CHAPTER 1

POV: SEBASTIAN

Stalking. Killing. Hatred.

Desperation consumed me. At that moment, all I wanted was to end someone. To feel the warmth of blood on my hands. Sebastian Vale. Sounds like a name that belongs to someone glorious, doesn’t it? But fuck that. I hate it. I hate everything that came with it. My “parents” gave it to me. Not out of love but for control. For money. They weren’t even mine to begin with. They adopted me for a damn price tag. A fucking investment. Money. That’s all this world spins on. It’s disgusting. Vile. Just like the way I sit here now, watching her from afar. Why am I stalking her? Because I like her. Because for once, someone looked at me like I was human. It started the night I escaped the asylum.  I wanted freedom, whatever that meant. The rain was pouring, thunder cracking above like a curse. And then she came. Out of nowhere. She bumped into me like fate wanted us to collide. 

I was trembling, soaked, shivering on the edge of a street corner when she asked, “Are you okay?” That question…it shattered something inside me. No one ever asked me that. Not once. She didn’t know who I was. She didn’t care.She just saw a broken man in the rain, and she reached out. She took me in. She gave me clothes. Let me shower in her home. She let a stranger, a potential murderer—into her life without a second thought.

She didn’t know I killed my parents. Didn’t know what they did to me. The cruelty. The twisted

games. Didn’t know I snapped one day and left their corpses as cold as the love they never gave. And yet, there she was. Gently drying my hair. Looking at me like I wasn’t a monster. She was beautiful. Soft. Innocent. I felt something stir in me. A pull. I wanted her right then and there.

But I couldn’t. Not like that. She was kind. Too kind.

Not like them. Not like anyone.

At the asylum, they labeled me—Antisocial Personality Disorder. Obsessive. Sadistic. 

I know what I am. I know my mind isn’t right. I talk to myself more than I talk to people. And sometimes... I fantasize about blood.

But this time, I don’t want blood. I want her touch. I want her warmth. Her kindness. I want her to treat me like I matter like I’m not just a fucked-up product

of trauma. I want her to hold me like I’m some stupid, needy child. To give me something I've never had... Love. Whatever the hell that is.

And at that moment, I couldn’t deny it anymore. I wanted her. Badly. The more I thought about her, the worse it got. I wanted to know what it felt like to be loved. And for a second, I actually felt it from her. She drives me insane. I hate how much she makes me feel. I hate that she doesn't even care. That messes me up. It’s been a while since I saw her that close. Now I’m just watching from a distance, like some pathetic creep. But I can’t help it. She makes me weak. When I’m around her, I lose control. The voices get louder. I freeze. My brain shuts down. I can’t even talk properly. I hate feeling voiceless. Unconfident. That’s not who I am. I’m Sebastian fucking Vale. I don’t stumble over words—I own them. 

But for her? For Melisa Hardvort and that perfect face, those eyes that burn right through me? God... she makes me feel like a damn fool. I had to go back to my place. Andrew, my butler, was already calling me. And Melisa? She’ll be fine. She’s at work, and she’s always busy with something anyway. She won’t even notice I was there. But still… I hate walking away from her.