Where the Sun Hides (Seasons of Betrayal #1) Read Online Free PDF

knew she should refuse the offer. As it were, she
felt light on her feet and a little hazy in the head. But she hadn’t risked her
father’s wrath and traveled all the way from Manhattan to Coney Island for
nothing. She planned on having a damn good time, partying it up to celebrate
her twenty-first birthday, and nothing more.
    “Yeah, get me another,” Violet said.
    Nicole spun on her heel and made a beeline for the bar
again. Violet cut through the people toward where Amelia was still dancing in a
group of strangers. The beat of the music pumping through the venue pulsated
from the floorboards and into the soles of her heels.
    Violet loved to dance.
    Moving to the rhythm was as easy as breathing. One of the
purest forms of pleasure for her. She had danced since she was young. Ballet,
jazz, contemporary and whatever else her father could put her in to keep her
out of trouble and add to her Gallucci profile. As an adult, she didn’t get to
dance as much as she used to when she was a younger girl.
    Focuses changed.
    School became more important.
    So when she did get the chance to let loose with her friends,
especially in a club that seemed specially designed for people to have the best
time they could, Violet didn’t take it for granted. There was the bar area that
had a number of stools lined up along the front with three bartenders ready to
take orders. A DJ’s booth was set up against one wall with the dance floor
stretching out as far as the eye could see. Soft lights lined the floor, but
not so much that it took away from the setting.
    Violet joined her friend to dance as the song switched to a
faster, smoother beat. She linked hands with her friend and ignored how the
swell of people seemed to grow, getting even closer to her and Amelia. The
strangers that Amelia had been dancing with before Violet joined in came back,
one wrapping around her friend while the other tried to slide in behind her.
    She wasn’t having too much of that, but she let the guy get
close enough that she could move to the beat with him.
    Before long, Nicole was back. She balanced two drinks in
one hand while she sipped on her green concoction from the other. Violet took
one of the two red drinks from Nicole’s outstretched hand, immediately tipping
the drink back for a long pull of the tartly sweet mixture that reminded her of
strawberries but with the harsh kick of rum.
    “Slow down,” she heard Nicole say, laughing right after.
    Violet paid her no mind. She was already taking a second
drink. Amelia wasn’t far behind, grabbing the drink that Nicole had brought for
her. The music kicked up again, lights flickered, and Violet was lost to the
visceral sensation of the club’s atmosphere.
    There was no mob boss’s daughter here.
    No Italiano principessa.
    She was just another face in the crowd.
    No one could possibly understand how precious that was to
her.
     

     
    Violet leaned forward, away from the man she was dancing
with when he tried once again to kiss the back of her neck. She didn’t mind
dancing or flirting with him, but she wasn’t up to letting the guy think he was
taking her out to his car, or wherever.
    Unfortunately, the fool had a handful of her wavy blonde
hair wrapped in his fist and he tugged her right back in place. A faint sting
radiated over her scalp from his pull, but Violet’s senses—diluted with
alcohol—was numbed to the pain.
    “Back off,” she said, turning to push her hand against the
man’s stomach.
    His lips pulled into a smirk and he chuckled, but
thankfully, let her go.
    “A tease, then?” he asked.
    Violet narrowed her gaze, refusing to dignify that with a
response. Why did men automatically think because a woman rejected their
advances, that woman was suddenly playing games?
    “Go find someone else to feel up,” Violet told the guy.
“I’ve had enough.”
    He took a step toward her, and Violet forced herself to
stay in place and not back up. She gave a little sigh in relief when