The club looked different tonight.
Not darker.
Brighter.
Alive.
The private event had transformed the underground bar into something that felt elegant and dangerously alive at once. Crystal lights glowed softly overhead while jazz drifted through hidden speakers. Men and women dressed in black, crimson, and silver mingled around polished tables, their glasses of wine catching the light like scattered rubies.
This wasn’t merely a club.
It was a world.
A society with its own rules, its own hierarchy, its own unspoken laws of power and protection.
And at the center of that world—
Dominic Ashdown.
Aria stood beside him near the grand staircase leading into the main lounge, her hands clasped tightly before her. Her heart refused to calm down.
She had attended the club before.
