He leans in, cupping the back of my neck. “Are you going to be good for me?” His fingers twist in my curls, tugging a little, sparking a stinging sensation along my hairline.
The rest of the room, the booming bass and flashing lights, all fade away. There’s only the two of us.
I lick my lips. “I want to cum.”
“Soon.” He squeezes my knee with his free hand.
“I hate you,” I tell him. He smirks, but I’m seized with the need to tell him the truth. I catch his face between my palms. “I didn’t mean it. Jaeger, I…” I stare into his stormy eyes, unable to say the rest.I crave you. I want more time with you in the penthouse, cuddling on the couch. I want to be the one you whisper secrets to in the dark.
But I’m afraid.
His gaze softens. “I know.” He brushes his lips over mine. “I love you, too.”
He knows.
A sense of peace falls over me. Jaeger isn’t the man I would’ve imagined falling for. I didn’t choose him; he chose me. But every man in my life has left. Maybe a man who won’t let me go is what I need.
“I love you,” I tell him because I can’t go another second without telling him.
He pulls away, looming over me, and a chill falls over me. Something’s about to happen.
“You need to be brave now. And very, very good.” He blankets my eyes with a blindfold, plunging me into darkness.
Panic makes me thrash. “What?—”
He sets a finger to my lips. “Not another word. Or I’ll need to gag you.” He waits for my nod and gathers my hands, binding them together with some sort of soft rope.
Then he fits something over my head. Something covers my ears, muffling the sounds around me but not quite silencing the pulsing music.
I fight another flash of fear. He’s taken away my vision, my ability to use my hands, and now my hearing. I remember the woman in the armbinder with the red ribbon.
I open my mouth and remember what he said about the gag. Still, I squirm when he touches me. He lifts one of the soft covers off my ear long enough to say, “Shh, bunny. Don’t struggle. Save your strength. You will need it.”
Then he replaces the covering, leaving me caught in my own dark world. I can only flex my wrists in the bindings as he picks me up and carries me somewhere. He has something planned. I don’t know where we’re going. I can only guess—upstairs, to the bar? Or into one of those illuminated rooms to put on a show?
I only know I’ll be with him. He’s promised to stay by my side.
I told him I love him, and I mean it. I don’t know when he became the one person in the world I can lean on.
I only hope he doesn’t let me fall.
Jaeger
The bass beatand sounds of dancers fade into the distance as I leave the ballroom and head into the bowels of the building. There’s another secret elevator at the end of a hall. This one doesn’t budge until I give it a voice command and angle my hand for a hidden sensor to scan my ring.
And then we’re descending, far below Club Empire, to a place only Fraternitas knows. Into the Abyss.
Growing up on the streets, you quickly learn of the secret passages under the city. There’s a whole world under New Rome—old pipes, subway systems, and underground rooms. It didn’t take us long to realize we could have free run of the place. When you’re small and insignificant, no one notices when you disappear. It’s a street kid’s greatest weakness—and our greatest strength.
Father Francis taught us world history and how empires rise and fall. Damien and St. James were the first to understand that whoever rules the underworld rules the streets. First, with smuggling routes, then the illegal gambling and fight clubs, and, when Fraternitas had obtained enough wealth and control to make us powerful, the whole city.
Now we rule above ground, but we’ve never forgotten the place that made us. It’s ours to lose, so we must keep it and use it for our most secret meetings and rituals.
And now I’ve brought Elodie here. My brothers need to know what she means to me, and she needs to understand what Fraternitas truly is. The best way to do that is to show her and show them all.
I stride quickly through the dank tunnel, following the lost light. I know the way by heart and reach a section lined with grime-covered subway tiles and turn right. The way grows darker. I’m in the oldest part of the city, long forgotten.
Elodie is shivering in her thin dress, but she doesn’t make a sound. It’s not fair to put her through this, but she has to know what Fraternitas is. I’ve dedicated my life to them. They took my violent impulses and gave them purpose. And now they’ve given me Elodie.
