His Wicked Heart (EDITING)

Prologue

iterum
(adv.) again; a second time

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PRESENT

GENEVIEVE

Soft music buzzed in the background. People danced to its rhythm, and some sang along. Others sat at tables in the corners, drinking and engaging in gossip, while some found sobriety in their own pleasures and pain.

The name of the club was Vittoria's Venue, named after its first prostitute, Vittoria. People said that she was the most gorgeous prostitute in Moscow. The wealthy would pay exorbitant amounts for her services for just one night. However, the beautiful Vittoria suddenly disappeared one day. Some tried to find her, but they never succeeded.

Then, one day she returned, though not alive. She came back with a body so unrecognizable and abominable, shot through multiple organs and with limbs torn off. They say that some drunken robbers raped and brutally murdered her.

But there's another rumor. Some say that she caught the eye of a monster, a feral and sinister man. Similar to the one that seemed to bore holes into my back with its bare eyes.

Him. He sat in the darkest corner of the room, barely noticed by anyone. Even I couldn't see him.

But I knew he was there. I could feel his piercing gaze fixed on me, his emerald green eyes that always managed to send shivers down my spine. His mere presence ignited me hotter than fire.

And that was the problem. I had always felt too much around him. Experienced emotions so intense that I couldn't even name. He brought to life those feelings within me that I had never bothered to show and the emotions I had always tried to avoid. That's why I left.

I left him a year ago. I never imagined that I would end up in his city again. But I had to return. I had to go back to Moscow, the city I spent my childhood in. And to the city he ruled.

I returned two months ago. Yet, I never thought that he would be following me. Because why, the most fearsome man in Moscow, would come for an ordinary Russian woman like me? I would have been less surprised if I had found out that he had forgotten about me, the woman he had shared a bed with for just a few months.

But I was wrong. So very wrong. And my biggest mistake up to this point?

I entered the club he owned. I stepped in a gin, and I had no one to blame for the foolishness except myself. And I would have to deal with the consequences. But I needed this. I had to be here...

"Genevieve Antonova?" A feminine voice broke through my thoughts. I turned my head and met a pair of fox eyes. A red-haired woman gazed down at me, her eyebrows furrowed and her face heavy with make up. Taking in her appearance, I noticed she wore a midnight blue dress and heels far more extravagant than what a local club prostitute would typically wear.

"Da," I replied, placing my glass on the table. Adjusting my posture, I stood up from the chair I had been sitting on. Then I noticed that, despite her heels, the woman was shorter than me.

Without saying more, she scanned my body with her eyes, a hint of curiosity dancing within her gaze. However, that curiosity vanished before her intense gaze met mine again. "Podpisyvaytes' na menya."

With that, she turned on her heels, not bothering to see if I would comply. Glancing around, everything appeared ordinary. As if there was no man in the dark who have been watching my every movement, including my interaction with the club's gospozha. Then I began to follow the woman in the suit, unaware of where she was leading me.

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TRANSLATIONS:

1. Podpisyvaytes' na menya. - Follow me.

2. Da - Yes