AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fuck.
Clenching my teeth, I pump my legs faster, dodging the bodies strewn across my path.
Don’t look.
Don’t look.
I mutter the mantra as I run through the house toward the bookcase with the hidden stairwell behind it. The house had been built above a series of old tunnels that were once used to run moonshine through Nevada during Prohibition.
Grunting, I tug on the heavy bookcase, letting it open just enough so I can slip inside. Once I’m through, I pull it closed and slide the bolt through the lock. He won’t be able to get in.
Now, I just need to find my way out of the dark.
Alone.
Two
Pain is the only thing keeping me going.
It burns through my side, etching its way through my body. My hand is clasped over the wound, barely stifling the bleeding, but for now, it is enough. The streets of the suburb are dead this early in the morning. The stars are still twinkling innocently above me, and vestiges of pink and orange hues are just beginning to creep up over the desert mountains. I dash along the street, my bare feet pushing me on. I make sure to keep to the shadows, so no one spots me.
Where was I going to go?
My body is moving on autopilot, my brain simply telling it to keep going forward.
But forward to where?
Someone had put a hit on my family. Was it an enemy? An ally? It isn’t unheard of for alliances to shift in our world. The problem is, I know so little about it. My father’s plans never included for me to inherit his throne. He said women were too soft for this business.
I hadn’t minded. There were other things I longed to pursue. But I hadn’t been allowed that either. It wasn’t in my father’s cards for me to attend college or travel the world. No. I was better suited to build him an alliance through marriage. A man who would inherit what I never would.
My lower lip trembles as the cold seeps into my bones and fear settles in my gut as I stare up at the entrance to the long, paved road that will take me tohim. Of all the places I could have gone, this is where I ended up? My father has, I gulp back a fresh wave of tears,had, many enemies and this man was the worst of them.
A wave of nausea turns my stomach. What if it is him? Has his hate for my family finally caused him to cross the line? Especially if my father provoked him.
Licking my dry lips, I pause just outside the darkened entrance of his driveway that leads, like a snake, up to his house. I can only hope I’m wrong.
Otherwise, I’m no better than a mouse walking into a nest of vipers looking for cheese.
My feet falter as I stumble up the driveway. Cars litter the circular drive, stretching up into the back pasture that is often used as a parking lot for parties. Ignoring the pain in my side that trickles down over my skin, I gather every ounce of courage I have and stride toward the front door, which is open.
Sloppy.
This is a man that rules over most of Sin City. His hand is in nearly every casino and most of the brothels. Drugs, guns, you name it. If it’s illegal, he controls it. Him and his Brothers.
Music sweeps through the doorway, and the soft lilt of an angelic voice drifts through the air. It’s sensual, evoking an image of lust and desire. Which is exactly what I step into.
A Roman orgy of lust and debauchery.
The lighting is low, hues of color shimmering over the promiscuous bodies that move in tandem. Waitresses in barely-there lingerie mill about the room carrying assorted refreshments while the people around them mash together like animals. Moans filter over the music. Men grunt out their pleasure as women service them on their knees with their hands, lips…oh…
I duck my head, melding myself into the crowd of bodies that are moving sensually to the music. None of them seem to notice a half-naked, bloody girl slipping through the room. None of them can help me anyway. There is only one man who can.
Adrian Volkov.
Even thinking his name sends a shiver of fear racing up my spine. It has been almost six years since I last saw him. I doubt he looks much different today than he did then. Fancy suit, perfectly coiffed black hair, and crystalline blue eyes that look like cut sapphires on his jaggedly handsome face.
I step through another doorway and into one of the dens.
