"Marcus is the one who facilitates all of it."
Amanda gestured at Marcus with a flourish.
"Just like he found me, he found others. Dozens of others. People with the same...appetites. The same hunger for something more than the bland, moral existence society forces upon us."
Marcus picked up the thread, his voice taking on the tone of a proud host describing his estate.
"The Devil's Playground—that's what I call it. But my guests have given it another name. They call it the Paradise of Sin."
He smiled, and there was something almost religious in his expression.
"A haven where the rich and powerful can escape the constant surveillance of the outside world."
"Where they can do whatever they want, to whomever they want, without consequences. Where they can finally, truly be themselves."
He walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a thick leather-bound volume—not a book, Charlotte realized, but some kind of ledger.
