Angelica St. Clair “Miss St. Clair?” I nodded to the man sitting across the table and pulled my chair to sit opposite him. He was my late uncle’s lawyer, Clinton, who had contacted me a week ago regarding Uncle Robert’s will. I didn’t even know there was one. My uncle had died two years ago in a car accident. He had been young, so I had assumed there was no will, especially since no one had ever mentioned the existence of one. I generally thought his belongings had been liquidated or donated. “I would say it’s nice to see you, but…” I shook my head so I wouldn’t appear rude. “I know how difficult this meeting is for you, Miss St. Clair, but I promised Robert I would make sure you were aware of everything he wanted you to know.” He had sympathy in his eyes and I knew why. For eight years, Uncle Robert was all I had. he was not just an uncle. I would say he was like a father to me but no one can replace Papa. That's not to say I didn't love him. I did, and losing him had crushed me
The first thing I did after reading the letter was grab the keys and open the jewelry box. Just like he stated, most of the things inside were jewelry that belonged to a woman. A strong feeling of familiarity washed over me as I ran my finger gently through them. If my uncle was a sour subject, then my parents were a taboo. I avoided everything that reminded me of them like the plague. I could still hear the gunshots at the back of my mind, making my body jerk in terror. The memory of my screams and cries was still so fresh that sometimes, I almost thought it happened a moment ago. It sent my heart racing out of control each time I remembered it. My heart was still racing when I finally looked down into the jewelry box. I slammed it shut, wanting nothing but to lock away the memories from ten years ago, but something stuck out, stopping the box from closing shut. I pulled it out and shut the box, locking it like my life depended on it. I picked up the offending necklace and nearl
Four Years later Curtis Arciero“The golden prince finally decided to grace us with his benevolent presence.” Miles snickered as soon as I got to the living area. I was no fucking prince. He knew that better than anyone—because his arrival had swept the red carpet right from under my feet. I wanted to knock his teeth out of his mouth more than ever but I had no time to waste. I had a business to run that did not include coming back here. I had no desire to be near the family I despised. The last thing I wanted was to be in some hate-filled family gathering, the vultures brought together by the carcasses of grandfather’s estate. Everyone wanted a piece of it. I didn’t. But that didn’t mean I was happy that he wanted these greedy fucks to have any of it. Besides, he had specifically required all his grandchildren to be present for his will to be read. Which meant I had to sit in this stifling room with my father’s and uncles’ illegitimate children, including the ones I didn’t know ex
“Honey, I’m home!” An all too familiar head poked into my office barely seconds after my ass touched my seat. I grunted under my breath. Just what I needed. I had spent the whole day shooing off my family, who had decided it was time to form an alliance with me. It was a relief to finally come to work but I was not ready to spend the whole night trying to get Siren out of my office. Swifter than I expected, she was behind my chair, using her soft hands to massage my shoulders, purring against my ear like the siren she was. “How did it go, are you tired? I can make you feel better.” “Get your hands off me, Siren!” I snapped. “And drop the stage voice.” “You liked it before.” She giggled but thankfully stopped speaking in that practiced seductive tone she used to lure patrons out of their life savings. Siren was the most sought-after dancer at Inferno, and men would give an arm just to see her dance for a few minutes. I couldn’t blame them—she was alluring with sinfully hypnotizing bl
Angelica I crept close enough to the headstone to touch it and traced the name with shaky fingers. Hyacinth St. Clair. It had taken me way too long to understand why it was here. Mama was not laid to rest here. Uncle Robert had picked me up right after their funeral in Arcron. I knew right where they were buried—in the humongous garden of my childhood home, right next to the ancient abandoned cathedral that had come as a package deal when my parents bought their house. Yet every year on the anniversary of their death, Uncle Robert brought me here. I had known for years that the grave was empty. Every time he made me buy hyacinths and place them on this empty grave, I thought he wanted to make up for the fact that I couldn’t go back to my childhood home. But now, I knew why. I tilted my head and placed my other hand on his headstone. He had asked to be laid to rest next to Hyacinth St. Clair should he ever die. It made no sense to me, since I knew he was not trying to be close to h
I stayed two steps behind Siren on our way upstairs. She showed me to the VIP rooms and opened one, revealing a humongous room with a white velvet couch and a table, as well as a steam shower stall separated by a transparent glass wall. I had an instant feeling it was not for the patrons and Siren confirmed it when she caught me staring. “You don’t have to get in the shower stall if you don’t want to.” She said, as if it was any assurance. “Lucky for us, Curtis does not believe in forcing his girls to do anything just because patrons want it. He lets us decide what we want to do, then pairs us up with the right patrons. You may not even need the pole.” I had not realized it before but now I saw the partitioning screen, behind which there must be the pole she was talking about. “And don’t worry. If anyone tries to push you to do anything outside the boundaries you set, Heston takes care of them.” I was not interested in anything to do with the VIP rooms. This was not why I was here
Curtis “Jesus Christ.” Siren laughed at my reaction. “He had nothing to do with this.” She winked, nudging forward the timid woman beside her. Heston had done a quick background check while Siren showed her around. Angelica St. Clair was as clean and innocent as they come. Her father was an architect until the day of his death six years ago. Her mother had been a model in her late teens and early twenties, apparently one of the most beautiful ones. That made sense. If Angelica had inherited any of her looks from her mother, it explained her beauty. Hyacinth St. Clair had died young, when Angelica was only seven or eight. She now lived with an elderly woman. That was not the most shocking part of her background. It was her mother’s name. Hyacinth. The devil was fucking with me again. I was no saint. I had done things I wasn’t proud of, but that didn’t mean I had to be haunted by one name all my life. In fact, I had never regretted anything else. It wasn’t even a common name. In my
Angelica What the hell was I doing? I wasn’t supposed to be doing this. I should be downstairs, serving drinks and finding out who was close to Curtis and who could be useful. I could pour drinks and sashay down the aisles with practiced perfection if my high heels were of a normal height but I couldn’t reveal that. I needed to pretend to learn how to do it if I didn’t want Heston to sniff around me for actions that didn’t match my background. Yes, I knew they would look me up if they hadn’t done so already. But when he suddenly revealed his intention to fire me even before I started ‘learning’, my brain misfired. If I left tonight, I could never show up before the Arciero family without being suspicious. They would be wary of me if they ever knew I had met Curtis and even if I created a chance to bump into him, so would he. This was my only chance. I was not beyond begging at this point. Forget begging. I would even put Siren’s magical lipstick to good use if it bought me some tim