Chapter Five Velvet Shadows
The club was a temple for the rich. Velvet walls, glittering chandeliers, and music that pulsed like a heartbeat. The air itself was heavy with expensive perfume, whiskey, and sin. Only Chicagos elite gathered here heirs, moguls, politicians, the kind of people who could buy and sell entire neighborhoods without blinking.
And when Lucinda Morreti entered, silence followed.
Every head turned, conversations died mid-sentence. Men forgot their wives; women forgot their pride. She was a vision tall, poised, eyes that gleamed like molten gold under the lights. The cut of her gown revealed just enough to drive fantasies into overdrive, but it wasnt her body that enslaved the room. It was her aura commanding, radiant, untouchable.
Flanking her were her closest confidantes:
Serena fire in human form, a rising star whose voice could shatter hearts. She shimmered in a scarlet dress, her laughter already drawing admirers like moths.
Ayla sharp, collected, wrapped in black silk. A lawyer feared across Chicagos courts, her words could gut a man more cleanly than any blade.
Together, the three of them werent just women. They were a storm.
Darling, I swear the earth tilted when you walked in, Serena whispered, brushing her hair back with a grin. Half these men are praying to whatever god you belong to.
Lucinda smirked faintly, her golden gaze sweeping the room. Then let them pray harder. I dont answer cheaply.
Ayla sipped her martini, eyes cutting through the haze of the club. Just remember, every one of those stares comes with a knife hidden behind it. Admiration is the softest form of envy.
Lucinda leaned back in the velvet booth they were shown to, her aura commanding respect even in a place crawling with predators. As the waiter poured her drink, she allowed herself a small sigh.
Serena tilted her glass toward her. Work been that brutal?
bout a rival investor circling, about silent shareholders whispering in the dark. She spoke of power moves, acquisitions, lawsuits things Serena barely pretended to understand but Ayla devoured like candy.
But one name never left her lips.
Not once did she mention Hades Slayer.
She could feel the weight of it on her tongue, an unspoken truth burning like acid. Not her friends. Not yet. That particular storm she would fight alone.
---
Across the club, the storm had already arrived.
Hades Slayer entered not like a man, but like a dark god who had decided to taste mortal sins for the night. Black suit, silver watch, eyes like tempered steel under shadows. He didnt need to demand attention; it bent toward him naturally, as if gravity itself had been rewritten.
At his side were his two closest allies:
Ezran the playboy. He lounged as if the entire club existed for his entertainment. His grin made women melt, his careless touch promised sin and nothing more. Yet behind the charm, his eyes were sharper than daggers.
Liam calm, steady, the thinker. Less flamboyant than Ezran, but his presence was its own warning. He spoke little, but when he did, it mattered.
They were opposites, but together they were unshakable. And Hades he was their center, their commander, their untouchable king.
Ezrans smirk widened when his gaze locked on Lucinda across the velvet expanse. Well, well if it isnt the queen herself. Chicago must be trembling, having sun and fire under one roof tonight.
Liam said nothing, but his eyes narrowed, assessing.
Hades jaw tightened. He hadnt needed Ezran to tell him she was here. He had felt it the pull in the air, the clash of radiant warmth and shadowed command.
Lucinda.
---
Hours blurred into music, champagne, laughter. Serena had already been pulled onto the dance floor by admirers, her voice carrying above the beat. Ayla kept close, sharp eyes reading contracts even on her phone, unshaken by the chaos around her.
Lucinda, though, excused herself. The air was heavy, the walls suffocating. She slipped through the crowd like smoke, her heels clicking toward the passage near the private lounge.
She wasnt alone.
Running, are we?
His voice was smoke and steel, sliding over her skin.
Lucinda froze. Then turned.
Hades Slayer leaned against the shadowed wall, every inch of him sculpted command. His presence wrapped around her throat, not physical, but just as suffocating.
I dont run, she said coldly.
Her chin lifted, her gaze unflinching.
He stepped closer, shadows clinging to him like a lover. No? Then why do I always find you where no one else can see you?
Her pulse quickened. She hated that he could draw it out of her that crack in her armor. Her words came sharp, laced with venom.
Perhaps because you stalk shadows like a coward.
Hades smirked, dangerous, closer still. Or perhaps because you shine too brightly to be ignored.
The corridor tightened around them, the hum of the club distant, irrelevant. His hand brushed the wall beside her head not touching, but caging. Her golden aura flared against his darkness, two forces clashing silently, violently.
Her breath hitched. His eyes burned.
The air smelled of whiskey, heat, and something older.
For a moment, it wasnt hatred. It wasnt revenge. It was something far more dangerous a gravity neither of them could escape.
---
Enjoying the shadows, darling?
The third voice cut like ice.
Lucindas heart jolted. She turned her head slightly, golden eyes narrowing. Standing a few paces away, glass in hand, lips curved in a smile that was all venom
Seraphina.
Her step-sisters gaze slid from Lucinda to Hades and back again, delight dancing in her cruel eyes.
Oh, how scandalous, Seraphina purred. The suns perfect bride whispering with the devil in the dark.
The words dripped poison, echoing like a curse in the corridor.
And Lucinda knew, as Seraphinas smile widened, that the war had only just begun.