Wrecked By a Devil (Brothers of Sin #1)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Riley

“Did you hear about the girl that went missing last week?” The conversation I overheard earlier in the subway keeps playing in my head, as if I hadn’t been second-guessing my decision already.

“Wasn’t she a stripper? It’s pretty common for night workers to go missing.” Her friend sounded as if it’s the most natural thing in the world for a stripper to disappear without a trace.

“I guess so… But it’s still scary.”

And it is scary. I happen to agree with the stranger on the subway. Yet here I am, waiting in a room with my friend Mia and six other girls, to audition for a stripper at the Gentlemen’s club Eden. The most elite club in the city.

“Riley, are you still worried? You look a little pale,” Mia hands me a bottle of water from her bag and I immediately take a sip.

“I just can’t stop thinking about that conversation from earlier,” I return the bottle to her, feeling a little better.

“Hey,” Mia gently places her hand over mine and when our eyes meet, I see how determined she is to go through with this. “We’re not doing that. We’re not that girl, you have nothing to worry about.”

I look over at the staff at the other side of the room. They keep leaving and entering in a rush, non-stop talking with someone over their walkie-talkies. “This place makes me nervous, and the auditions being late doesn’t help.”

I glance at my wristwatch. 10:37 PM. With my exam being tomorrow, I need to get back home and study. If the audition doesn’t start in the next few minutes, I’m screwed.

“That’s all normal,” Mia smiles. “I imagine it must be complicated to run an audition for such a big night club, and things tend to happen, like tech failure and stuff. Just try to remember why we’re doing this.”

She’s right. My course isn’t going to pay for itself, I really need this job. Maybe even more than I’m willing to admit. Besides, Mia managed to get us these auditions and I’m beyond grateful to her. I know she wouldn’t have brought us to audition in some hell hole.

“I guess you’re right.” I look myself in the mirror behind Mia. My dark blonde hair is in a neat high ponytail, allowing the golden straps of the stage costume to show on my fair skin. “And it pays way better than being a waitress.”

My only free time is at night; therefore I never had many options to choose from in the first place.

A few nights ago, I went to a different club to interview for a waitress, but the pay was painfully low.

After that Mia came with the news about the audition and the thought initially scared me. But I ended up agreeing to try it out.

My job as an intern at the hospital is unpaid, and I’m studying to be a paramedic. I can make use of any penny I can earn and the life I aspire to build requires sacrifices. Besides, I have a clear idea of what I’m willing to sacrifice and working as a stripper falls into the first category.

“God, you’re so gorgeous, you’ll drive everyone crazy,” Mia laughs, noticing that I’ve been checking myself out.

“As long as they just look and no one tries touching,” I try to make it sound like a joke, but on that long list of things I’m not willing to sacrifice for the money is my body. “If even one dude tries to lay a finger on me, I won’t even stop to think before quitting.”

“For that to happen, first you need to get hired, and only then can you kick everyone’s ass the moment they even look at you wrong,” Mia winks at me. “But jokes aside, that’s why I chose this place. Their reputation is solid and they really go above and beyond to protect the girls.”

What stands out the most from what I managed to find about Eden from a short googling session, is their “no touching” rule.

They do offer private dances to their clients, but only with security present and even then, men are not allowed to touch the strippers.

To make things even better, there isn’t a single corner in the club without cameras.

I notice the audition manager when she walks back into the room. “Excuse me, I really need to use the restroom. May I go quickly?”

“Of course,” she responds without ever lifting her head from the tablet. “Just go to the one near the private offices. The one here is broken.”

I take mental notes of her instructions and thank the audition manager and walk outside into a long, dark yet classy, hall.

“Turn left and then the second passage on the right,” the place looks like a labyrinth after my first turn and I have to remind myself of the directions. “It’s at the very end of the hallway. Fifth door.”

On my last turn, a few steps into the hall, the air gets a lot colder, as if someone has left the windows open in the middle of winter. I shake, immediately regretting not having taken my jacket.

Wait, didn’t she say the fifth door?

The fifth door is far from being the last door in the incredibly long dark corridor.

If anything it looks like it’s somewhere in the middle.

I still try opening it, hoping that I’ve somehow managed to come to the right place, trying not to think about the fact that I’ve probably gotten lost, but it’s locked.

I hate this.

Now I’m really regretting leaving my jacket behind. The place is eerie despite the expensive furniture and the fancy wallpaper. And with the lights off it makes me feel like I’ve walked into a horror movie rather than an elite club.

There is a murmur coming from one of the rooms down the corridor and I decide to follow the sound, hoping someone will help me find the restroom.

The further I walk down the hallway, the darker it gets, with the only light coming from the room where the voice is coming from. I notice the voice is incredibly low.

The closer I get, the louder the voice becomes and I can now understand what the guy is saying. “I’m going to ask one more time,” the voice is cold, almost cruel. “Who is taking the girls?”

The room is barely lit, but I spot a tall, painfully gorgeous figure standing in front of another man in chains. The chained man is unrecognizable beneath the blood and sweat covering his body. His head hangs low, dark curls plastered to his forehead, chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths.

My eyes drift to the long metal rod in the handsome man’s hands. For a second, my brain refuses to understand what I’m looking at. The low lighting turns everything soft around the edges, making it appear unreal, until he suddenly swings it what I now think is a polished steel baton.

A loud thud echoes through the room as metal crashes against flesh.

I flinch so hard, I barely manage to keep my balance and avoid falling.

The sound the chained man releases is unlike anything I have ever heard. Completely broken and raw, dragged violently from deep inside of him, it’s the kind of sound that makes my stomach twist before my mind can even process it.

The man in chains jerks against the restraints, the metal rattling over his head, but he doesn’t say a word.

I wonder if he was trained to endure torture.

I remember once watching a documentary about Navy SEALs and how they all underwent a program called SERE.

I don’t remember what the name stands for but it was a special training teaching them how to get through a not so friendly interrogation.

Though the guy looks nothing like a Navy SEAL, and I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a military operation.

I notice the blood spatters everywhere around him, and I have to fight the urge to throw up.

The worst part is probably that the man torturing him doesn’t look affected by any of it.

His expression remains calm, almost as if he’s bored. I wonder how someone can be so beautiful yet monstrous all at once.

As he raises the steel baton again, my heart drops and I gasp.

“Oh shit…”

The words barely leave my mouth before he turns around and our eyes meet. I see my whole life flash before my eyes.

For a short heartbeat, he just stares at me from across the room. The look on his face is cold, terrifyingly calm, and that somehow manages to scare me more.

“Oh shit, shit, shit!”

I sprint down the hallway, my heart beating so fast, I’m worried it might jump out of my chest.

He’s at least 6’4 and being a petite who doesn’t do cardio, I don’t manage to get far before he catches up to me without even breaking a sweat. His hand lands on my shoulder and before I know it, I’m pinned against the wall, his tall figure towering me.

Up close, he’s even worse. Beautiful in a way that feels unfair. Dark hair and sharp jaw. Eyes so green, an emerald would be jealous of them.

But there is blood splattered across his collar.

Yet, his smell invites me in, a mix of smoke and expensive cologne, dangerously clean beneath all the chaos.

“Oh shit…” I release a breathless whisper, as his gaze drags over my face painfully slowly.

All the years of self-defense classes kick in and before I can lose my nerve, I drive my knee upward as hard as I can.

He curses sharply, his body folding just enough for me to bolt.

I don’t even know how, but I manage to return to the dressing room backstage, bumping into some of the staff members at the door.

“Finally!” Mia walks up to me. “They’ve been calling us, we need to go on stage like right now!”

“No, we need to leave this place immediately! Something’s off!”

“What do you mean?”

“Look, I don’t know,” I struggle to catch my breath. “But if we stay, we’re going to get in trouble and it’s the last thing we need.”

Mia nods, taking my hand as we, both step out into the corridor. However, the moment we step out of the room, a staff member grabs my arm.

“Your turn,” she says, coldly, dragging me in the opposite direction of where I came from just minutes before. I try to get out of her grip, but no luck.

Behind me, Mia is being dragged by another staff member. “I’m sorry…” She mouths as we are both lined up with the other girls on a small stage.

The lights are bright and my heart is still racing from earlier. I can’t even think straight.

“Whatever it is that scared you, try not to think about it,” Mia whispers next to me.

Maybe she’s right, I should just focus on doing what I came here for in the first place. Maybe I should forget about the handsome guy and the chained man and just dance the best I can and get hired. That’s why I came here in the first place, to get a stable income.

My attention goes to the man sitting on the couch on the right, but the stage lights are too strong for me to notice any of his features. I assume he’s the one we’ll have to impress in order to get hired.

Why did I ever think I could do this?

I wipe the sweat off my hands on the tiny skirt, hoping the guy won’t notice how out of it I am.

As we’re being introduced, I notice another figure joining the first guy, but he’s walking strange.

Are they looking for me?

“And now, we present to you the future of Eden!”

The music starts.