All Chapters of HIS TO RUIN: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

SELENE.The moment the door clicked shut behind us, the tension between Damien and me snapped like a live wire. My chest heaved, my pulse hammering against my ribs, as if the room itself had been waiting for this storm. I thought I could keep my composure, that I could slide past his anger and desire like I had done with everything else. But the second he reached for me, it all became impossible.“Selene,” he growled, his voice low and harsh, “don’t—”He didn’t finish. His hands were on me before I could react, gripping my arms with a strength that burned. My back pressed against the wall, and suddenly there was no space to breathe, no room to escape. His proximity made my skin itch with need and fear, and my mouth went dry despite the racing heat between us.Oh my goodness. How could one man taste like sin and death all at the same time?“Damien…” I whispered, but it sounded feeble even to me.“You’re pushing me,” he snapped, his lips dangerously close to mine. “Do you have any idea

DAMIEN.It felt like a minute, but hours had gone by.I held Selene against me as if the night itself might try to pry her away. Her body was soft, warm, unbearably perfect in my arms, fitting into me like she had been carved for no one else. Even in sleep, she curled toward me, seeking my heat, trusting me in ways she still refused to admit when awake. That trust was a drug I wasn’t built to handle in small doses.She was intoxicating. Eulogizing about her was all I could do. I was a man of few words, but all my actions were weighty. But she? She was unleashing the beast in me.“Selene,” I murmured into her hair, though I didn’t expect a reply. “What have you done to me?" She slept with her cheek resting over my heartbeat, the steady rhythm pulling her deeper into dreams. I didn’t know whether to be grateful or furious about that. After everything—Marcus, the fear she tried to hide, the way she fought herself every time she looked at me—I didn’t want to share even her unconscious mi

MARCUS.I didn’t expect her to freeze like that. It was quite a sight to see.Selene’s eyes widened, her breath breaking in a sharp inhale as if the air had abandoned her lungs the moment my words touched her skin. I had forgotten how expressive she used to be — how every emotion swept through her too honestly, too visibly, like she had never learned the art of masking pain.Selene. Selene. Selene. You haven't learned anything, have you? Or has dealing with mediocre men all these years stopped you from knowing how l deal with men like me?But then again, I taught her everything she knew about lies. Maybe some.She blinked once. Twice. “W-What do you mean by that? What are you trying to say?”The tremor in her voice was a soft, familiar chord. Something old curled in my chest — not affection, not nostalgia. Something crueler. Something like memory sharpening into a weapon. Something I had missed and craved for. The stench of her naivety.I tilted my head. “You heard me. I don't like re

DAMIEN.As I said that, I leaned against the bathroom door, listening to the water pounding against the tiles on the other side like it was trying to drown out the truth. My jaw clenched hard enough to ache. Selene had lied to me — not just dodged a question, not just changed the subject.She flat out lied.And Marcus was involved. That bloody hypocrite. Always the same.I let my head rest against the wooden door, eyes burning.“What the hell did he give you?” I muttered. “What did he say to make you look like that? To make you look like a ghost?”Inside, the shower kept running. She’d been in there too long. Too quiet. Too still. It was unsettling to say the least.“Selene.” My voice came out rougher than I intended.No answer. Just silence that could annoy the crap out of me.I dragged a hand through my hair, pacing two steps before returning to the door.“Please, open the door,” I said, fighting for calm. “Just talk to me.”Still nothing. The knot in my stomach tightened, a dangero

DAMIEN.I frowned as she froze under my gaze, her eyes darting here and there as if she could not bear to meet mine.“I-It’s nothing, Damien. No one you need to worry about,” she said, trying to put on a weak, tremulous smile.I scoffed, narrowing my eyes. “Do you take me for a fool, Selene? No…this is clearly something I need to worry about, with the way you’re acting. Now, tell me who that was and what’s bothering you.” She shook her head, her shoulders stiffening in that stubborn look that I had recently grown quite familiar with.“I said it’s nothing, Damien. It’s just an acquaintance.” She tried her best to meet my eyes this time, holding my gaze in an attempt at reassurance, or something. But I’d also learned something too; Selene might lie to me all she wanted, but she could do it well. She could withhold the truth, but I could always see hints of it in her eyes, in her body language, in the way she held herself and spoke to me.And right now, all I could see was fear. Desper