POV: KATHERINA
“His upper body is completely covered with ink—all kinds of images and words. He also has his nipples pierced. His hair is pitch black, just like his eyes―”
“You sure about that, ma’am?” Sheriff Newman’s rough voice interrupted me again.
“Positive,” I said.
“Continue,” he said, and I told him as much as I knew, from the night at the club till the day before.
Chris also told him how he’d taken the situation lightly and hadn’t informed his mother or come to the station.
Sheriff Newman found us hard to believe because my description of Luca seemed suspicious to him.
“Katherina, if this man kidnapped you, where are your parents?” he asked.
“I…I don’t know,” I replied. “I don’t even know whether they are alive or not. I heard the gunshots, and then the car sped off.”
“There are two gunshots in your house, and the bullets were inside the wall. There was no blood, no sign of anyone being tortured or killed. The place seemed undisturbed,” Sheriff Newman reasoned.
I ran my hand over my face, feeling the pressure in my head.
“I told you whatever I know and witnessed, Sheriff.”
He sighed and ran his slender finger across his long scar that marked his face at the side, starting from his temple and reaching his chin.
“Okay. We know your family is missing, and you just came out of nowhere. But this is not enough. We need proof. There is very little hard evidence.
“Do you know anything about this man other than what you’ve said already?” he asked.
“His name. That other guy called him by his name,” I replied.
“What is it?” The sheriff leaned forward with his hands folded on the desk.
“Luca.” It came out as a whisper.
“That’s all?” He furrowed his eyebrows. “His full name?”
“I don’t know. The guy called him Luca,” I said.
“’You don’t remember where the house is situated?” he asked.
“No. The house was somewhere deep in the woods, and it took me a long time to get out. And once I was out, I walked for a very long time to reach that club. So, I don’t exactly remember.” I frowned.
Sheriff Newman rose to his full height and went over to the racks on the wall. He skimmed through them all and came back with a black file in his hand.
“It’s going to be fine,” Chris whispered, brushing his thumb on my hand.
Sheriff Newman sat down and opened the file in front of us before turning it toward us.
“Can you identify the man, Miss Blackwood?” he asked.
I nodded, took the file in my hand, and started flipping the pages, searching for his picture. All the men in the pictures looked like my description, and some of them even had the same name.
“No, he’s not any of these,” I mumbled as I started flipping through the sheets faster.
“Slow down and check properly, Kat,” Chris said, sitting beside me.
“No, he’s―”
My frustration quickly disappeared when my eyes landed on the man I was searching for.
He looked just the way I’d seen him yesterday. His face was turned aside, and he was wearing a black shirt with a lit cigar between his lips.
“Is this the man?” Chris asked softly. A shiver ran through my spine, looking at the picture.
“Yes! I-it is him! It’s the same guy! He was the one who kidnapped me! It is this man!” I screamed, pointing at the picture of Luca.
“Kat, calm down.” Chris’s voice was soft.
“NO! It is this man, Chris!” I kept screaming, “It’s him,” I whimpered.
The officer took the file from me and examined the picture. His eyebrows were knitted together, and his face was scrunched up in concentration, making him look older than he was.
He took a deep breath before looking at me. “Are you sure this is the man?” the sheriff asked me calmly.
“You think I’m lying?” I said. “He was the one who kidnapped me and my sister and now my parents! I don’t even know whether they are alive! Please, believe me. It is this man.”
Tears threatened to fall from my eyes, but I kept them back, trying my best to calm down.
“Impossible,” he mumbled under his breath, which didn’t go unnoticed by me.
“What do you mean impossible?”
“Sheriff, you heard her,” said Chris.
“Did you see him too, Chris?” Sheriff questioned.
“No, I didn’t,” he replied.
The officer said nothing. He threw the file carelessly on the table and leaned back in his chair, running his finger over the scar.
“It’s impossible. You’re sure it’s this man?” he asked me again.
That’s it. I’m done here, I thought.
I stood up from the chair and yelled in his face. “Are you deaf? I’m telling you it’s this man!”
“Kat, calm down,” Chris said, but ’I was long past being calm.
The sheriff took a deep breath before speaking.
“I need you to listen to me, please.” He paused, looking at us before continuing, “I understand your situation. I really do, and I’ve already set up a search operation to find your family.
“We are doing our best. So, I think…all you require is some rest. I’ll make an appointment with a good doctor for you. Just consult her and get some rest.”
“What are you talking about? This man has messed up my life and hurt me. He is out there, in our town―”
“Ma’am, please understand—”
“No, you understand. If anyone needs to understand something around here, it’s you not―”
“ENOUGH!”
His command made me snap my mouth shut.
“I’m trying to help you here, okay? I’m doing everything I can to get your family back. Why don’t you see that? The only thing I know for sure is that your family is missing.
“I’m a police officer, and all I believe in is evidence. What you’ve said about being abused, kidnapped, and tortured is important, but saying this man is the perpetrator is bullshit.”
He showed the file and threw it on the desk.
“I think you were hallucinating,” he finished.
“What are you saying? Her body is covered with bruises, and you say she’s hallucinating?” Chris gasped.
“We did take a medical examination on her, and you heard from the doctor, her bruises are not permanent. In fact, most of them are fading, am I right?” His head turned from Chris to me.
“Yes…but he did this to me!”
“Katherina, I believed you from the beginning because your injuries are consistent with your story.
“But now that you’ve pointed at this man and told me he’s the one behind all this, I need to consider what you told me. You’re in a shock, probably due to your family going missing.”
“Are you crazy? Then where did these bruises come from? Do you think I did this myself?”
“I think you need a therapist.”
I guess I stopped breathing for a second. Is he telling me that I’m mad now? I chuckled humorlessly before replying.
“I think you need a therapist. I’m telling you that this man is responsible for all the things that have happened to me in the past two days, and you say that I’m out of my fucking mind?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“Jesus! I need to get out of here. Chris, please take me home” I stood up, disappointed.
“Maybe he’s not the guy you’re talking about. Try looking at the other pictures and tell me you’re certain.”
My hand stopped at the door handle, and I turned to look at him sitting in his chair.
“I know what I went through, and I know what I’m saying is the truth. I’m certain enough.” I turned around and opened the door.
“No, you’re not! Because the man you’re talking about is dead!” he screamed. I stopped moving.
I quickly turned around to see Sheriff Newman on his feet, glaring at me. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“What?” It almost came out as a whisper to my own ears.
“You heard me. That man is dead,” he said again.
“No…”
“What are you saying? What’s happening to you, Kat?” Chris’s panicked voice pulled me out of my shock.
“Let me explain. Please, take a seat.”
We quietly walked toward the chairs and sat as before.
“What are you saying, Sheriff? He’s not dead. I saw him in the club, I saw him when he kidnapped me and my sister, and then I saw him yesterday. He’s not dead. He can’t be…”
“He is dead, Miss Blackwood. He was one of the most wanted criminals in the country. It was impossible to catch him, so he was eliminated,” he said softly.
“How can you be so sure about that? I mean, he might have tricked you,” Chris said.
“No, he didn’t. Because it was me who eliminated him.”
“This is confusing,” I said, rubbing my temples.
“Let me explain.” He went back to the racks of files and came back with a red one. He flipped the pages and turned them toward us before settling down in his chair.
Chris and I looked at the picture of a port with people carrying goods.
“You see this? These are drugs being transported—loads and loads of drugs. Women, drugs, and smuggling were Luca Ricci’s business.
“He was the right hand of the gang leader Accardi De Gasperi. The old man lived in Italy while he did the international work,” he explained
“You eliminated this guy?” Chris asked.
“Yes. He and Accardi were the main targets for us. It was two years back. I still remember that night like it happened yesterday.
“It was late summer, and we got the information that Accardi was meeting one of his partners in Bangkok, Tony. Tony is a human trafficker, and Bangkok was in his fist.
“People living there had no protection, and the police feared him. We took off to Bangkok to finish three heads—Tony, Accardi, and Luca. The cops there were supportive, but not all.
“They got the information about us, and they were ready for a war. We were ordered to use our weapons if necessary.
“We ended up in a fierce gunfight and lost many of our men. Luca and his friend were enough to kill us all. It was in the street, and that’s when I saw Luca for the first time.”
He paused and leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
“What happened next?” Chris asked him.
“You see this scar?” he asked, pointing at the scar on the side of his face. We nodded silently.
“It was from him. A special team was sent when we ran out of manpower. Luca was out of men, too.
“He somehow managed to help Tony and Accardi escape that place while he fought with us, diverting all our attention.
“In my twenty-three years of service, I’ve never seen a man like him, so young and so heartless. Everyone there was killed, leaving him all alone, but that didn’t stop him.
“He had no weapon; he was out of bullets, but he pounced on us with his bare hands. He was a monster, a pure monster. He killed my men brutally, right in front of my eyes.
“I wanted to take him alive and ordered my men not to kill him because I needed Tony and Accardi but watching him kill as an animal compelled me to do the opposite.
“He had no remorse when he threw one of the men into a vat of boiling oil at a roadside food stand. He killed them so cruelly, daring me to shoot him. He wanted me to shoot him.
“His eyes held no fear, only anger and challenge. I had no choice but to kill him, right there and then,” he said in a deep voice, his eyes looking at the floor.
“He died?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
“How do you know that?”
“I shot him in the heart, and he didn’t have a pulse.”
“Was he buried?”
“He was burned.”
“How can you say that? Did you see it?”
“Miss Blackwood, I’m telling you I killed him. The case was closed after that because we couldn’t get our hands on Accardi or Tony.
“He was just ten feet away from me when I shot him, so you see he’s not the man you’re talking about.”
I buried my face in my palms and closed my eyes. It couldn’t be.
Am I out of my mind?
“Miss Blackwood, you need rest. Please go home. We’ll let you know if we find out anything about your family. Just give us some time,” he said.
“Thank you, Sheriff,” Chris said, and we left the station.
We drove home in silence. Neither of us spoke, and Chris let me drown in my thoughts for once, for which I was grateful. He wasn’t dead. He just wasn’t. The car stopped at his home, and I got out.
“I’ve told my parents briefly about what happened,” Chris said as he opened the door for me.
When I entered the home, Karen came to me immediately.
“Oh my God, thank God you’re okay, honey.” Chris’s mom enfolded me in her arms.
How had I forgotten his parents would be at home? I hugged her back, feeling relieved for once.
“We were so worried.” Her soft voice held so much concern for me.
I smiled at her and her husband, who was standing beside her.
Karen and Darell Lockhart. Karen is a lawyer, while Darell is a neurologist. Though Karen is tough on the outside, she is one of the softest people I’ve known.
“I’m sorry, Katherina,” Darell said, giving me a comforting hug. “Where were you guys?” Darell asked Chris.
“Kat needed to know if the cops found out anything about her family,” Chris said.
“Did the sheriff say anything?” he questioned.
“No, I told him what I knew. He promised to look into the matter,” I replied.
“I’ll have a word with the sheriff. It’s going to be fine, Katherina.” Karen smiled and squeezed my hand.
“Go freshen up and take a rest. When you feel better, come to me. There’s a lot to talk about.”
That’s exactly what I was worried about. I just nodded and sprinted toward the stairs with Chris right behind me. Once we were inside, I locked the door.
“I need to leave. I can’t be here anymore,” I said and started pacing in his room restlessly.
“And why is that?” Chris asked calmly, folding his hands to his chest.
“Your mother. I can’t tell her exactly what happened, Chris. I can’t risk anything anymore. I disregarded his words, and it cost my family! I don’t even know if they’re alive!”
“They are alive,” he said softly and stepped forward toward me.
“I don’t know why this is happening to me,” I mumbled and put my face in my hands. He pulled me into his arms, and I buried my face in his hard chest.
“You need rest. Everything will be fine.” He kissed my head.
His phone started to ring. Releasing me from his arms, he stepped back, staring at the screen before answering the call.
The person was barking from the other side while Chris grunted and apologized.
“Who was it?” I asked once he ended the call.
“Coach. He’s very mad at me,” he said.
“You should go. I’ll be fine,” I said.
“Are you sure?” He asked, “Mom and Dad will be leaving for work. Are you fine being here alone? You could come with me if you want. Maybe meet Isabella and Anna.”
“No, no, it’s fine. The last thing I want is to involve them in this mess,” I said.
He nodded. “Just a few hours, okay? Anything, just call. I’ll come for you right away,” he said and went to get his bike keys.
Karen and Darell left an hour later, and I locked the door and all the windows before sitting in front of Chris’s laptop to search for Luca.
Everything the sheriff told us was the truth except about his death. He was one of the most wanted criminals around the globe and the most fearless leader in the Mafia.
Criminals like him worshipped him like he was God, and upon the fake news of his death, wrath was unleashed on all the cops in many states.
There was only one picture of him, the same one I’d seen in the sheriff’s office that morning.
His name was much more prominent than his face, and if I hadn’t seen him and known his history, I would have thought he was too handsome to be a gangster.
I was interrupted by the telephone ringing from the living room below. I quickly sprinted down the stairs and cautiously took the phone.
“Honey, is Chris at home? Why is he not picking up his phone?” Karen’s voice came through the line, and I released a sigh.
“He went to meet the coach, Karen. Is there anything I can do?” I heard her sigh before answering back.
“When will he return?”
“Probably in a few hours.”
“Hours? God!”
“What’s the matter, Karen?”
“I forgot to bring an important file, Kat. Just keep on trying his phone and when you get him on the line, ask him to get the blue file that’s in my closet. Okay?”
“Yeah, sure. Is it very urgent?”
“Court will be in session in one hour. I can’t send anyone from here to get it.”
“I can get it,” I said.
“No, you can’t. Call Chris.”
“But Karen, you said court is in an hour. What if Chris doesn’t pick up his phone?”
“Fine. There are three blue files on the top shelf of my closet. I’ve numbered them. Get me the second one,” she said reluctantly.
“Yup. Bye.”
I quickly sprinted to her bedroom and opened the closet. The top shelf was filled with files and papers. Searching for the blue ones, I took the file with a number two on it and closed the closet.
Locking the main door and slipping the key in the clay pot, I took off with Chris’s car. I knew where Karen’s office was, and I drove as fast as I could.
The clouds were dark, threatening to shower down rain as I drove. When I reached Karen’s office, she was already waiting at the entrance.
She took the file and kissed my cheek, asking me to come in so we could talk once she’s done with her case, but I declined, having other plans in mind.
Instead of driving back to Chris’s home, I drove toward mine. I didn’t cry during the ride, but when I reached my home, I couldn’t stop my tears.
The house was sealed, and I couldn’t even get in.
Just yesterday, I was living here, thinking the problem had passed and trying to get over it, but now I stood like a stranger, thinking about what had happened in there the night before.
All the years I’d spent with my family were snatched away from me in just one night. I left, not just because I feared Luca might be nearby, hunting for me. I couldn’t stay there any longer.
Nostalgia washed over me on my way back, looking at my familiar surroundings. I pushed those thoughts aside, concentrating on getting my family back if they were alive.
Maybe Luca changed his mind at the last moment and kidnapped my family as he kidnapped me. Obviously, if Luca had my parents, he would trade them for me.
Otherwise, his scheme was pretty much a lost cause.
With that hope, I pressed down on the accelerator. A car honked from behind. I moved left, motioning him to pass.
The car overtook me and turned toward me abruptly, making me slam on the brakes and launch forward, the seat belt holding me.
I quickly got out, fuming in anger, but it was all gone when I saw the man.
“Y-you―”
“Rickard,” he said and started approaching me.
Before I could get back into the car, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me around, pushing me back onto the car. I started to scream, hoping for anyone to help me, but the road was deserted.
“Don’t scream. I’m not here to hurt you,” he said in a strained voice, but I didn’t stop struggling in his tight hold.
“I asked you to lock yourself in your room. Why the fuck did you run away?” he asked calmly, though his brown orbs were blazing like fire.
“Luca lost his shit when he came this morning to find you gone.”
“Well, what do you expect? Get kidnapped and marry the kidnapper?”
“Stop making it worse.”
“It already is the worst!” I snapped back.
He let go of my hands and stepped back. “No, it isn’t,” he said quietly. “Do you know what he did when he realized you were gone?”
I stared at him blankly.
“He fucking killed Rosia!”
“What?” My voice was breathless.
“One thing you should know about Luca is that he’s crazy, Katherina. He thought Rosia helped you to escape. So, he killed her! He fucking killed her, dammit!” he shouted in my face.
“No… no, she didn’t help me.” I felt a sob threatening to release.
“He has sent men all over the town to search for you. He has sent some after your best friends, some after your boyfriend and his parents. He’s not going to stop until he gets you,” he said firmly.
I lifted my head to see him looking at me with a worried expression. Tears started to spill out of my eyes at the thought of being close to that monster.
“C’mon, let’s get you to him” He clutched my upper arm, but I pushed him away.
“No! I’m not going near that psychopath ever again!”
“Then you’re going to lose all your loved ones!” he shouted in the empty road.
“I’m going to the cops.”
“It’s useless. The cops don’t believe you. Didn’t you understand a single thing the sheriff told you this morning?” He asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“H-how do you know?” I asked in disbelief.
“I know everything, Katherina. They think Luca is dead. Sheriff Newman witnessed his death and his cremation, so he won’t believe you until he sees Luca with his own eyes, which is not going to happen anytime soon.”
“Then I will leave this town, go far away so he can’t find me.”
“Without your mother?” he cocked an eyebrow. “Without your father? Or without your—what’s her name—little Arabella?
Without a second thought, I pounced on him. I started punching his face and chest with all my energy.
“You fucking asshole! I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you all! Where is my family―”
“Katherina!” He held both my hands, preventing me from hitting him further. “Listen to me, or else I’ll have to do it the hard way!”
“I’m not going to listen to you, motherfucker! Take your filthy hands off me!”
“Stop, or else you won’t see your parents ever again,” he threatened.
My legs gave out, but he held me close to him.
“Why don’t you guys leave me alone? Please, let me and my family go,” I begged him as fresh tears rolled down my cheeks.
“Running away is not going to make things easier, Katherina,” he explained softly, his thumb brushing away my tears.
“Luca will not harm your family, but he will kill your boyfriend, his family, and your best friends if you don’t come with me now.
“He doesn’t care about anything, and the only reason he’ll keep your family alive is that you will cling onto that only hope and not make any rash decisions. You don’t have a choice here.”
Rickard held my hand and pulled me along to his car, and I reluctantly followed him. We were about to get in when a car came at maximum speed and crashed into Christopher’s car.
The back light shattered into pieces, and the entire side was crushed. The car that crashed into it also took severe damage, but the man behind the wheel didn’t care.
His dark eyes were solely resting upon me as he got out and strode toward me, looking vicious and cursing me for escaping in the first place.
My legs wouldn’t move, and my hands trembled in fear as Rick tried to hold him back, but he kept struggling to get his hands on me, to hurt me.
I almost peed in my pants when he threw Rick to the ground and marched over to me.
Before I could do anything, he slapped me hard on the face before yanking my hair harshly, making me cry out in pain.
“ I warned you. I warned you not to try and escape, didn’t I? he hissed near my ear and tightened his hold on my hair. I looked around frantically for anyone who might help, but there was no one.
“Answer me!” he shouted. He slammed my head on the pavement hard enough to draw blood. My head started to spin instantly, and my body fell limp to the ground.
“Get up!” he screamed, but I couldn’t.
My vision became blurry, and all his screams became muffled.
I could see Rickard saying something to him while he kept dragging me by my hair. I wanted to scream, shout, yell, but my body was numb. He slapped my cheek, and darkness enveloped me.