At the Marco club
The night smelled like ambition tugging at Ellie's heart. The air was thick with scented fog and something unspoken.
From the outside, the Marco club doesn't look like much but once inside, the world changed.
The club pulsed on. The interior is layered-visually and emotionally. Neon veins crawled across the walls, a spinning chandelier caught the red stage lights and shattered them into diamonds, scattering across the floor. The air carries a faint haze, scented with something musky and sweet - part cologne, part sweat.
The performers added value to the show with their confidence. Each has their own aesthetic - not just in movement but in fashion.
On the main stage, a woman named Daisy - the lead dancer, glides around the pole in laced lingerie, almost gothic. Her heels were extremely high, her body impossibly fluid - flexing, twirling, every movement designed to arouse the interest of her observer.
Ellie entered the club, cautiously lifting her head, sweat beading on her forehead and deepening her bangs. Her almond-shaped eyes were filled with fear but the determination in her heart is more than her fears.
She is determined to meet Leo Marco the owner of the Marco club, the mafia boss whom everyone dreads.
Leo Marco is known for his ruthlessness. He is a man who commands respect and his presence is felt throughout the club. His cold, calculating demeanor sends shiver down the spines of those who crossed him.
Leo sits in the VIP booth with a glass of wine in his hand. His suit was dark and cut sharp, his face smooth and his expression unreadable. He has a pale white skin, exquisitely profound facial features, distinct amber eyes that seemed to hide a pool of unfathomable coldness and tight, thin lips that could cut like a knife. His ink-black hair was perfectly combed looking neat with no trace of flaw. His eyes filled with indifference that sent shivers down anyone's spine. He seemed aloof and his handsome face shrouded with an icy chill. He carried a natural presence that prevented strangers from getting close.
Leo watched everything going on in the club, he watched the dancers with keen interest his attention fixed on no one in particular.
Amid the pulsing lights sat Ellie in the farthest corner of the club, wrapped in an oversized jacket that swallowed her frame.
Her eyes scanning the room with a calm curiosity that contrasted the uneasiness in her heart.
She wasn't lost. She was watching, learning and thinking about her next course of action.