sailing

Huracio
“You are pushing your luck, Huracio.” Salvatore growled at me.
Completely ignoring him, I continued packing up my bag.
After missing Katalina’s sailing ship, I decided to follow it. I had Stone prepare a list of all her stopovers. I wanted to arrive ahead of the ship and cross her there, but Salvatore was trying to stop me. If anyone was crossing any bottomline, he was the one crossing mine.
He stood by the door to my room, watching me pack up. I could feel his anger, but at that moment, I didn’t care about it. I was ready to blow everything up to get out of that place.
I finished up, zipped my bag, and grabbed it. I then headed for the door as if he was air.
“I said you are going nowhere!” He stepped in front of me, blocking the door.
“Salvatore, don’t do this. This is not the time. My wife and my child are out there. My son is out there, running around. If you think you can stop me, you will have to kill me to do it.” I looked him dead in the eyes and growled.
Frowning in disbelief, he shook his head.
“What if I told you she left because she doesn’t want to be with you anymore?”
“She will have to say it to my face.”
This wasn’t the first time he would say this, but I know that Katalina loves me. Why will she leave me? I wasn’t the one who killed David. If I see her, I will explain. She will understand and everything will be fine. I believe this. I have to or I will run mad.
“You are determined to make the daughter of the person who killed your family a wife. Huracio, have you thought this through?” His tone suddenly became softer.
“She is not her father.”
He squinted his eyes and scrutinized me.
“I am not going to stop you from going, but you can’t bring her back here. I will never accept her or her child.”
“…”
Salvatore is my only family. Him saying he would never accept my wife and kid is hurtful, but I had no time to dwell on that. I just shrugged, and gave him a pointed look. “Make way.”
Exasperated, he ran his hand through his hair before turning around and walking away.
Katalina’s ship was traveling via the Atlantic ocean. The first stopover was in Bermuda, then Portugal.
Having learnt from the last search, I decided to go with just four men. Stone, Gray; my hitman, and two others. We stayed at a hotel close to the docking port.
From America to Bermuda would take approximately 30 days. We had enough time to scout the area and l got to know the locals. The wait was strenuous, but the thought of seeing my wife and child gave me the strength to stay sane.
On the 26th day, I was eating lunch when Gray, who had been staying in the port area, keeping watch, – came in looking like he’d seen a ghost.
“What is it?”
The moment I saw him, my heart sank. A dreadfully ominous feeling took over me.
“It’s Madam. They are gone!” He said in a solemn voice. His head was bowed. He wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“What do you mean? Where did they go?”
“Two days ago, Pirates took over their ship. They killed all 500 passengers, including children.”
“What? What do…fuck!”
I was cold, hot, and jittery. My head was burning up, my skin felt like I was being pinched all over.
“You are lying, right?”
“Boss, please, it was in the news!”
Yes, it was in the news, but the information on the ship in the news was different. How could it be the same ship? Something was wrong.
“No!”
I shook my head in defiance and rushed out of the room. Getting to the port, I could feel the solemnity in the air. A lot of people were talking about the ships and the pirates. They were saying the whole attack involved more than four ships. Katalina’s ship was the only passenger ship. The rest were cargoes.
None of them made sense to me.
I didn’t want to believe it. I wanted to rent a boat and go look for them. They told me the ship sank, and nobody made it out.
How can that happen? How?
I was in a complete state of shock and didn’t come back to my senses until Salvatore came over to drag me back to America.
Getting back home, I couldn’t function for days. Katalina and my son are gone just like that? I never got to see him. I have no idea what he looked like.
“These pirates, you have to find them for me!” I screamed at Salvatore on a hot afternoon.
“There are too many of them, Huracio. Where do you want me to start?” Salvatore fired back, already tired of my beckering.
“I don’t care. Find them. They killed my wife and son!”
“So now you know how it feels to lose someone you love? He suddenly started screaming in my face. “Massimo killed Dante and your parents, yet you insisted on marrying the daughter of Dante’s killer. You want me to help you? Impossible! Helping you is over my dead body!”
“…”
He might as well just slap me over the face. His words hit me like a plank of wood. I just realized that I was talking to the wrong person. He hated Katalina. Yet I always expected him to help me find her.
Ridiculous. Stupid. Naive!
With tears running down my face, I nodded and swallowed hard. “Okay. I understand.”
I turned around and left the room.
The days that followed were in a daze. I took everything that remained of Katalina in the house, set up a funeral with just Emilia in attendance. After that, I returned to my house in the suburbs, not minding that her voice haunted the place. I closed myself off, mourning.
Four months later, I was rewatching one of Katalina’s favorite shows, when several cars stormed into the compound in the middle of the night. I wasn’t really bothered because Salvatore, Gerald, and Ane had been taking turns to visit and talk. All I have to do is treat them like air. They can’t force me to do anything. Salvatore even threatened to have me committed, but I don’t care. I just want to be left alone. These days, I pass the time watching reruns of Katalina’s favourite TV shows.
The door opened and Stone walked in.
“What is It?” I sneered, wondering why he was the one who came.
“You need to see something, boss.”
I raised my brows at him in confusion.
“Chairman brought you a gift. It’s downstairs, boss.” He insisted.
Gift? What gift?
Reluctantly, I gathered the bathrobe I was wearing, and stalked out of the room.
Getting downstairs, I discovered that they were waiting in the building behind the house.
Walking over, I found several masked men in black, combat wear. The moment I saw them, I knew Salvatore had made a big move. Curiosity got the better of me, and I hurried into the house.
This building is where Rosa and my men stay. I also have a red room here. Katalina had once discovered it and gotten jealous.
As I moved through the house, and realised that I was being led to the red room, I realized that Salvatore’s gift was no ordinary item.
And I was right.
When I got to my red room, I found the most unexpected gift.
Celine Alkim was tied to a cross. She was half naked and unconscious. Her face was pale, and there was blood coming out of her nose.
Two weeks ago, Celine was kidnapped while on the job we were supposed to be doing together. The city was thrown into a frenzy, and even the FBI and the CIA got involved.
Three days after she was declared missing, it was leaked that she was in a relationship with a man her family didn’t approve of. They were forced to break up, and he must have been the kidnapper. She was still missing two weeks later and now she showed up in my house?
“What the fuck is going on?” I turned to Salvatore.
“It’s time you start doing something. Start with her.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion.
“Tame her. Enslave her. I don’t care how you do it. But you have four months to make her docile and obedient.”
What?