Page 31 of Cardinal

Clearly, I had never met her before, but there was something about her I couldn't quite put my finger on. She really did look familiar, but why?

"Hmm, have you heard of Nebula? Or listen to any of their music?" Evie asked with a tilt of her head and a cheeky grin.

That's when it hit me fully.

"Wait, are you Star?" I was taken aback by my own question because the woman before me didn't exactly match the image of the famous pop star I frequently listened to before she retired from her pop star career recently.

Humming cheerfully, she nodded her head with a grin and giggle. "Was, but yep."

Yeah, the woman before me did not look too much like the pop star I grew familiar with—in a good way. She looked pretty on stage and in music videos and such, but she looked so much happier and healthier standing before me currently. Evie actually looked genuinely happy, too. Even though she always had a smile on her face with her group, her eyes never truly reflected it if one were to pay attention enough.

Reaching out, she took my hand and dragged me over to the seats, but Luciano swooped in before I could sit in her seat.

Wrapping an arm around my waist, he pulled me into his lap as he sat next to Aidan. "Can you let me have you like this for a moment?" His deep words tingled my spine and made my nipples harden under my bra.

"Usually, people ask before pulling people into their laps," I remarked with a scoffing chuckle and roll of my eyes. "But I guess I'll give you a free pass this time." I mean, his lap was pretty comfortable and lovely. Well, it was a little hard for a seat, but no doubt that was all his muscles under there.

"Don't be giving out any more free passes to anyone, even me, alright, principessa?" Luciano mused with a chuckle and kissed my temple before settling his arms comfortably around my waist.

Giggling, Evie leaned in and whispered to me, "That was so cute. He's like never all smiley and mushy like that with anyone. I honestly didn't think he could smile in a not crazy way."

That last bit had me tilting my head and furrowing my eyebrows at Evie. "What do you mean?"

Pulling back, she kept herself in my space to talk to me while Aidan and Luciano leaned back in their own conversation. "Have you seen Luciano in action before?" She looked at me, a little shocked and worried, and quickly glanced at Luciano.

Slowly, I shook my head back and forth with a small frown. "I haven't known about Luciano until about two months ago, give or take. This is actually the first time I've gone anywhere like this with him." The sinking feeling from before came back tenfold and winded me.

Am I going to regret this night?

Swallowing nervously, I shifted a bit in Luciano's lap and picked at the sleeve of his suit jacket. A part of me knew better, the naïve side who wanted to keep Luciano in a good light and live in lala land.

Unfortunately, the jaded side of me, who was in touch with reality, knew better and pushed me into this situation tonight. No matter how much I argued with myself, I always ended up back here. I had to see this event through, see exactly who Luciano was. Even if I could end up hurt in the end, at least it would be better to know now than later after I become completely enamored with him.

Evie's lips flattened into a sympathetic smile as she grabbed my hands and squeezed them. "Well, you're definitely going to be in for an interesting night. Although I will warn you now, things will get bloody and very gory once Luciano's turn is up."

Opening my mouth, I was about to ask her for more information but was unable to because of the announcer coming on the big screens that hung at the center of the room. I didn't want to be rude and tear anyone's attention away as the event started. On the other hand, I couldn't really bring myself to pay much attention to the stage because of everyone else in the area.

Every single spot in the place was taken; the whole place was literally packed with—

Holy shit, is that Judge Ger?!

Okay, after another quick sweep, I felt rather appalled at how many of these people I recognized—people of high standing in society. I didn't want to study the room again to see if I could pick out more people. Also, I didn't want to run the chance of possibly seeing those people snort coke off a person's ass or tits. I'm pretty sure I saw that some of them were getting serviced, too, while the fight continued.

The sound of the bell going off, along with the cascading cheers, forced me to pay attention to the ring, where the referee stood with a rather blood-soaked fighter with their arms in the air. For a winner, he looked rather beat up. Like, yeah, no fucking duh since this was a fight, but he looked so much worse than what I would see on TV fights. God, I shouldn't even look at the other guy, but my curiosity got the best of me—and nearly my stomach.

Looking back at Luciano with disbelief, I darted my head quickly at the fallen man. "Oh my… Is he even still alive?" I asked Luciano with a shocked and worried frown.

Unbothered, Luciano gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Who knows, the doctors will let me know of the casualties after the event has ended." He stated nonchalantly. "Besides, they all knew the risks when they signed up, and they have up until they die to pull out. Even in the middle of the fight, they can throw in the towel if they wish to have their lives intact."

It still didn't sit quite right with me, but if they knew, then not much could be done… Right? I hated how my mind spiraled down the endless pit of 'what ifs' and all, but I quickly shoved it out of my mind when two guards came up on stage to drag the unconscious man off to let the cleaning crew jump into action.

Within a minute, the stage was spotless for the next match.

I was about to let my eyes wander again to avoid seeing a bloody fight, but a glimpse of the fighters had me suckered in. Because hot smoking damn did they look—

Quickly, I turned to Evie and slapped her arm to get her full attention. "Girl, does that dude seriously have a tattoo of an arrow pointing down there that says bang bang stick?" Okay, stupid tattoos were a thing, but come on, there was no way that was actually real, right?

"Girl, you'll be surprised at the dumb shit that some people get." Evie laughed amusingly in response. "But check out the other dude." Her smile turned mischievous as she wagged her eyebrows at me.

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