became faster and harder, taking me to ecstasy.
'Is this rape?' He asked softly, not slowing down his movements.
'Manipulation' Was all I was able to spit out.
He smirked widely 'But your body started to react even before putting up a fight, who's fault is that?'
'You're a sick bastard, taking advantage of me' I snapped, and my toes curled before a soft moan left my lips.
'And why wouldn't I when I intend on claiming you as mine, and mine alone?' Was all he said before replacing his fingers with his mouth.
I lost it and moaned loudly when he sucked my clit hard, making me come. He licked me clean before raising up to look at me. When I finally came down from my high, he smiled at me.
'I want to fuck you, not rape you. And when I do that, you'll be screaming my name and not screaming for help' He said before removing the ties around my wrists and getting off me and leaving the room.
He removed his shirt, revealing his inked chest and arms that were carved with symbols and shapes. The most beautiful art was the Goddess Kali on his stomach and the lotus on his neck.
It hurts to look at this marvellous man who is rotten from the inside and is beyond redemption for the sins he committed.
I closed my eyes, trying to imagine Chris, or anything to ignore his touch, but I couldn’t stop trembling. He didn’t speak all the while, and when I felt him removing the knots on my wrists, I opened my eyes.
Putting his shirt back on, he left the room.
I quickly got up and tried to open the door, but the bastard had locked it behind him. I wrapped my arms around my naked self and ran to the washroom, feeling his hands all over my body.
I turned on the shower, letting the hot water burn my skin as I cried and scrubbed every inch of my body, trying to forget his touch and how it felt on my skin.
Every inch of my body was aching as I slumped on the floor, crying.
I don’t know how long I stayed in the shower, but when I came out, my skin had turned a dark shade of red. It burned when I dressed in clothes from the closet that were all new and all my size.
I looked out the window to the dark sky. Guards were stationed below, several of them that I could see. Beyond the estate were dark woods, no sign of the town or any roads.
I searched the room and washroom for anything to break the window or the door or to fucking kill myself, but there was nothing.
All that was in the room was a closet and clothes and a bed. I banged on the door, screaming for someone to come and open the door, but there was no response from the other side.
My throat dried out, and my stomach was rumbling with hunger.
I paced the floor for a long time, crying and screaming in pain and anger before my eyes became heavy, and my body felt tired as I fell into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up to the rays of sun seeping through the window curtains. I stared at the light, lying on my stomach, recollecting the horrors from last night.
Everything looked calm—a new day, a new chapter, yet the silence was loud.
I managed to get up from the bed, my eyes wandering to the door, which was partially open. Without a second thought, I rushed toward it, fearing it might lock automatically.
I looked at the empty hallway before getting out of the room and cautiously descending the stairs.
The living room was bright with white walls, white couches, white curtains, and a huge unlit chandelier with crystals that sparkled in the light.
The house was lavishly decorated with every luxury, and it made me wonder who he was.
My eyes went to the main door, and just when I was about to walk toward it, a woman appeared from the kitchen.
“Hello, I’m Rosia,” she said softly. “I’ve prepared breakfast. You must be hungry.”
I stared at her. Her golden locks were up in a messy bun, and ’she wore a white frock that reached below her thighs. She’s beautiful, and I wondered if she was forced to work here.
“I’m a maid here,” she added as if reading my mind.
“Where is he?” I asked, not knowing the monster’s name.
“Sir will be here soon. He asked me to prepare your breakfast,” she said and disappeared into the kitchen, motioning for me to follow.
I peeped out of the door. Two guards were stationed at the huge gate. I followed Rosia to the kitchen.
I ate eggs and bread to gain some energy to face the monster today. Rosia went to clean the house, and I wandered off to explore the two-story building.
There were a total of three bedrooms on the top floor and a swimming pool visible from the window.
The entire estate was the woods, and I vaguely guessed ’it must be the prohibited part of the woods at the edge of town.
There was a KTM bike and a sleek black car parked in front of the house. The gate was password protected, just like the main door.
After her chores, Rosia appeared in the living room.
I tried to make her tell me the password of the door and the main gate, but she was careful not to spill that information and left me alone in the eerie house.
After several hours of not knowing what to do, I dozed off on the couch.
I was woken by a cold, tingling sensation on my face. I kept my eyes closed and tried to ignore the feeling, but it only intensified.
I could feel something wet and cold dripping on my face. The sensation was irritating, and I opened my eyes and let out a shriek.
His face was just an inch away from me. When I tried to move, he held me down, making it impossible. His face was dark as the whole room was illuminated with dim light.
The tingling sensation increased, and I realized his body was wet, and drops of dark liquid were dripping from his hair and falling on my face.
“Stop screaming!” His voice was throaty, and he covered my mouth with his palm, muffling all my sounds.
His face dipped into my neck, kissing me softly. His whole body was drenched, and the liquid started to seep onto my clothes. His hand moved away from my mouth and held my hair.
There was a bad smell coming off him, the smell of spoiled meat. My free hand touched his wet hair, and his hold on my wrist tightened quickly.
Touching the stinky liquid, I removed my hands from his hair and inspected them. I strained my eyes and looked closer at my fingers.
“Oh my.” My hand started to tremble, and my throat constricted, “It’s blood… Oh my God! Get off me!”
I cried and tried to push him away, but he grunted and applied more pressure. I started to sob and tried again, but he was too strong.
“No! I won’t! You belong to me!”
He yanked my hair, making me wince, and that’s when I saw his face. It was covered in blood.
A loud scream erupted from my mouth as I started to thrash around, trying to get out of his grip. He was swift and held my hands above my head, coming menacingly closer.
“Please!” I begged him as his bloody face came closer to mine.
Before he could smash his lips on mine, he was ripped off me abruptly and thrown on the ground, far away from me. I screamed louder, seeing him fall on the floor like a sack.
My eyes looked for the cause. A man around his age, huge and strong, stood next to him, looking deep into my eyes. I screamed louder.
“I’m not here to hurt you. Calm down,” he said softly. ’He was wearing a black suit just like my kidnapper, tattoos clearly visible in his neck region. I stopped screaming, but my tears didn’t stop.
“See. That’s all. I need you to go back to the room and lock yourself in. He’s drunk and angry, clearly not a sight to see. So, please leave this place.”
His eyes were literally begging me to obey him.
The man on the floor growled and got up unsteadily. His hair was disheveled, and his hard, cold eyes stared at me with so much loathing.
He ran toward me, but the other man was quick and grabbed his waist.
“You’re mine! Only mine! Come to me, Katherina. Come to me!” he screamed, struggling to get free from the tight hold around his torso.
“Luca, calm down. She’s here, man, so calm the fuck down!” the other man said to him roughly, keeping control.
The man addressed the monster by his name, trying to overpower him.
“No! She’ll run away, Rick!” Luca roared in anger. His eyes were bloodshot, and I saw his footprints on the floor were red with blood.
“Run!” the man, Rick, screamed when I made no attempt to move. “As long as he sees you, he’ll keep reaching for you!”
I looked at myself. They were bloodstains on my clothes. I felt my head spinning, and a wave of nausea engulfed me. Looking at the men one last time, I quickly made a run toward the stairs.
“Katherina! Katherina! Come here!” Luca screamed. “Baby, please. Come to me” His voice became louder. I didn’t look back but ran toward the room and locked it.
The sounds of him screaming and yelling increased. I shut both my ears with my hands, trying to block out the noise as he trashed things and screamed my name like I’d fucking died.
I heard several other voices later when he became uncontrollable, coming closer until they were on the other side of the door.
He started banging my door, and I could hear men talking and cussing in a different language, Rick included, as they tried to take him away.
I took the lamp from the bedside and stood ready in case he broke the door and barged in. I jumped every time he hit the door, no longer doubting his ability to break it.
I felt the footsteps and struggles of the men, and I could imagine them pulling him away from the door.
Finally, after several minutes of constant struggle and Luca’s screams, the voices turned faint like they were moving away.
I quickly went to the window and saw Rick and two men carrying a struggling Luca into the sleek black car that was parked behind the KTM.
The car revved, along with the one behind it, and the guards at the gate got in too. Both the cars drove out of the estate, leaving the gate open.
I dashed to the bathroom and stripped naked, washing away the blood that touched my skin. I don’t know who he murdered in cold blood today—whose blood drenched him.
Tears were silently rolling down my cheeks, and I didn’t stop them. I cried for everything, for my parents, my sister, and myself. But I didn’t let the pain distract me from my chance for freedom.
I quickly stepped out of the shower and put on the nearest clothes in the closet before sprinting down the stairs.
The living room was destroyed completely. The TV was broken in two. The fish tank was broken, and the tiny fish lay lifeless on the white floor.
The room was brightly lit with white lights, so the blood trails were clearly visible. The couch on which I’d slept was bloody, and wherever his feet had touched was stained dark red.
The house was empty, and I cautiously looked out of the door for the guards, but they were nowhere to be seen. Without a second thought, I sprinted toward the open gate into the night air.
I ran in a random direction, happy to see a road that would lead me out of the woods. The road was dark and scary, with trees hovering at the sides, but my legs didn’t stop as I ran into the night.
When I became breathless, I started walking till the road widened, and I was finally out of the woods. After walking for a long time, I finally saw a familiar club.
Detrox.
I remembered coming here with Chris and my friends, so I went inside. Giving my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light, I saw my surroundings.
People were dancing and drinking their fill. I walked straight to the bar. The bartenders were busy doing their tricks and making drinks.
“Hey beautiful, what do you need?” a bartender asked me.
“I need your phone, please.”
“Sure, baby girl, just save your number as brown eyes, yeah?” he said and went to serve a woman who asked for shots. I dashed out of the club before he could notice me.
I dialed Chris’s number and waited for him to pick up.
“C’mon, C’mon!” I redialled when he didn’t pick up.
“Hello?” His sleepy voice came from the other side.
“Chris? Chris, it’s me! It’s me, Katherina!” I spoke hurriedly.
“Kat. Oh, God! Where are you, baby?” He sounded shocked and surprised, no longer sleepy.
“Chris,” was all I could say as I started crying.
“Shh, baby, it’s all right. Stop crying, please. Tell me, where are you? I’ve been worried about you, baby girl.
“Your parents and Arabella were kidnapped, or that’s what the cops told me when they saw the door wide open and no one inside. I was so worried. Where are you guys? Are you okay?”
His voice was soft and filled with concern and care, which only made me cry more.
“I don’t know, Chris. I don’t know where I am,” I cried. I heard his car roaring into life from the other side.
“Tell me any landmark, name of the street, or anything, dammit!” he cursed.
“I-I’m near this club called Detrox. Remember we came here once?” I said.
“I’m coming. Stay right where you are.”
He cut the line. I clutched the phone tightly in my hands and waited near the gate for him to come.
I waited patiently, at times looking around for Luca, fearing he might’ve come to know I’d left his estate and was coming after me.
When Chris’s car came down the lonely road, I immediately recognized and felt a wave of relief. He stopped the car and got out. I jumped right into his arms, holding him tight as I started to weep.
“Shh, shh, it’s fine. It’s all fine. I’m here now.” He stroked my head and pulled me gently toward him. His expression changed when he saw my bruised face.
“How did this happen?” he demanded, caressing my cheeks softly where Luca had hit me yesterday.
“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything, just…just take me away from here. Please,” I pleaded.
He said nothing but buckled me in and started the car.
On the way back to his home, I told him what had happened, and he listened to me carefully without interrupting.
“I’m going to fucking kill him! The first thing we are going to do tomorrow is file a police report, baby,” he said, and I quickly looked at him.
“Didn’t you tell your mother about this?” I asked, and he gave me a guilty look. “Why? You said you’d handle it!”
“And I did handle it in my own way, Kat! I just thought it was a damn prank. I didn’t know it was going to be this serious,” he explained, but I wasn’t listening anymore.
“I can’t believe you did this to me.”
“Baby, stop, please. First thing in the morning, we’ll go to the police station. I promise,” he said and grabbed my hand.
“What do you mean my family was kidnapped?” I asked, recalling what he told me over the phone.
“The neighbors called the cops, fearing it might be a home invasion. Sheriff Newman addressed us and your friends, teachers, and the principal in our school before declaring it as a kidnapping case.
“Now that you’re here, he’ll figure it out.”
I felt relief wash over me, but I couldn’t come to any conclusions till I saw my family alive.
“He told them to kill my parents and Ara, Chris,” I whimpered.
Chris pressed my hand. “They are fine. Stop thinking otherwise, Kat.”
I shook my head, crying silently.
When we reached his home, we quietly went inside, not disturbing his parents, who were sleeping in their room. I entered his familiar room. The clock on the wall struck two am.
I slumped on the bed with tired throbbing legs.
Chris took one of his shirts and handed it over to me, but I refused to take it. He has only seen the bruise on my cheek, not the ones that marked my body, and I wanted to keep it that way.
He insisted, and I had no choice but to reluctantly accept it. I dashed into the washroom, even though he had seen me naked before, and stripped down.
I looked at the bruises on my back and stomach, which were reddish, but the bruise on my hip where he pinched me was an ugly shade of purple.
The bruise on my neck was visible above his white shirt, though I tried to cover it with my hair.
When I came out of the washroom, he was already in bed, and his eyes widened when he saw the bruise on my neck.
“Oh my God! What―”
“This is why I didn’t want to wear the shirt,” I stated calmly, but my hands were in tight fists at my sides, and my eyes were shut tight.
He hates me now, I’m sure, I thought. He doesn’t love me anymore.
“Baby, did he do this?” He approached me and cupped my face. I kept my eyes shut.
“Baby, open your eyes. Talk to me, please,” he pleaded. I opened them slowly to look into his blue eyes.
“He’s a monster, Chris,” I whispered.
He hugged me and placed a kiss on my head.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m so sorry,” he kept repeating, and I cried on his chest.
This is where I belong: with him, with Chris.