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Chapter 10 – Silk-Tethered

last update Last Updated: 2025-04-16 21:38:16

The club was quiet tonight.

The music was muted, a soft beat in the shadows, a throb like the beat of an unseen heart below the surface of the building.

Sera was in front of the mirror in the dancer's lounge, standing there staring at her reflection and not seeing it.

Her fingertips caressed the outline of her collarbone.

She'd never stopped thinking of last night. Of the way he'd *gazed* at her.

About how she'd danced in clothes and somehow still made him hard.

She hated the way it clung to her like a vice to sin—this said unspoken hunger but felt just as real.

And she hated more the way that when she came out to the main floor, *he was already there waiting*.

Valerio.

The devil with eyes that promised everything she feared to want.

He was in the same VIP room—again bought just for her. He wasn't appearing impatient. Didn't demand. Rather, he was reclining in his chair, arms on the armrests, that lazy, wicked smile playing at the edge of his mouth.

When she entered the room, he didn'
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