My grandfather greeted me at the door with open arms, I hugged him then skulked around in my room for a couple of days. I didn't want to speak to anyone or talk to anyone. Everyone knocked and came by, seeing if I was okay, and they would often leave behind some food or a cup of tea. After about five days of this, I finally decided to get up out of bed and open the curtains. It was a gorgeous Summer's day outside, and believe me, I was going to relish in the Sun. After I had come in from a day of walking through the gardens, swimming, reading and sunbathing, I met my Uncle Lomovstev in the kitchen.

"Hey Uncle Stev," I called out to him; Stev was my nickname for him. He looked up from his newspaper and smiled brightly.

"Hello Kat, glad to see you are up and about." I smiled at him. "Kat, a certain Don has tried non-stop to get in contact with us. If you want to speak to him, you can, if you don't you never have to speak to him again."

"Not right now Uncle Stev."

"Ahh, my beautiful granddaughter, you look well," spoke my grandfather's voice, almost singsong, as he entered the room.

"Now, let's get down to business. Your birthday is in a week, and I would like to throw you a ball!" his words just felt me with dread, I couldn't think of anything worse right now.

"Grandfather, I don't think-"

"Nonsense! I will organise it all, you just have to turn up on the day and smile at a few people! I will invite all of your friends from England! I also want to show off my beautiful granddaughter to the world!" he seemed genuinely excited, and I didn't want to disappoint him; he had done so much for me, "make this old man happy." He outstretched his arms for a hug.

"Okay, fine," I said as I hugged him.

The past week had been a whirlwind of event planning, although I didn't have to do much, I just had to point at things I liked. I had to choose the flowers, the cake, the decorations, like the colour scheme of the ballroom, the menu, the cocktail menu, the entertainment. I also tried on a few ballgowns and settled on a gorgeous sequined burgundy one.

The day of the ball was even more hectic. People were rushing around all over the house trying to get things together, carrying plates of food, glasses, flowers, decorations, everything. My grandfather had also hired a hairdresser, makeup artist and someone else to do my nails. They pulled at my hair, grabbed my hands, and poked at my face. Another woman waxed almost every bit of hair off of my body, and another worked with me to get dressed, even though I didn't need any help. When they were finished, they looked back in awe, and turned me around to look in the mirror. I had no idea who the person was that I was looking at. I looked stunning. My hair was curled and delicately half of it was put up, with beautiful burgundy roses, that matched my dress, and pearls that were laced within it. The dress itself was stunning. It was a deep burgundy colour, completely covered in sequins, and it hugged my figure in such a flattering way. I poked my leg through the slit in my dress and looked at my sin-inch shoes, plain gold, strappy sandals that complimented the colour of the dress. Around my neck was a gold pendant, with a huge diamond, cut in the shape of a teardrop that huge as a pendant. It filled up the empty space that would've been on my neck perfectly. My earrings matched the necklace, and I had a dainty golden charm bracelet around my wrist. My makeup was done to perfection too, completely natural foundation, blusher and bronzer, but with a sultry smokey eye and winged eyeliner. The look was paired with a soft red lip colour to wrap it all together.

The party was in full swing before I got there, as I was supposed to do this whole thing where they announce me as the birthday girl and I walk down this huge staircase in the middle of one of the walls in the banquet hall. I poked my head around the corner and saw the hall was decorated beautifully. There were pink and white roses that were dotted around the place, and the colour scheme was gold, pink and white. All of the tables were beautifully laid out, with white tablecloths, a vase of flowers in the middle and pink and gold accents. Just as I started to feel nervous, my cousin, Lyamina (Mina) came up to me and assured me that everything was going to be okay. She was nervous too the first time she had a big ball like this, but it turned out to be one of the best nights of her life. I took her advice and warm words and manifested it into courage. She handed me a glass of champagne and a shot of vodka, and I downed them both, vodka first.

As they announced my name, I appeared at the top of the stairs. All eyes fell on me. My grandfather was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and when I reached him, he would say a few words and then lead me to the table. I started walking down the stairs slowly, watching my steps carefully, really not wanting to trip and fall over. All eyes stayed on me as I walked down the stairs, and grabbed my grandfather's outstretched hand. One pair of eyes stood out. They were Enzo's. What was he doing here?

I sat down at my table, which was full of the close family, including my parents, who had flown in, and also had Laura and Adam on. We chatted and caught up, things seemed like they were good back in London. They were annoyed I had never told them about my crazy rich Russian family, but I told them I didn't know they existed till only recently. They still punched my arm, lightly.

We all got up and went to the bar together, which was a free open-bar. In my state, being so nervous and the fact that Enzo and a huge portion of the Italian mafia, including all his close friends were here, was probably not a good idea. I did shot after shot, but it didn't really affect me. I guess that's something to do with the fact I am half Russian and they drink vodka like water. I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and as I exited, sat in the sofa opposite was Antonio.

"Katarina, you look absolutely stunning this evening," he said, standing up, taking my hand and kissing it.

"Thanks," I replied, giving him a slight smile, but really on edge.

"About Enzo-"

I interrupted him, "I don't want to hear about Enzo." As I turned to walk away, I saw Stefan behind me, and Pascal next to him.

"Please listen," spoke Stefan.

"I don't care what excuse he has; it isn't good enough. Even if he didn't kiss that girl, he still has that tattoo, and I explicitly told him if he didn't get it removed, he would watch me pack my bags and leave. You cannot say I didn't give him any warning." I stood with my arms folded and a straight look.

"He didn't kiss Fleur," started Antonio.

"Are you serious? I saw it with my own eyes!"

"She kissed him," he explained, "he pushed her off him as soon as you turned around."

"Convenient," I muttered.

"It's true Katarina," chimed in Pascal.

"The kiss lingered whilst I was still watching anyway, he didn't have the instinct to push her away, the same instinct I would have if someone tried kissing me, I wouldn't want to kiss."

"I think he was just in shock..."

"See, more bloody excuses. Excuse me please, this is my birthday party and I want to get back to it." I tried to push past, but they stood in my way.

"Is everything okay here Katarina?" asked Uncle Stev, suddenly appearing, causing them to instantly move out of my way.

"It's fine," I mumbled as I walked away, not looking back.

Uncle Stev tried to ask me what it was about, and I told him exactly what was said and why I was so angry at Enzo.

"I can get them removed if you want?" he asked.

"It's okay, I'm tired anyway, I'm going to go to bed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, but I have had a lovely night."

I took one of the side staircases and went up to my room. I opened the door and there was a figure of a man sitting on my bed. I knew exactly who it was...

"Enzo."

"Katarina."

"Look, I don't want to talk, your friends tried to explain, I don't want to hear."

"I'm sorry I didn't get the tattoo removed earlier, I had to design one just right," he said as he started to unbutton his shirt, showing an intricate skull tattoo in the place of his previous tattoo of Natale.

"Natale is dead to me." I chuckled at his symbolic words. "As for Fleur, I work with her, I knew she always liked me, but I never thought she would kiss me. I only kept her around because she is good at the job she does, but I told her if she couldn't accept just being my employee she would have to leave. I'm sorry the kiss lingered; I was just in shock. Honestly, Katarina, I don't like her." He then opened the other side of his shirt. I saw immediately my name had now been tattooed on him, in small, pretty writing. The name was tattooed onto a rock, with flowers growing around the bottom of the rock and sunshine beaming down over it.

"You are my rock, you are my sunshine, you bring light into my cold dark world. I know you may not take me back, and a tattoo doesn't change that I hurt you, but I am so sorry Katarina... I love you."

His words took me by surprise, especially the last three.

"Enzo, I like the tattoo, I'm still upset, but... I can try to get over it in time. I want Fleur fired though."

"Done, anything, I swear Katarina, anything for you," he ran up to me and grabbed me in my dress, pulling me into a huge bear hug. His overwhelming masculine scent filled my nose and made my heart flutter.

"I have a present for you," he said, pulling out a small box from his pocket. He opened it to reveal a stunning diamond ring.

"Enzo, what-"

"It's not an engagement ring, it is a promise ring. It is a symbol. I promise, Katarina, do always do good by you, to not hurt you, to never stray and to always stay loyal. I promise to protect you with my life, and always put your happiness before mine. I promise whatever you want or need, you will have. I promise to love you." My eyes started watering, and the tears soon fell.

"That was beautiful," I said, "I have something for you too."

"But it's your damn birthday!" he protested. I went to my bag and found the hip flask that I had bought at the market a while ago, but left it in the bag as I didn't want anything reminding me of Enzo. I handed it to him and he absolutely loved it! I was so happy. I grabbed his face and our lips smashed together. It felt amazing. We had sex five times that night, with each being romantic, and sensual, and so fucking good. I was happy in that moment, so damn happy.

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I am not sure whether the book is finished here, I don't know, what do you guys think? Do you want more, a sequel, one with their kids? Or I have another book in the works, but I'm not sure about it yet...

Anyway, I will mark it as complete, but if you think there is more to the story, I will write more, give me ideas, tell me what you think, I would love to hear some feedback! Thank you so much for reading and stay safe. Please vote if you can, it will help me so much so I can get higher on the leaderboards because I want people to be able to find and enjoy my story. Thank you so much again!

READ THE LIL UPDATE, I CHANGED MY MIND, I WANT MORE OF ENZO!!