Chapter 1 A ROOM OR A CAGE?
KATHERINA
Sometimes my heart beat like it would fail the next minute.
Hmm…I wasn't sick but It felt like that every single time those thoughts creep in.
“She was my breath and everything….I really miss her so much,” I confessed as tears rolled down my soaked eyes down to my lips.
This was the hardest and longest I had gone without her.
Hell it is, living alone in a mansion by the most feared Russian Mafia boss, Dimitri Salikov, who also happen to be my father.
My uncaring father.
“Katherina! Katherina!! Katherina!!!” I could remember how hard he yells my name every single time.
This was a month after the news of my mother's death reached my ears. A quick trip and boom, she was nowhere to be found until days after, her body was found brutalized in a car wreck.
“Are you deaf now? I have warned you to always put your ears down each time you are in my house!!” My father yelled.
Maybe tears would have poured out of my innocent eyes if I was still a teenager but nah, I was already used to it.
The noises, not just from his unconcerned devil tone but also from the secret meetings and dealings that goes on around the house.
It was already a lifestyle.
“I'm sorry, Papa..I didn't bear you until later,” I spoke calmly hoping to get an equal and reciprocated response.
Pff….I wish.
I could beat my chest that would be the last thing he would resort to.
A loud slap landed on my face and every sound around me went off like my ears had become deafened from his fierce hit.
“How dare you?!!! Do you think I'm here to smile with you or what? You know sometimes, I wonder if you were the baby I put into your mother's womb or you were swapped!!” He hurled out insultingly.
This had to be umpteenth time he would say and repeat such statement. “Who really knows?? Maybe I'm not his daughter,” I would constantly mumble to myself each time.
His eyes glared at me in rage like balls of rolling fire. “Don't push me to the wall, Katherina!!” he shouted at the top of his voice.
I could bet even the bodyguard oat the door entrance could hear him loud and clear.
I wouldn't say a word. I dare not!
His left fist tightened as he lifted his cigar with his right hand and puffed smoke into the air, giving me a cough..
“Now listen to me…I have some really important guest coming around today and I don't want them to set their eyes on you or your shadow so I need you to go into your room and lock yourself up there till tomorrow!!”
“If you ever need anything, you know how we do it. Hit the button at your bedside and the maids will come attend to you quietly. Have I made myself clear???” He said in a loud tone.
What could I do? I was young and unfortunate. A 20 year old still has to lock herself in her father's house like its a prison she is confined to?
If only my mother was still alive!
Undoubtedly, I was adorned in the most expensive of dresses, drove around inthe best of cars and ate the healthiest of food but to what end?
Love and care from my father was a struggle and an impossible achievement!
I was just the lucky one and only daughter of the Mafia Boss himself who had the wealth of the city in his large pockets!
Without all of that, I would just as be as useless as the mad man that roam the Cullen Street.
“Pfff!” I scoffed as I shut the door behind me and locked it with those heavy padlocks my Dad had newly ordered for.
“There is no way anyone is getting in here unless I let them,” I muttered as I made way to my lonely bed.
Hours passed and I could hear the noises from downstairs. Dad was at it again, arguing and shouting at the top of his voice.
The end of it was always a gunshot to the head and the bodies are carried through the backdoors whilst I watch from upstairs.
Life had no meaning or slightest regard in my father's eyes and I never wanted to take after him on that.
I sighed as I crossed my legs and stare at the ceiling above me….”I miss you, Mom. Home becsme more violent when you left, Jovita,” I wept bitterly.
The curtains blew up in the air as the winds swept through the room. It became cold and I felt really lonely.
How I wish………..
“Psssssssss..…….” a strange sound emanated from outside the windows.
I paused to listen closer and that voice swept through my ears like a soothing drug.
“Katherine….” A figure appeared in my room through the windows.
“Diego!!” I screamed as I ran to hug him tightly. “What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with my father downstairs? I was told he had some high end visitors coming in today,” I uttered
“And leave you here all alone? Never. I would never do such to my queen,” he responded in a soft tone.
I smiled as tears rolled down my eyes. Diego, my savior.
He was my father's most trusted bodyguard but to me, he was my lover and the one my heart swung towards.
“I wonder how I would be by now if I didn't have you by my side,” I spoke in a calm tone as I gave a sigh of relief.
With a grin and his elevated cheek bones, he leaned towards me, his hands circled around my tiny waist as our lips made contact.
We kissed and it was passionate. He was my solace and I kept it hidden from my father and his Mafia gang even though I knew how dangerous it was.
Diego never cared. His attention were focused on me and he was ready to give his life for me.
“Should we tell my father about us?” I whispered out of excitement as he went down to kiss my neck.
He paused.
He was about to speak when a heavy knock landed on the door and the next voice was that of my father surprisingly.
“Open this door, Katherine!!!” He shouted.
Fear gripped my soul and Diego couldn't even make a move where he stood.
“Oh goodness!” My heart jumped.