Chapter 59
Caterina
A month had passed since I brought Harlow home.
Lena set her up in our bedroom so she could rest comfortably, and Lena had a room next to us so she could monitor her.
She hadn’t woken up yet and the wait was excruciating, but I knew she would when she was ready.
Lena took her off the vent two weeks ago, and she was able to breathe on her own. She was making progress.
I informed Lena of the pregnancy risk, and she’d been testing her blood every few days to see.
The last thing I wanted was Harlow waking up to news like that, especially when I knew her wishes.
I would be the villain, but it was what she wanted.
But it’d been six weeks since she’d been away from him, and there was no sign of pregnancy.
I kissed her forehead before getting dressed for the day.
There was a calm in the world now with Vincenzo away from humanity.
It’s like this weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could finally breathe again.
Roman went back home after knowing Harlow was alive, leaving her mother and siblings with me.
Natalya had yet to return home which made me concerned for her safety and the girls’.
Roman was reminding me of myself with Vincenzo since Igor was still out there.
Igor was dead set on killing the girl, but he had three children in my home.
He would never see them again, but I didn’t understand the obsession with the one he didn’t know about.
Closing my bedroom door, I made my way down to the kitchen where everyone was enjoying breakfast. Hearing the sounds of children playing was odd, but I enjoyed it. My home needed more life to it.
Marie was at the table, moving her eggs with her fork while her daughter was in her lap with her face buried into her neck.
The boys were adjusting well, but Hope was too young to fully understand what was going on around her.
Hope looked just like Harlow. Big brown eyes and dark hair.
The only noticeable difference was the skin tone.
Harlow’s skin was fair while Hope and the two boys had a darker tanned skin tone.
“How are you?”
It was a question that I knew she was going to lie about with her children in the same room. “I’m okay for the most part. It feels surreal being free. My children are away from that man, but he is still alive. I know Hope will be okay, but Hunter was Igor’s chosen son.”
“You are going to be safe here. Roman is working on finding him. As much as I hate to say it, he is focused on his other child, so these three are safe.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Is there any update with Harlow?”
“She is still asleep right now, but I am hoping that she wakes up soon. I know she is going to be very glad to see you.”
Her face dropped. “I should have fought harder. She wouldn’t have been in that situation if I got us out.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Harlow doesn’t blame you for what your husband did. She is going to be very happy to see you and know that you are alive. But Harlow is off the vent, and Lena says her breathing is normal and the swelling in her brain has gone down. They are hoping she wakes up soon.”
Marie nodded. “I’m going to go lay her down. Thank you again. It means so much.”
She took Hope, and they both went to the bedroom while the boys stayed out here with Luca.
I grabbed one of the kitchen knives and headed down to the basement.
A month was a long time to keep a slimy worm like Vincenzo alive, but I was doing it for her.
When she woke up, she would have justice that she had been waiting over a decade for.
Vincenzo looked like death, and it satisfied something deep in my bones seeing him like that.
Chains rattled as I walked closer to him with a satisfied grin plastered on my face.
He thought someone would save him one week into his capture, but no one had.
All his men were dead. No one missed him, not even the sick men who did business with him in the past. Of course, we had the logbooks so those men would pay for their part in Vincenzo’s operations, and the women could get justice.
Every day someone would come down here. Luca had enjoyed it the most. He was avenging Elizabeth and his inner child.
Spencer just loved torture. There was something deprived in her brain, but I wasn’t complaining.
She kept him alive while making his life miserable.
My men would come down here and have their lick of flesh for Harlow’s sake.
Even Moira came down here from time to time.
No one liked abusers or rapists in my home.
My father was currently down here and punched him as Vincenzo grunted as blood spilled from his mouth. “Papa.”
He looked at me and smiled. “Ciao, farfalla.” He punched him again before turning towards me. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Ti amo, Papà.”
“Ti amo, farfalla.”
My father left the basement, and I laughed at Vincenzo’s struggles. “You really think you’ll get free?” I taunted him. “I’m nowhere near done with you.”
“F-fuck y-you,” he sputtered, spitting blood at me. He still had fight left in him. I guess I didn’t torment him enough.
“You know, I can do this for years. Watch you wither into nothing but the disgrace you are.”
“I already won,” he mumbled with a weak smirk.
That earned him a swift kick to his shriveled-up balls. “No, you didn’t. You have nothing left, Vincenzo. The only reason you are still breathing is because you deserve to feel agony like all those women you’ve hurt felt.”
“I-I have Ha-Harlow.” The mere mention of her name sent a surge of anger coursing through me. It was like the beast Harlow tamed clawed its way out, and when they came out to play, hell would reign down on Earth. “I-I have her s-spirit. Her h-hope. I’ll always be with her…”
His words hung in the air like a sinister echo, sending a shiver down my spine.
He was wrong. “You may have taken her innocence and broke her once,” I said, my words dripping with malice, “but you will never have her spirit. Her hope is a burning inferno that can never be extinguished. Unlike you, I love her and through every battle, I will be by her side. You didn’t break her, Vincenzo. ”
Harlow was a fighter. Regardless of what he did to her, recently and in the past, I would be there to pull her from her darkness and restore her light.
I would be a beacon of hope in the darkest of nights.
It would be a long battle, but she could survive anything.
My queen was going to rise like the phoenix she was and burn the world with me by her side.
“Is that why she hasn’t woken yet?”
I wrapped my hand around my dagger and plunged it into his shoulder, avoiding any major arteries. When I came down here, I said I needed to control my emotions, but he was playing with fire. My wife was in a coma because he wanted to take the coward’s way out.
He laughed with pain lacing his tone. “I win. I always win.”
“Not in my story, asshole.” If she was not awake soon, I was going to kill him myself, but I wanted Harlow to have her chance for revenge.