Page 27 of Roberto

“You come here often?”

He laughed. “I don’t come forme,if that’s what you’re asking.”

I didn’t press the matter any further.

We reached the top floor, and the doors opened onto a lobby of more black marble.

The only object in the room was a single door upholstered in red leather.

There was no one else in the lobby. No sign, no guards, no nothing.

“Come on,” Han said as he draped his arm around my shoulders and led me to the door.

He looked up at a small black security camera on the ceiling, which I hadn’t noticed because it blended in with the marble.

“Let us in!” he yelled.

There was an audibleCLICKas a lock released, and Han pushed open the door.

Once we crossed the threshold, everything changed.

The hallway on the other side of the door was still done up in black, but there were tasteful arrangements of orchids and lilies set into recessed spaces in the walls.

Dim lighting cast pools of warmth on the floor.

Classical music played quietly over the sound system, almost too low to be heard.

A couple of men in expensive suits stood farther down the hallway. They were talking to two women, both wearing lingerie and high heels.

A young Asian woman in a leather dress studded with metal spikes stood by the doorway. She smiled at us.

“Welcome to De Sade, Mr. Han,” she said in perfect English. “And who might your guest be?”

“We’re good,” he said rudely without looking at her, then pulled me down the hallway with his arm still draped around my shoulders. “C’mon, let’s hit the bar.”

We passed several doors upholstered in black leather, all of them shut. One of them opened briefly, and out stepped a woman wearing form-fitting black leather.

In the room behind her, white satin curtains covered every wall –

And a naked man knelt on the floor, his hands and feet bound with rope behind him. Bright red welts covered his back and bare ass.

The woman caught my eye and smiled, then gave me a look likeNaughty boy, you shouldn’t be seeing thisas she closed the door behind her.

“Freaky shit,” Han muttered as he pulled me along with him.

We reached an open doorway where marble stairs descended to a vast and shadowy lounge area. Modern chandeliers made of rods of crystalline glass hung 25 feet overhead.

Apparently the club took up both the 9thand 10thfloors of the building; that was the only way there could be so much space.

We descended the stairs to the lounge. Directly ahead of us was a beautifully decorated bar, its shelves of bottles backlit with a dim red light.

A woman in a tuxedo was pouring drinks. Her head was shaved, she wore no makeup, and her features weren’t overly feminine; I only knew she was a woman by the swell of her chest under the tuxedo.

All around us were small tables with interesting pairings of people.

A woman wearing a conservative dress talked shyly to a handsome man in a black suit.

Businessmen of various ages chatted up women wearing only lingerie and heels.

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