Heart of Sin

by Nicola Jane

  Heart

  of

  Sin

  A Novel by

  Nicola Jane

  Copyright 2019 @ Nicola Jane

  Published by Major Key Publishing, LLC

  www.majorkeypublishing.com

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Any unauthorized reprint or use of the material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage without express permission by the publisher.

  This is an original work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Contains explicit language & adult themes suitable for ages 16+

  To submit a manuscript for our review, email us at submissions@majorkeypublishing.com

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Alivia

  I hate being late, it makes me feel uneasy and the day always seems to go wrong whenever I have to rush first thing. Luckily, I made up for sleeping in after my alarm, I skipped breakfast and rushed my shower. Everything needs to run smoothly today, it’s so important.

  I pause at the large glass door and take a deep breath, holding it for a second and then slowly letting it out, composing myself before I pull the heavy door and step inside. My heels click on the white marble flooring and the sound echo’s around the vast reception area. As I approach the glass desk the receptionist looks up. Her perfect flawless make up makes me stare in awe, she is immaculate with not a crease in her bright white shirt.

  “Welcome to Cossacks. How can I help?” she says clearly with a wide smile.

  “I have an interview with…” I pause, pulling the letter from my pocket and opening it out, “Ms Bradley at Glamour Cosmetics.”

  “Take the elevator to the second floor and report to the office there,” she says pointing a well-manicured nail in the direction of the elevators.

  I follow the directions and when the elevator opens, I step out on to more marble. This receptionist looks more relaxed and she gives me a friendly smile. “Good morning are you here to see Ms Bradley?” she asks and I nod. “Please take a seat, she’s with her son at the moment but shouldn’t be too long.”

  I take a seat on a black leather couch and pull at the hem of my short grey dress. I used the last of my money to get this dress and I am praying it gets me the job. I hear yelling and I look at the receptionist, she rolls her eyes. “They always fight like that,” she explains. The office door swings open and a suited man walks out. His blue eyes fix on me and I find myself holding in a breath. He is gorgeous and I can’t help but stare. His shirt pulls tight over his muscles as he moves and I can see tattoos through the cotton material.

  “I haven’t finished yet Vass, come back here,” shouts a female from the office.

  “Your meeting has arrived,” he shouts back pushing the button for the elevator. It opens and I watch him step in and turn to face me. He smirks and winks at me causing a whole load of butterflies to bounce around in my stomach. The door closes but I still can’t take my eyes away.

  “Gorgeous isn’t he,” sighs the receptionist and I glance at her and nod, “He is the best fuck I’ve ever had,” she adds dreamily and I raise my eyebrows. “We aren’t together or anything. Vass is a playboy of epic proportions, I was lucky to get one night with him,” she explains.

  “Thanks for sharing,” I say because honestly, what else is there to say.

  “Ms Caldwell, please come through, sorry to have kept you waiting.” I look up towards the office to find an older lady with a kind smile. I stand, straightening my dress and follow her inside the office. It is immaculate, everything inside is shiny and white, it’s almost clinical.

  “I’m Jenifer. I’m the CEO to Glamor Cosmetics. Do you use our products?” she asks, pulling out a blue file and placing it on her desk.

  “Honestly, no,” I say and she glances up at me. “I use very minimal make-up but I know all about your products and I have researched heavily,” I say.

  “Oh really, tell me something you have learnt,” she says, pinning all of her attention on me.

  “That you started off selling products from home for a small company. You loved it so much that you trained in advertising and became top of your sales leader board within the company. They asked you to take on a permanent role and once you gained the experience and knowledge that you needed you went out on your own and began creating products under the name Glamour. You aim your products mainly at high end stores because they are expensive but worthy of the price. The Glamour lipstick is your bestselling product to date especially shade number 8 which is the most popular summer colour to wear this year and was featured in the London Fashion Show on several models.”

  Jenifer leans back in her seat and smiles, “You have done your homework, I am impressed.”

  “Thank you. I really want this role. It’s my ideal dream job and I will work so hard for you. I came top of my class for marketing and research and I have some amazing ideas.”

  “Your C.V was amazing and I have no doubt that you can do this role and go far within this company,” she pauses and looks at the file and then closes it and leans forwards, “The thing is something else has come up and speaking with you makes me think that you would be the ideal candidate to help me out.”

  “I’m listening,” I say.

  “How about I offer you almost double the pay of this role, a guaranteed office, a company car and the promise of a career in my company afterwards if you can pull this off.”

  I laugh, “Who would turn that down, I’m in,” I say.

  “You might want to hear what it is first,” she sighs, “My son was here this morning, his business is struggling at the moment and due to the nature of the business it would need special marketing, appealing directly to a certain audience.”

  I nod enthusiastically, how hard can it be. “Okay, what’s the business?” I ask.

  “Maybe I would be better to show you first?” she suggests.

  “Sure, whatever you think.”

  Half an hour later, the car stops outside a set of large black metal gates. The driver presses a button on a key fob and the gates slowly open. The car crunches along the gravel driveway and a large stately looking home comes in to view. It takes my breath away with its beauty. There are large pillars either side of a double black door. The steps leading up to the door have large pots overflowing with bright beautiful flowers. There’s a water feature set in front of the building with water cascading out of the centre piece and trickling into the base.

  “Wow this is amazing,” I gasp, already picturing the photos on my marketing campaign.

  “This is The Luxe,” says Jenifer.

  “I’ve heard that name before,” I say trying to remember where I’ve heard it.

  The driver opens my door and I step out, my heels unsteady on the white stones. I follow Jenifer up the steps and the door swings open. A large man in a black suit greets her warmly and gives me a head nod.

  “Maxim, is it busy today?” she asks.

  “Yes Mam,” he says in a deep voice.

  “Tell Vass I am here please,” she says politely and he gives a nod and wanders off in the direction of the winding staircase.

  Jenifer leads the way to a door on the right, it opens out in to a large bar area with low hanging chandeliers and seating booths running down the walls. In the centre there are small tables to seat four people dotted about.

  We take a stool each at the ba
r and a Mexican looking man places a glass bottle of water down in front of each of us, “Nice to see you Ms Bradley,” he says in broken English. She gives him a warm smile in greeting and the he goes about serving other customers.

  “Mother, what can I do for you? Haven’t you had enough of me today?” The man I saw leaving her office earlier sidles up beside Jenifer and kisses her cheek.

  “Yes, I have Vass but needs must. I want you to meet someone,” she says turning to me, “This is Alivia Caldwell. She is in marketing. She is the answer to your problem.”

  Vass eyes me suspiciously, “Mother we discussed this already. I will sort it out just give me time.”

  “Vass you don’t have time, it ran out. I am paying Alivia a very good wage to help. You will accept her help and solve all of your problems so that I can sleep easier,” she says coldly, glaring at him.

  Vass glances at me again and then shrugs. “Do you know anything about gentlemen’s clubs?” he asks.

  The question takes me by surprise and I stutter, “I, erm, well no I guess not.”

  “So how are you going to be of any use to me here?” he asks.

  “Vass this isn’t up for discussion. I said I was going to intervene had you not sorted anything by today and you haven’t so suck it up. Show Alivia to her office and get her set up. After a bit of research, I know she will be perfect,” says Jenifer firmly, I can tell by the look on Vass’s face that he isn’t used to taking orders.

  She stands and gives me a smile before turning on her heel and leaving. I stare after her and swallow a lump that’s formed in my throat. A gentleman’s club, what the hell do I know about this kind of thing. My eyes fall back to Vass who is staring at me intently. He really is good looking; it will be painful to work with him every day.

  “Right, I guess I should show you to the office then,” he sighs.

  I stand and follow him towards the staircase. I wish I hadn’t of worn heels today, they are squeezing my feet painfully and each step is a reminder that I hate heels. We stop outside a door at the top of the stairs and Vass opens it. There are books lined wall to wall on bookshelves. I step inside, looking around like a child would in a toy shop. I love reading, it’s a passion. There are two desks, one at the back of the room under the large window and another to the side of it.

  “This is your office space. My secretary is at this desk, she’s tied up at the minute but you’ll meet her soon. You can take that desk,” he says pointing to the one under the window. “I am through here,” he says, opening another door from our office that conjoins with his. “But please knock or buzz me on the phone before you come in, sometimes I am busy,” he says and then smiles. “Do you like Sex Alivia?” he asks and I almost choke on my own saliva.

  “Sorry what?” I cough.

  “You don’t look like the type to let herself go, I bet you’ve been in a relationship since you were fourteen, lost your virginity to the guy and now you have a house and a pet dog and a boring vanilla sex life where you fake an orgasm just so he gets off you and lets you sleep.”

  He’s almost correct only the guy he’s talking about dumped me for my friend just four weeks ago. “If you don’t mind, I have some research to do,” I mutter heading for the desk.

  He gives a laugh and then goes in to his own office, returning minutes later with a box containing a new laptop. “Do your research and then come and find me. I’ll show you around.”

  I spend the next hour researching the club. There isn’t an awful lot in the media about The Luxe apart from an opening night which Vass held when he took over the running of the club from his father. There are a lot of pictures of Vass though, and in each one he has a woman on his arm. It seems he is quite the celebrity and has a bad boy reputation of being London’s hottest bachelor. I laugh to myself, flicking through the pictures whilst wondering why women hook up with him if he is such a playboy. I jot down some ideas to get this club on the map and decide to go and see Vass for that tour.

  I’m looking down at my notes as I push through the conjoining door, when I glance up Vass is glaring at me with what I can only describe as pure anger. Glancing to his left I can see why. There’s a short haired blond girl kneeling on the floor. It’s odd enough that she is kneeling but the fact that she is naked with her arms tied behind her back makes it so much worse. I press my lips together, my eyes widening in shock and then I take a step back through the door and close it. I stand still for what feels like forever and then I let out a long breath, giving my brain time to process what I just saw. I’m still standing in the middle of the office when the conjoining door fly’s open and Vass storms in. He stops inches from me and points a finger in my face, “What did I say about knocking?” he yells.

  “I’m so sorry, I completely forgot and I was so busy thinking of idea’s that…” he cuts me off by placing a hand up in my face.

  “I am not interested in your excuses, if you can’t follow simple instructions like knocking on my office door then what use will you be to me,” he shouts.

  Frankly I am quite offended by his slight over reaction. I take a step back, “I forgot. It won’t happen again. You don’t need to use that tone.”

  Vass places his hands on his hips and takes a deep breath in before releasing it slowly, like he is trying to calm himself. “You will need to sign a non-disclosure form before I show you around. Follow me.”

  We go back in to his office and I’m happy to see the girl is no longer there. He shoves a piece of paper across the desk and I glance over it. It’s a standard form about not talking to the media and such about what goes on in the club and so I scribble my signature across the bottom. Vass snatches it back and shoves it in his top drawer. “Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t want you working for me. This is completely down to my mother who seems to think she has all of the answers. You won’t last two minutes here I can guarantee that after I show you around you’ll run a mile, you have to be very open minded to work here.”

  “Or desperate,” I mutter to myself and he catches it, raising a brow.

  “Anyway,” he sighs, “Lets get this over with so I can get on with my day.”

  I follow Vass back out of the office and down the marble staircase. We walk through the entrance hall where the reception desk is situated. A glammed-up girl is sitting filing her nails and chewing gum, it irks me but she flutters her eyelashes at Vass and he winks and I know he employed her purely because she is gorgeous. We go back into the bar area where I sat earlier with Jenifer. “Carlos,” says Vass, leaning on the bar, “This is Alivia my marketing girl.”

  I frown at the demeaning introduction but shake the bartender’s hand anyway, “Nice to meet you again Carlos,” I say politely. Vass has already begun to walk off so I follow quickly, my heels pinching with each step. He opens a set of large white double doors which opens out into another room. There is a stage at the front which is currently unoccupied and tables spread out evenly. I notice the booths around the edge of the room again, each has a dish in the middle where I assume ice and bottles are kept. “This room is for the evening entertainment. We have shows lined up most nights, they vary but I’ll get the details to you. The booths are for privacy, they cost extra to rent on top of the club membership fee,” says Vass continuing his walk through the room. “And in here,” he says pushing another set of double doors, “Is where people come when they have seen enough of the show.”

  The room in front of me is huge. Beds are spread out throughout. There are hooks on the walls and large wooden contraptions with handcuffs on chains, there’s even a large cage hanging from the ceiling. I almost gulp in shock but I realise Vass is watching me, he wants me to run. Instead I smile and give a curt nod, indicating that he can continue, “Couples, groups, whoever wants to join can do so in this room. It’s a free for all in here,” he says, “For privacy there are rooms available but this room is very popular.”

  Oh how I want to run, this isn’t what I pictured when he said a gentleman’s club
, I was thinking of the clubs my Grandpa used to go to on a Sunday afternoon whilst Gran cooked his Sunday lunch, the Legion was his favourite watering hole.

  “Fantastic, I’m getting some great ideas,” I say and he smirks, “I mean about advertising,” I scowl and he laughs.

  “Stick around in the evenings and you’ll get all kinds of idea’s,” he grins, “You’ll be able to spice up that vanilla sex life.”

  “I don’t have a vanilla sex life, will you stop analysing me,” I huff, folding my arms and following him back out of the room. We go back through the bar and reception area and he unlocks a set of black double doors. It leads us into a passage way decorated in deep red. The floor is carpeted in deep red and the walls are painted the same. There are gold light fittings running along the walls giving the passage a dim light. There are doors on both sides, Vass opens the first one. “All of these rooms are pretty much the same,” he says stepping inside. There are comfortable chairs in a small room. They face a mirror. Vass pushes a button and the mirror turns into a glass window looking into another room. There’s a bed inside and a table with various sex toys laid out neatly. Vass smirks at me noticing the blush that creeps up on my cheeks. “People like to watch. They come here and get a private showing from whoever feels like being watched. That could be a couple having sex, it could be a male or female masturbating, anything goes really.”

  I nod, “Right, excellent,” I say with a forced smile.

  “Do you like to watch?” he asks.

  “That isn’t appropriate Vass,” I mutter stepping from the room. Standing so close to him when he’s asking these personal questions has me wanting to run again.

  “So, you like to be watched?” he presses.

  “No, I didn’t say that, I don’t, oh Jesus please just stop,” I huff.

  “You can’t be a prude when you work here Liv,” he grins.

  “My name is Alivia,” I snap.