Wrecked by a Devil (Preview)
Don’t miss your link for the whole book at the end of the preview.
Chapter One
Riley
“Did you hear about the girl that went missing last week?” The conversation I overheard earlier in the subway keeps playing in my head, as if I hadn’t been second-guessing my decision already.
“Wasn’t she a stripper? It’s pretty common for night workers to go missing.” Her friend sounded as if it’s the most natural thing in the world for a stripper to disappear without a trace.
“I guess so… But it’s still scary.”
And it is scary. I happen to agree with the stranger on the subway. Yet here I am, waiting in a room with my friend Mia and six other girls, to audition for a stripper at the Gentlemen’s club Eden. The most elite club in the city.
“Riley, are you still worried? You look a little pale,” Mia hands me a bottle of water from her bag and I immediately take a sip.
“I just can’t stop thinking about that conversation from earlier,” I return the bottle to her, feeling a little better.
“Hey,” Mia gently places her hand over mine and when our eyes meet, I see how determined she is to go through with this. “We’re not doing that. We’re not that girl, you have nothing to worry about.”
I look over at the staff at the other side of the room. They keep leaving and entering in a rush, non-stop talking with someone over their walkie-talkies. “This place makes me nervous, and the auditions being late doesn’t help.”
I glance at my wristwatch. 10:37 PM. With my exam being tomorrow, I need to get back home and study. If the audition doesn’t start in the next few minutes, I’m screwed.
“That’s all normal,” Mia smiles. “I imagine it must be complicated to run an audition for such a big night club, and things tend to happen, like tech failure and stuff. Just try to remember why we’re doing this.”
She’s right. My course isn’t going to pay for itself, I really need this job. Maybe even more than I’m willing to admit. Besides, Mia managed to get us these auditions and I’m beyond grateful to her. I know she wouldn’t have brought us to audition in some hell hole.
“I guess you’re right.” I look myself in the mirror behind Mia. My dark blonde hair is in a neat high ponytail, allowing the golden straps of the stage costume to show on my fair skin. “And it pays way better than being a waitress.”
My only free time is at night; therefore I never had many options to choose from in the first place. A few nights ago, I went to a different club to interview for a waitress, but the pay was painfully low. After that Mia came with the news about the audition and the thought initially scared me. But I ended up agreeing to try it out.
My job as an intern at the hospital is unpaid, and I’m studying to be a paramedic. I can make use of any penny I can earn and the life I aspire to build requires sacrifices. Besides, I have a clear idea of what I’m willing to sacrifice and working as a stripper falls into the first category.
“God, you’re so gorgeous, you’ll drive everyone crazy,” Mia laughs, noticing that I’ve been checking myself out.
“As long as they just look and no one tries touching,” I try to make it sound like a joke, but on that long list of things I’m not willing to sacrifice for the money is my body. “If even one dude tries to lay a finger on me, I won’t even stop to think before quitting.”
“For that to happen, first you need to get hired, and only then can you kick everyone’s ass the moment they even look at you wrong,” Mia winks at me. “But jokes aside, that’s why I chose this place. Their reputation is solid and they really go above and beyond to protect the girls.”
What stands out the most from what I managed to find about Eden from a short googling session, is their “no touching” rule. They do offer private dances to their clients, but only with security present and even then, men are not allowed to touch the strippers. To make things even better, there isn’t a single corner in the club without cameras.
I notice the audition manager when she walks back into the room. “Excuse me, I really need to use the restroom. May I go quickly?”
“Of course,” she responds without ever lifting her head from the tablet. “Just go to the one near the private offices. The one here is broken.”
I take mental notes of her instructions and thank the audition manager and walk outside into a long, dark yet classy, hall.
“Turn left and then the second passage on the right,” the place looks like a labyrinth after my first turn and I have to remind myself of the directions. “It’s at the very end of the hallway. Fifth door.”
On my last turn, a few steps into the hall, the air gets a lot colder, as if someone has left the windows open in the middle of winter. I shake, immediately regretting not having taken my jacket.
Wait, didn’t she say the fifth door?
The fifth door is far from being the last door in the incredibly long dark corridor. If anything it looks like it’s somewhere in the middle. I still try opening it, hoping that I’ve somehow managed to come to the right place, trying not to think about the fact that I’ve probably gotten lost, but it’s locked.
I hate this.
Now I’m really regretting leaving my jacket behind. The place is eerie despite the expensive furniture and the fancy wallpaper. And with the lights off it makes me feel like I’ve walked into a horror movie rather than an elite club.
There is a murmur coming from one of the rooms down the corridor and I decide to follow the sound, hoping someone will help me find the restroom. The further I walk down the hallway, the darker it gets, with the only light coming from the room where the voice is coming from. I notice the voice is incredibly low.
The closer I get, the louder the voice becomes and I can now understand what the guy is saying. “I’m going to ask one more time,” the voice is cold, almost cruel. “Who is taking the girls?”
The room is barely lit, but I spot a tall, painfully gorgeous figure standing in front of another man in chains. The chained man is unrecognizable beneath the blood and sweat covering his body. His head hangs low, dark curls plastered to his forehead, chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths.
My eyes drift to the long metal rod in the handsome man’s hands. For a second, my brain refuses to understand what I’m looking at. The low lighting turns everything soft around the edges, making it appear unreal, until he suddenly swings it what I now think is a polished steel baton.
A loud thud echoes through the room as metal crashes against flesh.
I flinch so hard, I barely manage to keep my balance and avoid falling.
The sound the chained man releases is unlike anything I have ever heard. Completely broken and raw, dragged violently from deep inside of him, it’s the kind of sound that makes my stomach twist before my mind can even process it.
The man in chains jerks against the restraints, the metal rattling over his head, but he doesn’t say a word. I wonder if he was trained to endure torture. I remember once watching a documentary about Navy SEALs and how they all underwent a program called SERE. I don’t remember what the name stands for but it was a special training teaching them how to get through a not so friendly interrogation. Though the guy looks nothing like a Navy SEAL, and I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a military operation.
I notice the blood spatters everywhere around him, and I have to fight the urge to throw up.
The worst part is probably that the man torturing him doesn’t look affected by any of it.
His expression remains calm, almost as if he’s bored. I wonder how someone can be so beautiful yet monstrous all at once.
As he raises the steel baton again, my heart drops and I gasp.
“Oh shit…”
The words barely leave my mouth before he turns around and our eyes meet. I see my whole life flash before my eyes.
For a short heartbeat, he just stares at me from across the room. The look on his face is cold, terrifyingly calm, and that somehow manages to scare me more.
“Oh shit, shit, shit!”
I sprint down the hallway, my heart beating so fast, I’m worried it might jump out of my chest.
He’s at least 6’4 and being a petite who doesn’t do cardio, I don’t manage to get far before he catches up to me without even breaking a sweat. His hand lands on my shoulder and before I know it, I’m pinned against the wall, his tall figure towering me.
Up close, he’s even worse. Beautiful in a way that feels unfair. Dark hair and sharp jaw. Eyes so green, an emerald would be jealous of them.
But there is blood splattered across his collar.
Yet, his smell invites me in, a mix of smoke and expensive cologne, dangerously clean beneath all the chaos.
“Oh shit…” I release a breathless whisper, as his gaze drags over my face painfully slowly.
All the years of self-defense classes kick in and before I can lose my nerve, I drive my knee upward as hard as I can.
He curses sharply, his body folding just enough for me to bolt.
I don’t even know how, but I manage to return to the dressing room backstage, bumping into some of the staff members at the door.
“Finally!” Mia walks up to me. “They’ve been calling us, we need to go on stage like right now!”
“No, we need to leave this place immediately! Something’s off!”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, I don’t know,” I struggle to catch my breath. “But if we stay, we’re going to get in trouble and it’s the last thing we need.”
Mia nods, taking my hand as we, both step out into the corridor. However, the moment we step out of the room, a staff member grabs my arm.
“Your turn,” she says, coldly, dragging me in the opposite direction of where I came from just minutes before. I try to get out of her grip, but no luck.
Behind me, Mia is being dragged by another staff member. “I’m sorry…” She mouths as we are both lined up with the other girls on a small stage.
The lights are bright and my heart is still racing from earlier. I can’t even think straight.
“Whatever it is that scared you, try not to think about it,” Mia whispers next to me.
Maybe she’s right, I should just focus on doing what I came here for in the first place. Maybe I should forget about the handsome guy and the chained man and just dance the best I can and get hired. That’s why I came here in the first place, to get a stable income.
My attention goes to the man sitting on the couch on the right, but the stage lights are too strong for me to notice any of his features. I assume he’s the one we’ll have to impress in order to get hired.
Why did I ever think I could do this?
I wipe the sweat off my hands on the tiny skirt, hoping the guy won’t notice how out of it I am.
As we’re being introduced, I notice another figure joining the first guy, but he’s walking strange.
Are they looking for me?
“And now, we present to you the future of Eden!”
The music starts.
Chapter Two
Ezekiel
My brother has been waiting for me to start the auditions and when I finally join him on the couch, I have to sit down slowly, like a fucking 80-year with bad knees. Any wrong or sudden move results in a sharp reminder of the kick.
Wait until I have a word with you.
I’m still fuming after the encounter I had with that girl earlier. Not only did she wander somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be and witness me beating that guy senseless, but she also dared to kick me in the balls. No one kicks Ezekiel Kavanagh in the balls without paying for it.
“Is everything okay?” Malachi says, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Did the questioning go wrong?”
“It got us nowhere,” I try to make myself comfortable by spreading my legs and leaning forward but it doesn’t do much to ease the discomfort. “The guy doesn’t have a clue about who hired him. He doesn’t even know anyone above him.”
“So he just followed orders like a dog?” Malachi doesn’t even try to hide the disgust in his voice.
“Yeah, apparently he was in it for some easy cash,” I nod. “But don’t think I’m going to let him off so easily.”
“Never thought you would.” My brother, knowing me a little too well, hands me a cigarette and lights it up for me. “What the hell happened to you? You look like a car ran you over.”
Instead of answering, I give him a warning look and he backs off immediately. Malachi might be my advisor and strategist, as well as the second hand of the Kavanagh family, but he knows his place. Not even he gets to cross the line with me.
It’s one of the advantages of being the head of the Kavanagh family. Ever since I took over, the fear and the respect people have been showing me has been nothing short of amusing.
Nonetheless, every now and then, the thought of what life would look like if I hadn’t been born a Kavanagh slips in. Or if my parents were still alive and the crown hadn’t landed on my head.
But it’s useless.
The dead stay dead and there’s nothing anything can do about it. Being the head of one of the most feared Irish-American crime families in the city means that the city knows my name. And not just that, people fear me and they bend over backwards to please me. They show me respect and no one dares to even look at me in the wrong way. I have people doing the dirty work for me, even though I don’t hesitate to get my hands dirty when necessary. And right now, all I’m able to think about is how I made a mistake and allowed that girl to humiliate me.
The music starts and the first girl starts dancing. Objectively, she’s very good looking and knows her way around the pole. Her act ends quickly and the next one comes on stage immediately. Malachi writes something down in his notes.
I should be focusing on the performance and evaluating each girl alongside Malachi, but my head is in a different place entirely. It doesn’t help that the girls are far from the standard that we’re looking for, making it even harder for me to focus on their dance.
“They’re missing the spark,” I say and my brother nods.
“I liked the first one,” Malachi shares his notes with me and I see that he’s been scribbling down ratings for each girl and their performance. “But she doesn’t have the stage presence we’re looking for here.”
“I agree,” I lean back on the couch, regretting it immediately when the pain spreads through my crotch. The worst part isn’t even the pain. I’m no stranger to pain. What makes my blood boil is that every twinge is a direct insult and a reminder that she caught me off guard for half a second. That half a second was already half a second too long.
The other girls continue their performance, but not a single one of them stands out.
I make a mental note to have a chat with the person in charge of casting. Eden is an elite club; we don’t do mediocre. Whether it’s strippers or drinks, we only offer the best to our customers.
After some time, my mind goes to the incident from earlier again.
“There was someone in the corridor,” I tell Malachi and he leans in closer to hear me over the music blasting from the speakers. “She saw me, but she ran away before I could catch her.”
“Did you recognize her?” Malachi stops looking at the dancers and turns his entire focus on me.
“No,” I shake my head. “But we need to find her and see how much she saw. I gave an order earlier to keep the club under lockdown and not let anyone in or out.”
Before I came to join my brother and judge the auditions, I had a conversation with the head of security, instructing him to lock all the entrances and prepare the camera footage for me to check after the auditions. I’m not going to let anyone set foot out of Eden until I find the girl.
And maybe make her pay.
“Do you think she works for the Devlins?”
“It’s possible,” I nod. She could easily be a spy for the Devlin family, or anyone else foolish enough to try and go up against us. We all know what happens to those who try to challenge the Kavanaghs. “But whoever she is and whoever she might work for, she’s not going anywhere until I speak to her.”
A lot of people came to the club today because we are also holding interviews for service at the club. That’s what makes me uneasy, the girl could be just anyone. Even if I go through all the names, it might take a while until I find her. And if she’s smart enough, she w be terrified right now. But that’ll also make things harder for me and more difficult to find her.
“I can’t believe this!” My brother throws his notes on the couch a little too aggressively, making the girl closest to us look in our direction. He lowers his voice when he realizes that people are watching. “Wasn’t there supposed to be a security guard making sure no one walks down the corridor?”
“There was,” I crush my cigarette into the ashtray. “But there was another incident, so he was missing from his post to take care of it.”
“We will have to have a serious conversation with the staff here,” he picks up his notes again, and starts scribbling, though I doubt he’s writing evaluations right now judging by how pissed he is.
“Oh, absolutely,” I agree. “The incident is not a valid excuse. He’ll still get the punishment he deserves.”
“You have enough on your plate, I can take care of it,” Malachi suggests and I nod. If there’s anyone I trust with something like this, it’s the oldest of my younger brothers. He is the most strategic and organized one.
Another girl catches my attention briefly, but her short pixie cut and the polished looks still don’t make her seem like she’s on the level of Eden.
“Where are Cain, Elijah and Levi?”
“They’re in the private room,” Malachi explains. “Waiting for us to finish here so we can discuss everything.”
“Good,” At least something is still going according to the plan.
Eden is the crown jewel of the Kavanagh empire, though you would never guess it from the velvet ropes and the neon façade. To the outside world, it’s just an elite playground, but to my family, it’s the lifeblood of our operation. This is where the city’s most dangerous and powerful men come to shed their skin. They come to drown themselves in top-shelf liquor, buy expensive, temporary pleasure, and lose fortunes at tables hidden far from the public view.
More importantly, it’s where the real machinery moves. Behind closed doors, deals are signed, and millions of dollars in dirty, blood-soaked cash are quietly funneled through our legitimate books. It is, without a question, the most seamless, valuable laundering machine we own, all while being disguised beautifully as a den of sin.
But lately, Eden has started spiraling out of control. Tonight’s pathetic lineup of auditions is undeniable proof of that downward trend. People are scared to work here because of the many rumors going around. A large number of girls suddenly quit, while others have disappeared. And that’s something we cannot allow to keep happening.
Even though Malachi may be handling strategy and the family’s higher-level operations now, I still feel responsible for the club and this has been keeping me up at night. I’m under the assumption that someone is trying to weaken the club and my gut is never wrong, so whoever that is, when I find them, they will regret the day they were born.
“We need to find a solution quickly,” Malachi says, more as a broadcast of his thoughts than a continuation of our conversation. “If we don’t, we’re screwed.”
He’s right about that and I agree with him. While from the outside it might look like no big deal to just open another club, we will be losing a lot more than just the income.
That’s why I’m here tonight, overseeing the new round of auditions, which is not something I usually participate in. Even though officially I run things from my family’s main office building downtown, with Eden being our most profitable front, I spend a lot of time at the club. But my job is taking care of the money, not watch the girls audition for a stripper. Still, I can’t let things slip out of my hands. Not when so much is on the line. And if that means personally taking care of every little thing in this place, I will do it without hesitation.
Really wanting to catch the son of the bitch that’s been trying to bury me and my family is a great motivator.
“Cain has been getting really impatient,” Malachi continues. “You know how obsessive he can get, and with all of this, he’s becoming more and more anxious about catching this person.”
“I can’t say I don’t relate to that feeling,” I pour myself a glass of whiskey before briefly glancing at the current dancer on stage. She looks like another replica of every single girl that auditioned before her and I immediately lose interest. “But we can’t lose our heads with this. We have to play it smart.”
The hazel eyes staring straight into mine in that hallway earlier flash before my eyes and I take another sip of whiskey to calm myself down. I might not be able to catch whoever is trying to take us down tonight, but what I will make sure of is that I will take care of her.
“Agree,” I notice Malachi is still scribbling something down in his notes, evaluating the girls. His ability to multitask never fails to impress me.
He always thinks several moves ahead. Malachi doesn’t get distracted by minor inconveniences and his strategic mind has always been one of his strong suits. I would dare to call him a cold-blooded, psychologically ruthless genius, and even if we weren’t blood related, I would want someone like him to be my right hand. I do not envy those standing on the opposite side of him.
Just as I’m about to say something else, the music changes to a sensual song, one that I really like, and both Malachi and I look up at the girl dancing. She’s a little stiff at first, as if she doesn’t feel comfortable being here, but once her body starts moving to the rhythm, something takes over her and I can see her immerse herself in the dance, the song taking control of her body. It takes me a minute, but I recognize her as soon as I take a closer look, even with the lights dimmed.
Her features appear softer as she’s dancing, and I notice that her body is incredibly strong. She’s on the shorter side, but the taller girls who came before her pale in comparison to her natural talent and charisma.
My balls are what is making me eager to get her into my office and have a word or two with her. They aren’t so willing to forgive her for that kick earlier just because of her pretty face and hot body.
Her beauty is nothing like the practiced glamour of the girls in Eden, and it’s what makes her stand out even more. Suddenly my pants feel tight and I try looking away, but the way her hips move to the beat keeps me captivated, making me even more eager to be alone with her and question her to find out what she knows.
Our eyes meet briefly but I know she doesn’t recognize me under the stage lights. She continues moving to the slow beat, her blonde hair catching the red neon lights, making her look almost ethereal.
I grin, taking another sip of whiskey.
She thinks she escaped me, but she has no idea she walked straight into my cage.
“This one,” I tell Malachi when she finishes her dance. She’s the last girl to audition and we are supposed to take some time and discuss the decision before announcing it. “I want this one. What’s her name?”
“Riley Monroe,” He responds after taking a quick look at his notes. “But we need to hire two girls, so we still need to share our evaluations and…”
“Did she come with a friend?”
My brother checks his notes once again before speaking. “Yes, someone named Mia Bennett.”
“We need to hire both of them immediately,” I put my drink down. “You can let the other girls go home and inform the security that there is no need for a lockdown anymore.” But I will still take a look at that security footage and see what Riley has been up to since the moment she sat foot inside.
“All right,” Without questioning my orders, Malachi gets up from the couch and steps up on the stage, announcing who the two selected girls are. “We want to thank all of you for auditioning tonight and we hope you had a great time. Thank you!”
I watch the look on her face turn from neutral and composed into a complete terror as she recognizes me when I get up and join my brother on the stage. I grin, taking the microphone from him. “Riley Monroe, please head to the manager’s office to take care of all the paperwork and documentation. As for Mia Bennett, everything will be taken care of right here.”
My eyes never leave hers as I step down from the stage, and oddly enough she doesn’t break eye contact. I can still see the terror behind her eyes, that same fear that made her kick me in the balls earlier. Yet she remains composed and professional, making me wonder if she’s used to wearing a mask even when her entire world is crumbling.
I can’t wait to know more about you, Riley.
“What’s all of this about?” Malachi asks as I move past him, heading to the office.
“It’s her, Mal,” I turn around to face him as I put my hand on my brother’s shoulder. “The girl who saw me beating up that guy.”
My brother’s face turns pale. He doesn’t say anything, instead he nods, his eyes finding her. I can see him thinking and I recognize that look in his eyes. I would be willing to bet I have that same look.
“We need to find out how much she saw, who she really is and whether she’s just an unlucky girl who happened to witness something that she shouldn’t have,” I glance at her one more time. “Or if she’s another problem I have to bury.”
If you liked the preview, you can get the whole book here
