Chapter 49

I do my duty silently and give Alexi a wide berth all night. He’s left me be, said nothing when I appeared at seven when the doors opened, after hours of composing myself upstairs. The club is bustling, but I feel empty inside as I play the role of smiling hostess. I have been trying to put back on that face of control. It seems he is doing what he does best, acting like nothing is amiss and nothing prior happened to cause any awkwardness. I wouldn’t expect anything less from him, to be honest.

I caught the staff whispering and throwing glances my way, and I wondered if they were looking for my bruises from what they thought must have been an inevitable beating. They don’t know that it was so much worse than that. I mean, I did piss off our lord and master and defied him so ruthlessly. He has the mental edge over me, knows how to break me, and uses that to control me much more effectively than violence. The next time I step out of line, I gave him something he could use, and h