Laurel P.O.V
Sleep still clung to my body like a stubborn shadow as I rolled onto my side,my pillow cool beneath my cheek.The room was dim,quiet,almost peaceful until Scarlett's voice tore through it like a blade.
Screaming.
Panicked.
Wild.
The kind of scream that doesn't come from fear but from terror.
My phone started ringing,its sharp melody almost drowned beneath her frantic shouting.I fumbled blindly on the nightstand until my fingers brushed the cold device.I pressed it to my ear,still half trapped in sleep.
"H…Hello" I managed to speak,my voice was thick and fading.
What I heard next snapped the sleep right out of my bones.
"Laurel—don't come out.Don't come out.Stay in your room" Sally's voice trembled so badly the words broke apart,her breath hitching like she was running…or crying.
Behind the phone call,Sophie whimpered.A small,broken sound like something dying.
My heart lurched. "Sally,who's there? What happened? Sally—!"
The line cut.
A dead silence followed,then Scarlett screamed again,a raw,piercing sound that felt like it ripped straight through my chest.
Panic erupted inside me.I shot out of bed,my body moving before my brain caught up.My red slippers slapped hard against the cold floor as I stumbled into the hallway,adrenaline already burning through the last traces of sleep.
The moment I reached the stairs,my blood froze.
The living room was a nightmare come alive.
Scarlett knelt on the floor,rigid with fear,her eyes wide and shimmering with tears she couldn't blink away.She was trembling so violently it looked like her bones were rattling.
Sally was gone.
Just…gone.
And Sophie—
Oh God.
Sophie wasn't standing.She wasn't moving.She was slumped on the couch,her body barely held together.Her face was unrecognizable—swollen, purple,smeared with blood.Her lower lip was split and her nightwear was torn so badly she was practically exposed.Her body was bruised everywhere I looked—angry red marks,deep dark smudges and scratches.She looked like someone had tried to erase her.
I clenched the railing to steady myself,my breath trembling out of my lungs.
"Scarlett…" I whispered,but the word caught like thorns in my throat.
Before I could move,the door beeped.It was a small sound.Soft and ordinary.
But in that moment,it felt like the scream of a monster waking up.
The door slid open and Richardo walked in.
Death entered with him.
He was flanked by two massive men dressed head to toe in black.Their expressions were unreadable behind their sunglasses—cold,flat,inhuman.Their bodies were tense,disciplined like they were trained to kill without hesitation.
Richardo,however…He didn't have to try to intimidate.He simply was intimidation.
He moved with the smooth confidence of a man who knew no one could stop him because those who tried were dead.
Tattoos crawled over his skin like shadows.A black snake curved down his neck,its fangs poised over the pulse point in a silent warning.His suit was tailored to perfection,his shoes polished to a mirror shine.And his face…
He was though.
Handsome.
Devastatingly,dangerously handsome.
The kind that draws you in—right before it destroys you.
His eyes were the worst part.
Dark.
Cold.
And completely devoid of mercy.
I swallowed hard,regret clawing at my chest. "We shouldn't have scammed him in Paris…God,we shouldn't have done it—"
As if she heard me,Sally's voice shot across the room,trembling but sharp.
"Why are you here? What's with this dramatic entrance,Richardo?"
He didn't even look at her at first.He stared at Sophie,at Scarlett,then at the room like he was evaluating broken furniture.
"No one takes my money" He said finally,his voice smooth and venomous, "without paying the price"
"What do you want from us?" Sally shouted from somewhere behind the counter with fear and defiance twisted together in her tone.
Richardo lifted his hand casually like he was ordering a drink.
"Kill them"
Everything slowed.
Scarlett gasped.
Sophie whimpered.
My heart slammed painfully in my chest.
One of the henchmen raised his gun,pointing it straight at Scarlett's forehead.The click of the safety sent a violent shiver through me. Time bent, stretched, suffocated.
"WAIT!!" Sally screamed,her voice exploding into the air,raw with desperation.
A beat of hesitation.
One second.
Two.
Then Richardo's voice cracked like a whip.
"Che cazzo stai aspettando?! Uccidili!"
(TRANSLATION: What the fuck are you waiting for?! Kill them!)
Even without understanding the words,I understood the fury.The meaning.The death in every syllable.
The gunshot exploded.
Sophie's body jerked,then fell apart like a puppet cut from its strings.
There was bloodshed.
Sophie crashed on the ground,instantly dead.
I covered my mouth,a strangled cry escaping me as her body hit the floor with a horrifying finality. Tears pricked my eyes,sharp and hot.
I moved.
Not consciously.
Just a desperate stumble backward,trying to sneak back to my room,my instinct screaming at me to run.
But then my slippers made a sound,that tiny sound when it slid against the floor and that grabbed their attention immediately.
Richardo's head snapped up like a predator ready to catch its prey.His eyes locked on the stairs.
"Bring her" He said quietly.Then,colder:
"Dead"
The world shifted.
I spun and ran up the stairs,my heart hammering so hard it felt like it would burst from my chest.My vision blurred from tears,but I kept running—running like my life depended on each breath,each step.
I reached my door,my hands were shaking violently as I grabbed the handle.
I almost made it.
Almost.
But a heavy boot crashed into the door,slamming it open and sending me stumbling backward.The wall thudded behind me as one of Richardo's men stepped inside,towering over me like a shadow.
He raised the gun.
Straight at my face.
I didn't have time to scream.
Or beg.
Or breathe.
The gunshot tore the air apart.
And then—everything went black.
FLASHBACK –
PARIS,ONE MONTH AGO
Paris glowed that night.
Golden lights shimmered on the Seine,music drifted from street cafés and the air smelled like perfume,wine and expensive sins.It was the perfect city for girls like us.
People called us prostitutes,but we weren't.We never slept with men.Not even once.
We used our beauty as bait.
Our words as weapons.
Our innocence as a lie.
We were thieves—pretty,delicate thieves who stole only from men who never deserved their money in the first place.
Scarlett with her red lips and angel curls.Sophie with her soft voice that made men melt.Sally with her sharp smile.
And me—Laurel—the one who sealed the deal,always with a sweet laugh and a soft touch on the arm.
Men loved us.
Men trusted us.
Men drowned in us.
And we drowned them right back.
Paris was our hunting ground for a month.
That night,the four of us walked into the Velours Noir Club—a place soaked in velvet,champagne bubbles and the perfume of the wealthy.Nothing in that club cost less than a man's monthly salary.We fit right in.
We walked in as a team.
We always did.
Our plan was simple:
Find a man with too much pride,too much money and too little sense.Make him fall in love with the illusion of us.Let him buy us drinks, gifts, promises.And when he was blind with lust and confidence—
We robbed him clean.
We always chose careless men.
But that night…we chose the one man we should have never touched.
Richardo Alterdo.
The name alone held weight we didn't know it then.
He sat at a private table,surrounded by wine,diamonds and dangerous men.Tattoos peeked from under his sleeves.His eyes were dark, slow, calculating.He watched everything—every person,every movement—as if the world owed him respect.
We thought he was just another wealthy Italian with arrogance dripping from his suit.
We didn't know he was someone dangerous.
Not yet.
Scarlett nudged me. "Laurel,forget the others.That one will pay all our rent for three months"
Sophie giggled softly. "Maybe even a year"
Sally smirked. "Then make him fall"
Scarlett,Sophie and I approached him like two petals floating toward a flame.
He looked up the moment we entered his orbit—eyes slow, curious, assessing.I flashed him a smile I'd perfected over years: sweet, harmless, a little shy.His gaze sharpened.
"Bonsoir,monsieur" I purred,leaning on the table lightly. "You look…lonely."
He wasn't lonely.
He was dangerous.
But men like him loved the attention of pretty girls.
His lips curled in a small smirk. "I don't remember ordering entertainment"
"Oh,we're not entertainment" Sophie said,sliding into the seat beside him. "We're temptation"
He chuckled—low and dangerous. "And what do you want from me,belle tentation?"
"Nothing" I lied.
And that lie sealed our fate.
We played the game perfectly.
Sophie acted shy,Scarlett acted bold,I acted flirty and curious.We made him comfortable,made him think he'd chosen us…when we'd chosen him.
He drank with us.
Talked with us.
Let his guard down—just a little.
And when Scarlett whispered that she wanted to see his penthouse,he agreed.
Inside,everything reeked of wealth—marble,gold and a coldness that should've warned us.
While he poured champagne, Sophie slipped into his office.
Scarlett distracted him with laughter, asking him about the view.
And me?
I kissed his cheek softly and whispered,
"Close your eyes"
He did.
A fatal mistake.
We emptied his safe.
His drawers.
His wallets.
His watches.
Even his hidden cash.
Thousands of euros.
Watches worth more than our entire lives.
A ring we never should have taken.
Richardo opened his eyes just as I walked past him.
He didn't notice the missing cash.
He didn't notice the empty safe.
He noticed me.
His stare locked with mine—slow,intense and unreadable.
"You're a beautiful liar" He murmured.
I froze.
Just for a second.
Then I smiled and lied again.
"No,I'm not"
We left Paris with his money stuffed in our bags and laughter echoing behind us.
We thought we had outsmarted him.
We thought he would never find us.
We thought we were safe.
But nothing is more foolish than robbing a man who never forgets a face…a man who swore to destroy whoever dared touch what was his.
And Richardo Alterdo never forgot ours.