Cataleya Valentina Velez:

People start running around the room like crazy, but all I can think of is Neveah. I lost her about thirty minutes ago and I don't know where she is right now.

Celine pulled me behind the bar and told me to stay down as she searched for something to help Brandon with his cut. A blonde boy attacked him after the first shot.

I notice that Rio and Marco start shooting at a bunch of people. The bullets of the enemies come close, but they never hit their target.

After a few minutes, the shooting stops and the whole room goes quiet. All I want to do is look up just so I can see what's going on, but a boy next to me decides to look over the edge. He immediately gets shot, splattering blood all over me.

Celine covers my mouth, so that they won't know we're here, and looks me directly in the eyes. Her eyes say enough, I need to shut the fuck up.

I follow her back to Brandon and grab his hand. His neon-orange shirt has a deep red stain moving up on his left side. He squeezes my hand tightly as he tries to not make too much sound.

'Hold this!' Celine shouts as soon as the gunfire starts again. She throws a gun my way and turns back to Brandon. 'What am I-' 'Shoot anyone you don't trust.' She snarls, before wrapping a piece of cloth around Brandon's waist.

Just a few seconds ago she was barely able to stand on her own. Yet here she is, helping her dying friend. 'Cazzo-' Brandon bites on the thumb of his other hand and tries not to scream too loud.

The room goes quiet again since everyone ran out of this place and they stopped shooting. 'Montre toi, Curzio!' A deep voice shouts. 'Venez me chercher!' It's Rio.

Of fucking course it's him. I try looking in the direction of the voices, but stay down since the blasting starts again.

I look at the gun in my hands and just pray to god that I don't have to use it. My eyes glide to the dead body of the boy that wanted to look and I feel my stomach twisting and turning. Death...

In the past month, I've seen and heard more about death than in my entire twenty-one years on this earth. All because of Rio.

'Cataleya, come on we have to go!' Celine snarls, pulling my arm, making me drop the gun. 'Wait-'

And then it happens. A tall figure grabs my arm and yanks me back, pulling me tightly against his chest and pressing the cold metal barrel against my temple. The man reeks of sweat and alcohol.

'Shit!' I hear Celine mutter something French as she is pushed to the side by the man holding me. She falls to the ground, dragging Brandon with her as he passes out.

'You're very pretty...' The man whispers against my neck, making me flinch. I absolutely hate men.

'Don't fucking touch me!' I scream, trying to break out of his arms. He's strong, but if I could just- 'Curzio! Tell your men to stop shooting or she dies!' The man shouts at the person on the other side of the room.

Out of all the people he could take, of course, he picked me. Why would he pick me? Rio is the most selfish person to ever exist and I know for certain that he wouldn't give a single fuck about me dying. He would simply blink it away because he doesn't care about anything but himself.

'What makes you think I care, Mario?' Mario? He knows this piece of shit!? 'You might as well just kill me, he won't fucking care!' I shout as I try to break free again. He sighs and presses the barrel against my temple a little harder, making sure I know about the fact that I might die any second now.

'She's with your doctor and nobody knows about her yet, you kept her a secret. So she must be special.' What? Rio simply chuckles and continues to shoot at his opponents, making sure to hit every target before turning back to us.

The man holding me, Mario, doesn't like Rio's carelessness and pushes me down, forcing me on my knees, facing Rio at a new angle.

He lowers his gun and tilts his head at the sight of me on my knees. Even after all of this, he seems to enjoy this way more than he's supposed to. Fucking asshole...

'You're way too pretty to die so soon, but an eye for an eye.' Mario's fingers grip around the trigger, eager to pull it over and watch me bleed to death.

All I can do is look at Rio, hoping that he will see the hate in my eyes as I die. Hoping that he will forever think of me and hate himself for letting me die. But then again, it's Rafael we're talking about here. He doesn't care.

'Leave the little girl out of this.' Is the only thing I hear, before a single gunshot. The gun falls on my shoulder and after that, the weight of the man tumbles onto me. I fall to the ground, trying to process what just happened. Am I dead?

'Get up little girl! We have to go!' I feel familiar hands touch my arms as I'm being pulled from underneath the heavy and dead Mario.

I look up and see Neveah with one emotion in her eyes. Fear. She looks absolutely petrified.

'Are you okay?' She asks hysterically and all I can do is nod. I glance at Mario's dead body and move alongside Neveah, towards Brandon and Celine.

'Help me with him.' Celine shouts at Leon, who's keeping his eyes on Neveah again. I have to thank him for saving me. I want to thank him, but someone grabs my arm and swiftly turns me back around.

'You should've stayed down.' Rio commands, completely angry again. Just a few seconds ago he was casual as hell. 'Stay out of my way and stay at the house next time.' 'We were just-' His hands go around my throat, forcing me to fight back.

I try pushing him away, but he doesn't budge at all. Slowly, he dips down, just so we're on the same height. 'I don't fucking care.' 'Let go of me!' I squeal, almost unable to breathe.

He closes the gap between us and looks me directly in the eyes, sending waves of fear through my entire body. This man held us at gunpoint. He was going to stab me when we tried to kill him. He killed someone without any sign of remorse. And he was going to let me die. He scares me to death.

'Adriano! The cops!' Leon shouts from the other side of the room. Rio lets go of me and takes a deep breath before looking around the room. I do the same as I rub my neck, trying to replace his touch with my own.

The whole room is filled with dead bodies. So far all the Curzio's brought is fear and death. Only one person seems to be alive. He's injured, but alive.

'We need to get the fuck out of here if we don't want the media to find out about them yet.' Marco says, stepping towards Rio and also glancing around the room.

'You go and make sure that one,' Rio points at the dark-blond-haired boy that tries to crawl away, 'comes with us.'

Marco nods and rushes towards the boy, stepping on his leg, making him scream out of pain.

'And you.' Rio says, turning back to me once more. 'Come with me.' I want to run away as fast and as far as I can, but it won't be of any use. He'll know.

So I simply nod and follow him through the door, towards the Victorian bar area. The others are already stumbling towards the door, everyone is trying to support Brandon the best they can.

We walk to the front door but stop when we notice the blue flashes and sirens of the police. 'We're fucked.' 'Keep walking.' Rio pushes me forward and sighs deeply before walking himself.

'Wait!' We all stop and turn towards Leon, 'Marco is right, we don't want people to know who they are. Right?' Rio turns the other way, thinking about his next move. 'Wait what?' Neveah asks.

Neither of us understands what this is about. They seem to be more afraid of the fact that people will know who we are than by the fact that the police are standing outside, probably ready to lock us up in jail.

The doors burst open and a crew of policemen storms inside. Rio and one of the officers simply look at each other and nod. Wait, what?

'There is only one way out, I don't see any paparazzi yet.' Paparazzi? Rio nods and walks over to the bar, to search for something behind it. After a few seconds he pops up again, throwing two towels our way. 'Cover your faces,' He states, tucking his jacket and forcing a smile on his face, 'Andiamo.'

He strides towards the door and as soon as he opens it, bright lights flash against his face, blurring everything around us. I wrap the towel around my face, trying to cover up as much as I can. 'Come on.'

I grab Neveah's arm and follow Rio through the crowd of people. Camera lenses and flashes are the only things in sight. I just pray to god that they won't have any pictures of us.

Rio has longer legs than any of us, creating a gap between him and the group, granting the journalists and cameras to get in between.

'Miss, are you the lover he talked about in the interview?!' Oh hell no! 'Are you the new Curzio wife?!' What? 'How far along are you?!' What the fuck is she talking about?

I try to brush past them, which almost becomes impossible since they don't know anything about personal space. The crowd consumes me and I slowly come to a stop, with no way out.

'Move out of the way!' Neveah shouts at a person that tries to come in between us. I grab her hand tightly, just to make sure that we won't be separated. 'Miss, how did you meet!' A camera flash flashes right onto me, so I look away, trying to cover up the best I can.

We try to push through the crowd again, but it's no use. There are too many people. It scares me that they don't care about the shooting at all. All they care about is our relationship status with the Curzio's. They're obsessed.

'Just let us go through.' I try, but it's no use. They're too busy asking us questions and trying to get our faces on a picture. We look around, hoping that we're almost at the car, but it's impossible to see anything.

'Please move aside.' An unfamiliar hand wraps around mine, pulling me closer. I look up, straight into Rio's bewitching eyes, and freeze.

The only time we've been this close is when he's angry. Which he is right now. But this time it's different. He wants us to get the fuck out of here. All of us.

'Rafael is that your lover?!' 'Are you engaged!?' 'Is she carrying your child!?' The crowd goes wild and tries to take even more pictures of him holding my hand and pulling me against his chest.

Even though he's the reason I'm in this mess in the first place, I feel safe in his arms. The people seem to be afraid of him, not wanting to invade his personal space.

'Are you stupid, I told you to stay close.' He sighs, wrapping his arm around my waist. 'No, you didn't!' I shout at him, not knowing that the towel that was supposed to cover my face, is slowly falling onto my shoulders.

'Fool.' He mumbles, before covering my face with his hands. His face is inches away from mine, trying to hide me from any cameras that might get a picture of me as the crowd goes wild.

It's absolutely insane how obsessed these people are about Rafael's love life. 'Cover-up, we don't have time for this.' He snarls, trying not to explode in front of all the cameras. He's angry as hell and wants to leave this place just as much as I do.

I swiftly cover up my face again and look into his eyes. He nods and grabs my hand again, pulling me after him.

'Let us through.' He moves through the crowd as if it's nothing. Everyone steps aside, afraid they might be pushed aside if they don't.

Within seconds, we're at a black limousine. 'Get in.' Rio opens the door and waits for us to get in. The seats are made out of white leather, making them look squeaky clean. Brandon's blood...

Everyone jumps in, Neveah and I still with our faces covered, and as soon as the door closes, we all turn towards Brandon. He lost way too much blood already. I just know that if we don't get him to a hospital he won't survive.

'Drive faster!' Rio snarls at the driver, which I don't recognize. Normally it's either Leon or Rio himself that drives, but not this time. The chauffeur hits the gas, shooting out of the street.

We get to the house quicker than expected and carry Brandon to Celine's office. 'I'll get to it, you should go to bed.' Neveah yawns before pulling me to our room.

The Curzio's are nowhere to be found. They've been in Rio's office ever since we got into the house.

'Let's try to get some sleep, we have to wake up early tomorrow.' I whisper as I grab some clothes to change into. We both change into our pajamas, wash our faces and jump in bed.

Neveah almost immediately drifts off to sleep, meaning she must be tired from all of this. As much as I want to sleep, I can't.

The images of dead bodies all around the room keep replaying in my head. I decide to lay on my back and stare at the ceiling, which isn't helping at all. All I see are the faces of the innocent people that died tonight.

Rafael Curzio is a dangerous person. He didn't care about anyone tonight. His mind was set on one thing and one thing only, how to get himself out of that situation, no matter the damage.

He shot innocent people, without any remorse or hesitation. A person like him doesn't care. But the way he looked at me...

The way he helped me out of the mess with those crazy cameras. Even though he didn't do anything to stop Mario from killing me, he saved me from the wave of reporters. He held me close and stared straight to my soul.

With those bewitching eyes... His green, gold, and brown eyes attracted me in the first place.

After turning for about two hours straight, I'm finally able to close my eyes. With Rafael's gorgeous eyes imprinted in my mind.

The next morning I wake up to a beeping sound, making me jump out of the bed. I look around the room, trying to find where the sound is coming from. Two iPhone XR's- both black and brand new- are beeping at the same time.

I look over at Neveah and notice that she's still deeply asleep, so I quickly turn off the alarms and look at the time. It's ten AM already, which means we're late for work. 'Shit! Neveah!'

My loud voice frightens her as she jumps out of bed immediately. 'We're late for work!' I exclaim.

Rio is going to fucking kill us if he finds out we overslept, which he probably already knows. 'Shit, what time is it?' I throw one of the phones on the bed and rush to the bathroom, to brush my teeth.

'He got us iPhone XR's!?' She squeals. She was saving up the money to buy one herself. 'Stop drooling over the stupid phone and hurry!'

She rushes into the bathroom and starts brushing her teeth as well. We look like an absolute mess. The girls in the mirror look basic and weird. Just like we are. Except, if you would see us, you wouldn't say we've been through what we've been through.

You wouldn't say we were abducted by the Curzio's. You wouldn't say we are forced to work for a monster, who apparently is very famous. You wouldn't say we've seen people getting killed right in front of us. You wouldn't say or think any of it.

It amazes me how good and simple we look. As if none of it happened. As if we're just going on about our lives. Our normal, basic, happy lives. Will it ever go back to that?

'Bonjour!' Celine shouts from the room. 'In here!' I shout back, before washing my face and putting everything away.

'Why are you in such a hurry?' She asks smiling at us. 'Rio will kill us if we're going to be late, which we already are!' 'Didn't he tell you that you didn't have to go to work today?'

Neveah and I both turn to Celine at the same time. 'What?!' She burst out into laughter and nods, before wiping her tears away.

'Are you freaking kidding me!' Neveah shouts, moving back to the bed. I follow her and sigh deeply. 'It's too risky to go straight back to work since we don't know who sent Mario and his men.'

'Mario?' Neveah asks, climbing back into bed. 'That's the man who held Leya at gunpoint last night.' Celine informs, making Neveah alert straight away. 'He's dead right?'

'Well, I don't think he survived a bullet through his head.' I joke, trying to laugh off the fact that I might have died last night. 'It's not funny!'

Celine giggles and takes a seat on the couch in the corner of the room. 'Neveah is right, if it wasn't for Leon you would've been dead by now.' Right...

'I wanted to thank him, but then Rio grabbed me and-' He was going to choke me to death... Memories of last night rush in. The fact that I thought of him to help me fall asleep is sickening. He's an absolute monster and I was thinking of him.

'How is Brandon?' I ask, curious to what happened to him after last night. 'He's fine. Rio wants him to take his time. But Brandon being Brandon, he won't listen. He wants to take some measures today.'

'Measures?' She nods and looks at her buzzing phone. The two new phones also buzz and we all look at our phones.

It's a text from Leonardo:

𝙱𝚞𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚘 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎! 𝙻𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕, 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚁𝚒𝚘'𝚜 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠!

'What the fuck does he want now?' I sigh, quickly walking towards the closet so I can change. 'Want me to come with you?' Neveah asks almost falling back to sleep. I shake my head and smile at her cuteness.

Her hair is an absolute mess, but she's so cute. 'Go back to sleep, I'll be back in ten minutes.' I smile before smacking her ass and running into the bathroom so I can change.

I grabbed a simple black dress since the sun is already out and it seems like it's going to be a hot day. The dress falls just over my knees and is made out of a flowy material. I hop into some black sneakers and rush back to the room.

'You look way better than I ever will.' Neveah yawns, propping herself up on the bed. 'Not true.' I say strictly, walking over to the bed and jumping on top of her.

I hate it when she's insecure. She's gorgeous the way she is.

'You two are absolutely adorable.' Celine giggles, pulling me off Neveah since she's struggling to push me off herself. I smile and walk towards the door. 'Be right back.'

As soon as I close the door behind me, I'm filled with fear.

What does Rio want to talk to me about? It seems as if it has become a habit. He wants to talk to me every day. It's annoying. But today feels different. As if I'm in some deep trouble, which I probably am.

We went out last night without him knowing. We could've runoff, but we didn't. We knew better. We put ourselves out there for the world to see, without consulting it with him first. He's probably going to lecture me about that.

Every step towards his office makes me more and more afraid of what he might have to say. Even though we did worse, we tried to kill him and we tried to escape, this time I'm more scared than the others.

I knock on the door and wait for them to open up or tell me to come in. Leon opens the door and smirks at me. 'There you are, I was about to go get you, little girl.' He jokes, stepping aside so I can enter.

I step in, not looking around so I don't have to look at Rafael.

'I'll be waiting in the car.' Leon states, looking at the other person in the room. 'Tutto a posto.' Rio's deep voice sounds more soothing than ever but strange at the same time.

For the first time, he sounds tired. Totally exhausted.

'In bocca al lupo, little girl.' Leon chimes, walking towards the front door. I stand at the door, looking everywhere except Rio.

'How did you sleep?' What? His question shocks me on levels I didn't even know was possible and I look up, straight into his exhausted eyes.

He looks as if he worked the entire night, trying to find out who was behind all of this.

'Fine.' I lie. He doesn't need to know about my well-being, because he doesn't care. I just don't want to ignore him and anger him even more. 'Don't lie to me, Velez.' There he is again.

The arrogant piece of shit that only cares about himself. The monster that murders innocent people.

'You can't lie to me when I can read you like an open book, Velez.' I scoff, slowly stepping closer to him. He smirks wickedly and leans back in his chair as if he owns the place, which he does. But the fact that he's acting so goddamn arrogant is the most annoying thing in the world.

'You can't read me at all.' I hiss, stomping to one of the chairs. He swiftly gets up walks to my side of his desk, leaning against the armrests of my chair. 'Is that so Velez?'

His face is inches away from mine and, just like yesterday, I'm mesmerized by his eyes and utter beauty. This man is absolutely stunning. The only thing ruining him is his personality.

'Yes.' I say, looking directly at him. Something flashes through his eyes but I don't know what exactly. Out of all the things I thought were going to happen, this was not on the list. We simply stare at each other for a few seconds, me admiring his beauty even though I shouldn't and him trying to read me.

He leans forwards, coming so close that I can almost feel his lips against mine. I press my hands against his chest to keep him at distance. As good-looking as he is, he's still a monster. A deep chuckle erupts from the back of his throat and he steps back, leaning against his desk.

'Why did you go out last night?' He asks, switching subjects as if we weren't about to do something else. 'We wanted to have some fun.'

He stares at me for a second, debating if I'm telling the truth. 'You could've easily run away last night, you know that right?'

I shake my head, folding my arms across my chest, and look at him. 'No, we couldn't have. You put trackers in us, remember?' His eyes light up again, smirking at me like the idiot he is, 'So even if we tried, you would've found us at some point.'

'Good that you finally got the point.' He states, looking at his phone again. For the past few days, he's been busier than ever.

'Was that all?' I ask, wanting to leave as quickly as possible. This man is driving me crazy. One minute he's all up in my face, looking at me as if he's ready to devour me, and the next he's talking to me as if I'm a prisoner, which I am.

'No.' He throws away his phone and looks at me again, 'You're going with Leon. He's going to examine your shooting skills.' What?

'But didn't Marco-' 'I don't trust Marco's judgment on you. You'll go with Leon and that's final.' He sneers, ready to explode again. 'What about Neveah?'

'What about her?' He asks, sighing deeply. Every fucking time I ask something, he seems to sigh. It's getting bothersome.

'Can she come?' He thinks about it for a second and shakes his head. 'No. Just you two.' Well...

'Now go and behave yourself, Velez. I don't want to hear anything bad about you, understood?' He smirks, acting as if he's some kind of principal and I'm a bad teenager. I want to strangle him to fucking death simply because of the way he's talking to me.

'Estúpido.' I mumble, rushing out of the room. It's a good thing I already got dressed.

I walk down the steps and see Leon sitting on top of his car. He smiles at me, covering his eyes because of the sun, and jumps off his car.

'Let's go, little girl! We don't have all day!' He jokes, jumping into the car. I hop in as well and look at him, enjoying the cold air that's filling the place. 'Why do you keep calling me little girl?' I ask, raising an eyebrow at him.

He shrugs and races of the property, not even waiting for me to put on my seatbelt.

"I'm in love with the shape of you!" Leon shouts at the top of his lungs to the song that's blasting through the car. He's absolutely shameless about it and seems to have the time of his life. I laugh and look outside, recognizing the way to the shooting range.

'Thank you for saving me last night.' I chime, just loud enough to get over the music. His lips curl up into that cheeky smile Neveah told me about, and he shrugs. 'It was nothing. You're one of us now.' Since when?

The last time I checked, they just wanted Neveah. They kept repeating that I was disposable, that they didn't want me.

'Whatever.' "Come on, be my baby, come on!" Leon continues.

The closer we get, the louder he sings. Or at least he tries.

He parks the car and turns off the radio before turning to me. 'Let's see what you can do, little girl.'

I hop out of the car and follow him into the range, sensing an eerie vibe as we enter the abandoned-looking building. The last time I was here, I was with Marco and Neveah.

Right now I'm alone with the man who is obsessed over my best friend. He won't hurt me, right? I mean he did save my life yesterday, so why would he?

Leon is familiar with the place and walks over to the desk to the right, opening all kinds of crates. I just watch as he grabs all the necessities, and wait for him to tell me what he expects me to do.

'So how did you sleep after last night?' He asks bluntly. His question surprises me for a second, but I recover and walk over to him. 'Fine, besides from the part that I barely slept at all.'

He nods and opens the magazine, counting the bullets inside of the gun I shot with the last time I was here.

'You'll get used to death, trust me. It's not as scary as it sounds.' He closes the crate and puts the gun on top of it, before smiling at me. 'Marco said you were good at shooting with a Beretta M9, so show me what you can do.'

I sigh and grab the gun, before walking towards the stall facing the target. 'Why doesn't Rio trust Marco's analysis of me?' I ask since he's asking some blunt questions as well.

'Marco has a little crush on you, little girl.' He chimes, moving closer to me so he can point at the target. 'Aim for the leg, heart, or head.'

I nod, rolling my eyes at his stupid advice. As if I didn't know that yet. 'I know.'

'Where do you shoot when you want to harm?' 'Legs.' I answer, aiming at the target at the other side of the room. You can see bullet holes from previous shootings, but it's still kind of intact.

'And the other ones?' He asks, sitting on the little edge next to me. 'To kill.' 'Okay. Shoot.'

I shoot three bullets, one in the left leg, one in the head, and the other one in the shoulder. I skip the heart since there already is a void where the heart is supposed to be. The sound of the empty bullet shells falling on the ground is the thing that brings me back to reality.

The loud bangs made my ears ring, but I turn towards Leon and smile at him. 'Impressive.' He states a little unfazed. 'You don't sound impressed.'

'You're right. I'm acting like Rio.' He dramatically throws his hands up in the air and jumps off the ledge, 'That was absolutely insane.'

I do a quick courtesy and smile at him before he walks back to the crates in the back. I follow his frame and look at the target I just shot at.

Would I be able to shoot someone if I had to? The thought of harming someone innocent is unbearable, and I hope I never have to shoot someone.

'You know how to reload a gun right?' I snort and turn back to him. 'I do.'

'Good.' He continues to scramble through the crate and smiles when he finally finds what he was searching for.

'You're a good shooter, but I think this,' He shows me a box. A black box that looks just big enough to fit a few knives in it. 'This sounds much more like you.' He grins, handing me the box so I can open it myself.

I slowly open it and stare at the sharp edge of the knife. It's a beautiful black knife that has no scratch whatsoever. The handle is also black, matt-black just like the blade itself.

'You want me to-' 'Throw it.' He says, putting a new target in front of me, a little closer than the other one. 'Why?'

'Just try it.' He sighs as he steps away from the target. I look at the target in front of me.

If this was real, I would throw the knife right- The knife flies through the air, right at the top of the head - there. Never in my life have I thrown a knife at something, let alone someone. But the feeling it brings, it's amazing. It's empowering.

'Okay, so you're definitely a knife-person.' I turn towards Leon and smile at him. 'Come on, let me show you something.' He says before jumping over the edge, towards the target. I follow him and look at the knife.

It's right in the middle of the head. So if it really would be a person, that person would be dead.

'Vital points, are here,' He points at the heart, 'here,' Slowly traveling his hand to the head, where the knife is, 'and here.' He covers the stomach area and looks back at me.

I nod, installing all this information in my head for if I have to use it at some point.

'Now show me what you can do with the other guns.' He chimes, before pulling the knife out of the target, and handing it to me. 'What am I supposed to do with it?'

'Keep it.' He smiles at me for a second and slowly walks backward, towards the crates again. 'For your own protection!'

I stare at the knife for a second and smile at myself. To think that I was just going on with my life, studying and going to work about a month ago, and now here I am. Shooting and throwing knives at a dummy so I can defend myself if needed.

My stomach starts rumbling since I haven't eaten anything yet and Leon notices.

'Let's go, I'm hungry too!' He dramatically yells, closing all the crates, cleaning everything up, before walking to the door. I run after him and we rush back to his car.

Leonardo is nothing like Rio. He's light, easygoing, and doesn't stress that much. The only thing he seems to stress about is Neveah.