Page 23 of Born into Sin

“Fucking hell,” I whisper in Russian just loud enough for Svetlana to hear.

She squeezes my hand and gives the guy a smile, although, unlike his, hers is more friendly than sexual.

“Hi,” she tells him.

He gives a soft laugh and takes another drag of his cigarette. “Are you two lost? Didn’t your daddies ever teach you to not walk down dark alleys at night?” His eyes run over us again. “Especially when wearing so little.”

“It’s kind of a funny story,” Svetlana says, and I know her well enough to know she’s trying like hell to sound calm. She may be the bravest person I know, but even this is a little much for her. “We forgot our IDs at home, and we were hoping maybe you could sneak us in through the back.”

He raises a dark brow at her while the corner of his mouth lifts in a wicked grin. “And why would I do that? What do I get out of it?”

“Oh my god,” I whisper, and Svetlana squeezes my hands so tightly I have to grit my teeth to keep from gasping.

“Money, of course.” Svetlana holds up several hundreds. “Our daddies did teach us to not blow some random dude in an alley just to get access to a nightclub.”

He lets out another soft laugh at her audacity.

“But I see no reason why you can’t make a lot of extra money tonight, and all you have to do is look the other way while we walk in. We won’t even make you hold the door for us.”

He takes another slow pull of his cigarette, blowing out the smoke in a long, steady stream while he thinks the offer over. After what feels like an eternity, he grins and holds out his hand. She puts the money in it, and he makes a point of looking in the other direction. Svetlana shoots me a triumphant smile as she opens the door, pulling me in with her before he can change his mind.

Loud, thumping music hits me full force when the door shuts, leaving us in a dark hallway. We keep walking, following the music until the hallway opens up, revealing a packed dance floor that’s filled with pulsating bodies, each of them swaying to the beat of the music. It looks wild and untamed, everything I’ve never gotten to experience, and my feet start walking towards the mass of bodies before my brain can even catch up.

Svetlana lets out a whoop of pure joy, right by my side every step of the way. This still might end badly, but for now, we’re free, and I intend to enjoy every damn second of it. With my head thrown back, I move to the beat of the music, losing myself in the crowd and the darkness of the club and the freedom of complete anonymity.

Chapter 5

Dominic

Iscrub a hand over my face, more than ready to get out of the club and go home for the night. I’d come in to check on some things, and what was supposed to be an hour ended up lasting three. Even with the thick door of my office shut, the annoying, rhythmic thud of the music isn’t muffled nearly enough.

Shutting my laptop, I stand and roll out the kinks in my neck before slipping my suit jacket back on. I’m not looking forward to walking through the crowd out front, but I need a shot of whiskey on my way out more than I need to avoid the interaction. I don’t make it far before a young woman starts to saunter over to me. I ignore her and raise a hand to the bartender on duty. Ricky takes one look at me and immediately reaches for the bottle of scotch he keeps below the counter, the one that’s worth more than all the other bottles on display put together, the one that only I’m allowed to drink. He fills it and places it in front of me, and when he’s sure I don’t need anything else, he goes back to the other customers.

“Hey.”

I look down, annoyed that the woman hasn’t taken the hint and given up yet. I ignore her and take a sip of the whiskey, letting it sit on my tongue before I swallow.

“I said hey,” she says again, threatening to ruin the one goddamn thing I’ve been looking forward to all night.

“I heard you,” I tell her, taking another small sip that I desperately try to savor, but she insists on opening her mouth again.

“You want to dance?”

I look down at her again. Her blonde hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, the dress she’s wearing is skintight and hugging her curves, and the hungry look in her blue eyes makes it obvious I can fuck her if I want. The only problem is I don’t want to. The blue of her eyes reminds me of someone else, and fuck does it piss me off. Since I saw Natalya a week ago, I can’t get her out of my goddamn head, and I can’t seem to muster up enough interest in anyone else to try to fuck her from my mind.

“No,” I tell her, making it clear with my tone that there’s no talking me into it.

Irritated, I down the rest of my whiskey, not even attempting to enjoy the damn thing. I’m just about to leave when my eyes run over the dance floor, landing on the principessa herself. Convinced my mind is playing tricks on me, I keep watching her, knowing it can’t really be her. There’s no way in hell her family would let her come here, and there’s no way in hell she’d be so fucking stupid as to come to a nightclub dressed in the tiny dress this woman is wearing, but then she turns her body, and I get a good look at her face and the woman dancing beside her.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growl in Italian before making my way to the mass of bodies. I’m almost to her when I see a man’s hand land on her stomach, gripping her like she belongs to him, and all I see is red. I see the shocked look she gives, the way her beautiful eyes widen first in shock and then in anger. She tries to brush him off her, but he just moves his hand to her hip, tightening his fingers even harder and pinning her smaller body to his. I’m two seconds away from killing the fucker when Natalya surprises the hell out of me by elbowing him in the gut, and when he leans down to take in a breath, she punches him in the nose, breaking it easily. She steps back so she doesn’t get blood on her dress, and when she turns back around, face lit up in a triumphant smile, the last thing she’s expecting to see is me.

“Principessa.”

Her mouth falls open, and this time when her eyes widen, it’s all from fear. My cock, the same one that couldn’t be bothered minutes earlier when the young blonde was offering herself up, suddenly decides that now is the time to wake up.

“Dominic.” My name is a breathy pant on her full lips, and I’m just about to answer her when the jackass she punched starts walking over. I quickly step between them, putting Natalya behind me.

The man holds his hand up to his bloody nose and points behind me. “She fucking hit me!”

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