All Chapters of The Devil's Plaything: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Chapter One: Sold To The DevilThe invitation wasn’t meant for me. It was addressed to the woman who quit two hours before the event a pale-pink envelope slipped behind the register of The Vesper Room, thick with the smell of expensive perfume and danger. I shouldn’t have opened it. I definitely shouldn’t have put on her mask. But the rent was overdue. And I was tired of telling myself no."You’re late," said a woman in all black, a Bluetooth in her ear, clipboard in hand, like the devil’s personal assistant. She didn’t even glance at my ID. The mask was enough.The elevator hummed as it ascended, smooth and soundless. My heart wasn’t. Every floor we passed felt like a step deeper into something I couldn’t name. By the time the doors opened on the penthouse level, I could taste my heartbeat in the back of my throat.It wasn’t a party. It was a performance.Men and women in black-tie couture and gold-thread masks wandered the candlelit room, their laughter low, lips glossy with wine

Chapter Three: The Devil's RulesThe sun crept in through the glass walls of Lucian's penthouse, casting golden streaks across the white silk sheets tangled around my body. For a fleeting moment, waking in his bed almost felt normal, until I shifted and the soreness between my thighs brought reality crashing back. My body ached in places I hadn’t known could ache, the intensity of the night before still echoing in my bones.I rolled over and found the bed empty. Cold.Then I saw it: a black envelope on the pillow beside me, bearing a crisp silver stamp embossed with the letter D.I slowly sat up, the sheet slipping down my bare chest as I reached for the envelope with cautious fingers. I opened it.Rules. Twenty-seven of them.Each one handwritten in Lucian’s clean, precise script. Each one absurd, possessive, and laced with danger. 1. You will speak only when spoken to in my presence unless instructed otherwise.2. You will not leave the penthouse without my permission.3. You will

Chapter 5: The Boy Before The DevilI didn’t remember falling asleep.One minute I was staring at the ceiling, replaying Marcus’s face in my mind, and the next I was somewhere else entirely. Somewhere far from Lucian Devlin’s rules and glass-walled prisons.Back home. Back before everything shattered.The sun was always too bright in our little neighborhood, the dust rising in golden clouds as children laughed in the narrow alleys between faded buildings. I was sixteen. My hair was wild then, never brushed properly. And Marcus, Marcus Diego was the boy who made the world feel like it didn’t hurt.He was my first love. My only love.He used to wait for me after school with his shirt untucked, sneakers scuffed, and that wicked grin that made my heart skip. We’d walk together, always taking the long way home. I’d stop to buy bread or plantains for dinner, and he’d carry my books like they were filled with treasure.At home, I'd feed my siblings while Mom tended to her garden, still weari

Chapter 7: Even The Devil Gets JealousMarcus POVThe lights in the bar were dim, the kind of place where secrets were currency and silence was comfort. I sat at the farthest corner, a glass of bourbon untouched in front of me. My emerald eyes—those same piercing, unforgettable eyes, stared into nothing, caught somewhere between the past and the memory of the woman who haunted every breath I took.Serena.Even her name tasted like longing.I had kissed her and the taste of her lips still lingered, bitter and sweet like a memory I never got to bury.I sat alone at the rooftop bar of Le Marais Grand, the city’s skyline swallowing my thoughts. The whiskey burned less than it should’ve. Or maybe I was already too numb to feel it. Since I saw her, Serena, everything I thought I’d buried snapped back to life like a loaded spring.Seven years. Seven long goddamn years.I still remembered the smell of her skin. The sound of her laugh as she chased her little siblings around that broken-down y

Chapter 9: Don't Ever Say Her NameSerena POVThe morning sunlight bled through the heavy velvet curtains, a soft golden warmth spilling across the sheets. Serena stirred, her body aching with a soreness that made her wince. Every muscle felt tender, her thighs trembling when she shifted. The sheets were tangled around her legs like remnants of a storm. And it had been a storm — the night before still flickered behind her eyes in broken flashes. His hands. His mouth. That dizzying spiral of pleasure until she forgot her own name.She didn’t regret a second of it.She closed her eyes and let herself feel it , the sting, the heat, the bruised fullness between her thighs. Lucian had ruined her in the most addictive way.The door creaked open. Serena blinked against the light as Mona entered quietly, a small tray in her hands. Her eyes lingered on Serena for just a moment — not judgmental, but soft. Pitying.“You should rest, Miss Vale.”Serena tried to sit up and gasped. Mona rushed forw