Chapter 2

Bella’s pov

Jade woke me just as the daylight was beginning to peek through the heavy curtain. Get up, baby girl.

“Today’s the day.”

I blinked, confused, the stiff couch hurting my limbs.

The events of last night trickled in slowly Franco's slap, the street cold in my bones, the noodles, the business card... and those grey eyes outside the window.

Had that part been real?

“Bella,” Jade snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“We’ve got an appointment. Do you want to eat or not?”

I nodded rubbing my eyes. My throat felt like sand paper.

She tossed me a mini dress. Leather. Tight. Black.

It looked like it belonged to someone with confidence I hadn’t yet borrowed.

I gripped it as if it were about to bite me and said, "I can't wear this."

“You can and you will as a matter of fact know what you are wearing,” she said, slipping into thigh- high boots without breaking stride.

“Max doesn’t do jeans-and-a-dream. He wants an attitude. You gotta fake it until it bleeds out of your pores.”

I swallowed hard. “What kind of place is this again?”

Jade smirked. “The kind of place where sins are served on a silver tray and secrets buy you diamonds.”

*****

It was quiet in the car, I tried not to react when we passed a church, instead focusing on the fuzzy cityscape outside the window.

I couldn’t recall the last time I had entered one, but something about today gave me the impression that God has abandoned me.

Jade’s voice cut through my thoughts.

“Don’t speak unless Max speaks to you.

I nodded, my heart beating like a drum line in my chest. The structure does not appear to be a strip club.Not a neon sign.

No music pounding from within. Just a tall, matte-black structure tucked between a luxury cigar bar and a private banking firm. Velvet Room.

It whispered money and secrets and danger.

With dark purples, blood red accents, and gold decorations around the walls, the interior lighting felt calm and melancholy.

It all smelt like love, costly perfume, and cigar smoke.

Men in suits floated past the heavy velvet drapes, accompanied by girls with legs for days and faces that wore boredom like a fancy mask.

Jade took me to an office that looked like it was taken from the dream of a crime leader down a back hallway.

Red velvet chairs. A single spotlight above the desk. Cigars on a tray. Crystal decanter half full of amber liquid.

Then he walked in.

Max.

Tall. Fit. Dangerous. With tattoos crawling from his neck to his knuckles, and a watch that probably cost more than my entire school tuition. His eyes didn’t linger long on Jade. He looked at me.

And he smiled.

But it wasn’t warm. It was assessing. Like he already knew what I’d do before I did.

“This her?”

Jade nodded. “Bella.”

“She can speak for herself.”

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out at first. Then, “Yes. I’m Bella.”

He leaned back in his chair. “And what do you want, Bella?”

To go home. To rewind time. To not be standing here like prey dressed in secondhand leather.

But I said, “Work.”

He studied me. “You ever danced before?”

“No.”

“Good.”

That confused me.

“Experience ruins the product. Men like fresh,Innocent. Like a bruise they want to press on.”

I felt my skin crawl.

Max reached into his desk drawer and tossed a black card at me. “Tonight. Eight p.m. You’ll work the VIP lounge. You’re Jade’s referral, so you’ll get a trial shift. If you make more than ten grand in tips, you stay. If not...”

He smiled. Again, that shark’s smile.

“You walk.”

The club was unrecognizable by night. It came alive, no, it breathed.

Music pulsed like a heartbeat beneath my heels. Lights strobed in slow motion across the floor.

And men powerful, faceless, lined the VIP booths like kings at a private ceremony.

I was escorted behind a curtain while the lead dancers glistened like sirens in the heat. The VIP lounge was more private and quiet.

No poles. Just low sofas, private lighting, and a smell of smoke, sweat, and sin.

A handler named Crystal, with icy eyes and the sharpness of a blade, walked me to a private room.

“Your job is to entertain. Nothing more unless you offer. No touching unless it’s approved. You control the rules, but play it like you don’t.”

My knees were shaking.

“Who will be in there?” I asked.

She smirked. “The kind of men who make headlines if their secrets ever came out.”

The door opened.

There were three of them. One old, one young, one wearing sunglasses indoors.

They didn’t look at me like a human.

They looked like they were measuring me for consumption.

I hid my fear, swallowed my pride, and walked forward with a confidence I didn't know I had.

I swung my hips softly as I followed the song.

I locked eyes with the youngest, maybe a senator’s son and smiled.

“Damn,” he murmured.

Ten minutes in, I was someone else. I was the girl they wanted me to be. I even started to believe it myself.

*****

After my shift, I was led back to the dressing room. My hands were trembling as I counted my earnings.

$13,750.

In one night.

I stared at the bills like they were weapons. Dangerous, beautiful weapons.

Crystal returned and placed a velvet bag in my hand. “Welcome to the family.”

I opened it.

A necklace. Diamond choker. Sleek. Cold. Expensive.

But that’s not what made me freeze.

It was the note beneath it.

“I loved the way your eyes avoided theirs. Stay pure for me. – B.”

My throat dried. I hadn’t told anyone my name except Max. And Jade.

I quickly glanced to the room's corners.

No cameras. No mirrors.

Just that note. That signature.

“B”.

Not Bella.

Someone else.

I ran into the hallway, heart pounding.

A tall man with broad shoulders and black gloves was leaving the club.

I caught the glitter of something familiar as he turned just enough.

Grey eyes.

He disappeared into the back exit.