Katerina closed the door to her home softly behind her, creeping into the house as quietly as possible.For one, she wasn't trying to alert anyone that she was back home because it was quite late.A quick glance at her watch revealed the time to be a couple of minutes past one in the morning.With her parents' recent helicopter attitude, it wasn't hard to figure out that they would fly off the handle when they realized that she was coming back home by this time.It wasn't her intention to be back home this late but after she had a mini breakdown in front of Mason, he decided that it was time to let her hair down and let her breathe. They went to a bar not far from the hospital and had several drinks.One drink turned to five, which then turned into twenty as they each tried to drown their sorrows.Fortunately, the bar was open 24 hours so it didn't give them any indication that the time was letting on more than usual.By the time they had realized how far gone it was, they made a mutu
Wednesday rolled around quite faster than I would expect and with it…dread.Throughout Monday and Tuesday, Katerina was busy attending interviews and various conferences ... Apparently, so many people saw her survival from kidnapping as a huge source of motivation.After talking about it with her parents, Katerina realized that this might be good for the company and their numbers, already their interest in their markets has gone up by 20%. The more she put a spin on it, the more more people would be interested in knowing what was going on in their life and subsequently, in the company.Of course, the last thing she wanted to do was to go on in public talking about the worst and most harrowing experience of her life, but then again since she was unsure of the state of things between her and Tyler, the company was her family's most successful stream of income and it was up to her to keep the flames burning.However, after two days of talking about it, Katerina wasn't sure this was some
The other wasn't a command but more or less like a dare and Katerina couldn't resist but pick up the glass and toss back half of the alcohol in her mouth.The drink was more spicier and concentrated than she expected. Her throat closed up on reflex, making the drink go down the wrong way.She exploded into a coughing fit, lowering her head to cough out the rest into a napkin.The asshole just chuckled, ducking his head to avoid her gaze.At least, he pushed a bottle of water her way which she greedily guzzled down like a starving man.“Damn, maybe I should have warned you that it might be a little spicy,” Giorgio said, his eyes sparkling with mischief.“You think?” She returned curtly.After a couple of minutes, the peppers sensation at the back of her truth calmed a bit and it got a little bit easier for her to talk. “Are you done with the fun and games?”He shrugged. “Depends, interested in playing some more?”Gritting her teeth, Katerina slammed her hands down on the table in anger
After dropping the bomb on her, Giorgio decided that it was best she thought about it and left her behind in the restaurant saying he had some loose ends he needed to tie up.Katerina waved her hands for more for the waiter to bring more drinks to her table needing to immerse herself in alcohol so she didn't have to dwell on what she had just heard.“Thank you…” she whispered to the waiter, gratefully accepting the drink. “Please can you get me the check?”While it was tempting to drown her sorrows in drinks, it wouldn't do anything for her since she would still face the same problems when she came out of her hangover.“Oh, you don't need to worry about that. The man you were with earlier covered the tab so you're good to go.”Katarina managed to summon a smile on her face watching the waiter go.At least that was one thing that worked for her.Tossing back the last shot in her mouth, Katerina let the warm trail slide down her throat, heating her from the inside.With that settled she
Katerina fiddled with the strap of a handbag before setting it down on the table. “I'm sure that by now you know my grandfather is alive…”“Yeah, I… that much was obvious when I saw him at the clearing that night.”She blew out a nervous breath. “Okay, listen before you even say anything, I had no idea about it. I was pretty much in the dark up until a couple of weeks ago… I'm really sorry.”Tyler was still smiling at her. “It's not your fault. I mean, your family kept a huge secret from you all these years and there's no way you could have known about him, right?”She nods. “Of course.”He sits up a bit. “Now, does what you have to tell me somehow about him in the story?“Well, it turns out that he's actually a mob boss, and the whole reason why he got involved in this kidnapping shit, is because… he wants me to take over.”Tyler's smile melted off his face, the shock obvious. For a man who makes it really hard to know what he's thinking, the fact that he could be this shocked only
“Up next, visitor 42… please walk up to the counter!” The warden yelled, his voice echoing over the speaker.Mark sat there, his head bent and his head in handcuffs.There was a bruise forming on his left eye but that was just the smallest of damages done to his body over the past couple of weeks.His torso and down his legs bore signs of the struggles that he had had to experience in the prison.Due to the amount of evidence found at the crime scene when the police arrived, his family couldn't even bail him out as the judge rejected bail.It's tough coming to terms with the realization that he might spend the rest of a very long part of his life stuck in a four-walled building with other guys who wanted to kill him.However, when he thought about it, there is nothing that would change with spending time with Katerina or kidnapping her.All he wished was that he was smarter on how to hide proof, so he didn't come back to bite him in the ass.“Mr Mark Kincaid, you're up!” The warden sh
The longer we kissed, the more intense it grew and before she was tempted to do something crazy, like tear off Tyler's hospital gown, Katerina moved back breathing heavily.“Wow, that was something….” She gasped, licking her lips as if to conserve the taste of his lips.Tyler shifted back from her, his eyes moving around the room trying to land on anywhere but her.The atmosphere changed from charged up and electric to awkward and tense. Katerina didn't know what to do, feeling out of sorts. She thought that Tyler was into what they just did but maybe he wasn't…She reached for her bag, jumping out of her chair. “I think I should go-get going… I'll come s-see you later…?” Her tone made it sound like a question rather than a statement.Tyler didn't say anything which was her cue to get out of there but just as her hand touched the door, his voice boomed throughout the room. “Um, Katerina…?”She turned, albeit grudgingly. “Yeah?”“That was great.” He fought with the blanket. “Maybe you
Moira's face bore her surprise even though she immediately tried to conceal it quickly. “Oh, wow ….” She cleared her throat, shifting about on the seat.It was clear that Katerina's reveal shocked her and for a moment she didn't know what to do with it. “I thought you knew who I was…seeing as my mom stopped by to see you.” Katerina arched a brow, her tone a tad chill.“Actually, your mother didn't come to see me… she came to see my assistant because unfortunately, I was not on the seat that day so yeah!” She let out a surprised sound. “I am surprised yes, but don't you worry… confidentiality and being discreet is one of the major things that we excel at so be rest assured that you're identity is safe with me.”Katerina attempted to smile, folding her sunglasses in her hands nervously as she thought about what to say next. “So can you remind me how this works again? I've never been in therapy or seen a shrink before so…”Moira beaned, happy to be on a much safer path, talking about he
EPILOGUE Katerina's plan worked perfectly.Bianca fell into the trap and spun for her by pulling out the gun.Luckily for Katerina, her SOS signal went out in time and the cops showed up in time. Katerina was able to wrestle the gun away from Bianca, throwing in a punch.The police raided the house and as expected, they found some of the things they planted. Of course, Bianca firmly refused to accept that they were there, stating that Katerina planted it.Of course, the idea was disputed since the cameras had her stationed with Bianca the entire time.Mark took the fall as unsurprisingly his parents threw him under the bus to save their skin.Thanks to Katerina, Tyler's family massacre case was reopened and they were able to place the crimes on Mark and his family. Mark served time for abduction, kidnapping, and intent to murder, along with his fraudulent crimes.Giorgio got to bow out from the whole crime rivalry gang since the crimes committed by Mark and his family were now out in
“So I'm going to go inside and distract them, making sure their fingerprints touch some of the gadgets stuff while you guys go around and plant these things in their houses, okay?” Katerina went over the plan one more time to be sure that everyone understood.She picked Heinze and another guy called Jake to spearhead the mission, making sure plants were in places that the cops could easily access but weren't too obvious either.Once they all understood their parts of the plan she grabbed a gun, tucking it at the back of her Jean, firmly clipping it on the waistband of her pants.There's no way she's heading in there without protecting herself. “Once I give the signal, I want you to call the cops, okay?” She instructed one of the men that were staying behind, about to walk away.“Katerina, can I talk to you?” Giorgio called out just as she was about to leave. She paused. “We don't have enough time for that.”“Just a minute.” He insists and she walks over to him. “I'm really proud of
Mason and Katerina sat down in the doctor's office, anxiously waiting for a news report on Tyler.Mason himself was a nervous wreck, his left foot tapping incessantly against the floor. He kept glancing at the door waiting for the doctor to show up.The surgery they performed on him took over 10 hours, so much so that Mason had to give up on waiting around and head home.A day later, they were back here awaiting reports from the doctor. Katerina couldn't help for but feel anxious but it wasn't only because of Tyler's issue. After Giorgio agreed to her insane plan, they started working towards it. Since they only had a small window before Mark's case was taken to court, they had to work twice as hard as they needed to.Now that she was in on the plan, Giorgio revealed how he systematically arranged for Tyler's parents to get killed and anytime she thought about it, it made her want to puke.This small reveal only showed her how sick and demented she would get to lead a crime mob lik
Giorgio's eyes widened the moment those words escaped her lips. “Wait, what?”“Let me do it. The other time in the restaurant, you asked me to take over from you….” She squared her shoulders. “So I'll do it. If taking over from you is the only way to stop this nightmare from reoccurring, fine, I'm in.”“Katerina, no I can't ask you to do that.” He sighed.“I don't understand what's changed, less than 2 weeks ago clamping from me to take over from you.”“Well, I was too desperate to find someone to fill in my shoes so I could take a break but now I'm realizing that you may not be the best person to be to do that. You're not equipped enough.” He explained.“Okay then, why don't you teach me?” She wasn't willing to take no for an answer.“You're still not getting it!” Giorgio grunted. “This isn't something that can be taught, you have to spend years on the job before taking over. You have to be cold and calculated to do what is wrong without flinching and you're not there yet, Katerina.”
Katerina barged into the mansion that Giorgio and his men were hiding in, pulling the bulk of his men's attention towards her.Alarmed by the sight of a stranger, they raised their weapons aiming it at her.However, Katerina was too pissed off to let it go. “Get me your boss, he and I have some business to talk about.” She ordered, daring to speak despite over a dozen guns being focused on her chest. “Well?” She arched a brow after a couple of minutes passed and nobody moved.Fearless, she took a step further. “If you guys want to bury a bullet in me, then I suggest you start or else…I'll need you to bring me to Giorgio.”She was about to do something crazy to get their attention when the person to whom she spoke stepped out. “Katerina…” he rumbled.For some reason, he wasn't so surprised to see her here. Her face was set in a grim stance. “Can we talk?”With one look in their direction, Giorgio casually ordered them to pull down their rifle and then he tilted his head to the side, i
“Holy shit, what happened!” Katarina exclaimed, scrambling up to her feet.Esther was crouched over Dylan whose eyes were closed as if he was asleep, a large bullet wound on his chest.She gasped, standing frozen in the middle of the yard.Which reminded her…Katerina spun around in a slow circle, taking in the destruction that those guys had caused.All around them was chaos. The moving truck which contained her clothes and some furniture had toppled over to the side and the back door was riddled with bullet holes.Some of the movers were hit during the shootout and their colleagues were trying to help them stem the flow of blood pouring out from the affected areas.“Katerina, I need your help!” Mom yelled, trying but failing to make a pitiful attempt at CPR.Her mind snapped back to reality reminding her that she needed to help Dad.“Come on, we need to get him inside?” She urged.Mom's head rose up, her gaze slightly disoriented. “What do you mean?”“In case those guys come back, w
“I think you need to move it in this direction. No, stop! That cannot go in there…what are you doing?”The cacophony of voices bounced around in Katerina's head pulling her out of her slumber.With a groan, she placed the back of her palms against her forehead, trying to shut out the noise but apparently, her window had been left open.Slightly grumpy for being abruptly woken up, Katerina flung back the covers, angrily marching towards the window to shut it when a movement from the corner of her eyes caught her attention.It seemed like there was a loading truck pushing in items and… Was that her luggage?She squinted to make out the design of the bag and to her shock, it was the bag she'd gotten on vacation with Tyler last year.How did…A thought flashed into her mind and she quickly scrambled towards her walk-in closet.Her room back at the house was like a mini-mansion. Two huge rooms split into her bedroom and her walk-in closet connected by an adjoining door which made it easy
“First of all no one is shipping me anywhere and what the hell are you guys even talking about?” Katerina walked into the room, watching their faces light up like they knew they'd done some wrong. “Is anyone going to answer me?”Dylan stepped forward, his hands stretched in front of him in an effort to placate her. “Honey, listen I don't want you to take this in some way but your mother and I have been talking-”“You mean to say ‘discussing’ we haven't finalized on it yet.” Esther interrupted, sliding a side eye to Dylan.“Whatever.” He waved it off. “what I meant to say is that we've been thinking about you and your general well-being and uh… some things that have given us concerns.”“Concerns like what?” Katerina asked, folding her hands over her chest.Esther and Dylan exchanged a glance, something meaningful passing through them. Dylan spoke up first. “I think with everything that is going on… you've been going through a lot of things for the past couple of months and for everyone
In a coma…Those words kept ringing in Katerina's ears as she stared up at the ceiling, mentally counting the tiles on each row.After that, she'd move to the next row and repeat the process all over again until she was tired.Anything to keep my head off suicidal thoughts or worse…. reliving both of Tyler's traumatic accidents.Mason had yet to discover fully from the shock, having staggered out of the room. When Katerina stopped him to ask, he simply mumbled that he was heading out in search of fresh air but she knew it was a lie.Just like her, he couldn't spend another moment stuck in a never-ending nightmare.Unable to stop torturing herself, Katerina replayed the doctor's words again in her head, picturing the exact moment when it sank in.“I'm sorry, we tried our possible best but sadly, it wasn't enough. He went into cardiac arrest and then anaphylactic shock, leaving us with only one option… we had to induce him into a coma.” The doctor's voice was devoid of emotion but I gu