Part 2
### Chapter 1: x01- THE MEETING
Dearest Readers,
After a long time of taking down sinister seduction for of editing.
We are back.
Note that there is not much that has changed.
Andres is still a psychopath and Catherina still his little bird.
However due to the changes in chapters, past comments under some sentences or chapters will not make any sense to new readers.
I apologize for the long break in transmission.
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ONE
CATHERINA
If wishes were horses then I would probably be an ordinary middle class daughter of a single woman in college crushing on the quarterback of the football team and wondering if he would take the popular cheerleader to dinner or somehow pick me whom he had never spoken to in his life.
But wishes are not possible in the life of a girl like me.
Instead I am the daughter of one of the most dangerous men in the country if not the most dangerous.
My sister and I had been homeschooled because we could not afford to be put in a school and risk being collateral damage for my father's dealings.
I sat staring at the ceiling until my eyes blurred. I could hear the whispers from the maids outside my door no doubt talking about the visitor we were going to have.
Andres Cruz
My father wanted my sister to marry him and to think they were mortal enemies but according to him he wanted to keep his enemies close.
It wasn't like I cared.
I hated my father with everything in me.
He was a killer and he had killed in front of me.
I have to bear the guilt of causing the death of the one boy who had ever paid me any attention.
My throat closed up as guilt racked my entire body bringing the nightmare of that day to the forefront of my mind.
I got up immediately, wanting to run and knowing almost at once that there was nowhere for me to go, it was as though the walls of my room where closing up around me and I was going to suffocate if I remained where I was and so I dashed out blindly, heading to nowhere in particular; my breath coming out in short pants.
I rammed headlong into him; my future brother-in-law.
His arms came around me immediately, it was pretty dark and how I knew he was the one was beyond me.
"Are you okay?" His deep baritone voice interrupted my thoughts.
The hairs on my neck stood as I remained in his embrace, my head screaming at me to turn and run back in the direction I had come from but I could not pull myself away from him, I only stood there shaking like a leaf.
"You are shaking." He said, bringing my face up to meet his.
Like I said, it was dark but I could imagine his arresting blue eyes gazing upon my face and I was suddenly grateful for the darkness because I was suddenly warm all over.
"I am fine, I was heading to the kitchen and you scared me." I said lamely, extricating myself from his strong grasp.
I slid away and past him, my breasts brushing his arm. I bit my tongue to keep the mewl from escaping my throat and all but fled down the stairs, past the foyer and into the kitchen. It was probably just my being overly aware of the man but I could feel his stare follow me, boring into my back; branding me.
"Catherina, it is about time you came down. If you remain in your room anymore you are going to be sick, mi amor " my mamma said as soon as I entered the kitchen.
I smiled awkwardly and kissed her on the cheek, she hadn't called me 'my darling' and the mention of it now took me back to when things were fine with us before my father ruined it.
"I'm sorry mamma, sometimes I just want to be alone." I told her, standing by the corner as I watched her cook.
She was always ever so delightful to watch in the kitchen that sometimes I think my papa married her only for her cooking.
My mamma had married Manuel Salvador, the most wanted mafia Lord and top criminal on the FBI's list. I did sometimes wonder why she enslaved herself to such a cruel man and when I was younger, I used to hate her.
She had cursed us to life as our father's daughters without the freedom of ever knowing what it means to truly live.
There were also matters which she totally ignored like his cheating scandals that do not fail to make the news every single time.
I remember the one time I had called her attention to it. It was the south Koren model scandal and she had merely brushed it off and ushered my sister and I to bed like it was nothing of concern.
My hate for my mother disappeared as I aged and finally saw why she could not leave him.
His protection was the only thing keeping her alive and she did not believe in divorce and so whenever he returned with his stupid gifts of apology, she accepted them with a graceful smile on her face.
"Your father wants to speak to you about a lot of things and he is not happy that you act like you do not being in this family"
I rolled my eyes at the mention of my papa's name.
He and I never got along with each other and it was irony considering the fact that I resembled him most of all.
"I do not want to speak to papa about anything" I shot at my mother, already feeling the anger rising in my veins.
"See the way you talk? No wonder the man is so unhappy. Would you blame him after that stunt you pulled off?"
The stunt my mother was hammering on was me getting into a relationship and it happened about a year ago.
My father had killed the boy in question and he had sent the boy's body in a box to his family warning them to get out of the country and as far away from him as they could.
It has been over a year but I would never forget how much I had begged and screamed while my papa made me watch him cut off his fingers one after the other.
He had made sure I stayed through the whole ordeal and even my screaming and fainting did nothing to deter my father was carving him up until he was a gooey mess of blood and flesh.
Then he had proceeded to order his goons to box up the dissected mess and have it sent to the family of the boy.
I remember not being able to speak as I watched him packed up... the blood... the scene was a nightmare in a nightmare in a horror movie.
It was there and then I was sure about the animal my papa was.
I did not speak for days and when I finally did, I wept, screamed and cried while my mamma attended to me.
"I don't want to talk about it, mamma. I will be returning to my room." I told her and walked away but not before I heard her tell me to make sure to speak to my father.
I was full on in my thoughts of hatred for my papa that I did not see the hulk in front of me until I bumped into him... again.
"I am so sorry; I did not see you there." I told him, glancing up to his face and immediately regretting it.
"If I did not know better, miss Salvador. I would think you are running into me on purpose." He said, his blue eyes lighting up with mischief.
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### Chapter 2: x02- HE IS ARROGANT
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CATHERINA'S POV
"Mister..." I began
"Cruz" he interrupted me immediately.
"Excuse me?" I said
"I am to be your brother-in-law so it is only right that you know my name. it is Andres Cruz and you are the lovely miss Catherina; I have heard so much about you." He said slowly, his tongue slurring on the 'much' which suggested things I did not want to begin imagining.
"I am sure you have" I said, my eyes showing that I did not care one bit about the things he had heard.
"Anyways, aren't we glad that you know better?" I said, walking past him barely. He occupied the whole place, with broad shoulders and an aura spanning miles.
I congratulated myself on maintaining my composure. I met my sister halfway on the stairs and she stated she was about coming to look for me and so we went back up and to my room.
"Have you met him?" she asked, making sure to bolt the door against eavesdroppers.
"Met who?" I asked innocently, my mind drifting carnally to the thoughts of how strong his arms had felt, holding me.
"My husband-to-be, Andres Cruz. I cannot help but be nervous about the kind of person he is and papa has told me to act like the proper girl he has trained me to be." My sister wailed.
"Papa has no business telling you anything and you should act however you want to act, Audrey." I told her.
"I am terrified" Audrey said softly.
I came around to hug my sister, tapping her back gently as she burrowed her head into my shoulder.
"Have you met him?" she asked again.
"I have and by far he is the most rude man I have ever spoken to."
"You don't even know him that well and you already deduced these things?" my sister said, her eyes huge with fear.
"I do not mean to frighten you Audrey but your husband-to-be's reputation precedes him and from the slight conversation we have had today, I believe what the rumors say about him is absolutely right." I told her.
"I do not want to get married to him; I am in love with Bruno and we are going to elope." She whispered conspiratorially.
"You cannot do that! Elope? Whatever are you thinking Audrey?" I jumped off from the bed, staring at her with huge eyes.
"I do not know what else to do Catherina; I cannot marry a man that I do not love and I am deeply in love with Bruno." She wailed.
I held her shoulders in a tight grip and shook her, forcing her to look me in the eyes.
"If you love Bruno as much as you say then you will never elope or else, he is going to die." I told her, my voice breaking.
"What happened with papa and that boy he caught you with?" she asked me softly.
I let go of my sister, my eyes filling up with tears at the painful memory, tugging behind my eyes. I never did tell anyone about what had happened that day and my mamma never asked. My sister Audrey had asked for a while and then stopped because she could see I was not ready to discuss the issue.
My father had told the whole family and any one who cared to listen... that he had caught the boy and I having sex and he had been forced to teach me a lesson when in truth he had killed a boy who did nothing but kiss me under a tree right in front of the house.
"Please tell me Catherina; what did papa do?" she asked again.
The tears came then; streaming down my face in rivets. I collapsed on the ground and brought my knees up, hugging them to my chest as I rocked, my head moving from side to side. My sister fell on her knees beside me, gathering me up in her arms as I wept.
"He...killed...him" I managed to utter. "He strung him up like a prized calf and butchered him while I watched. He did nothing but kiss me and our father sent his body in bits and pieces as a warning.
She did not say a word but just continued hugging me as I cried, letting it all out till I was spent.
"I am sorry for your loss; I will marry him for I cannot bear to see Bruno killed." My sister said, her eyes wet with unshed tears.
"I am so sorry, hermana ..."
"You are not at fault, blame papa for being such a bastardo " she said, whispering the last word.
I laughed amidst my tears and we remained in that position for a moment until there was a knock to inform us that dinner had been served and our presence were ultimately needed.
"Your makeup is ruined." My sister said, patting my wet cheek.
"I will just take it off, I never liked the makeup anyways. I have to change into something else, I do not need the disapproving glare of papa's stare on my face tonight."
My sister waited while I got changed into an emerald dress and a short heel to match, I rid myself of the soiled makeup and together we went downstairs.
I was hit by the intensity of his stare and resisted firmly the urge to look up just to be sure he was staring at my sister, his wife-to-be and not at me.
I took a seat beside my mamma, whose eyes passed briefly over my outfit in approval and then my bare face in disapproval.
The food smelled heavenly as usual and I could still feel his stare upon my face, I braved a look up and there it was; blue eyes as beautiful as the sea, boring into me with such intensity, I was lost.
And when my lips parted slowly to let out the pent-up breath in my lungs; his, quirked up in a smile and then he mouthed the word 'sexy' at me.
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