THE BAIT IN BLACK VELVET
"Do not fall in love."
The words slipped past Valentina's red lips as she stood before the mirror, fastening the final clasp of her diamond earring.
"Do not get caught. Do not look back."
Her reflection stared back with icy poise—no nerves, no fear. Just control. The mask she wore was black velvet, trimmed in gold embroidery, elegant and mysterious. It matched the slit dress clinging to her curves like a lover desperate to be forgiven.
She tilted her head and traced a finger down the glass. “Tonight, we meet the monster.”
Not the beast under her bed. The real monster. The one who bled people dry with a smile and buried them beneath Italian olive trees.
Adriano De Luca.
Mafia royalty. A billionaire blood prince.
He had killed for less than a lie.
And tonight, she was walking straight into his home—draped in lies.
The gates of Villa De Luca opened like the mouth of a myth. Black iron, silver crests, marble lions on either side. Her driver—a man she’d paid for discretion and silence—offered no words as the limousine crept through the long winding road lit by antique lanterns.
Valentina stared out of the tinted glass, fingers smooth on her clutch, hiding the faint tremble in her wrist.
Beyond the trees, a palace shimmered like a god's estate. Gold light spilled from carved archways. The scent of jasmine and rich cigars floated in the air. Violins played somewhere behind thick glass.
A masked world waited for her.
She stepped out, every inch the heiress she was pretending to be. A woman named Catalina Marchesi—a name she’d forged, stolen, and embedded into the guest list.
As she ascended the marble stairs, heads turned.
Not because they recognized her.
But because they didn’t.
Inside the ballroom, chandeliers glittered like upside-down constellations. Champagne flowed in crystal rivers. Women wore diamonds bigger than sins. Men wore hunger like perfume.
Valentina moved like a whisper through velvet and shadow.
She passed trays of caviar, brushed past conversations in Italian and Russian. But she didn’t smile too much. Didn’t look eager. She wore her mask like armor, and her beauty like bait.
She scanned the crowd with the poise of a queen and the mind of a thief
He would find her. That was the plan.
She just had to last long enough to let him take the hook.
From the mezzanine above, Adriano De Luca stood with his drink untouched, watching the masquerade swirl beneath him like a painted carousel.
His sharp eyes narrowed when he saw her.
The woman in black.
He knew every face in this room. Every lover, enemy, and guest.
Except hers.
That made her dangerous.
Or interesting.
Maybe both.
She felt him before she saw him.
A shadow moving like silk through the crowd. Stillness followed him, like everyone sensed he didn’t belong to their world. He ruled it, but never joined it.
She reached for a glass of champagne and lifted it to her lips just as he appeared beside her.
“You don’t belong here.”
His voice was a low hum, smooth and rich with something foreign—power, maybe. Or danger.
Valentina didn’t turn too fast. She let her gaze find him slowly.
“I could say the same.”
Adriano tilted his head. “Is that so?”
She sipped again. “You’re the only man not trying to pretend.”
“Pretending is for people with things to hide.”
She met his eyes behind the mask. “Aren’t we all hiding something?”
A long pause. His silence pressed against her like gravity.
“What’s your name?” he asked at last.
“Catalina Marchesi.”
The lie slid off her tongue like silk dipped in poison.
He didn’t blink. But she saw it—a flicker. He didn’t believe her.
“I’ve met a Marchesi before,” he said slowly. “You’re not one of them.”
She smiled, soft and cool. “Maybe you met the wrong one.”
He offered his hand.
A simple gesture. Innocent, almost.
But Valentina knew better.
Every move with a man like Adriano was a test.
She took it.
His palm was warm, steady. The hand of a man who'd broken necks and poured wine in the same breath.
He led her to the dance floor. Violins swelled. People cleared space as if the room itself bent to make way for him.
His arm circled her waist. Her hand landed on his shoulder.
She looked up, meeting his stare.
“Do you always pick strange women at your own parties?”
He studied her face.
“Only the ones who lie beautifully.”
They danced.
Slow. Controlled. Intimate.
His hand brushed the bare skin of her back. Her body moved with dangerous precision. Every step rehearsed, every glance calculated.
But then he leaned in—too close.
“You came here for me.”
She raised a brow. “And you think the world revolves around you?”
“No,” he murmured. “Just this room. And everyone in it.”
“I didn’t come for you,” she lied again.
Adriano’s lips curved faintly. “Lie better.”
The music dipped into a darker tone. Their bodies turned, closer now. Her thigh brushed his. She felt his hand flex slightly at her waist.
“You play a part very well, Catalina,” he said.
“So do you,” she whispered.
“What part is that?”
“The monster in the mask.”
Later, in the hallway beyond the ballroom, he paused with her in front of a tall, locked door.
A servant walked by and quickly lowered his head.
Valentina glanced around. “Not the kind of place you take a woman on a first dance.”
“I don’t believe in first dances,” Adriano said. “Only last chances.”
She laughed softly. “That sounds like something a killer would say.”
He unlocked the door.
“I am a killer,” he replied. “But only when I have to be.”
She walked inside without flinching.
The room was dim, rich, heavy with scent—cologne, whiskey, secrets.
He poured a drink. No ice. Two glasses.
“Drink?”
“Always.”
She took the crystal tumbler and sipped, watching him over the rim.
“You’re not afraid of me,” he said.
She tilted her head. “Should I be?”
He stepped closer. “Yes.”
She stepped forward too. “Then make me.”
For a second, silence crackled between them.
And then he kissed her.
Not soft.
Not tentative.
Like a storm breaking its silence.
His hand slid to the back of her neck, fingers weaving through the velvet-dark strands of her hair, and before she could exhale the lie she’d just whispered, her back hit the cold marble wall. The kiss was brutal and possessive—his mouth devouring hers with an intensity that bordered on reckless.
She gasped against him, lips parted in surprise, but not retreat.
Never retreat.
Her hands, traitorous and aching, found the lapels of his jacket—dragging him closer, anchoring herself to the man she was supposed to seduce and destroy.
Instead, she was unraveling.
His grip at her waist tightened, fingers sinking into the curve of her hip like he meant to leave a memory there. A bruise, maybe. Or a brand.
The pressure spoke a promise: mine, whether you know it or not.
His tongue traced the seam of her lips, then claimed her again, this time slower—like he wanted to learn her lie from the inside out. Like he was trying to pull the truth from her mouth, one kiss at a time.
It was not the kiss of a man experimenting.
It was the kiss of a man declaring war.
When he finally pulled back, his breathing was uneven, sharp against the hush of the corridor. His gaze—black with something between hunger and warning—lingered on her swollen lips.
“You taste like a lie,” he murmured, voice thick with gravel and venom.
She smiled slowly, the edge of her mouth curving like a blade unsheathed.
“You kiss like a man who’s bored of the truth.”
Neither of them moved. The air between them thrummed, thick with the charge of something forbidden and already spiraling out of control.
An hour later, she lay wrapped in Egyptian cotton sheets in the master bedroom of a man whose hands had slit throats in Sicily….
…and whose touch had just undone hers.
He was next to her, one arm draped loosely over her stomach, his breathing calm and slow.
Valentina stared at the ceiling, wide awake.
She had done it.
Phase One: Contact. Seduction. Intrigue.
But something felt… off.
It wasn’t guilt.
It was that look in his eyes when he touched her. Like he already knew she didn’t belong. Like he was just letting her believe the lie long enough to tighten the noose.
“Catalina,” he murmured beside her.
She didn’t answer.
“I know you’re awake.”
She turned her head. His face was inches away. His voice was lower now. Darker.
“I’ll find out who you are,” he whispered. “It’s just a matter of time.”
She held her breath.
Then said, “You think too much.”
He reached up and brushed a thumb along her jaw.
“No. I think just enough to get what I want.”