HURACIO
Katalina turned out to be more difficult than anticipated.
She has always been a good girl. Soft smiles, courteous, attentive, and demure. This fiery side of hers was something I was seeing for the first time.
When I got back downstairs and saw Rosa cleaning the dirt, I felt like punching something.
Rosa is very important to me. Literally, the only person I can trust with my life. That’s why she is the only one living with me. How could Katalina treat her like that? Though I felt reluctant about hurting her, I decided that Katalina had to be broken. She needed to put away that fiery temper. I will not have it in this house.
I will be back in two hours.” I mumbled as I walked past Rosa
“Master Huracio.” She called after me in a tone softener than what she usually uses.
“Yes?”
“You should be lenient with the girl. She is young and immature. You forced her to marry you, practically ruining her life. Unless you want a dumb wife, you can’t possibly expect her not to resist, right?”
“You have misunderstood. She is just a captive. I am holding her until her mother comes back.”
“More reasons why you should be lenient. Since she is not your target, why create enmity with her?”
Rosa intentionally looked into my eyes. A slight hint of a smile on her face.
I couldn’t meet her gaze. Feeling exposed, I looked away and scratched the back of my neck.
“You know I don’t care if she insults me. But you, I can’t take it.” I grunted.
“She thinks I am a maid. What she did is normal.”
Frowning, I nodded and hurried out of the house before she nagged me into releasing Katalina.
Rosa has always been soft and compassionate. She doesn’t really know how heartless the world can be.
Getting to the office, four men were waiting for Salvatore and I. Luckily, we arrived almost at the same time.
“So, what’s the update?” I turned to Grey, one of my hitmen and forerunners.
“The SA mines rioted last night. Two supervisors died.” Grey solemnly reported.
“Tell me something important.” I snorted annoyingly. Who cares about those brainless miners? If they refuse to comply, just kill them and bring in new ones.
“We lost her at the coastal village. She was there, but only stayed for two hours.”
Helena. She was really good at hiding. We found her trace yesterday and followed it to a village. By the time our men hit the village, not only wasn’t she there, but someone had also sighted her in a mall, two Cities away. Of course, that wasn’t possible. The only explanation is that someone is helping her to distract us. How can that be possible without a mole?
I raised my left eyebrow at Salvatore and he huffed.
“Whoever it is, find them before nightfall.” He growled at the men.
“Yes, boss.” They bowed and left.
“What’s up? How is your wife doing?” Salvatore asked. The look in his eyes told me he was up to something.
“She is fine.” I furrowed my brows, trying to prevent him from going further.
“Is that so?” He reclined and crossed his legs, giving me a contemptuous look.
“What is it? Just spill it.” I snapped.
Since I left home, I have been feeling edgy. He was pushing my buttons at the wrong time.
“Rosa wants me to tell you to take it easy on your young wife. Do you know why she would say that?”
Rosa! That… argh!
I clenched my hands but ignored his question.
“What exactly did you do?”
“Just a little punishment to tame her.”
“Why does she need taming? Just lock her in a room until her mother returns. Why make so much trouble for yourself?”
“…”
I stared intently at my desktop, pretending not to have heard him. I have no plan of releasing her, but he doesn’t have to know that. It will be too troublesome.
I could feel his intense gaze on me, and when the silence stretched without him leaving as I expected, I looked up and asked.
“What is it?”
“What is going on with you and that girl?”
“I am leaving.”
I stood up and made my escape.
Salvatore’s instinct is like the nose of a hunting dog. The moment he sniffs trouble, he won’t let go until he gets to the root of it. Since he didn’t believe me, the best thing was to leave his presence. Out of sight is out of mind.
As I was making my way out, I sneered over my shoulders.
“The SA incident. You better look into it. I smell Adore Ridges all over it.”
“He is asking to die. “Salvatore snorted angrily.
Good. I gave him something else to worry about.
Getting home, I didn’t see Rosa. It is normal for her to stay out of sight after pulling an upsetting stunt. But I know how to get back at her.
Making my way upstairs, I still felt a bit of reluctance. I wanted to release that stubborn girl mainly because of Rosa, but at the same time, I wanted to keep her tied up because of Rosa.
Getting to the room, the moment I laid my eyes on her, my skin started crawling with goosebumps. My heart started pounding, and a dreadful name came to mind.
Hypothermia!
Fuck me!
In my anger, I only remembered the pain of getting exposed to cold air after enduring intense heat. I didn’t consider the after-effects. I just wanted to scare her with pain.
And now…
“Katalina! ” I whispered with wild eyes.
Her lips were purple and her face was as pale as death. There were red rings around her closed eyes, with dark outlines.
This is bad!
Bringing out my phone, I dialed Rosa’s number.
Luckily, she didn’t try to avoid talking to me.
“Get Gerald here, right now,” I said with a trembling voice.
I hurried into the room and quickly released her from her chains, letting her body slump on me. She was cold. Very cold. Like fish coming out of a freezer.
Damn. I had no idea I overdid it. She wasn’t supposed to be this cold. If it was this cold, then how hot was it? I dared not think about it.
“Katalina!” I yelled her name and smacked her cheeks as hard as I could, but got no response.
I laid her on the floor and placed my head on her chest.
There was nothing!
NOTHING!
“No, no, no, no… ” I kept mumbling as I started checking her pulse…