Page 148 of The Beautiful Dead

Tear away the façade, expose the filth beneath, and make him choke on the same cruelty he had inflicted on others. Reconnaissance could wait. His reckoning was coming.

“Remi,” Domino growled. A warning. A promise.

His hands were on me in an instant, curling around the back of my neck and hauling me into him. His mouth claimed mine with ruthless possession, his tongue sweeping between my lips, stealing the words before they could escape. The heat of him ignited something in me, something untamed and insatiable. It wasn’t just lust—it was power, it was blood, it was the promise of devastation wrapped in a lover’s embrace.

“Ahem.” Ghost cleared his throat, amusement lacing his voice. “You can suck face later.” He chuckled as he slipped out of the car, moving to open Domino’s door.

With a lingering smirk, Domino pulled back, his thumb dragging over my lower lip as if savoring the taste of control. Then, he stepped out into the waiting chaos.

The Elysian Chamber was an opulent beast, built to house the egos of those who considered themselves gods. Marble columns loomed over the entrance, the gold-gilded doors yawning open like the mouth of some insatiable entity. Inside, chandeliers dripped with crystal and refracted the light into a kaleidoscope of wealth. The scent of aged wine and expensive perfume clashed with the ever-present tension in the air.

Every movement was calculated, every glance a silent power struggle. Men in suits and women draped in diamonds hovered around overpriced artwork, sipping champagne as though the world wasn’t teetering on the edge of war. They had no idea that tonight, the blood they spilled their fortunes to avoid would finally stain their polished floors.

Domino walked through it like he owned the place, and in many ways, he did. Every eye followed him, some filled with curiosity, others with fear.

They should be afraid. Not just of him. Of me. They didn’t realize his shadow was just as sadistic, as ruthless. Just as hungry.

Women flocked to Domino as we prowled through the crowd, their bodies pressing against him like he was their salvation or damnation—they didn’t care which, as long as he would give them the time of day. Their fingers curled around his arms, their lips brushing against his ear, their bodies arching, offering, begging.

Pathetic. All of them. The women who threw themselves at him and the men who eyed him like he was their meal ticket to greatness. All too willing to deal with the devil for their own gains.

I knew his history. Knew how easily he took what was offered—men, women, enbies alike. He wasn’t picky. If he wanted, he took. A hole to fill. A body to use.

But I’d changed that.

I’d awakened something in him that had lay dormant, something feral and obsessive. A need that coiled around his ribs and sank its claws into his gut.

And he’d done the same to me.

He had set me free, shown me who I really was. I was never going back into the box society had forced me into, not now. I understood what it took to make myself whole.

A girl in a black sequined dress, with blond hair piled on top of her head, stepped toward him, dismissing me entirely. That was her first mistake. Her fingers, delicate and manicured, smoothed over his chest, her lips grazing the sharp edge of his jaw.

That was her second mistake.

I felt it before I saw it—the way Domino’s body went rigid, the way his amusement soured into something cold and merciless. She didn’t matter.

“Domino,” she purred, saccharine and hopeful. “It’s been a while.”

His lip curled in disgust. Peeling her fingers away like they were diseased.

“Has it?” His voice was cruel, detached, designed to cut deep and open a festering wound. “Can’t say I remember you.”

Her face burned scarlet. “W-what?” she stammered, utterly lost.

“Do I know you?” he taunted, voice a lazy drawl, eyes flicking toward mine. A claim. A warning. A promise.

“We… we met at the?—”

“Have you metmyRemi?” he cut her off smoothly, his arm curling around my waist, yanking me against him. The smirk on his lips was razor-sharp when her eyes widened.

“Say hello to him.”

Her sweat-slicked palm met my cold skin, and my stomach coiled with revulsion. I let her touch me. Let her think for a fraction of a second she was safe.

Domino’s entire body darkened. The air around him vibrated like a deadly current.

“Hands off what’s not yours, whore.”

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