CHAPTER 6 : RED SILK AND RECKONING
1279 Words
LIORA'S POV
The silk red gown clung to every curve like sin as I stepped into the Makadonna Hotel.
Cool air kissed my exposed back, raising goosebumps across my skin.
For half a second, I almost turned around.
This was the same place that once looked at me like garbage.
Tonight, it would watch the beginning of the Sterling empire’s bleeding.
Heavy bass vibrated through my bones while smoke curled beneath glittering chandeliers worth more than my father once earned in a year.
The city’s elite filled the club — politicians, heirs, models, businessmen.
Predators wrapped in diamonds and designer suits.
Every smile looked fake.
Every laugh sounded rotten.
I shoved down the memories of my father’s broken voice and walked straight to the bar.
“Whiskey." I said coldly.
"Neat.”
I swallowed the drink in one burn.
It scorched all the way down my throat.
The music pounded louder.
Bodies moved beneath flashing lights.
Somewhere nearby, women laughed too hard at jokes told by rich men old enough to be their fathers.
Everything about this place screamed power.
And power disgusted me.
Then suddenly—
The atmosphere shifted.
Conversations slowed.
Heads turned.
Even the music somehow felt quieter beneath the sudden tension swallowing the room.
He had arrived.
There you are, you beautiful f*****g monster.
Power rolled through the club like a dark storm.
Women straightened instinctively.
Men adjusted their posture.
The air itself felt heavier.
Damien Sterling didn’t walk into the room.
He conquered them.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit that looked expensive enough to buy entire lives.
Cold arrogance clung to him like a second skin.
Danger radiated from every step he took.
And somehow…
Somehow my body reacted before my mind did.
My pulse stumbled.
His eyes found me instantly.
Like he’d been expecting me.
Like he always knew I would come crawling back.
That dark gaze dragged slowly over my body — lingering on the way the red silk hugged my hips and breasts.
A small, dangerous smile curved his lips.
The smile of a devil watching prey willingly walk into his cage.
Heat curled low in my stomach before I crushed it immediately.
No.
I refused to react to him.
Women swarmed him like moths to flame.
One bold blonde pressed herself shamelessly against his arm, practically purring.
Damien barely looked at her.
One subtle movement from his assistant and she disappeared from his side immediately.
Dismissed like trash.
I watched everything carefully.
The power.
The fear.
The obedience.
This was the kind of world the Sterlings ruled.
A world where people bent without question.
Dad…
I clenched my jaw tightly.
I’ll destroy them.
I swear it.
Oscar’s drunken roar tore through the tension.
“You f*****g slut!”
The entire room turned.
He staggered toward me through the crowd, eyes bloodshot with alcohol and fury.
My stomach twisted at the sight of him.
Disgust.
Pure disgust.
His hand clamped around my wrist like a vice, nails digging into my skin.
“Look at you,” he bellowed for the entire club to hear. “Dressed like a desperate w***e in that cheap red f**k-me dress, already chasing richer c**k!"
Murmurs exploded around us.
Phones lifted immediately.
Of course.
People loved public humiliation as long as it wasn’t happening to them.
“A few days!” Oscar laughed bitterly. “That’s all it took for you to spread your legs for someone richer after everything I did for your pathetic ass!”
The old me would’ve cried.
The old me would’ve begged him to stop.
But that girl died the moment I saw him inside Dora.
I leaned closer slowly until my lips almost brushed his ear.
“Take your filthy f*****g hand off me,” I whispered venomously, “before I make you regret touching me.”
His grip tightened harder.
“You think you’re too good for me now?”
Then the atmosphere shifted again.
Heavier this time.
Lethal.
I looked up instinctively.
Damien was watching.
Completely still.
Completely calm.
But his dark eyes were locked on Oscar’s hand squeezing my wrist.
A dangerous silence settled over the club.
When the assistant tried to move.
Damien gave one subtle flick of his fingers toward his assistant.
A silent order.
Stand down.
Interesting.
He wasn’t going to save me.
He wanted to see what I would do.
A slow smile spread across his face.
The smile of man deciding which toy to play first.
Fine.
If Damien Sterling wanted a show—
I’d give him one.
I ripped my wrist free violently and turned my back on Oscar completely.
Gasps rippled through the room.
Then I walked straight toward Damien.
Every step felt dangerous.
His assistant immediately moved aside for me.
Damien was still seated, one hand holding his phone near his ear, looking impossibly calm despite the chaos around us.
But when I stopped in front of him—
He slowly lowered the phone.
Silence swallowed the club whole.
I grabbed his silk tie roughly and yanked him downward.
Hard.
A sharp breath escaped someone nearby.
Damien let me pull him.
No resistance.
No anger.
That somehow terrified me more.
My breasts crushed against his solid chest. The wall of his body pressed into mine, sending a traitorous bolt of heat straight between my legs.
“He’s my man,” I announced loudly enough for everyone to hear.
Shock exploded across the room.
I’d play this game perfectly Damien.
Rising on my toes, I brushed my lips against his ear.
“Babe…” I whispered huskily. “Won’t you do something about this?”
For one dangerous second…
I couldn’t tell if I was manipulating him—
Or throwing myself directly into the mouth of something that would destroy me.
Damien lowered the phone completely.
His dark eyes locked onto mine.
Suspicion.
Amusement.
Hunger.
All swirling together beneath terrifying control.
His large hand settled heavily on my waist, fingers digging in with possessive strength that made my breath hitch.
“Seems your favorite hobby,” he murmured against my ear, voice low and rough, “is yanking my tie every time you want my attention.”
A dangerous shiver slid down my spine.
His fingers dug deeper into my waist, pulling me flush against him for one brief devastating second.
The entire club disappeared.
All I could feel was him.
The heat of his body.
The strength in his grip.
The terrifying calmness in the way he handled me like I already belonged there.
“Careful, Liora…” he breathed.
Warmth brushed my skin.
“You keep provoking me like this…”
His thumb slowly stroked against my waist.
“…and I might forget we have an audience.”
My heartbeat turned uneven.
His hand never left me.
Not even once.
Then, calmly, without breaking eye contact with me.
“You’re early,” Damien said smoothly.
His hand remained firm on my waist, his eyes never leaving mine.
“And you’ve already made a scene.”
A slow, sharp click of heels suddenly echoed behind us.
“Damien.”
A woman’s smooth voice cut through the tension.
“We’re leaving.”
The air shifted again.
But Damien didn’t turn around.
Didn’t release me either.
His dark eyes stayed locked on mine as the corner of his mouth curved slowly — dangerous, knowing, and quietly amused.
Then he leaned in closer, until his warm breath brushed my ear and sent a shiver racing down my spine.
“So tell me, Liora…”
His fingers flexed possessively against my waist, pulling me harder against him.
“Have you finally decided to make a deal with the devil?”
- Writer
