Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
GORAN
By the time I clocked in at the club, my control was already hanging by a thread.
Dropping Nathaniel at the airfield should have been the perfect time to talk to him. My plan had been simple. Drop the bomb before he boarded the plane. That gave him a few days to think about it before he killed me for sleeping with his sister.
Instead, he was on the phone the entire drive. His voice, sharp enough to slice through the engine noise, restless and dangerous. Like a man backed into a corner.
You never backed Nathaniel into a corner.
I had almost said it anyway. Almost told him that his best friend had betrayed him.
That I was wildly in love with his sister and that we were married because the look on her face last night devastated me.
Laying beside the bed and listening to her sleep crushed parts of me that no one could see, but hurt all the same.
How we ended up married didn’t matter anymore. I wanted her. I always had.
I was no longer the right man to stand between her and the rest of the world because I could not think clearly or do my job properly.
Then Nathaniel snapped something into the phone, ended the call with a curse, and slammed the door shut before marching up the stairs to the plane.
Just like that, my moment was gone. So, I did what I always did.
I swallowed it.
Now the club throbbed around me as the exotic dancers moved beneath the pulsing lights. The music was loud, and the air was thick. Bodies pressed together in a way that made people forget where they ended, and someone else began.
Euphoria had started as just a strip club, but it had evolved into something far more lucrative.
A dance floor gave the place a true nightclub feel, a space where people could lose themselves.
The VIP area was decadent and discreet, designed to offer the illusion of privacy while remaining carefully monitored.
Drunk laughter and terrible singing drifted from the new private karaoke rooms. The newest edition was the fantasy area.
This section was reserved by those looking to have all they desired fulfilled, as long as it was consensual and no one got hurt.
Security for the underground area was state-of-the-art and exclusive, with more guards than every other club in the city combined. Nathaniel built everything to protect the people who worked here. The people who trusted him.
I did my rounds on auto-pilot, nodding at familiar faces, scanning exits, checking corners, cameras, and making sure no one stepped out of line.
All the while, my mind stayed somewhere else. Somewhere darker.
Unable to sleep, I’d left before dawn like a coward. Slipped out quietly because staying would have meant looking Kaylani in the eyes and knowing every second we shared was without permission. I wanted things I had no right to want, and deep down, I didn’t know how this could last.
We were born into separate worlds. One that gave orders and one that obeyed.
Distance was easier. But that was a lie.
All I had to do was get through my shift and find her. Then I could bring her back to my house where we could talk, spend time together, and hell, maybe even come up with a plan.
I finished loading the drugs that were being shipped out tonight from the vault into the armored truck. Nathaniel had purchased it as part of his new fleet after acquiring a security company. It was a smart move. He always thought outside the box. ‘Hide in plain sight,’ he liked to say.
“You’re all set,” I said, handing Merrick the paperwork as he climbed into the back.
With a nod, I shut the door and heard the large lock click into place from the inside. A fucking missile couldn’t take this truck out.
Once it pulled away, I turned and stepped into the secured hallway that led back into the club and spotted Ivan walking toward me. One look at his face told me something was wrong. His face was dark, lips pressed into a hard line.
“We have a problem. She’s here,” Ivan said.
“Who?”
“Kaylani.”
The world narrowed. “To see me?”
He shook his head. “VIP. Group of girls. She’s already been drinking. Guy was working the door and wasn’t going to let her in, but I told him to go ahead. It’s easier to keep an eye on her.”
Something cold flowed through my blood.
“That was smart thinking. Watch her. No hovering, but make sure nothing, and I mean nothing, happens to her. Nathaniel will kill us if his sister is injured or attacked in his club.”
She really was trying to give me an ulcer.
Ivan’s mouth twitched. “Already doing it, but thought you’d want to know.”
“Thanks.”
I moved toward the front of the club before I talked myself out of it and saw her immediately.
Kaylani had always been impossible to miss. She was the brightest light in any room. There was a natural radiance that drew people in, made them want to stand closer, and bask in her warmth.
My eyes raked over her in the short pink dress and high heels. Her hair fell loose down her back as if she wanted someone to grab it. She laughed a little too loudly and drank without a care for what happened next.
But there, glittering around her neck, was her necklace. Her wedding ring.
My heart hammered in my chest as I stood frozen in the shadows.
She glanced toward me as if she sensed my presence.
Our eyes locked only for a moment, but I saw it.
She was slowly unraveling from the pressure.
I felt the cage too. And there, laid bare in her eyes, was the tension under her smile.
The sharp edge beneath the glitter. The fear masked by laughter.
And the longing that neither of us could escape.
This wasn’t indulgence. It was relief. Like a kettle needing to let off steam.
I cocked my brow at her, and she looked away before climbing onto the low coffee table. She stood and started dancing while Fiona and the other girls cheered.
The music swelled, and she moved with it, hips rolling, arms lifted. One of the male servers hovered nearby, grinning as he looked her over like she was dessert. He obviously didn’t know who she was, or he would have run in the opposite direction. He offered the group another round of drinks.
She smiled and took one. He didn’t look away. He lingered as he flirted, eyes focused on her chest as he traced a finger along her arm.
My jaw locked.
This wasn’t about jealousy. Jealousy was simple. Manageable. This was possession.
Kaylani had claimed me, and the steel wall that I’d kept in place for years melted under her touch. Now she was mine. Right or wrong no longer mattered.
The server helped her down from the table and laughed when one of her friends tugged him onto the couch beside them. Kaylani leaned in and whispered something in his ear. He flushed.
I stopped breathing.
She wasn’t trying to seduce him. When she looked at me again, I knew. The challenge in her eyes was deliberate. She was goading me. Daring me to stop her.
Every instinct in my body screamed to drag her away as I forced myself to stay still.
She stood, and the moment she stepped away from her friends, I went after her. Stalking her. My eyes focused on her back, my stomach in knots, my heart pounding out with a fury I could barely control.
I caught her wrist before she registered what was happening and steered her through the staff door.
“What are you doing, Goran?”
I didn’t answer.
Nathaniel’s office was empty, so I pulled her inside, shut the door, and locked it.
The music and noise of the club faded. It was just us and the sound of our breathing as we glared at one another. The vibrant, carefree smile fell from her face, and she planted her hands on her hips.
“I asked you a question. What the hell are you doing?”
I took her in. The flush in her cheeks from the alcohol. The defiant shimmer in her eyes. The way she held herself together by sheer will.
“You’re spiraling,” I whispered.
Her laugh was brittle. “That’s rich.”
“Lani, be real right now. You hate this club, and you wouldn’t have come here unless you wanted something to happen. Unless you wanted to unwind and get under my skin at the same time.”
Her chin lifted. “Maybe I do. What of it? I know we agreed to act normal when we got back from Vegas, but nothing is normal anymore. I want us, but I feel like if you’re told to leave me, you will. I hate even thinking you won’t fight for me.”
The words punched me in the face, hitting hard.
“This isn’t a game, and you know the consequences. If you wanted to get back at me for leaving this morning, then fine. I get it. It was a jerk move. But what you did out there wasn’t safe.”
“I’m not safe anywhere,” she snapped, throwing her arms out to the side as if she were baring her soul.
“This world has never been safe, Goran. It’s all an illusion.
And you’re right. I hate this place. I hate it because it’s full of people who can have you the way I want.
All of you. No restrictions. And it kills me inside. ”
My heart cracked, and I stepped closer, needing to touch her.
She backed up, hitting the desk.
My hands braced on either side, gripping the edge as I leaned over her. We were close enough for me to feel the heat of her skin, to breathe in the sweet scent of her perfume.
“Lani, you have me in a way that no woman ever could,” I growled.
She scoffed. “Why? Because I drugged and married you?”
“No. Because they could never have my heart.” My lips hovered over hers. “It’s always been you, Lani. You’ve always been the forbidden fruit tempting me to take a bite. From the first time our lips touched, my heart has been yours.”
I wanted her. God help me, I wanted her in ways that made my chest ache. I never should have kissed her. Never should have crossed that line. But once I did, there was no going back. I wasn’t letting her go. I just couldn’t say it out loud without starting a war.
Her fingers trailed down my cheek. “You may love me, but you’ll always be married to your job first.”
“That’s not true. You knew this wasn’t going to be easy, Lani. I can’t just walk away from my job. And I can’t run off with you, even though it’s all I want to do.”
She broke eye contact.
Kaylani swallowed, her voice dropping. “I hate that we can’t. I hate this place for reminding me that I’ll never belong. I shouldn’t have married you.”
Fuck. There was too much truth in her words, and my mind rebelled against the idea.
“But you did. Do you want out?”
Her bottom lip trembled. “No. I wish I could say yes. But I can’t.”
“Good. I’m not letting you go. And if you let another man touch you like that again…I won’t be responsible for how I handle it. Do you understand?”
Kaylani’s eyes darkened with desire.
“Yes.”
I kissed her hard, tasting every inch of her mouth as I soaked in the feel of her. There was a faint hint of peach and orange alcohol mixed with her candy lip gloss. If I had picked a flavor that described Kaylani, it was this. Like sunshine on a rainy day.
A knock at the door made me jerk back.
Fuck.
The moment shattered like glass falling to the floor.
We stared at one another, knowing that there was no easy way to fix what lay between us.
I stepped back and crossed my arms as Kaylani fixed her dress.
“Come in,” I barked.
Ivan opened the door. He didn’t look suspicious of us, or at least he didn’t show it.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we need you.”
Of course.
“Give me a second,” I ordered, and he closed the door.
“Go,” Kaylani said coolly.
I grabbed her arm as she brushed past me.
“Lani, are you mad at me?”
She looked down and shook her head.
“No, I’m mad at the situation. And I loathe feeling helpless.”
I let her go.
She marched out without looking back.
I stood there for a beat, then pulled my phone from my pocket and called Titus.
It rang twice before he answered.
“Titus,” he said.
“Hey, Titus, it’s Goran.”
“Is everything alright with Nathaniel?” His voice was already alert.
“Yes, I’m calling about Kaylani. She’s at Euphoria.”
He went silent.
“She isn’t in any trouble. And she’ll kill me if she knows I called you, but I think she could use her brother. Can you come get her?”
There was a pause. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“Dimitri.”
He swore, and I heard movement on his end.
“I’m on my way.”
I ended the call and stepped out of the office. Right now, work was the only thing keeping me from tearing the world apart for her. Consequences be damned.