Smoke clung to the wreckage like it didn’t know how to let go.
Selene’s heels crunched over broken glass as she moved through what was left of Velvet Vice.
The place that once throbbed with music, sweat, and sin was now quiet, too quiet.
Just ash, debris, and the soft sizzle of flames that had already done their damage.
The crimson stage curtains hung in tatters. Blood smeared the edge of the bar. A glint of broken mirror reflected her wide, haunted eyes.
Darius walked beside her, his jaw tight like he was holding something back, rage, fear, maybe both.
His hand kept grazing her lower back, like he needed to make sure she hadn’t disappeared.
“What kind of psycho delivers a severed finger like it’s a goddamn message in a bottle?” she muttered, more to the void than him.
“One who kno
