LightReader

Chapter 3 - Chapter 3 Sloane

I didn't breathe until I was outside his door.

The hallway felt colder somehow — like the air had thinned, or maybe I had. My legs carried me toward the dressing room, but my mind stayed behind in that velvet-lined suite, tangled in a pair of grey eyes that saw too much.

What the hell had just happened?

He hadn't touched me. Hadn't said anything explicit. But Dorian Vale had still left fingerprints on my skin.

I'd met men like him before — powerful, dangerous, drawn to things they shouldn't want. But Dorian was something worse.

He didn't chase.

He waited.

And somehow, that made me feel more hunted than ever.

---

"Hey," Marnie said when I slipped back into the dressing room. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

I forced a laugh. "Maybe I did."

Her eyes narrowed, lips puckering around her vape. "He say anything weird?"

"No."

Yes.

"He ask you to… you know?"

"No."

Not yet.

Marnie leaned back. "Be careful. Guys like him don't play fair."

I nodded, but my thoughts were already somewhere else. Dorian hadn't asked for anything.

But he'd made it clear he expected everything.

---

By the time my shift ended, I had replayed our conversation a dozen times. Each word. Each glance. The way he stood so still, like movement was beneath him. The way he said my name like it already belonged to him.

Sloane Mercer.

Like he was memorizing it for something important.

I left through the back entrance just before 3AM. The streets were still buzzing, headlights slicing through cigarette smoke and neon haze. I pulled my hoodie tight around my face and ducked my head, moving fast.

But not fast enough.

A sleek black car pulled up alongside me.

I stopped.

The window rolled down.

Enzo — the security guy with the eyes of a man who'd seen too much — looked me over once. "Mr. Vale wants a word."

I swallowed hard. "Now?"

He nodded. "He's not in the casino."

My stomach twisted.

"Then where is he?"

More Chapters