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Leo’s hand trails across my upper back as he moves past me to prop up the large lid, revealing the cushioned hammers and thick steel strings.
He nods for me to take a seat on the piano bench.
I raise a brow. “How do you know I can?”
“It’s in your eyes,” he says simply.
I look around the crowded room.
“No one will mind, dolcezza.” He grins. “Play for me.”
“You’re divine, aren’t you?” a woman’s sultry voice says from behind me. “Positively seraphic in this wicked place.”
Over the aching sounds of the broken chords I play, I hear Leo clear his throat.
“È tua, Leo?”
“Kyra is no one’s,” he says.
My finger slips, but I quickly recover.
“That’s a shame,” the woman says. “I can see she plays beautifully.”
I sense a deeper meaning, but I’m too lost in the ebony and ivory to dissect the inflection.
Their conversation fades as I glide through the coda. The haunting notes swell and sing, seeping into every dark corner and weighing in the air. The final chord sends a warm shiver up my spine and I tentatively release the keys.
I twist on the bench to face my two observers but movement behind them catches my attention. I peer around Leo and see I’ve garnered the interest of the other members. The charged space hangs on the dying vibrations from the thick strings. But they’re back to their debauchery in the next breath when the woman in front of me dismisses them with a flick of her wrist.
She turns her whole body to face mine.
The woman in front of me is breathtaking in her beauty. She’s all ravishing curves and sharp features, her gorgeous white-blonde hair a silky waterfall flowing to her waist. Her jewelry is subtle and elegant and her dark red lips stand out against the emerald gown and silver stilettos she wears. But what catches my eye is the dangerously high slit that ends above her hip, framing her alluring full body tattoo.
“V,” Leo says, “this is Kyra.”
“Kyra,” she breathes, tasting my name. “What’s a little lamb like you doing in my den?”
“I need a place to stay.”
“A lost lamb, then.”
“Shunned, if we’re being specific.”
I’m surprised by my sudden honesty, but something about V’s disposition is rippling into me. Her innate strength is sparking confidence I haven’t possessed in years.
“I’d ask by who, but if you’re here, then I imagine the list is extensive.”
V cocks her head as she scrutinizes the bruise on my cheek.
“Lost or shunned, there’s a place for you in my home. For as long as you need.”
“I don’t understand.” I wring my hands nervously. “You’ve only just met me.”
“I see enough. It’s you who has to decide. Because this”—she throws her hands out—“is only a taste of what my life is like.”
A voice in my head screams that venturing deeper into this world is a terrible idea, but I’m too far gone. My body is alive in this atmosphere of sin, and V’s standing here offering to unlock the cage around my most forbidden, depraved desires.
I can’t say no.
