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I glance down at the cuts at the top of my thigh and press my eyes closed with shame. I should be stronger than this. I need to be stronger.

My phone breaks me out of my thoughts, and I quickly cross to it. Lucas is still being an asshole about me losing him money, but every day I give him an update about where I am on the Hunter case, and he seems placated.

He’s more desperate for answers on the nameless, faceless drug distributor than he is to make money, which is very out of character for him.

Lucas: I need you at the club tonight.

Ember: Why?

Lucas: Orion wants to see you. He’s an important client, and he’s offering double what he did before.

Ember: Double?! Why the fuck would he do that?

Lucas: He’s taken a liking to you, clearly. Whatever you’re doing, keep it up and you’ll repay your debt in no time.

My thumbs dance over the screen as I consider my options. I’ve told him multiple times that we hadn’t so much as touched before the night I had my breakdown, but he doesn’t believe me.

He doesn’t believe that anyone, let alone Orion Henderson, mysterious entrepreneur and serial bachelor, would pay so much to sit in a dark room and talk.

Ember: What time?

Lucas: Eight. Wear something slutty.

I roll my eyes. It’s likely not even for Orion’s benefit that I wear something revealing, but rather for him. Lucas looks at me with a little too much heat for my own liking.

Lucas: I want an update about your project asap.

Ember: Sure thing. Following up on another lead today.

I don’t bother waiting for his response, instead dropping my phone on the table and moving to the coffee machine.

If I’m going to make it through today, I really need some caffeine.

Dead end after dead end has left me drained and exhausted, but I don’t have time to rest. I barely have enough time to stop by my apartment and get changed.

By the time I reach The Velvet Room, kitted out in a tiny faux leather miniskirt and a black halter crop top, I’m pretty much dead on my boot-clad feet. At least I can walk in these, unlike the heels I wore the first night I met Orion.

I stop by the break room and shove my bag into an empty locker before checking my choppy brown bob. I’ve always had long hair, but after Travis died, I couldn’t deal with it. It took too much effort to wash it, to brush it, to just care for it in general, and when I told the hairdresser to cut it all off, she looked more than a little uncertain.

My dark hair was almost at the top of my ass, but cutting it off was freeing, and I have to admit, I’ve felt more myself ever since.

The makeup I haphazardly applied on my way out the door is darker than usual, but I don’t mind it with this outfit. I look edgy and kind of badass.

“You’ve got this,” I murmur to myself, but anxiety eats away at me. It doesn’t make sense that Orion would pay so much to see me, and if he thinks he’s getting laid, he’s going to be sorely fucking mistaken.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I make my way down the hall, my shoulders back and head held high as I pause at the door to the private room.

I push the door open, and I’m met with familiar darkness, causing my heart to beat harder in my chest as I remember the last time we were in here. How he held me. The soft words ofreassurance. How his fingers brushed through my hair in a way that was foreign but oh so comforting.

Travis and I never really had parents. Well, none that cared about us.

Our mother surrendered us to the state after our father left her high and dry for another woman, and neither of them ever looked back. I was only five at the time, but I don’t think either of them was particularly warm, and while Travis always did his best, he wasn’t what I would call comforting either.

The door clicks shut softly, and I take a step toward the chair I usually sit in during the sessions when his deep voice fills the space.

“No,” he rumbles, forcing me to pause in place. “Come sit with me.”

My breath stutters in my chest, but I don’t allow myself to hesitate. There’s no point delaying the inevitable when we both know I’m going to do exactly as he says.