Page 5 of Sin & Secrets

“Oh, save us a sob story, will you?” Teresa rolls her eyes.

I step forward, ready to get on my knees to plead with them both. “Please. Just twenty bucks. The rest is yours.”

For the briefest moment, something flickers across Danny’s face. But before it can manifest into anything more, a shadow falls across the doorway.

“What’s going on in here?”

We all turn to see the devastatingly handsome man standing in the doorway. His toned body is clearly visible through his tight black T-shirt as he towers over us, his mouth a grim line beneath his short beard.

I school my face into something more neutral. “Nothing.”

But my boyfriend does not acknowledge me. He crosses his arms and stares at Danny, waiting for an explanation.

“We were just doing a little hazing,” she chirps innocently. “If Cassandra wants to play with the big girls, she needs to show us she has what it takes.”

His eyes glance down at the wad of bills in her hand, then at the empty jar on my vanity. “Are those Cas’ tips?”

Finally, he looks at me. Those piercing blue eyes search mine for the answer to his question.

“I…”

Claudio leans against the doorframe. “Daniella, Theresa, kindly return whatever money you took from Cas and go home. Mia just called last orders.”

“Narc,” Teresa hisses at me as she begrudgingly hands Claudio her bills on the way out.

But Danny lingers to whisper in my ear. “He’s not going to be around to protect you forever.”

She turns on her heel and stalks away. I don’t miss how her fingers linger on Claudio’s as she hands over her stack of bills.

Perhaps my blood would boil if I could muster up enough energy to feel anything at all. I slump back down in my chair and close my eyes, taking a breath to anchor myself.

This isn’t how I thought moving to Brooklyn would go. Claudio said the girls at the club were lovely, that they’d treat me like a sister. But the bartender was the only person who’d shown me even a shred of kindness.

But did that even count if Mia and I had known each other since we were kids?

“Cas.”

My eyes shoot open to see Claudio standing behind me in the mirror. The door to the dressing room closed tightly behind him.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper as he places his hands on my shoulders. “I don’t know why they hate me.”

I try to place a hand over his, but he shakes it off.

“I need you to try harder than this, Cas. They are my moneymakers. If they ask me to let you go, I won’t have a choice.”

My shoulders sag. He’s right, of course. He’s not just my boyfriend now, he’s my boss, and I’ve done nothing but let him down since the moment I arrived.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper again.

Something cold and long extinguished rages against my pitiful apology. None of this is my fault. I didn’t steal from Danny and Teresa. I didn’t ask for him to come to my rescue. I just wanted to sing on an actual stage—theCandelabrastage—one of the most notorious clubs in Brooklyn.

I watch him in silence as he gently strokes my cheek. Against my olive skin, his hand looks frighteningly pale, as if I’m being comforted by some kind of ghost.

“I’ll get better.”

His hand halts its caress, and he leans over my shoulder, holding onto the tops of my arms instead. Eyes meeting mine in the mirror.

“You keep saying that, but I haven’t seen any improvements, Cas,” he murmurs. “Are you trying to make me look bad?”

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