MasukThe bass hit me like a heartbeat the second I stepped inside the Velvet Room. Lights flashed across the crowded dance floor, bodies grinding to the heavy music. This was one of our clubs, and everyone knew it. The guards at the entrance bowed low as I walked past, their eyes respectful but wide. “Miss Vance,” one muttered, stepping aside like I was royalty. The power of my last name felt good tonight. No one would dare touch me without permission. But I wasn’t here to play safe.
Sofia grabbed my hand, laughing as we pushed through the crowd. "Benefits of being a Mafia Princessa".
Heads turned. Men stared openly at the tight leather dress hugging my body, the way it rode up my thighs with every step. Women whispered. I felt sexy. Alive. Finally twenty one and done hiding.
We headed straight for the VIP section upstairs. Our private area overlooked the main floor, dark and exclusive. I ordered drinks at the private bar, my heart racing. Even before I turned around, I could feel him.
Killian.
He stood in the far shadows of the VIP lounge, half hidden behind a curtain talking to one of the guards. Then the guard left. Those cold grey eyes locked on me like a predator. Watching. Always watching. Those eyes tracked every move I made, sliding down my leather covered curves and back up to my face.
Heat pooled between my legs instantly. I remembered the dream again and I was getting turned on just by the thought.
Sofia nudged me. “He’s staring hard. Go on, girl. Make him crazy.”
I smirked and picked up a shot of tequila from the bar. The glass felt cool in my fingers. I lifted it slowly, deliberately, and locked eyes with Killian across the dim VIP space. No smile. Just pure challenge. His grey eyes darkened, narrowing on me like he wanted to do something to me.
I tilted my head back and swallowed the shot in one smooth gulp. The burn slid down my throat, warming my chest and making my skin flush hotter. Tequila dripped a little at the corner of my mouth. I licked it slowly with my tongue, still staring right at him. His hands clenched at his sides. Good. Let him feel it.
The music pulsed louder. Sofia pulled me toward the edge of the VIP balcony. “You’re playing with fire, Alessia. That man looks like he wants to ruin you.”
That was exactly what I wanted.
I leaned on the railing, the leather dress moving higher on my thighs, giving anyone below a view of my long legs. But my eyes kept drifting back to Killian. He hadn’t moved from the shadows. His gaze burned hotter now, tracking the way my hips swayed slightly to the beat. I could almost feel his rough hands on me.
Another shot. Another locked stare. This time I held it longer, letting him see the hunger in my eyes. My nipples were hard against the leather. My pussy ached, just from his stare. The tattoos on his body begging me to trace it with my tongue. And he was watching me like I belonged to him.
Sofia danced beside me, laughing and ordering more drinks. The night felt electric. For the first time, I wasn’t the sheltered little sister. I was a Vance woman in control. And Killian’s control looked ready to snap.
I turned my back to him for a moment, arching slightly as I moved to the music, knowing the leather stretched tight over my ass. When I glanced over my shoulder, his eyes were glued there. His jaw flexed hard. One hand gripped the edge of the curtain like he was holding himself back.
Perfect.
The club was alive around us, bodies grinding, lights flashing, money and power everywhere. But all I cared about was the man in the shadows. My brother’s best friend. The one I’d wanted for years.
I grabbed one more shot, raised it toward him like a toast, and swallowed it down. The burn matched the fire between my legs.
This was just the beginning.
Killian’s eyes promised trouble. And I wanted every bit of it.
The tequila burned nicely in my veins as I grabbed Sofia’s hand and left the VIP section behind. I wasn’t staying up here like a good little princess. Tonight I wanted the real energy of the club. I wanted to feel free.
We pushed through the crowd and hit the main dance floor. The bass vibrated through my body, shaking the leather dress against my skin. Lights flashed red and blue across sweaty bodies grinding together. I closed my eyes for a second and let the music take over.
My hips started moving. Slow at first, then bolder. The tight leather rode up my thighs as I danced, my dark hair swinging across my back. Sofia laughed and danced with me, both of us moving together like we owned the floor. Men around us noticed. Their eyes lingered on my curves, on the way the dress clung to my breasts and ass. I felt powerful. Sexy. Wanted.
I ignored the VIP section completely. Let Killian watch from up there in the shadows. I arched my back and rolled my hips to the beat, enjoying the stares. A few guys tried to dance closer, smiling like they thought they had a chance with a Vance girl. I didn’t stop them. Not yet.
Sixty days after the incident things began to slowly change but felt like it didn't. I walked the full residential area each morning without stopping. But what changed was the way I began to see Killian inside it. For weeks I had accepted his presence as a fixed something that existed to meet my pace, absorb my silence, and remain when my grief became intense. I had not looked closely at the cost of everything on him. On a quiet afternoon I watched him stand at the window reviewing a note and noticed the stiffness in his shoulders, the way he rolled the right one once as if easing an old strain, the fatigue that were obvious at the corners of his eyes. He had been doing this without relief since the night of the restaurant. Matching my movements and emotions, cooking, waiting through the nightmares I have. Holding me together so I won't collapse. I set down the book I had not been reading. “You need proper rest that is not spent in a chair beside this bed,” I said. He looked over
The intermediary’s capture changed nothing inside the suite. I received the full report about the captured intermediary from Dante two days later. The man had given up the contact chain that led back to a Valenti cut out. It was useful information for the war. But it did not return my child. It did not rewrite the second in the restaurant when I had moved and the future of my baby had stopped. I listened to the summary, thanked Dante for the update, and returned to the chair by the window when he left. Killian watched me from across the room. He had learned the difference between silence that needed company and silence that needed space. Today he gave me space without leaving. He stayed at the low table with a set of coastal maps Dante had authorized him to review. He was present but not pressing. I sat with my hands open in my lap and tried to feel something sharper than the constant quiet. In the afternoon I told Killian I wanted an hour alone. He looked at me carefully, then n
On Thursday, I stood at the window longer than I had in days, watching a pair of guards cross the open space and disappear under the far end. Then I turned from the window to watch Killian for a moment. Killian was in the small kitchen unit cleaning the knife he had used to cut fruit. He had been doing small things like that all week, like keeping the space orderly, keeping food available, making sure this quietness does not become complete isolation. “I want to try walking longer corridors today,” I said. He set the knife down and looked at me carefully. “The nurse said only short distances for now.” “I know. I want to try.” He did not argue. He only nodded, dried his hands, and came to walk beside me. We left the suite and moved slowly along the residential corridor. The wound in my side pulled with each step, a dull reminder rather than sharp pain. I counted doorways. I focused on the feel of the floor under my feet. Halfway to the turn I had to stop and rest one hand against
On the twelfth day after the shooting, I found Killian in the small kitchen attached to the suite. He was cooking. Not heating something sent up from the main kitchen but actually cooking. The smell of garlic and tomatoes filled the space. He glanced over when I appeared in the doorway, then returned to the pan. “You need real food,” he said. “You're not eating much of what they keep sending.” I sat on the stool and watched him work. Chopping, stirring, tasting. It felt almost unreal after so many days of quietness between us. He moved calmly. You can tell he is doing it out of care. When he set the plate in front of me the portion was small and simple. I ate slowly. For the first time in days the food had a taste I could accept. Killian did not watch me. He simply ate his own portion and let the quiet exist. I looked down at the plate. “The doctors still do not know if I can carry a child again.” “I know.” He set his fork down. “If the answer is no, then the answer is no. It doe
On the eighth day they moved me out of the medical wing. The wound had closed enough for the doctors to clear a return to private quarters under continued monitoring. A nurse would check on me twice daily. Pain medication would continue on a tapering schedule. The larger questions, about scarring, about future pregnancies, were left for later appointments. There was nothing more they could do for the part of me that had gone empty. Killian walked beside the wheelchair the entire way. He did not speak unless I did. When we reached the suite, he unlocked the door and stepped in first, scanning the space out of long habit before helping me stand and move to the bed. The room looked the same. The same reinforced windows. The same order. But everything felt altered. The chair by the window where I had sat with both hands on my stomach feeling the baby move. The path we had cleared in the room so I could move more easily as the pregnancy advanced. The small stack of soft clothes that no
The words dropped into the quiet room and stayed there. Killian shifted his weight but did not speak. I felt the air leave my lungs in a slow exhale. “I was angry,” Bianca continued. Her voice stayed low and steady, as if she had practiced the sentences until they could be delivered without breaking. “Angry about my position that that was limited. Angry about watching you and Killian build something the family had to accept. Angry about being useful only when it suited everyone else. I contacted a Valenti intermediary I still knew from years ago. I did not ask them to kill you. I told them where the family would be and when. I told them the dinner was important. I wanted disruption. I wanted Father and Dante to feel the cost of treating me like a tool they could pick up and put down.” She finally looked directly at me. “I did not know they would send shooters into the room. I did not know you would put yourself in front of me. When the gun was set towards me and you moved, I unders
Killian’s groans vibrated against my neck as I kept grinding on his lap. The thick bulge of his cock pressed right against my soaked pussy through our clothes. Every roll of my hips made the leather of my dress ride higher and sent sparks shooting through my clit. I was dripping wet, my black lace
The booth felt too small, too hot. Killian’s body pressed against mine, hard and unyielding. His hand was still tangled in my hair, his grey eyes burning down at me like he was one second from breaking. The tequila from earlier gave me the courage I needed. I pushed him back until his legs hit the
He dragged me through the crowd toward the back of the club. People moved out of his way fast. Sofia caught my eye from the dance floor and smirked, giving me a little wave like she knew exactly what was happening. My heels clicked fast on the floor as I stumbled to keep up with his long strides. T
One tall guy with dark hair moved in front of me. He wasn’t bad looking. He matched my rhythm, his hands hovering near my waist. I kept dancing, letting the heat of the club and the alcohol push me. My eyes scanned the upper level for a second. There he was. Killian. Still in the shadows, watching







