Chapter 7: The Abyss

When the dance ended, she collected her payment and went to offer Zhao Qian a toast. Just as the glass was about to reach Zhao Qian’s hand, he seized her wrist.

Zhao Qian’s hand was like a slick, wet serpent, gliding over her skin.

Inside, Xu Yu felt a potent wave of disgust rise within her.

Yet her face remained adorned with a flawless smile.

“Let go of me, Mr. Zhao, so I can properly toast you,” she said.

Zhao Qian took advantage of the moment, pulling her down to sit beside him and wrapping an arm around her waist.

Xu Yu’s waist was slender, and Zhao Qian was delighted to find he could encircle it with a single hand.

“Just now, Master Shen said you’d do anything for money?” he asked.

Xu Yu’s heart skipped a beat, her eyes furtively glancing at Shen Liangyan’s calm and inscrutable face.

Ignoring the lecherous hand creeping up her thigh, Xu Yu smiled and covered it with her own. “Master Shen was joking with you.”

A dancer was not for sale.

That was a clause guaranteed in the confidentiality agreement she had signed.

Zhao Qian’s expression soured at her words; he looked toward Shen Liangyan, his gaze cold and angry.

Shen Liangyan’s beguiling eyes were filled with a deep, knowing amusement.

“Mr. Zhao, you jest. If you wish to take a girl from the third floor, it’s not enough for her to agree alone.”

Xu Yu’s heart pounded like a coiled spring.

She was Shen Liangyan’s secret lover. Two years ago, here, they had their first night together.

She thought, even if he didn’t care for her, he wouldn’t hand her over to another so easily.

Looking at him today, she realized she’d been naive. Shen Liangyan was a man capable of sending women away for profit countless times; one more or less meant nothing.

If not for the heavy makeup disguising her, and the ambiguous dim lighting in the private room, the pallor of her face would surely be impossible to hide.

Zhao Qian, hearing Shen Liangyan’s words, immediately caught on. He proceeded to ask Xu Yu a series of questions—how old was she, had she ever been in a relationship.

He even asked if she was a virgin.

The first two questions she answered with ease.

She’d dealt with many unruly clients before, and her training made her responses effortless.

She was always twenty years old, always never been in love.

As for the last question, apart from Shen Liangyan, she never went home with any other men.

So she smiled ambiguously, “That, Mr. Zhao, you’ll have to verify in bed.”

Such equivocal answers only drove men mad with desire.

After learning Xu Yu was only selling her art and not herself, Zhao Qian acted as though he’d found a rare treasure, immediately adding her on WeChat.

He seemed intent on pursuing her sincerely.

After two rounds of toasts, Xu Yu excused herself to the restroom.

Shen Liangyan watched her graceful, seductive figure as she walked away, his beguiling eyes narrowing with an unreadable darkness.

Xu Yu had barely closed the restroom door when someone forcefully pushed it open, pinning her against it.

A knee parted her legs, and a strong hand pressed against her slim waist.

Xu Yu frowned. “Let me go.”

Shen Liangyan’s gaze lingered on her face; his cool, bewitching eyes held no warmth, only a ruthless air of dominance.

He scoffed, biting her earlobe, his voice teasing yet dangerous at her ear. “Are you angry?”

Xu Yu pushed his cheek away, almost scratching his face.

“What do you mean by this?”

He’d brought patrons before, but never stooped so low as to offer his own woman to another.

If he didn’t mind the filth, she certainly did.

A red line stretched from her temple to her jaw, stinging sharply.

Shen Liangyan’s hand pressed down on her arm, and the fire in his eyes dimmed.

“Just now, the way you acted, I thought you wanted to change sponsors.”

Xu Yu bristled. “Isn’t it you who wants to replace me?”

Otherwise, why say she’d do anything for money?

“You’re so beautiful, how could I bear to?”

His cool fingers traced the curves of her body through the thin sequined dress, sending shivers wherever they touched.

His thin lips pressed against hers, his dark eyes hypnotic, glowing with an astonishing light.

Xu Yu kissed him, half compelled, half surrendered.