Page 27 of The SongBird's Love

Her words sent a chill around the room. Eden’s colleagues all glared at June, but she was clearly very happy with herself. The man let go of Eden’s arm right away as if he had received an electric shock.

“Ew! A Part? Who would want to fuck that?! You should warn people you’re a damn Part!”

Just as he had finished his sentence, a gunshot resonated in the bar.

Everyone froze instantly, and silence ensued. Eden’s skin went ice cold, and the man fell to his knees at her feet. The blood under him began staining the wooden floor, and she took a step back, trying to calm down. As if she had just understood, June let out a panicked scream and stumbled away from the scene. Only Eden was still standing there, looking at the man. He was whimpering, holding his wounded leg, his hands not really stopping the flow of blood. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it ought to hurt. The bullet had transpierced it and was now lodged into the wooden floor. Eden slowly turned her head to look at the shooter.

De Luca had taken his weapon out of nowhere. It was one of those automatic weapons from the twenty-first century, which were sold for a fortune on the Black Market. He slowly handed it to the middle-aged man behind him, looking extremely calm. He didn’t need to say a thing. Two of his men silently took the injured man outside. How he had just shot at one of his men without blinking wasn’t the only scary thing: it was to witness how no one dared to even react to this. As if they were all aware this could happen, to any of them, at any moment.

No one dared to speak, but two people in the room had locked eyes, and everyone else had theirs on them.

Eden was strangely calm, but her blood had gone cold under her skin. How could it not or how could it otherwise, when Dante De Luca had his eyes on her? The Tiger was staring right into her soul as if he was trying to decipher each of her secrets. It was a hot, intense, burning stare. His golden eyes were disturbingly deep, making Eden feel trapped. She shouldn’t have looked back, but she just couldn’t avert her eyes. She couldn’t. She felt like he was choking her, judging her right to stay alive or not.

He had just shot one of his men for disrespecting her, and she couldn’t understand that. What kind of man shot one of his own for a whore’s respect?

“...What’s your name?” he asked.

He had no need to speak louder. He could clearly be heard despite the music, and Eden was focused on him.

“Eden.”

He didn’t add anything else, but Eden felt like she had just lost something important.

She didn’t want to give him any part of her identity. She didn’t like him, and she didn’t want to be involved with that man. Since he was the Tiger, she only cared about him walking out of there on his own two feet, for everyone’s sake. As for the rest of it, she truly didn’t care. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he was a cold-blooded killer. She’d be happy if he walked out of her life and never appeared again.

He grabbed the drink she had brought earlier and slowly took it to his lips. It was as if everyone was hanging onto every drop he drank, waiting to see what would happen next. Although it looked like he had just been mad at his man for disrespecting Eden, no one could tell. He was the mafia lord and he had enough power to take what he wanted, even if it was a life. They were just some of the many lives hanging in the balance of the territorial feuds.

As the silence in the room got more awkward, Jack chuckled nervously behind the bar.

“H-how about a new round of drinks? On the house, gentlemen. Ladies, let’s get this party started, shall we?”

The girls did their best to resume talking with whoever they were entertaining before, but truly, the atmosphere was too heavy for the smiles to be genuine.

Eden and De Luca were still staring at each other. There was a horrible feeling in her heart. She didn’t dare to look away before he did, and he was scrutinizing her very soul. He wouldn’t even blink. She felt like she was trapped in an invisible cage with him.

“Eden?” Rose suddenly called out, giving her a chance to shift her eyes. “...Why don’t you entertain our guests?”

Eden slowly nodded and turned to Jack. Behind the bar, the bartender was quick to react. He nodded and touched the computer behind the bar.

Immediately, the lights of the bar changed.

From a joyful pink, it went much darker to an ominous red. The girls began to smile, knowing what was coming, but the customers were intrigued. The atmosphere had shifted quickly, and a couple of them even put their hands in their pockets.

The jazz music went quiet, but a deep bass resonated in the background. Eden took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the music resonate inside. When she opened her eyes, they were shining with a new light. She began singing with a deep, seductive voice that called all eyes to her.

Yet, her eyes went back to the golden ones, as if she was taunting him.

“You never make me stay, so take your weight off of me... I know your every move, so won’t you just let me be... I’ve been here many times before, but I was too blind to see; that you seduce every woman, this time you won’t seduce me...”

She detached herself from him and turned around, slowly walking toward the stage.

“I’ll be saying that’s okay; hey baby, do what you please. I have the stuff that you want, I am the thing that you need...”

She brushed her blonde curls back in a seductive move, her eyes capturing the heart of a young man standing on the side. He swallowed his saliva, looking a bit lost, but Eden went her way.

“Hey, look me deep in the eyes; I’ll be touchin’ you so to start,” she kept singing, slowly climbing on stage. “Let’s say there’s no turnin’ back; you trapped me in your heart!”

She grabbed the microphone, and all the girls began dancing at the same time. Some climbed on top of their customers, some standing in front of them.