Page 35 of Cruelly Fated (Princes of Avari #1)

Thirty-One

ALLIE

S tepping into the club felt different today. As usual, I’d arrived early to prep for my shift. Lance texted he was running late, so I got to work, retrieving the shop vac and cleaning cigarette butts, peanut shells, and the occasional shard of broken glass from around the patron tables.

Larry emerged from the office hallway at one point, hands shoved in his pockets, glaring at me. I switched off the vacuum and greeted him. He scowled and veered away without a word.

I bit my lip. Kyon’s intervention last night had ticked him off. We hadn’t been paid, and all Larry’s efforts—securing me an audition, pretending to be my manager, personally driving me to the club—had gone up in smoke.

Bartenders and dancers began trickling in. I was crouched beneath a larger table with a vacuum when someone tapped my back. I startled, banged my head against the table top, and whipped around.

Larry's personal security guard pressed the vacuum’s off switch with his heavy boot. “Boss wants to see ya.”

I winced and crawled out, wiping my hands on the back of my shorts. After Larry’s silent outburst earlier today, I dreaded speaking with him. I hoped he wasn’t firing me, but having a security escort didn’t bode well.

Striding forward, I glanced over my shoulder. The guard was right on my heels. A couple of girls warming up on the dance floor shot me curious, questioning looks. I shrugged in response. Even they seemed to think the security detail was overkill.

My gut twisted. My job was as good as gone.

I stopped in front of Larry’s closed office doors, but the guard nudged me forward.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Boss is downstairs.”

Downstairs? Private dance rooms and dressing areas were located there, hardly a suitable place to discuss my job performance.

Maybe he wanted to humiliate me in front of the other girls with some dramatic speech about how he’d saved my mother and me…

I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore.

I picked up the pace, eager to get this over with.

It was awfully quiet and dark once we descended into the corridor. This part looked nothing like the girls’ area—maybe the two sides didn’t connect? The dancers used the staircase on the opposite end of the building, so…

I wheeled around, eyes wide. “I’ll wait in Larry’s office,” I said as coolly as I could manage, then attempted to brush past the guard. He sneered into my face, gripped my arms, and shoved me into a small room, slamming the door in my face. I yanked on the handle, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Did you think that I’d forget your betrayal?” Larry’s voice oozed condescension and fury. He stepped into the narrow beam of light streaming from a tiny, blacked-out window near the ceiling. An unlit cigar dangled from the corner of his mouth.

“I didn’t betray you. My boyfriend showed up unexpectedly. He’s coming to the club today and will be looking for me,” I fibbed, my chest heaving.

Larry let out an ugly, mirthless laugh. “Liar, liar, soul on fire,” he recited.

“Who knew a face that pretty could spit such garbage? The dragon prince wouldn’t spare you a second thought.

He and his vampire pal passed you around, sharing you like a bottle of good wine.

You think you’re special? You’re just one more girl in a city overflowing with options.

This is Avari, baby doll, the crown jewel of the kingdom.

And trust me, I’ve supplied entertainment to the Voltaires before. ”

He waited for my reaction, which was total shock.

“Wh-what do you mean, supplied ?” I asked. Was Larry the kind of man who prostituted women? Did the girls here work on both sides of his operation? Prostitution was illegal in Avari. He’d have to keep that kind of business buried deep underground.

He grinned, displaying his yellow-stained teeth. I jiggled the handle behind my back again—still nothing. He wasn’t going to answer. But the implication hung heavy.

“You’re making a mistake,” I said, forcing my voice to steady.

“Kyon will come looking for me. And when he finds out you’re holding me against my will, he’ll rip you apart.

” Kyon’s dragon form flashed in my mind, his snapping jaw, razor teeth, and glowing eyes.

He’d nearly killed me when he lost control over the beast.

Granted, I’d left him this morning without saying goodbye. And we were…on a break, technically. But he would come for me. Eventually.

Hopefully, before my body turned up in the river.

Larry’s smirk faltered, scowl replacing his confident expression. “Hmm. He has been acting like he’s obsessed with you.” He paced back toward the window, and I dared to breathe. Perhaps my bluff worked.

“I need to act faster, that’s all,” he said, fishing out his cellphone .

A wave of dizziness crashed over me, my vision blurred, and my knees nearly buckled. I gripped the door handle for balance, then spun around and pounded against the locked door.

“Let me out!”

The guard stepped back in, arms crossed and chest erect like an immovable wall. He left the door cracked open, but I wasn’t getting past him. I backed away, keeping both him and Larry in view.

“Your new owner is on his way,” Larry said with a smug grin, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a crumpled black handkerchief he’d pulled from his suit pocket.

“You can’t sell me. I’m not one of your possessions.”

“Ahh, that’s where you’re wrong,” he said, his tone dripping with scorn. “I own everything and everyone who works inside these walls. No one leaves without my say-so. Your mother understood that well. And yet she chose to disobey. Look where that got her.”

I seized the next breath as if someone had punched me in the gut.

“My mother was murdered, drained to death while working a side hustle. She didn’t leave your precious club.”

Larry tilted his head, mock curiosity glinting in his eyes. “She didn’t tell you. How interesting.”

“Tell me what?”

“A few weeks before the tragic death, your mother came to me. Said she was taking an extended leave to travel abroad. I didn’t buy it at first, ignored her request. But she wouldn’t shut up about leaving.”

I stared, heart pounding.

“She was my star performer. Losing her was out of the question. But she became…unreasonable. And when she said she was taking you with her—well … ” He smiled thinly. “I had to act. Your potential was obvious. You were going to be even more lucrative than she ever was.”

A sudden headache clamped down on my skull. Larry couldn’t be telling the truth. He couldn’t.

Mom had planned for us to leave Avari? Is that why she’d picked up the side hustle from the Voltaires…?

“What did you do?” I asked through gritted teeth.

He flicked his wrist nonchalantly. “What I always do. I take out trash.”

My blood surged hot. “Did you kill her?”

He tsked, as if I were the one being unreasonable. “Not with my own hands… The key to running any business is plausible deniability.”

My thoughts flew to the girl he’d mentioned—the one found in the river. She’d worked here too.

“You son of a bitch!” I lunged at him with a scream, aiming to dig my nails into his beady eyes. But the guard stepped in, shoving me so hard I landed flat on my ass. Pain shot up my spine.

“Ooh-ha-ha!” Larry cackled. “Your new owner’s going to love this side of you. Just try not to get too feisty, or you won’t last the night. Vampires have a nasty habit of draining mouthy prey dry.”

Hot tears welled up. That was how Mom died; she’d fought back. For us . So that we could have a new life away from Avari.

“You’re a monster,” I hissed.

“You have no idea the lengths I’d go to protect my empire.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “It’s a seedy club, Larry. There are dozens just like it around the block.”

“All of which I intend to buy,” he said smoothly. “Most are defaulting on their loans. It’s only a matter of time.” He adjusted his gold cuff links again, for what felt like the hundredth time.

“So now you run loan scams too?” I spat.

A devilish smile spread across his face. “Worked on your grandfather.”

My eyes rounded and I stared at him, unblinking.

“I also took care of your school application, and I didn’t even have to lie. They were most eager to learn a close family member has a criminal record.”

Larry stared me down like an emperor deciding the fate of a conquered subject. That’s exactly what he thought he was. Most saw him as a rude, greedy opportunist. They had no idea how deep his rot ran.

His phone chimed. He glanced at the screen, and that smug grin returned.

His eyes gleamed as they met mine. “Your transport is here.”