PROLOGUE ♡
I should have left him alone.
If I had, I wouldn’t be here-blood on my hands, heart pounding, his voice still echoing through my skull. But I never could resist a challenge. And Lucien Vale? He was the one game I should’ve walked away from.
I told myself I was in control. I always was. Men were easy to break if you knew where to press. A smile, a secret, a promise you never intended to keep-that was all it took. And when they fell, they fell hard.
He should have been no different.
From the beginning, I marked him as mine. Another name on my list. Another toy to bend until I got bored and tossed him aside. I thought he’d be like the others-hungry for the attention, easy to pull apart piece by piece. And in the beginning, he was. He watched me with that cold, detached expression, like nothing in the world could touch him. That only made me want to dig deeper, to find the cracks and pry them open.
But there was something wrong with the way Lucien looked at me.
It wasn’t the usual desperation I was used to. He didn’t chase me, didn’t fawn over me like the others did. His gaze was steady, patient-like he was waiting for something. Waiting for me to make the first mistake. That should have been my warning. I should have walked away the first time he smirked at me like he knew a secret I didn’t.
I didn’t.
Instead, I played the game harder. I leaned in close when I knew he was watching. Let my fingers linger on his skin longer than necessary. Gave him just enough to make him want more. And when he did, I yanked it away. It was a dance I had perfected-push, pull, break. But Lucien? He didn’t break.
He bent, for a while. I could feel his resistance cracking under my touch, hear the strain in his voice when he tried to act unaffected. And God, I loved it. The thrill of making someone who thought they were untouchable come undone. I thought I was winning.
But Lucien Vale was never the kind of man you won against.
I should have seen it coming. The shift. The moment the strings of my game slipped from my fingers and tangled around my throat instead. It was subtle at first-how he stopped reacting the way I expected. How he started anticipating my moves before I made them. How, somehow, I was the one who started wanting more.
And when he finally moved? When he stopped playing and decided to take? I let him.
That was my real mistake. Letting him too close. Letting him see the edges of the things I kept hidden. Because once Lucien had a hold of something, he never let go. And the girl who always walked away? I didn’t walk away from him.
By the time I realized how far I’d fallen, it was already too late.
The blood on my hands is proof of that. His voice-low, unyielding-still rings in my ears. I don’t even know whose blood it is anymore. Mine? His? Someone else who got too close to the fire we became? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Lucien Vale was the one who pushed me over the edge.
And now, there’s no way back.
