Chapter 4

THE CLUB

I went to the hospital first thing in the morning.

My mother was awake when I walked into her room. She looked smaller than I remembered, like the hospital bed was swallowing her whole. Her face lit up when she saw me.

"Sienna, baby, where have you been? I've been trying to reach you for days."

"I know, I'm sorry," I said, walking over to hug her carefully. She felt so thin. "I'm here now."

"The doctor said I need surgery. It's going to cost so much money, and I don't know how we're going to—"

I pulled out an envelope with thirty-two thousand dollars in cash.

Her face went pale.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"I got a job," I lied. "It pays really well. It's temporary, but it's enough to cover the surgery and everything else you need.”

She counted the money with trembling hands, tears streaming down her face.

"Sienna, this is too much. Where are you working? What kind of job pays this much?"

I couldn't tell her the truth. I couldn't watch the disappointment and shame in her eyes.

"It's fine, Mom. Don't worry about it. Just focus on getting better, okay? The surgery is next week. You're going to be fine."

She pulled me into a hug, and I felt guilty about lying to her. But I felt more guilty about what I'd done to earn that money.

I stayed with her for a few hours, holding her hand, listening to her talk about the surgery and her recovery and how grateful she was. By the time I left, it was evening.

Maya texted me: "Come out tonight. You need to have fun. You've been sad as hell."

She was right. I needed to not think about any of it.

So I said yes.

The club was packed.

The music was so loud I could feel it in my chest. Bodies were pressed together on the dance floor, sweating, moving, lost in the rhythm. The lights were strobing, casting everything in alternating darkness and neon.

Maya pulled me to the bar and ordered us shots. Strong ones that burned going down.

"This is what you need," she said, shouting over the music. "Forget about everything. Just dance. Just feel good."

I nodded and let her pull me onto the dance floor.

The music swallowed me whole. I moved my body to the beat, and for the first time in days, I wasn't thinking about money or hospitals or auctions or anything else. I was just moving, just feeling the bass thrumming through my body, just existing in this moment.

Then I felt it. The weight of someone's stare.

I turned and saw him standing at the edge of the dance floor, watching me.

He was tall and lean, with dark hair and an intensity that made my breath catch. He was wearing all black, and he looked like he didn't quite belong in this club full of drunk people just trying to have fun. He looked like he was hunting something.

And he was looking at me like I was it.

My first instinct was to look away. To go back to dancing with Maya, but then I thought about Kael.

I thought about the way his hands had felt on my skin. The way he'd looked at me like I was something precious. How he held me like he was afraid to let go.

And I thought about how none of it meant anything. How he'd paid me and left and probably wouldn't think about me ever again.

So why shouldn't I let this stranger look at me? Why shouldn't I let myself feel wanted by someone else?

I turned fully toward him, keeping his gaze. I moved my hips to the music, slow and deliberate. I ran my hand through my hair, letting my dress ride up slightly on my thigh.

His jaw tightened. His hands clenched into fists.

I walked toward him, moving through the crowd like the music was pulling me in his direction. When I reached him, I didn't say anything. I just looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi," he said, his voice low and rough.

"Hi," I said back.

He reached out and put his hand on my waist, pulling me closer. We didn't dance. We just stood there, pressed together, his hand burning through the thin fabric of my dress.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" I asked back.

He studied my face for a moment, and I saw something flash across his expression. Recognition maybe. Or confusion.

"No," he said finally. "I guess it doesn't."

He kissed me then, right there in the middle of the club, with Maya watching with her mouth open and strangers dancing around us. His kiss was different from Kael's. Less careful. More demanding. Like he was trying to consume me.

I kissed him back because it felt good to be wanted. It felt good to be desired by someone who wasn't paying for it. 

We kissed for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. His hands moved to my back, pulling me even closer. My hands found their way into his hair.

When he finally pulled away, we were both breathing hard.

"Come home with me," he said.

I should have said no. I should have been smarter. But I was tired of being smart. I was tired of being careful.

"Not tonight," I said instead. "But maybe another time."

He looked frustrated, but he let me go. I walked away from him, back to Maya, without looking back.

"Oh my god, who was that?" Maya asked, her eyes wide.

"Just a guy," I said, even though something about him had felt important somehow. The way he'd looked at me had felt like a warning.

We stayed at the club for another hour, and I didn't see him again.

Two days later, the auction house called.

"Your next appointment is confirmed for tonight," the woman with the clipboard said. "Seven o'clock. Same location as before."

"Who's the client?" I asked.

"A new member. He's requested you specifically. He saw your profile and was very interested."

My stomach felt tight. "What's his name?"

"We don't share client names unless they request it. You'll meet him tonight."

I hung up the phone and felt a strange sensation running down my spine.

I arrived at the suite at six-fifty-five.

The woman with the clipboard checked me in and led me to a different room this time. It was similar to the others, expensive, modern, cold. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Minimalist furniture.

But when the door opened and he walked in. 

It was him, the man from the club.

"You," I said.

He smiled, and it was a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Hello, Sienna," he said, and the way he said my name made it clear that he knew exactly who I was. 

That he'd known who I was the entire time. That seeing me at the club hadn't been a coincidence.

"How do you know my name? I never told you—"

"I know a lot of things about you," he said, walking toward me slowly. "And I've been waiting a very long time for this."

He reached out and touched my face, his fingers tracing my jawline.

"What do you want?" I asked, and I could hear the fear in my own voice.

"I want you to understand something," he said quietly. "Everything that's happened to you here was chance... None of it was random."

"What are you talking about?"

He stepped closer, and his eyes were so intense they made me want to run.

"I'm talking about the fact that I've been watching you," he said. “Waiting for the right moment. And when I saw you at that club, I knew it was time."

"You're scaring me," I whispered.

"Good," he said. "You should be scared. Because your life is about to change in ways you can't even imagine. And there's nothing you can do to stop it."

He released me and walked toward the window, looking out at the city.

"My name is Rowan," he said without turning around. "And we have a lot to discuss before the night is over."