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The Man Behind the Curtain

last update Last Updated: 2024-06-20 08:31:34

Eleni

I whirl. There, on an even softer looking leather couch, wearing another pitch-black suit, sits Dante. He smiles slightly as he swirls a glass of some dark liquor and looks me up and down.

“Um,” I say.

He stands and prowls closer. My heart hammers against my ribcage.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he murmurs.

“What?” I blink. “I have the same right to be here that all those other girls do.”

Dante chuckles, low and teasing. I gulp.

“You actually don’t.” He circles around behind me. “Piacere is my club, and everyone knows the Calimeris family—including their charming daughter El—belongs to the Lombardis.”

The rage that ignited in me when I saw Baba in the kitchen flames back to life. “My family doesn’t belong to anyone. And I didn’t know this was your club. I don’t know anything about you.”

He circles back around so I can see him again and opens his arms wide. “I’m an open book. Ask me anything.”

I mean to ask him why I’m back here, what he wants from me. But I’ve never been good at co
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