RESCUED BY THE DEVIL 🔞

1. THE EDGE OF DESPAIR

Selene above<<<<

The streets were eerily quiet as Selene trudged forward, the cold biting at her skin. Her heart pounded as she approached the one place she still believed was safe-Noah's house.

Her fiancé.

Her last hope.

Her father had cast her aside like trash, and her so-called family had never cared. But Noah... he had promised her forever. He had sworn he would always love her, no matter what.

And she needed to believe that promise was real.

Selene's fingers trembled as she pushed open the front door. She had a spare key. Noah had given it to her months ago, telling her that his home was hers. That she could come to him whenever she needed him.

The house was dimly lit. She stepped inside, her heartbeat a thunderous drum in her chest.

And then she heard it.

A woman's laugh.

Selene froze.

Her stomach twisted violently as she followed the sound, her steps slow, hesitant-as if her body already knew what her mind refused to accept.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar.

Her fingers curled into fists as she pushed it open.

And then...

Her world shattered.

Noah was there, lying in bed-with her half-sister.

Their bodies tangled in silk sheets. His hands gripping her waist. Their breaths mingling in a whisper of betrayal.

For a moment, Selene couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

Her half-sister, Layla, was the first to notice her. A smirk curled on her lips, unapologetic, victorious.

"Oops," Layla drawled, stretching lazily against Noah's bare chest. "Looks like she found out."

Noah stiffened, his eyes widening. "Selene-"

But she was already backing away.

Her chest ached-no, burned.

A cold, sinking weight pulled at her, suffocating her in its grip.

She had nothing left.

No family. No love.

Not even a reason to exist.

The next thing she knew, she was running. The streets blurred around her, the city lights flickering like distant stars. Her heart pounded in her ears, but she barely felt it.

The night was colder than usual, the wind slicing through Selene Calloway's thin dress like a thousand tiny blades. She barely felt it. Her bare feet sank into the damp earth as she stood at the edge of the riverbank, staring down at the black, rushing water.

This was it.

She had nothing left. No mother. No home. No love.

Tears blurred her vision, mixing with the drizzle that had begun to fall. The moon's reflection rippled on the water's surface, distorted-just like the life she had once dreamed of. A life that had been ripped away from her the moment she learned the truth.

Her mother's death had never been an accident.

The words still echoed in her mind, slicing through her soul like a rusted dagger.

Her mother had been murdered.

By her own father.

Selene let out a bitter, broken laugh, the sound barely reaching her own ears. The man who was supposed to love and protect her had been nothing but a parasite-marrying her mother for wealth, using her until she was no longer useful, and then discarding her like trash.