The pink neon lights would always make my head hurt if I stared at them for too long, especially given the way they were blinking to match the beat of the song playing in the background.
It didn't matter, I'd told my mother over and over again that she should change the color but she refused. It was the same shade as the huge neon sign right outside the club, the glowing letters caught everyone's attention, as if being a strip club wasn't enough.
Well, welcome to Eroda... no place quite like it.
The strip club was one of the biggest and most renowned in the city, with plenty of VIP rooms and separate lounges with black leather sofas and also special rooms for lap dances, everything monitored by security cameras.
The walls were covered by a dark snakeskin wallpaper, and the black floor only made the pink lights seem brighter.
Tonight, every small stage and pole had an assigned dancer. It was very full, well, like any other Friday night around here. The majority of customers were always the same: men over forty years old who were planning on cheating on their wives.
Some of them removed their wedding rings but others didn't even bother to do the minimum, but I'd gotten used to this gross behavior.
I was in a shitty mood thanks to tongueless Aaron, he was making me hate men even more tonight.
Niall was walking in front of me, leading the way to a large bar on the back, where my mother probably was. She rarely stayed in her private office, she only went there when she needed to meet some important client or receive the payments.
The chatter and the cheering around me were way too loud to add to the music, and thank god I remembered to stop by the bathroom to wash off the blood from my hands and face before I walked out to the public part of the establishment.
To be honest, I just wanted to go home and force myself to stop thinking about Aaron's threats. I'd pay him another visit in the morning and I was sure he was going to write down just the name of the murderer... and I'd know for sure if Styles was involved or not.
Niall didn't know about this detail yet, he always claimed I had zero control whenever that disgusting family was involved and he was right. But he was too calm sometimes and I really couldn't understand how he or my mother wasn't angrier... I was always so fucking angry.
Desmond Styles is the name of the man who killed my father.
And yeah, you could say I was resentful. There was no forgive and forget, and I sure as fuck was never going to forget about it, because unlike my brother and my mother, I was there to watch when my father got shot in the head six years ago.
My mother had taken over the business even though she didn't want to, and she changed pretty much everything around here. The strip club was a safe place for the girls and I knew she cared about them a little too much sometimes.
They were paid very well and the many securities scattered around the club made sure to control any asshole with wandering hands.
No one could touch them without their consent, I'd broken many arms before when I was mistaken with one of the dancers. Men loved to judge women based on the clothes they wore, or lack thereof.
I didn't give a fuck, I could be walking naked around this club and that didn't give anyone the right to lay a fucking finger on me.
"Cleo?"
Niall's voice made me snap out of it and I realized I had been staring at the main stage, where most of the clients were gathered around and spending money, and I just knew who was performing... it had to be June.
I walked closer so I could confirm, watching the way she whipped her black hair and moved her hips as she performed her routine and danced around the pole like the professional she was. I bowed down to every single dancer in this room because I had tried once and it was very fucking hard.
I did it just for fun when the club was closed, obviously. And June was the best, all eyes would always turn to her when she was on stage, and she was teaching me a few tricks.
Not even working out daily and going through a lot of fighting practice could prepare me for pole dancing, that was for sure.
"She's really good." Niall came up behind me. "But we have to go, mom's waiting for us."
June's eyes spotted us, even though we were kinda distanced from her, and she waved playfully. I was sure Niall was blushing, he had a crush on her but he refused to admit it.
She was hot and very smart, she danced to pay for her doctorate degree and I actually considered her a good friend.
I didn't let many people in, it wasn't like I had time to worry about friendships or relationships. "Fine." I sighed, bumping my shoulder against Niall's as I made my way to the bar, leaving him behind as he probably was gawking at the raven-haired girl.
I pushed a few people out of the way as I tried to reach the end of the bar, finding my mother on her usual spot where she could see pretty much every angle of the club if something went wrong. It was rare... but we had a lot of incidents before.
Not lately, things were dangerously calm... well, besides whoever dared to kill Violet.
"You could've changed your shirt, Cleodora." My mother rolled her eyes when she noticed the many bloodstains covering my white button-down shirt, but thanks to her excessive pink lighting, it didn't look like blood for those with innocent eyes.
The long black dress she was wearing revealed the snake tattoo on her shoulder, and she had actually gotten it after my father died.
I had my snake tattoo since I was sixteen and so did Niall. His was on his arm and mine was on my hip. The snake was our family symbol in a way, well, my father always loved them and it became something important to all of us.
He always told me snakes represented power and strength... the temptation and the danger. Each one of those words was very meaningful in our line of work.
"I was busy and don't fucking call me that." I huffed, taking a seat on the stool right next to hers and Niall joined, sitting down next to me. She knew the only person who called me like that was my father, I hated when anybody else said it. "Make up your mind, what do you want me to do? Torture Aaron or family gathering?"
"God, she's in a bad mood." My mom chuckled, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear as she glanced at Niall.
I hated it when they talked as if I wasn't in the fucking room.
"I know, I thought the torture would improve it." Niall smiled sweetly at me and he was lucky I left my knife back in the other room. Wouldn't be the first time he got himself stabbed by me.
Don't worry, nothing too deep or anything like that.
"My plans for tonight were different," I said simply, looking into my mother's blue eyes, they were the exact same shade as mine. "I didn't get anything out of Aaron... only that he claims he's protected by Styles."
Her eyes widened slightly with the sudden mention of that last name.
"Nonsense, Desmond isn't in the country. My sources told me he's in Turkey at the moment." She cleared her throat, grabbing her glass of whiskey to take a very long sip.
"Harry's probably in charge," Niall spoke up, leaning closer so he could lower his voice.
"Please, as if that fucking daddy's boy could have the brains of doing anything on his own." I scoffed. "I shouldn't have missed the first time I stabbed him."
"Stop this, you won't be stupid again to risk unbalancing the entire scheme in this city because of your grudge." My mother pointed her finger at me, making me arch my eyebrows.
"He fucking shot me." I reminded her.
That bullet wound was one of the many that had left a scar on my body, but I would always remember exactly what happened.
The prominent white scar just on the swell of my breasts was enough to remind me how the motherfucker had nearly killed me. The pain was engraved in the back of my mind.
Well, I nearly killed him too.
It had been two years since I'd seen Harry, though... it was harder because we were around the same age and unfortunately there was a chance that we could run into each other in one of the nightclubs or assignments, but that didn't happen anymore.
I was careful and I was sure he was, too. I knew how much was at stake if I went out of my way to kill him, and I'd put my mother and my brother in danger if I was reckless. It was very fucking hard, though... just hearing his name made me want to grab my knife and go to that stupid tattoo parlor and show him just what I was capable of.
He was just as terrible as his father, I wasn't surprised.
Another interesting detail was that Harry was also there when my dad was killed in cold blood. Maybe that was why my mother and Niall couldn't understand this rage and uneasiness inside me every time I heard their names, they weren't there.
The memories would just pop inside my mind and I was transported back to that dreadful day... the flashes of what I remembered were enough to make me shiver.
"I don't care if he shot you, he's just as dumb as you are. You know what his father is capable of, that's why we have a truce, Cleo. We stay in our lane and do our job. Or have you forgotten what your father did?" Her tone was stern and I could tell we were about to have another argument about this.
I didn't care what she said or what other people claimed, I knew no one dared to get involved between the Styles-Horan family drama, but my father did not murder Desmond's wife or ask someone else to do it, the way rumor had it.
There was just no way, no matter if our families were 'enemies' or whatever since I could remember.
My mother didn't know what to believe though, and there was this whole an eye for an eye kind of thing in our world. I couldn't blame her, I knew she was scared. But I'd always been around my father and I knew very well how things worked, he made sure to teach me.
We were always walking on thin ice when it came to Desmond or his son... I knew they were trying to fuck us over every chance they got and I didn't care that years had passed.
I was going to kill Desmond... well, Harry too. Mostly because he annoyed the fuck out of me and we had run into each other more times than it should be allowed. Every single time ended up with both of us wounded.
"Why did you call me? I have to go home and wash my hair, or haven't you noticed I've got blood all over it, too?" I snapped, grabbing her glass of whiskey and drinking it all at once as the familiar burning sensation was more than welcome in my throat.
"I've got a job for you. Big money... you can have time to torture Aaron if you want, but Friday you'll have to be at a charity auction downtown. You'll get a package there and that's how the client will communicate with us. They transferred half of the money already and it's a huge amount... so I figured why not ask my favorite child?"
Niall snorted, ordering a cocktail as I simply gaped at my mother.
"How much?" I asked.
"200k." She smiled.
"What is the job?" I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering who the fuck would pay all that before we could even arrange the details. "Do we even know?"
"A list of four people that need to be... silenced." She cleared her throat. "It's been a while since we've gotten requests like this, only the drug business has been keeping us fueled and this is good money... money we need to invest more and climb higher."
"A charity auction?" Niall asked. "Like those fancy balls?"
"Yes, a masquerade." My mother smiled and I rolled my eyes.
She knew I'd agree to this, I had nothing better to do and I was craving some excitement... the thrill of hunting someone only to make them crumble once you caught them. And four people would give me plenty of shit to worry about so I could occupy my mind, maybe this was what I needed.
"What about Aaron? Don't you want me to find out who killed Violet?" I asked her. "Where did Aaron come from anyway? And what would Styles' men be doing around here?"
"You know men... this is a strip club and we are one of the best. They can't keep their dicks in their pants and I'm sure they don't give a fuck about anyone else, honey. Try to get a name out of Aaron, I know he was here the night they took Violet because I saw him through the CCTV. I couldn't see his friend, though... he carried her dead body from the alley outside into Aaron's car, it was after we closed. Kill him if he doesn't cooperate, we'll have to increase security one way or another." She grimaced, clearly bothered by this. Violet was one of the newest dancers, and unfortunately not the first one we lost. The beginning of our business was turbulent and tricky, we did our best to keep things in check now.
"They probably got drunk and did this for fun. They're disgusting." Niall said through gritted teeth, taking a sip of his drink.
My mother was right though, even if I got a name of who killed Violet, I'd simply hunt the bastard down and kill him too. As dangerous as it was due to the proximity to the Styles name, my hands were itching to make them pay.
"Okay, I'll be back in the morning to talk to Aaron and I'll go to this fancy ball on Friday." I sighed, repressing a yawn before they could realize I was having trouble sleeping again.
I was eager to get my motorcycle and ride back home, I'd get there in under ten minutes and then take a very long shower and pretend I could sleep longer than a nap.
"Don't forget your fancy mask." Niall wiggled his eyebrows at me and I reached out to grab his drink this time, drinking the cocktail all at once and hoping this bit of alcohol could help me sleep later. "What was that for, Cleo?"
"I was thirsty." I shrugged, glancing sideways at my mother. "Anything other than a mask?"
"No weapons... some big names are going to be there and you're already on the list, but they were more than clear with this request. This auction is important to them and apparently, a lot of people are going to be there, it's not supposed to be anything other than a gathering, so no knives." She raised one eyebrow, already knowing there was no fucking way I was going anywhere without being armed. "Are we clear?"
"Crystal."