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Standing behind me was Nero DeLuca with his hands in his pockets like he was casually asking about the weather.

He was so tall that he towered over me, even in heels, and it made me feel intimidated. Looking at him standing, it was obvious that he worked out. He seemed to have a lean, muscular form.

He looked harmless in casual slacks and a long-sleeved pull-neck shirt. But I didn’t let his calm tone fool me. He would punish me if he found the only reason I had gone to his mansion was to snoop.

“I’m looking for the bathroom,” I said in an overly obnoxious tone. “Am I like…lost?”

I forgot to breathe for a few seconds, thinking he had realized that I was lying to him. If he caught me, he would send me to jail for trespassing.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

I knew I would get in trouble if I didn’t think fast, so I gagged and pretended I was about to vomit. I had taken acting classes in high school so I knew I was good at it.

“Bathroom,” I said.

“Come on.”

He walked away, and I had to follow him with my hand over my mouth so I would sell the act more. He led to a bedroom suite that was a floor higher. It looked like a master bedroom due to how huge and well-furnished it was.

It even had a living room and a fireplace. Only a billionaire could have such rooms in his house.

I didn’t actually believe he would take me to his master bedroom. He was very reserved and picky.

He didn’t seem like he liked any of the girls that Dominic had brought him, and I was one of them.

“There’s the bathroom,” he said as he pointed at a door.

I rushed inside and turned on the tap in the sink so he wouldn’t hear that I wasn’t actually going to vomit. The bathroom was something else.

It was something straight out of a home luxury magazine.

It looked like someone used the bathroom often, but I didn’t want to dwell on that much longer. I needed to get as far from Nero as I could. I heard that he was alert and nothing ever got past him.

He would notice the disguise I had on if I didn’t put some distance between us.

When I left the bathroom, he was leaning against the door with a drink in his hand. He was blocking my way out, and I didn’t understand why.

The first thing I noticed was that the door to his balcony was open. If he refused to let me go, I would escape from there. I had come too far to allow him to catch me so easily.

There were rumors around about how he dealt with those who tried to cross him. I didn’t want to find out how true those rumors were.

“Thank you,” I said.

He stared at me for a long time as I looked to the ground. I couldn’t look him in the eye, or he would smell my fear. He looked like a nerd because of the glasses, but there were tattoos all over his hands.

He was far from a nerd. He was a powerful man and powerful men like him got off on the fear they inflicted on others.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

Telling him my real name was out of the question.

“Piper.”

“Take off your clothes,” he said.

“Excuse me?” I asked, my obnoxious tone gone. He wanted me to take off my clothes?

“Isn’t this what you came for? Or did you come for something else entirely?” He asked, like he was taunting me.

This was what Lily had warned me about.

I didn’t want to have sex with a stranger I barely knew, but if I didn’t, he would know I was there for ulterior motives.

“I’m sick,” I said slowly, hoping he would accept my excuse.

I couldn’t lie. Nero was very hot. He was the kind of man that women often fawned over. It was shocking that he needed someone to get him a girl for the night. All he had to do was smile at a woman, and panties would drop.

Having sex with him wouldn’t be that bad.

But I didn’t know him, and I didn’t want to find out whether or not he had sick fantasies in bed.

“I’ll compensate you generously,” he said.

What’s worse was that he had a serious look on his face, and he wasn’t budging. He expected me to do exactly what he asked, and he didn’t say it, but I knew the consequences of my defiance would be dire.

And if he found out who I was, I wouldn’t survive the night.

He glanced at his wrist watch as though he was telling me that he was impatient. I took deep breaths and started to take off my dress. The zipper was on the front, so I slowly slid it down and exposed my breasts to him.

I desperately wanted to cover up, but if I did, he would see how shy I was and realize that I wasn’t a high-end hooker. The dress had been too tight for me to wear a bra inside, which meant I was completely exposed.

I slowly took it off, and it fell to the ground. I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn’t. I had to be brave and look him in the eye. Something about the way he looked into my eyes gave me all the confidence I needed.

I was in a red thong, practically naked in front of the richest man in New York. I never thought I would ever see him in my lifetime, and yet, I was about to have sex with him.

Nero looked bored at what he saw. He wasn’t impressed, and he wasn’t ogling my body either. His eyes were trained on mine. I don’t even think he had looked at my naked body once.

“Take off your panties, birichina. I want you completely naked.”

I took a deep breath and slowly took off what was left of my clothing. I was shaking, and it wasn’t because I was cold. It was fear of what was about to happen.

He still didn’t trail his eyes down my body, even when I was naked. I didn’t understand why he would ask me to take off my clothes when he didn’t even bother to look at me.

He looked at me for what felt like forever before he finally trailed his eyes down my body. Once. Only once. I had never felt that compelled to seek approval from a man. I started to wonder if I was really that unattractive.

He didn’t seem to care for what he saw, and it rubbed me in all the wrong ways, and I couldn’t even tell you why. I shouldn’t have wanted approval from him, but I did.

“You can leave,” he said.

“What?” I asked.

It was the first time I had met a man who turned down a naked woman in his bedroom. Those feelings of inadequacy were back full throttle. It was unnerving how one man that I had just met had such a huge effect on me.

“Put on your clothes and leave. Someone is waiting for you downstairs. He’ll take you back to where he found you.”

He got off the door and walked to his balcony. I followed his movements until he stopped, took out a cigarette, and lit it.

I barely registered putting on all my clothes and hurriedly leaving. Sure enough, Dominic was at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me.

“Are you ready to leave?”