Chapter 2: Before New York

LUCA

Luca slipped Arianna off his lap, then got up and walked over to the balcony, where his cousin Nic and his best friend Frankie stood looking over.

That feisty brunette without a feather on her mask had just strangled Frankie with his own tie, and Luca couldn’t get the intense blueness of her eyes out of his mind. It was strange.

“What the hell happened there?”

Nic laughed. “Frankie got owned by a girl!”

Luca watched the girl in question flirt briefly with the customers at her bar, then step outside for a break.

“I did not,” Frankie said. “I just didn’t realize she wasn’t a feather girl. I could get her—she’s just made herself more of a challenge.”

When Frankie smirked, Luca shot him a dark look. “No, you won’t. Siobhan makes the rules—only feather girls can be touched.”

He needed to make sure Frankie understood this. But the girl ~had~ disrespected Frankie, and that couldn’t be so easily forgotten. Maybe he should remind her of her place.

As he walked down to the dance floor and toward the back exit, people instinctively cleared a path for him. No one was stupid enough to bump into him, even in a crowded nightclub.

He found the girl sitting on a crate in the hallway, looking at her phone, and again he was struck by her beauty. But that’s not why he was here. He was here to teach her a lesson.

He loomed above her until she lifted those startling blue eyes.

“Ah, there you are.”

HAYLEY

Before Hayley could pull out her switchblade, the man above her shifted and the light shone on his face. Her panic disappeared almost instantly. He wasn’t one of ~them~.

No, it was the man who’d had Arianna on his lap, and his brown eyes were intent on her.

Hayley stood up and crossed her arms across her chest as she stared him down. “Customers can’t be back here.”

He laughed lightly, like he found her amusing. He was probably some big shot. Too bad she couldn’t care less.

“I can go wherever I want, bella.”

His voice was deep and intoxicating, and once again, Hayley was lost in his eyes. They looked dark, but up close they were the warmest chocolate-brown color.

“You’re new here…” He moved closer, forcing her to move backward until she felt cold brick against her exposed upper back.

But she never let her eyes leave him—he was making himself out to be the big man, but she wouldn’t let anyone scare her.

“So disrespecting my friend Frankie is not your best move.”

“Your friend Frankie was a ~dick~.”

The guy looked momentarily confused, like he couldn’t believe she was talking back to him. What was with all these arseholes being shocked that not every woman wanted to bend over for them?

He moved a little bit closer, and she kept herself outwardly composed. Inside, though, she was on high alert; there was no denying that this guy had her cornered.

But if he touched her, she’d pull her switchblade on him.

She wasn’t a bad person. But she knew bad people were out there, and she was prepared to defend herself from them.

“Your mouth is going to get you into trouble.”

His words were laced with threat, but Hayley just put her hands on her hips, close to the hidden pocket in her corset. “I’ve managed to keep out of trouble so far.”

His lips curved into a dark smile, and if he wasn’t such a prick, Hayley would have said he was a beautiful man. But alas, he—like his friend—was a prick.

“Then you’ve been lucky not to piss off the wrong person. Listen very, ~very~ carefully, bella.” His tone was low and serious. “Don’t test me. Or my friends.”

Hayley lifted her chin. “Ladies will respect a man if he is a gentleman. Perhaps your friend needs to learn that. Now, if you’d excuse me, I work here and my break is up.”

She tried to brush past him, but he grabbed her arm.

“What the hell?” She glared up at him.

“Fail to respect me or my family again, and I won’t hesitate to teach you how.”

His eyes were hard, but she refused to be intimidated. As she reached into her pocket for her knife, she was distracted by a familiar voice.

“What the hell is going on here?” Siobhan said, looking between Hayley and the man gripping her arm.

He let go immediately, and Hayley stepped away from him.

Siobhan stopped beside the man, her green eyes flashing with anger, then looked softly at Hayley. “Honey, you’d best get back to the bar so Ben can take a break.”

She nodded and started walking back to the floor. “Thanks,” she whispered as she passed by Siobhan.

Hayley took one last backward glance at the arrogant prick, but she instantly regretted it. She needed to get the image of those chocolate-brown eyes out of her head.

LUCA

~Does the girl have a death wish?~ Luca thought as he watched her disappear inside.

He’d never met someone so infuriating before.

Still, he couldn’t get over how beautiful she was. When he’d backed her up against the wall, the light from the outside had caught her pale skin and lit up her bright blue eyes—so striking against the deep-purple mask.

A shame she didn’t wear a feather.

Siobhan snapped her head around to glare at him. “Explain yourself, Luca Marcello. And no bullshit!”

“Where the hell did you pick that one up from?” he asked as he recomposed himself.

“Paris,” Siobhan said flatly. “She came from the Paris club.”

“Well, I suggest you teach her respect or send her back there.”

Siobhan shook her head, making her chin-length auburn bob swing.

“What did you do to her?” Her tone was just as dark and serious as his had been when he spoke to the girl.

“Nothing. Yet.”

She moved closer and locked her eyes on his. “Listen, Luca. That girl is to be left alone.”

Luca had never heard his godmother talk about any of her girls like this. She seemed to have a fondness for this one…a fondness he thought she only had for him.

Siobhan was the only person in the world who had the ability to get into his head. She alone had the power to rein him in.

“You seem to like her, Siobhan. What’s so special about her?”

“Luca…” She sighed, then waited for two guys from outside to pass by them before speaking again.

“Just keep away from her. That girl has had a rough time. I brought her here because I thought she could do with a change of scenery. She’s been at the Paris club for nearly three years.”

Luca looked beyond Siobhan at the door the girl had disappeared through. Was she the reason Siobhan had flown to the Paris club so many times in the past three years? The idea was intriguing.

His godmother wasn’t one for sentimentality; this world had knocked that out of her long ago. No, this girl was important to Siobhan for another reason.

“She’s not a feather girl, Luca, and she never has been. I promised to keep her safe, and I intend to keep my promise.” Siobhan’s voice was strained as she half told, half pleaded with him.

“What’s her name?” Luca was getting more and more fascinated by the fiery English girl. Siobhan didn’t care about many people and had no life apart from her elite clubs around the world. She was similar to himself in that way.

Siobhan gave a wry laugh and shook her head. “Tonight? It could be Abbey or Lucy or even Destiny.”

He chuckled.

“Just keep away from her, Luca. Or else I’ll make your torture methods look like a trip to Disneyland.”

HAYLEY

“So, tomorrow night we’re getting wasted,” Ava said from her podium, then jumped down and squirted some water into a glass and scooped in some ice.

It would be the first time the three of them had the same night off, so Ben and Ava were planning a night out. Hayley wasn’t keen on going, but she didn’t really have a choice. Ava was scary when she didn’t get her own way.

Her eyes wandered back to the men up on the balcony, and she saw him standing there, leaning over the railing. Her heart raced as their eyes met, but she looked away.

She didn’t want him to see the dark side she was hiding.