By 10:15 p.m., the queue outside Club X stretched halfway down the street.
Black cars rolled steadily towards the entrance, headlights washing over velvet ropes, polished pavement and bodies dressed in enough designer clothing to finance a small country.
Camera flashes exploded every few seconds. A singer stepped from a car and immediately disappeared behind security.
Two actresses arrived together.
A footballer walked past the public queue without looking at anyone. Someone screamed his name.
He kept walking.
Behind the ropes, men and women pretended they had not been waiting for over an hour.
Some checked their phones. Some adjusted their clothes.
Others stared openly at the people being allowed through the private doors.
Everyone wanted in.
Inside, Club X was alive.
Music thundered through the building hard enough to vibrate through the glass walls. Violet and blue light swept across the dance floor, catching sequins, diamonds, champagne glasses and raised hands.
The enormous silver X above the main floor glowed like a second moon. Every booth was occupied.
Every table had a bottle.
Every bottle cost enough to offend common sense and above it all, Alex Sergeyev stood on the upper balcony with both hands resting against the railing.
Watching.
His club.
His beautiful, expensive, morally bankrupt masterpiece.
A slow grin spread across his face. "Look at them."
Xavier stood several feet behind him, tablet in hand and exhaustion already settling into his features. "I am."
"No, no." Alex gestured dramatically towards the floor. "Look properly."
Xavier did not move.
Alex turned. "Do you have no appreciation for art?"
"I appreciate art," Xavier said. "This is not art. This is intoxicated people screaming beneath expensive lighting."
Alex looked offended. "Philistine."
Xavier glanced down at his tablet. "General admission has almost reached capacity."
Alex immediately brightened. "See? Expected. What about private VIP?"
"Ninety-three per cent occupied."
Alex pressed a hand against his chest. "Say it slower so I may bask in it."
"No."
Alex clicked his tongue and turned back towards the balcony. "Do you listen to anyone who isn't your beloved Young Master?"
Xavier's mouth curved. "I do not."
Below them, a waitress moved through the crowd carrying a tray of champagne flutes balanced above one shoulder.
Near the centre of the dance floor, a group erupted into cheers when the DJ changed tracks.
Alex watched them. They had no idea. None. Most people in the building believed the exclusive part of Club X was upstairs.
The tinted-glass booths. The private bars. The members-only balcony.
The rooms requiring invitation codes that no amount of money could buy at the door.
They were wrong.
The real Club X began beneath their feet. Three floors below, a private lift opened.
A man stepped out wearing a charcoal suit and no tie. Two guards waiting beside the lift already knew who he was. A door opened.
He disappeared through it.
Elsewhere on the same level, four men sat around a table speaking quietly over untouched glasses.
No music reached them there.
No cameras. No phones.
Just business.
Upstairs, hundreds of people danced.
Downstairs, someone signed away a company.
Another man bought a debt.
A judge accepted an envelope he would later insist had never existed.
Club X breathed in two worlds at once. Neither interfered with the other.
Alex glanced towards the private lift entrance hidden behind smoked glass. "Any problems downstairs?"
"None yet." Xavier looked at him. "It must be disappointing for you."
Alex shrugged. "I like problems."
"You create enough of them yourself."
"That is why I'm qualified." A glass appeared beside Alex. He took it without looking.
Chaos had arrived.
He stood beside him dressed in black, one hand in his pocket, his gaze travelling over the club below.
Alex lifted his drink. "Bratan, once in a while, try wearing bright colours. You nearly scared me."
[Brother.]
Chaos ignored him. His attention moved across the dance floor. The dancers working the poles positioned around the club.
The bars. The balconies. The security placements.
The private access points hidden beneath all the spectacle.
"It works."
Alex slowly turned towards him. "That's it?"
Chaos glanced over. "What else do you want? A damn flower?"
Alex spread his arms. "Yes. And some fucking praise."
"You praised yourself in every reflective surface on the way in."
Xavier lowered his head.
Alex stared between them. "I am surrounded by jealousy."
Chaos took the glass from Alex's hand and drank from it.
Alex looked down at his empty fingers. "That was mine."
"It was."
Alex looked genuinely wounded. "Greedy bastard."
Chaos's gaze shifted towards him. For the briefest moment, something unreadable passed between them.
Alex grinned. "Fine. Keep it." He reached for another glass from a passing tray.
The DJ shouted something into the microphone. The crowd screamed.
Alex turned back towards the balcony, satisfaction settling across his face. For months, Club X had existed only in plans. Architectural drawings. Security reports. Membership lists. Arguments. Money.
So much money.
Now it was real. And full.
A woman near the dance floor lifted her phone and took a photograph beneath the silver X.
Within minutes, it would be online.
Within an hour, thousands of people would see it.
By morning, everyone who had not been invited would want to know how to get in. By next week, people would lie about having been here.
"Membership requests are already increasing," Xavier said. "Over four thousand since nine."
Chaos looked unimpressed. He gave Alex a brief glance.
Alex raised his glass. "To exclusivity."
Chaos did not raise anything. "I spent a lot of money on this crazy stunt of yours."
Alex laughed. "We both want to achieve the same goal with this. And even if you're displeased by it, you know this is the fastest way to get what they need."
Chaos exhaled and flicked the rim of Alex's glass with one finger. "Do not make me regret this, brother."
Alex sighed dramatically. "Uncultured."
A security man approached from behind.
"Boss." Both Chaos and Alex turned. The man hesitated only once before addressing Chaos directly.
"The lower west room guest has arrived."
Chaos's expression changed by almost nothing.
Alex's did not change at all. Chaos gave a slight nod.
The guard bowed and left.
Alex watched him disappear, then returned his attention to the dance floor. "I didn't expect her to arrive so soon."
"You sent out a damn invitation." Chaos followed his gaze. "What the fuck did you expect?"
Someone below had climbed onto a booth. Security immediately started moving.
Alex pointed. "Five hundred thousand pounds says she falls before they reach her."
Xavier looked down. "She'll be removed before that happens. She's wearing six-inch heels."
"That improves my odds."
Three seconds later, her ankle buckled. A security guard caught her before she hit the floor.
Alex groaned. "No!"
Xavier's mouth twitched. He held out one hand. "I accept land and property as payment."
Alex glared at him. Then unclasped the diamond watch from his wrist and dropped it into Xavier's palm.
Xavier looked down at it with mild irritation. "I already have about twelve of these from your previous losses. I asked for land."
Alex raised a fist. Stopped himself. "It's a down payment. Don't get cocky. That watch is worth more than some plots of land, you idiot."
Xavier scoffed, but slipped the watch into his pocket. "I look forward to the next wager."
Alex stared at him in betrayal. Chaos laughed quietly.
The music changed again. Lights rolled across the room.
The crowd erupted.
From the balcony, Club X looked almost unreal.
Beautiful people. Everything controlled.
Everything exactly where it was supposed to be.
Alex rested his forearms against the railing. Below, the silver X reflected across hundreds of raised glasses.
Chaos turned away. "I'll be back."
Alex's grin returned. "Say hi to her for me."
Chaos started towards the stairs.
Downstairs, another private door closed.
Upstairs, champagne sprayed across the dance floor. Outside, the queue grew longer. And by midnight, Club X had become exactly what Alex had intended.
A place everyone wanted to enter. A place nobody truly understood. A place where the city came to be seen—
and the Underworld came to disappear.
💜~~~~~~~
Kashi stood beside the living-room window with her phone pressed to her ear, one hand resting at her waist.
She glanced towards the front door. "Run that by me again."
On the other end, Zach went silent for half a second.
Then carefully repeated himself.
"Grey Enterprises is already feeling the impact of the western port withdrawal. Their logistics team reached out twice today. Finance also flagged concerns over several joint investment positions."
Kashi turned away from the window.
"And…" Zach hesitated. "There are still existing ties between Saints Group and Grey Enterprises outside the port agreement."
Kashi walked towards the sofa. "How many?"
"A lot."
She stopped. "A lot is not a number, Zach."
"I know, ma'am."
"Then give me one."
Faint keyboard tapping came through the phone.
"Fourteen active investment positions. Three shared commercial structures. Two long-term development agreements. Several smaller equity-linked arrangements and—"
"Pull them." Kashi sat down. "Every single one."
Silence.
She looked at the phone. "Zach?"
"I'm here."
"Oh. I was beginning to think you died."
"I almost did."
Kashi leaned back against the sofa. "I want every past investment reviewed and withdrawn where possible. Every agreement. Every joint position with the western port. Every little thread tying Saints Group to Grey Enterprises."
Zach inhaled slowly. "Ma'am… some of those investments are profitable. Pulling out this quickly could affect our short-term position. We'll need Legal involved, Finance will want justification, Compliance will ask questions, and Corporate Strategy will probably start crying—"
"Zachary Hale." Her voice flattened. "Just do your damn job."
Very quietly, Zach muttered, "I'm the only person being stressed in this company."
Kashi's brow rose. "What was that?"
"I said I'll begin immediately."
A laugh escaped her.
"Fine. Pull this off properly and I'll double your pay this month."
The transformation on the other end was immediate. "I'll have the first withdrawal schedule ready tonight."
Kashi's mouth curved. "Thought so."
Glory to capitalism.
"And I can have Legal review the termination clauses before morning. Finance can start recalculating exposure tonight. I'll personally follow up with Strategy."
Zach suddenly sounded twenty years younger. "I've actually been craving a holiday in Ibiza."
Kashi's expression went flat. "Don't push your luck."
"I'm only saying—"
"Zach. Focus."
"Yes, ma'am."
She crossed one leg over the other. "Anything else?"
"Yes." His tone shifted. "Grey Enterprises executives reached out. They want a meeting."
"When?"
"Tomorrow."
Kashi said nothing. Her gaze drifted towards the coffee table.
Beside an untouched glass and a stack of documents sat the sleek black VIP card Zarri had proudly produced earlier.
A silver X gleamed across its centre.
Club X.
Zarri had waved the thing around as though she had been granted access to the royal treasury.
Dante had nearly developed another stress-related illness. And now both of them had disappeared.
So much for a bodyguard. So much for loyalty.
"So?" Zach asked carefully.
Kashi picked up the card between two fingers. "What time do Grey Enterprises want the meeting?"
"Ten."
She studied the silver X.
Zach continued. "Although… You could arrive late." He sounded increasingly pleased with himself. "Eleven. Maybe twelve. Just to spite them."
Kashi's mouth twitched. "I already had that in mind."
"You have plans?"
Kashi turned the VIP card over. "Yes. Clubbing."
Zach gasped. Then actually cheered.
"YES!"
Kashi pulled the phone away from her ear. "Control yourself."
"Sorry, ma'am, but finally. Go out. Have fun. Make terrible decisions."
Kashi stared at the phone. "Why does everyone around me encourage poor behaviour?"
"Because you work too much."
She looked down at the card again.
Silver X. Black background. Exclusive.
Annoyingly tempting.
Kashi placed it back on the table. "Keep this energy tomorrow and Ibiza may become a reality."
Zach immediately brightened again. "Miss Saints, you are truly the greatest employer any man could ever—"
Kashi ended the call.
She dropped the phone beside her. Then looked at the Club X card again.
Ten o'clock tomorrow.
Grey Enterprises.
She would finally face him again after a year. And this time, she was going there to ruin him completely.
Her mouth curved.
Terror could wait.
Tonight, she had somewhere else to be.