Chapter Five AURORA
The guilt found me before my friends did.
Because I stood there after he disappeared, staring into the moving crowd like a complete idiot while music rolled beneath my feet in slow heavy waves.
The bass vibrated softly through the floor and up my legs, settling somewhere beneath my ribs like a second heartbeat.
Amber light spilled over polished black marble and glasses of whiskey catching gold beneath hanging lights.
Perfume and smoke drifted through warm air while shadows moved across silk dresses and expensive suits and bodies that brushed past one another like they belonged here.
Everything looked exactly the same. The same music. The same laughter. The same velvet darkness. The same club. But somehow it felt different now. Empty.
I hated myself. Because somewhere between stupid betting games and his stupid smile and stupid hand-holding and stupid eyes beneath that stupid devil mask… I started to want more. I dragged both hands slowly down my face.
"You're embarrassing," I muttered to myself.
"Aurora?"
I nearly launched out of my own skin. I looked up just in time to see Bianca, Sofia, and Alessia weaving through the crowd toward me in a cluster of glittering dresses and bouncing dark hair.
Oh no. No no no. Not those faces. Those were dangerous faces. Bianca reached me first and froze. Her eyes widened. Then widened more. Sofia looked between me and the crowd behind me. Alessia slowly turned toward me with genuine horror.
Three ‘oh my Gods’ reached my ears in unison. I stared at all three of them.
"If one more person says oh my God, I am going to commit violence,” I threatened. They ignored me completely. Traitors. Absolute traitors.
Bianca grabbed both my shoulders hard enough to nearly shake me. "Where is he?"
I blinked. "Who?"
Her eyes narrowed. "The Devil."
I stared at her. Sofia stared harder. Alessia looked one second away from exploding. Then all three let out tiny rich-girl screams at once. Not real screams. Tiny horrified excited screams. The kind girls made when somebody showed them engagement rings or celebrity gossip or a man with abs.
"You DISAPPEARED with him!" Bianca hissed.
"You were gone forever!" Sofia nearly shrieked.
"We thought you got kidnapped!" Alessia accused.
"I did not disappear with anybody,” I muttered. Three identical skeptical expressions. Nothing but judgment. "Nothing happened."
Silence. Then Bianca looked down slowly. "Why are your cheeks pink?"
I froze. I hated every single one of them for their excitement, because in the pit of my stomach, there was nothing but despair. "Just shut up. Please. I have a headache."
Sofia narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You kissed him."
"I did absolutely nothing of the sort,” I said.
Bianca pressed a hand dramatically to her chest. "Our Aurora met some mysterious hot man and abandoned us."
"I did not abandon anyone,” I hissed. “You all left me first.”
Alessia looked deeply offended. "You literally vanished."
"You disappeared into a room with The Devil," Sofia corrected.
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "I hate that stupid nickname."
Bianca's eyes widened. "Iiiiiiinteresting."
Sofia nodded. "Very interesting wording."
I stared at all three of them with genuine fury. "Can you stop acting like something happened?"
Because nothing had happened. That’s what I was going with.
But I remembered his hand around my throat.
Warm fingers sliding against mine. The roughness of old scars brushing my skin.
The heat of him. The way he'd looked at me.
The way his eyes had changed for that tiny second when I'd guessed right.
The way he'd gone quiet. The way he'd looked almost... Human.
Then I remembered him walking away. My chest tightened so suddenly it actually hurt. I realized something horrible. I wasn't angry. I wasn't annoyed. I wasn't offended. I was devastated. The idiot had just... Let me go.
No chasing. No dramatic devil nonsense. No smirk. Nothing. Like I was nothing special. Like I was just another girl. Like an hour of laughing and stupid games and looking at me like I was the most interesting thing in the room had meant absolutely nothing.
The realization hit me hard enough I physically recoiled. I was so not getting upset. Not upset over a man.
"Aurora?" I blinked. Bianca was staring at me now. "You just looked like you wanted to stab someone."
"I always want to stab someone,” I said defensively.
"Who’s on your hit list today?” Alessia asked.
I grabbed my purse. "Myself."
Sofia slowly smiled. "Oh my God. Something totally happened."
I pointed at her. "Don't."
"You LIKE him,” Bianca accused me.
"Shut your spoiled mouth,” I hissed.
She looked delighted. Absolutely delighted. I wanted new friends.
“Come on,” I muttered. “We’re already late. We need to go before Vincenzo has a heart attack.”
For once, the girls seemed to agree. We filed out of the club, the three of them whispering and giggling while I led the way. We barely made it a block. Then a familiar voice cut through the noise of the busy street.
"Aurora."
Everything inside me dropped. I turned slowly.
Poor Vincenzo looked like a man who had just survived war.
His dark jacket hung open. His usually neat hair looked slightly disheveled from dragging his hands through it repeatedly.
His shoulders rose and fell with a hard breath and his eyes looked wild for exactly one second before they landed on me.
Then I watched relief physically hit him. Actually hit him. His entire body sagged. "Oh thank Christ."
He looked one second away from tears. Actual tears. I blinked. "Vincenzo. What’s up, old man?"
“You four,” He pointed at me. Then pointed at the girls. “Are going to be the death of me.”
"Why?” Sofia questioned innocently. “We’re all in one piece, aren’t we?”
Vincenzo covered his face with both hands. "No more of this shit. We’re going home.”
Bianca winced. "D-Did you get the cake, Vincenzo?”
"You girls are demons,” he muttered. Honestly? Fair.
He looked at me again. Longer this time. And his eyes narrowed slightly. Because he'd known me since I was little. Knew every lie. Every mood. Every disaster.
As he walked us back to the car, my guilt spiked, seeing a pink and red, heart-shaped cake in the backseat. After all that, Vincenzo actually got us a cake. I felt like the worst person in the world.
The ride back felt strangely quiet after that.
Not actually quiet. Bianca and Sofia kept whispering dramatically in the back row while Alessia dissolved into random bursts of laughter every thirty seconds.
The girls kept leaning into one another and giggling like tiny evil witches while city lights slid across the windows and painted brief ribbons of gold over their faces.
I knew exactly what they were talking about. Me. Obviously.
I sat behind Vincenzo in the second row of the Rolls-Royce and stared out the window while rainwater streaked softly over the glass outside.
The city blurred by in ribbons of headlights and neon signs and crowded sidewalks, everything bleeding together into smeared gold and white and red beneath the night sky.
Normally I would've been talking. Normally I would've been making fun of Bianca for flirting with three different men in under ten minutes. Normally I would've been torturing Sofia over the way she'd practically fallen in love with some random dude in leather. Normally I would've been laughing.
Tonight I just... wasn't. Because my stupid brain kept replaying stupid things.
The devil mask. His voice. His laugh. The way his eyes had softened for that tiny second before he'd hidden it again.
The way he'd looked at me like I was the only thing in the room. And the way he’d left me standing there like a fool.
Bianca climbed out first. Her family estate sat behind giant wrought-iron gates surrounded by ridiculous landscaping and fountains that looked expensive for absolutely no reason.
Before getting out, she leaned back into the car and pointed directly at me, whispering, "I still think you kissed him."
"And I still think you should leave,” I bit back.
Sofia made a choking sound beside her while Bianca shrieked with laughter and stumbled out of the car. The doors closed. Silence lasted approximately fourteen seconds.
Then Sofia leaned around the seat slowly. "So..."
"Nope," I said firmly.
"I didn't even say anything!” She looked offended. “I thought we were friends, Aurora.”
"Goodnight, Sofia,” I said with finality.
She sighed dramatically and climbed out when they reached her house. Then Alessia. At least she had the decency not to mention anything about the club. Silence settled inside the car after that. The cake was staring at me, making my guilt trip worse.
The Rolls-Royce smelled faintly like leather and expensive cologne and the sugary perfume Bianca had drowned herself in earlier. Soft music played somewhere through hidden speakers while rain tapped quietly against the roof overhead.
"Aurora,” Vincenzo said quietly after a while. "What happened?"
"I drank lemonade." I crossed my legs. “So nothing illegal.”
Silence stretched between us while he kept driving. Then, Vincenzo muttered, "You're in a mood."
"I am not,” I said.
"Mm,” he said, glancing at me in the mirror. “I can tell by your joyous smile.”
"I am perfectly fine. I had a lovely evening,” I said firmly. “Just peachy.”
"Mm.” Vincenzo didn’t look convinced. I glared. He stared back. Then sighed.
"I don't want to know, actually,” he muttered as the Rolls-Royce came to a stop beneath Leo’s penthouse. “Keep the dirty details for yourself.”
Good. Because I wasn't telling him. Not one word. Not about the devil mask. Not about stupid betting games. Not about warm hands. And definitely not about the fact some arrogant psychopath had somehow ruined my entire night by simply walking away.