Page 10 of Sinful Palace

She swallowed thickly. “It wasn’t just the attack that got to me. It was everything. By that point, I’d started doing badly at my job because of all the mental effects of the shit he put me through, and I’d lost most of my friends. I also hated everything about the city, even though I used to love it so much. I just didn’t feel safe there anymore. I felt lost.”

“So you came here?” I furrowed my brows. It seemed like a massive leap, even for a woman who’d gone through something as harrowing and life-altering as what Myla had described to me.

She shook her head. “Not right away. I decided to quit my job and travel to see if that helped. It did for a while. I met a lot of new people and had a lot of good experiences, but I always knew I had to settle somewhere eventually. Then I came to Wonderland with some new friends, just to visit. One of those friends was a member of the Wonderland Club, and he brought us up here.”

“And you liked it?”

“I liked the idea of it, yeah,” she said with a nod. “I know that sounds pretty weird, considering my old job was worlds apart, but it made sense to me at the time. Before I was with that guy, I was confident. Happy with myself. I was never weak. He changed me. But then I saw some of the girls here and I got this idea in my head that I could be happy doing what they do.”

“How?”

“I guess it was like… a way to reclaim who I used to be and prove I didn’t have to let men control me. At the same time, though, I never thought they’d be interested in a thirty-seven-year-old woman covered in scars.”

“So what happened?”

She smiled. “I was wrong. They were very interested. Apparently they don’t get a lot of dommes applying to work at the club, so a woman like me was in high demand.”

My brows shot up. “That’s what you do? You’re a dominatrix?”

Her smile widened, and she fingered the pendant on her choker. “Yes. This M doesn’t stand for Myla. It stands for Mistress,” she said. “I don’t have sex with the men. I just dominate the ones who are into that sort of stuff.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Anyway, the guys that come to see me love how I look, scars included. They think it makes me seem tough. Like I can survive anything. That makes them think they better damn well listen to what I tell them to do, or else they’re in serious trouble. So in a way, they’ve actually helped me.”

My brows rose. “Wow. That’s great.”

“Yeah. It’s really worked for me. I feel good again, I get paid twice my old salary to order guys around, and they all think I’m amazing,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that I have these marks all over me. It just makes me even better in their eyes.”

I nodded slowly. “So do you think you’ll keep doing this stuff forever?”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t say forever. Just as long as I enjoy it. It’s the same with most of the other girls here. They like what they do, and they make a ton, so as long as they’re happy to do it, they’ll stay.”

“I had no idea you were all so satisfied,” I said, looking toward the edge of the balcony again. “I guess I’ve always had a skewed idea about places like this, like it’s all dark and seedy with violent guys and pimps. Nothing like what you’re describing.”

Myla gave me a tight smile. “Trust me, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Some of the girls have bad experiences and get messed up. Some are hooked on drugs, too. But overall, it’s a good place. Like I said, we get treated well here. Plus we get free food, drinks, and premium healthcare.”

“That’s cool.”

“It is.” She nodded and grinned. “God, I can’t believe I’m sitting here telling my life story to the first daughter.”

I groaned. “Please don’t call me that.”

She laughed. “Oh, come on. You’re the closest thing America has to a princess! You should embrace it. Fuck all this scandal bullshit going around.”

I stiffened at her usage of Logan’s nickname for me. Princess.

“Sorry, did I say something wrong?” she asked.

I shook my head and forced a smile. “No. I’m just a little shaken up from earlier, that’s all.”

She pressed a palm into her forehead. “Oh my god. I’m so rude, blabbing on about my past trauma when you just escaped a freaking house fire!”

I shook my head again. “No, it’s fine. It’s actually been really nice to talk to someone apart from Logan. I don’t get a lot of opportunities to do that these days.”

She nodded slowly. “I guess it gets pretty lonely in your corner of the world.”

I was about to respond when a deep, masculine voice spoke up from behind us. “I’ve been looking for you, princess.”

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