POV: KATHERINA
When I came into consciousness, all I felt was pain. My body felt heavy, and my head was throbbing badly.
Everything was blank for a few seconds, and then the past incidents came rushing like waves. I opened my eyes to see I was in a different room than I was in yesterday.
NO!
I sat up on the bed and felt a heavy bandage around my head. I went to remove it, but a woman’s voice restrained me from doing so.
“Don’t”
She was petite and fair, her blonde hair combed in perfect style, barely touching her shoulders. She smiled at me gently.
“I’m Kimberly, and I’m a doctor. I came here to check up on you.”
“I’m fine,” I spat.
“No, you aren’t,” she said, pointing her slender finger at my bandaged forehead. “I stitched it up, but there might be internal bleeding.”
I ignored her and stared out the window. Now that I was awake and back at his estate, I couldnt imagine what he was going to do to me.
“Take your meds and rest. That’s more important than trying to escape this place and him,” she said softly.
My eyes snapped back to her, my palms curling into tight fists. I was about to shout at her, but Luca appeared at the doorway, and the anger was replaced by fear.
“How is she?” he asked Kimberly without sparing a glance at me. He looked much calmer than before, but I knew he was worse than a beast.
“Good, till you decided to shower your love upon her,” Kimberly commented sarcastically.
I was surprised that Luca didn’t slap her. Instead, he nodded his head.
“I’m serious, Luca. Let the girl rest. For God’s sake, keep your anger in check, and don’t beat the shit out of her. You could have killed her.”
“But I didn’t, now did I?” Luca asked, slipping his hands in his pockets.
Kimberly muttered under her breath before packing her equipment and leaving the room. Luca watched her until she was out of sight before turning to me.
I didn’t take my eyes off him and steadied myself to run if he decided to hurt me again. He slowly approached and sat in front of me.
My heart was beating frantically in my chest, anticipating his next move.
When his hand raised to my face, I flinched, but he rubbed the bandage, looking directly into my eyes. He slowly came forward, daring me to move away, but I remained still.
He kissed the corner of my mouth before cupping my jaw.
“Fuck, you were hardly gone for ten hours, and I was a mess. I wasn’t so messed up even when I laid eyes on you for the first time at the club.”
His voice was husky as he trailed his nose to the side of my face slowly.
He lifted me carefully and placed me on his lap, with my feet on either side of him. He held me close to his body and kissed my neck.
I was stiff in his arms, but he didn’t care as long as I didn’t fight him. His hand slipped inside my shirt, and I shivered when his cold hand brushed my bare skin.
I felt him roam his hands over my back and my waist impatiently like he couldn’t get enough.
His kisses became urgent, and his other hand gripped the back of my neck and pulled me down to capture my lips for a hard kiss.
I kissed him, giving him what he wanted, and within seconds, he ripped my shirt apart and turned us around before laying me on the bed.
I placed my hands on his back as he traced my jawline and licked my throat. His hand slipped behind me, unhooked my bra, and removed it.
Holding my hands above my head, he bent down and took the right nipple in his mouth, moaning as he sucked and licked the hard nub.
My pussy clenched as waves of pleasure hit my core, but I could do nothing to stop him. My family was alive and captured, and the mere thought of losing them or my friends brought tears to my eyes.
He rose on his knees and removed the rest of my clothes, leaving me naked under him. He then got up from the bed and opened the closet, and returned with three sets of ties.
My head was aching, and all I wanted to do was sleep away the pain. But he had other plans, which terrified me. He tied my hands and legs at each corner of the bed before undressing in front of me.
His waist was tattooed, but his legs bore no ink. He was already rock hard, and he smirked when he caught me looking at him.
Placing himself between my open legs, he dipped down, holding my sides as he kissed my neck and breasts.
“Luca, you don’t have to do this,” I whispered softly, trying not to piss him off but hoping he would listen.
“Say my name again,” he said huskily, leaving wet trails down the valley between my breasts.
The pleasure was rising inside me, and I couldn’t make it stop, so I shut my eyes and tried to imagine Chris.
“Say my name,” he whispered again, licking my navel.
I stayed silent, not even reacting to his sinful touch.
I tried hard to picture Christopher in my mind, but Luca dominated me even in my head.
“Ignoring me is not going to help, Katherina,” he said. “You will scream my name either way. Wanna bet on it?”
He looked up at me, a sly smirk on his lips.
“I love your cries, Katherina, whether they are cries of pain or pleasure. And I can take both from you, whether you’re willing to give them to me or not.”
I bit my lip, refusing to cry out.
“In spite of your body betraying my touch, there’s a part of you—a dark, twisted part of you—that craves a man like me. Deep down, you want me to take you. The sooner you accept, the better it will be.”
“I will never want you.” I snarled at him, my wrists burning against the restraints.
He rose up on his knees and stared down at me, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Wanna bet on that too?”
Then his phone rang, and he cursed under his breath, got off me abruptly, and took the phone from his jeans.
“Sì?” he said in Italian.
“Sto arrivando. Getta l’uomo e ’vattene,” he said after a few seconds before ending the call and putting on his jeans.
I didn’t understand the words because I never learned Italian, though my father is Italian by birth.
He tried to teach me but was unsuccessful due to my lack of interest. He’d started teaching Arabella in the past year, and she was already better than me at understanding and writing.
I totally wished now that I had taken those classes with Dad.
Luca approached me, wearing his boxers and jeans. He removed all the ties that bound me to his bed.
“We’ve got a guest. Need to teach you a lesson for trying to escape me,” he said casually and grabbed my hand before heading out.
“Luca, no, I’m naked,” I said, trying to wiggle free from his hold.
“And I like it,” was all he answered and started dragging me out of the room, ignoring my protests. He went down to the living room.
He threw me on the cold tile, and I barely noticed the pain as my eyes landed on the familiar figure lying limp on the floor.
Luca gave me a sinister smile before walking over the body and pulling it up.
I almost died when my eyes fell upon Chris.
“Oh my God!” I quickly got up and ran toward him.
Luca let him go, and I was quick to take Chris in my arms and settle him on my lap.
“Chris. Chris, wake up!” I started to shake him furiously, but he didn’t move. He was breathing, but the thought of what Luca might have in store made me choke on my fear.
Moving the wet strands of hair away from his face, I tapped his cheeks, trying to wake him.
“Baby, get up. I’m here. Get up, please,” I cried and rubbed his arms.
“So romantic, will you do that to me when I’m on my deathbed, darling?” Luca asked me.
I looked up, staring into his black orbs before spitting the words , “I would gladly watch you die knowing that you’d rot in hell.”
He laughed loudly at my words, the voice ringing in the empty house.
“Is that so’?” he mocked. He grabbed Chris by his collar and threw him like he weighed nothing.
Chris hit the smooth floor several feet away from me. I quickly got up, and before I could take another step, Luca snaked his arms around me and pulled me to him.
“Chris!” I called out when I saw him move.
His eyes opened slowly, and when they fell on me, shocked, I felt the shame of being naked in the arms of my kidnapper.
Rage took over him as he stood up on his feet, ready to attack Luca.
“Take another step, and I’ll snap her neck,” Luca said, gripping my neck at an angle.
“Don’t listen to him, Chris!” I was quick to reply.
“This is how you treat her?” he asked Luca painfully with teary eyes.
“You gonna teach me how to treat her, punk?” Luca chuckled at him.
“Leave her alone. You don’t have to do this.” Chris said carefully.
“Don’t I? Well, why don’t you sit and relax while I show you how to do it, huh?”
Clutching my hair, he bent me over while his other hand started working on his jeans. I screamed and wiggled. His hold on me tightened.
Chris turned furious as he ran toward us. Luca saw it coming and threw me aside before landing a hard punch to his jaw and kicking his right knee, knocking him to the floor.
Another punch landed on his cheek, and Chris fell flat on the ground. I cried, wrapping my arms around my naked body and sliding down to the floor.
Luca looked at me, and his anger increased when he saw me crying for Chris.
“Have you seen her naked before?” Luca sat on his toes near Chris.
“Luca, please let him go. I promise I will never try to escape you,” I sobbed miserably, trying to find any mercy in his cold heart, but there was none.
He ignored me like I wasn’t even there and stared at the bleeding Chris near his foot.
“You still didn’t answer my question, Chris.”
“I-I’ll k-kill you, fucker!” Chris managed to spit out at Luca.
Luca’s face turned grave, and he inched closer to Chris.
“You touched what’s mine,” he hissed in his ear. Chris spat out the blood and smirked at him.
“Yes. I touched her. I love her, and she loves me. You made a big mistake by coming between us and taking her away from me,” Chris said.
“But she belongs to me, now and forever,” Luca said with determination.
Chris laughed at Luca without an ounce of fear.
“But her heart and soul belong to me, always. You can use her body against her will, nothing else. She’s given everything to me by choice.
“Her laughter, her tears, her heart, her body, her soul, her love. I was her first. You’ll never get her, no matter what,” Chris said.
“I’ll get her in every fucking way! She will submit to me willingly!” Luca argued angrily.
“She won’t. She’d rather die than give in to you,” Chris challenged him.
Luca rose to his height and smiled down at Chris.
“That’s where you’re wrong, punk.” Luca kneed him in the stomach and started walking in the direction of the kitchen.
Chris straightened up slowly and looked at me, crouching with my arms around my knees, covering my nakedness. I choked on a sob, ashamed of myself that I let Luca fuck me before bringing me down here.
“ Baby—”
“You shouldn’t have come,” I said, my shoulders shaking. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Chris got up and approached me, and kneeled down. “No, it’s not,” he whispered softly and wrapped my naked body with his jacket.
I wiped the blood off his jaw and nose, some of the droplets dripping onto me.
“I love you, Chris, I love you so much, but you need to go. He’ll kill you. Please go away.”
“I’m not leaving without you, baby.” His palm cupped my cheek, looking down at me with passion, but he got distracted when he looked behind me.
Before he could move, my hair was clutched in a deadly grip and thrown away from Chris.
“Kat!” Chris called out and tried to get up, but Luca kicked him in his stomach again, and that’s when my eyes fell on a huge hammer he was holding in his left hand.
“Luca, no!”
But it was too late. Too late. Luca swung the hammer with full force right at Chris’s leg. His scream echoed through the empty house.
My eyes and mouth hung open. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t do anything.
My eyes widened, and my body went numb. I tried to scream, shout or talk, but my voice wouldn’t come out.
The impact of what I just witnessed caused tremendous fear and pain all over my body. My breathing sped up, and I could hear my heart beating out of my rib cage loud and clear.
I knew I was having a panic attack. Just then, Luca slammed the hammer again onto his other leg, and I lost it.
I screamed, along with Chris, my chest burning in pain as I slumped on the floor, watching the love of my life suffer in pain.
“Guess you should forget about playing football and become a beggar.” Luca spat on Chris as he clutched his wounded leg and cried out in pain.
My scream stopped when my throat gave out, but I wasn’t crying anymore. My eyes stayed glued to Chris as he screamed and cried in my pain.
My body started to tremble, and it became impossible to control my emotions, with fear and pain being the prominent ones.
Luca watched Chris cry in pain with a sick satisfaction and then threw the hammer aside, the sound of the metal causing me to jump.
He bent down, threw me on his shoulder, and made his way to the stairs before turning to Chris one last time.
“Bill can’t fuck with me again. You tell him that,” he told Chris before running up the stairs with me.
Chris’s moans turned into muffles and then died out when Luca got into his room and locked it. He went straight to the bathroom and placed us both under the shower before removing his pants.
I couldn’t shake the image of what Luca had just done, and at this point, I didn’t care about myself.
Luca broke Chris’s legs, and I just watched, doing nothing.
I listened to his cries hopelessly. This was all my fault, all mine.
Luca turned on the shower, and I didn’t even flinch when the cold water hit my bare skin.
“His dried blood on your skin is suffocating me, baby,” he hissed in my ear.
He soaped and scrubbed my body, and I let him, hopelessly tolerating his touch, his breath, his closeness. I remained so lost in my reverie that I didn't feel anything he did to satisfy himself.
I took long, deep breaths when he finally stopped. I felt his come dripping down my thighs and mixing with the water.
Neither of us uttered a single word as we stood with the water cascading down our bodies. His hands remained on my hips.
Slowly, the pain overtook every inch of my body, and I dwelled in agony, knowing it was nothing compared to what Chris was feeling.
The water stopped, and soon I was thrown over his shoulder, carried out of the washroom, and tossed on the bed.
The bed sank under his weight, and I turned around, my back facing him. The light went off. His huge arm pulled me closer and covered me in a sheet.
He sighed and placed his face in the crook of my neck. After a few minutes, his body relaxed, a clear sign that he was asleep.
I looked at the open window with the white curtains wafting in the cool breeze as the moonlight tried to invade the dark room. The trees were swaying to and fro in the silent night.
His warmth seeped into mine as he nuzzled closer to me.
A tear welled up slowly, falling across my nose and hitting my pillow. Soon another came, another, another, and another. I cried softly without making a single noise.
My tears were flowing out furiously as I gazed into the beautiful night sky, wishing I was not here, in his arms, in his possession.