Page 23 of Sin and Salvation

Everyone had been aware that I was irreplaceable to Maxime, but that didn’t earn me any favors. If anything, many of the demons there had despised me even more because of it.

It had meant no friends, just a lot of people trying to suck up to get closer to Maxime. Some had even tried to pay me off to put a word in his ear about them.

I could’ve told them that the money meant nothing to me. Maxime provided everything I required. When I turned down the offers of favors, people seemed to think the worst of me, like I was trying to keep his attention all to myself.

In reality, it was pointless because Maxime didn’t care, and if I tried to occupy his time with trying to help out the people I’d considered friends at first, he would make the time to put me back in my place. My job was to schedule his meetings and provide him with power, nothing more.

It was nice to sit and eat real food with people who weren’t trying to use me.

Neither of them even asked about Zane, Aeron, or Crow as we walked down the street to the next stop. Kylaea had decided it was manicure day; apparently the salon was also open for service in the middle of the night, thanks to how many demons were up at this hour.

When we returned to the club, my finger and toenails were a glossy black with silver glitter at the tips. It was another one of my ‘fuck you’ concessions; my uniform at Giraud Tower had included that my manis and pedis be only in pale shades of milky white or light pink.

“You’ve gotta wear black for work tonight,” Kylaea said, admiring my nails. Hers were neon purple. “Tyri can do another killer smoky eye on you, too.”

Both girls hugged me before we all separated to catch some sleep and enjoy our downtime. I felt that lump in my throat again as Kylaea wrapped her arms around me.

As I flopped down in my bed, flicking on the television, I looked down at my feet and wiggled my toes again, making the glitter catch the light.

My entire life, everything I wanted had always been snatched away from me. No family, no friends, no job of my own… I lived in a prison, and hardly a gilded one at that.

I’d only come here so that Maxime would think twice about coming after me, and yet I found that I liked the job. I would’ve thought I would hate it, after years of being forced to fuck Maxime’s bodyguard in a futile attempt to amp up my power, but the way the three leaders of the Black Hearts made me feel was completely foreign in a good way.

For once, I wanted sex. A lot of it. All the time.

And since I didn’t have to let other patrons touch me, I was fine with stripping. I could even say I enjoyed it, knowing Zane, Aeron, and Crow would be watching and getting worked up.

I eyeballed the lacy lingerie I’d left scattered on the dresser.

Now that they were absolutely sure I was succubus, and could feel what I could do, would that make them more likely to want me to stick around? They’d called me a treasure, after all.

And with me to help them out, they wouldn’t have to worry about a thing again.

Maybe they could even destabilize Maxime’s hold on the other half of Concordia.

My eyelids slowly slipped closed, but before I fell asleep, I thought about what I could do to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they would never let me go.

Because maybe I didn’t have to run forever. Maybe I could find myself, the Venus I’d always wanted to be, right here in Club Onyx. I didn’t have to live in Maxime’s chains anymore.

Maybe, with the Black Hearts, I could burn his empire to the ground.

ChapterEleven

The sounds of the building came alive as night fell, and the MC made it back to the club. I heard the pounding thump of music coming through the walls as I pulled on lacy black lingerie and ran a brush through my hair, getting ready to put it up in hot rollers I’d borrowed from Kylaea.

The feeling of being alone—really, truly alone, able to walk right through that door and into the night if I wanted—was a strange undercurrent in my emotions the entire time I got ready.

How many hours of my life had I spent agonizing over my appearance, well aware that there was no way I could be escorted to Maxime looking like I hadn’t put it every ounce of effort I possessed? Nor could I just leave and go grab something like hot rollers. The guard stationed outside my apartment door wouldn’t have let me go out alone.

I chewed my lower lip as I rolled sections of hair, occasionally rummaging through the basket of cosmetics Kylaea had brought to me. I settled for a silvery smoky eye and dark lips, and when I was taking the rollers out, I almost ripped out a massive chunk of my own hair when my door flew open.

“Aeron!” I’d flown behind the dresser without thinking, every fiber of my body reacting on pure instinct.

In my old life, the door flying open had never been a cause for happiness. It was usually succeeded by fists and screaming.

The hellhound stopped dead in the doorway, his jaw tightening as he looked me over. “You’re shaking.”

I let out a small laugh, trying to sound casual and failing miserably. A small spot on my scalp ached where my hands had jerked while unrolling. “You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

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