Chapter 1 PROLOGUE : The Night She Met The Devil

“Careful, Sera. You are drinking too much than you can take.” Sheila shouted over the loud speaker, but Seraphina was just getting started.

That was the point. She intended to be reckless in this sinful club tonight.

She wanted to drown out everything. The sound of her father’s coffin lowering into the earth earlier today, the echo of her stepmom’s voice claiming her father’s years of hardwork as hers, the blank message screen where her mother’s name hadn’t appeared in days.

So, she let the music bruise her ears. Let the glass burn her throat. Let herself stop being the girl who was supposed to inherit the world, and instead become a stranger in heels and a black dress that didn’t belong to grief.

Seraphina downed the rest of the drink in one go, and slammed it on the counter, blinking through the sting.

It didn’t help. The ache was still there. She filled her glass cup again, then leaned across the bar and whispered into Sheila’s ears. “I will be back.”

She stood, staggering a little bit, glass in hand. She didn’t wait as Sheila ‘mummied’ her with words of cautions from behind.

She didn’t know where she was going, she just… “Ah—“

She bumped into a hard chest, spilling her drink on him and slipping off the floor. But before she could fall, strong arms caught her, holding her- slanted body tight in his arms.

Seraphina had closed her eyes out of the fear of falling, but then, she eventually flicked them open to stare into the most beautiful set of gray eyes she had ever seen in her entire life. His scent drifted to her nostrils-- it was as addictive as he looked. But his eyes- they were so cold and empty they scared her.

Yet, she was too captivated to walk away. “This moment might not last,” so she stared.

The faint scar near his jawline, the way his dark shirt clung to his chest, the diamond necklace on him- everything about him whispered money and danger.

“You want this to last?” His deep baritone voice swallowed her ears as he gently brought her up to steady her.

“What?” Seraphina blinked, she hadn’t realized she had said that out loud.

“If you want this to last, make me an offer.” The strikingly tall handsome stranger in all black said to her. She swallowed. Her eyes fell to his tattooed arms.

“Can I buy you a drink?” she asked impulsively.

He tilted his head, a light smile playing on his lips. “You already owe me one. You spilled yours on me.”

Seraphina glanced at the faint stain on his shirt and laughed- it came out nervous, and breathless. The stranger didn’t stop looking.

Minutes blurred. They sat together in a booth tucked away from the noises.

There was something about his stillness that drew her in- like he was built from discipline, like every movement cost him a thought.

“You don’t talk much,” she said, tracing her finger along her glass.

“I only talk when I have something worth saying.”

“And do you?”

He looked at her, his gaze piercing but not readable. “I’m saying it right now.”

Her lips parted, a breath catching between them. “And what are you saying?”

“That you should leave before you regret staying.”

But she didn’t move. “Too late. You amuse me.”

The air between them thickened instantly.

He reached forward and brushed a strand of hair from her face, his touch slow and sensual. Seraphina felt all the hairs on her body stood at just his light touch.

And then she couldn’t help but imagine- What if he was really touching her? What if he was doing- unthinkable things to her? She had no doubt that he could make her forget her name. She didn’t want to talk anymore.

She wanted to feel.

“You want something from me, say it.” His sudden assertiveness shocked her. But the control and dominance behind his tone made her stomach flutter.

“I want you to take my pain away, Zeus.”

His gray eyes darkened, then his hand darted forward to touch her bare thigh. “Zeus?” He asked, voice amused.

“Yeah. Zeus. You look like a god.” That did it. His hold on her naked thigh tightened and she unknowingly released a soft gasp.

He leaned forward- his lips touched her ear skin as he whispered huskily, “Well, pretty, can we get out of here right now?” Her rise in breathing was the answer he needed.

He led her to the elevator and immediately they got in, his lips attacked hers. She gasped into his mouth, craving things that she had never had the courage of exploring before.

Seraphina’s back met the mirror. His hand found the panel beside her head as he deepened the kiss. Then he pulled back. She yearned.

For a suspended heartbeat, he simply watched her, her fragile hands tugging at his shirt as if begging for more. The gray in his eyes had deepened to smoke, like he was fighting something invisible.

“Tell me to stop,” he murmured.

She didn’t. Couldn’t. Her voice was a trembling whisper as she said, “If I wanted you to stop, we wouldn’t be here, Zeus.”

Those words ruined him. “Fuck-me.” He grabbed her hand and led her out as the elevator opened. When they finally got inside a room, he shut the door behind them and turned to her.

He didn’t talk much while undressing her. But he made sure she felt every movement of his fingers. What intrigued her the most was that he didn’t break eye-contact.

When they were both finally naked, Seraphina stared at his body that looked like God had a special time sculpting.

“You are so unreal.” Again, the alcohol was pushing out the dirtiest part of her. The stranger didn’t say more. He lifted her and gently dropped her on the large bed.

For the first time in Seraphina’s twenty one years of life, she was strongly willing for a man to cross the line with her. And she let him.

The night was long and reviving, until Seraphina woke up the next morning to an empty space beside her. But his phone was on the bedside drawer.

She turned lazily, her vision still hazy, and caught the message on the screen before it dimmed:

“His corpse has been disposed. You should leave now.”

Seraphina stilled. Her instinct wasn’t wrong afterall. But she had been blinded by lust. The irresistible stranger that she had just spent all night losing her virginity too was a devil.

She didn’t know where he was currently- whether he was in the bathroom or outside. But Seraphina didn’t wait to find out. She slipped into her cloth, grabbed her heels in her hands, and ran out.