Chapter 1
LAST NIGHT ON STAGE
The club throbbed like a living organism, music pounding through the walls, lights slicing through the darkness in erratic bursts of neon.
Every surface shimmered, as if dipped in stardust and sin.
Andriana Lawson stood backstage, fingers trembling around the strap of her sequined top.
Her heart tapped out an anxious rhythm beneath her chest like a warning drum.
The mingled scents of cheap bourbon, fake roses, and ambition hung heavy in the air.
This wasn’t just a strip club, it was a battleground.
A sanctuary.
A stage for survival.
But tonight, it would be her last.
She watched Milka reapply glitter with the calculated precision of a warrior painting her face for war.
Carla stretched dramatically beside them, her electric-blue hair cascading like mischief down her spine.
“It’s our last dance, girls,” Milka declared, spinning on one heel. “Time to make their fantasies cry for mercy.”
“I’ll grab their attention,” Carla purred. “Andria, you do your innocent-angel thing.”
Milka smirked. “And I’ll make them drool like puppies at a barbeque.”
The lights snapped off, darkness swallowing them like a secret. Then: boom. The crowd erupted.
A thousand eyes devouring Carla as she claimed the spotlight.
She was wildfire in motion, hips swaying, lips parting in silent seduction.
She danced like she’d broken gravity’s rules and turned lust into currency.
Andriana stayed backstage, heart tugging at her ribs. This was it. The last ride. No more sequins. No more rebellion.
Just real life waiting outside like a bad breakup.
Then they walked in.
Or rather, he walked in.
Nathan Amazon.
And Kyle Lorenz, trailing behind like a conscience in designer shoes.
Two other men followed, all swagger and smirks, all built like they’d been carved from stone and ego.
Nathan didn’t enter. He arrived, like a prophecy come true.
His tailored suit looked expensive enough to pay off someone’s student loans, and his eyes were made of storms: dark, restless, and quietly calculating.
He glanced around the room with a bored detachment, the kind reserved for kings surveying their kingdoms.
Until he saw Carla.
His mouth lifted at one corner, devilishly slow.
Not the kind of smile that invited you in but the kind that warned you you’d never walk out the same.
Carla caught his gaze like a cat catching a laser, bold, playful, dangerous.
Her performance sharpened into something hypnotic, like she was dancing with him alone despite the crowd.
Andriana stiffened. Something about Nathan felt... radioactive.
Not charming. Not seductive. Fatal.
On the upper deck, Nathan’s crew was already whispering.
“She’s twenty, maybe,” Ambert murmured, narrowing his eyes at Andriana. “Looks like a lost kitten.”
Kyle frowned. “She doesn’t belong here.”
Nathan smiled faintly. “She’s trying not to. That’s the kind I find interesting.”
Donnatell chuckled. “Bro, just admit you’ve already claimed one for your throne.”
Nathan didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. His stare spoke fluent possession.
Andriana felt it, a pressure, like the room tilted toward him. She clutched the edge of the curtain tighter.
Carla glided offstage, her confidence dripping like perfume.
Nathan was waiting like a promise, and when his hand snaked around her waist, Andriana’s chest tightened.
Carla laughed at something he whispered.
Too easy.
Too fast.
Too scripted.
The night unfolded like an unreliable dream.
Drinks clinked, laughter blurred, and Nathan and Carla vanished into the VIP lounge, two sirens disappearing into fog.
Milka sidled up to Andriana with a drink and a raised brow. “Our girl’s making career moves. That man reeks of trouble. The good kind.”
Andriana didn’t reply. Her gut didn’t buzz, it screamed.
Nathan wasn’t here by accident, he knew what he wanted and he knew how exactly to get it.
Andriana had lived long enough to know: men like him didn’t chase pleasure. They chased control.
Kyle watched her from a distance, lips pressed together. She didn’t fit the club’s aesthetic.
She looked like a dream forced into fishnets.
He wanted to talk to her.
Not flirt. Just... connect.
But Milka guarded her like a hawk.
Eventually, he gave up and returned to the lounge where Nathan was now whispering into a new dancer’s ear, the poor girl melting like butter on satin sheets.
Kyle grimaced.
He hated easy.
Nathan loved easy.
Or he was just scared of rejection.
“Bro, stop staring before you burn holes into them,” Donna teased.
Kyle blinked, realizing how long he’d been watching Andriana. “You’re right,” he muttered, tapping Nathan. “You want drinks?”
Nathan nodded. “Daiquiri. Two.”
Kyle fake-smiled at Carla, she winked back like he was already hers. He hated her a little more for it.
Backstage again, Milka was chewing gum like it had wronged her in another life.
“You okay?” she asked Andriana, eyeing her with concern laced behind sass.
Andriana shook her head. “Something’s wrong. I feel it.”
“Girl, you feel everything.”
“No,” she insisted. “Nathan...he’s... wrong. Like... sociopath with a yacht kind of wrong.”
Milka raised a brow. “Sounds like rich-boy drama. You gonna follow your gut or your glitter?”
Andriana didn’t answer.
She slipped toward the VIP lounge quietly. Not to flirt. Not to spy.
To confirm.
Her heels echoed with each step like a countdown.
Kyle saw her. Watched her move like a puzzle piece in a storm. Without thinking, he followed leaving behind laughter and clinking glasses.
Nathan was seated with Carla practically melting beside him. But when Andriana stepped inside, his gaze snapped toward her.
Not amused.
Not curious.
Interested.
In a way that made her skin crawl.
She swallowed hard. “Mind if I talk to my friend?”
Nathan smiled, slow and dark. “She’s very popular tonight.”
Kyle slid in beside her like an accidental shield. “We’re just grabbing a drink.”
His presence was warm. Calm. And unexpected.
Andriana glanced at him, surprise flickering in her chest.
Nathan leaned back, watching them both like he was choosing chess pieces.
