Chapter 1 001

Rayna

I never expected the knock. Not at this hour, not at my door.

It was past midnight, and my neighborhood was the kind where people kept their heads down and their locks sturdy. Nobody came visiting, not unless they had trouble on their heels.

I froze halfway between the couch and the kitchen, a glass of cheap whiskey in my hand.

Another knock. Firm. Patient.

“Who is it?” My voice came out sharper than I meant, but living alone teaches you not to sugarcoat.

Silence.

I set the glass down, grabbed the knife from the counter, and pressed my eye to the peephole.

Empty hallway. My skin prickled. Slowly, I unlatched the door and opened it just enough to see.

There was no one waiting. Only a small black envelope lying on the worn mat.

I bent, picked it up, and turned it over in my hands. Thick paper, smooth as silk. My name written in silver ink. Rayna Vale.

“Cute,” I muttered. I glanced both ways down the hall before shutting the door and locking it twice.

At my table, I slid the knife under the flap and tore the envelope open. Inside was a single card, black with embossed edges, elegant but cold.

The words shimmered as if they’d been written with starlight.

The Seduction Game.

Thirty nights. One locked room.

Your opponent awaits.

I blinked, heart thudding. No signature. No instructions. Only a time and place printed at the bottom: Tomorrow. Midnight. The Orpheus Hotel.

I laughed under my breath. It sounded harsh, humorless. “What kind of sick prank—”

My phone buzzed. Unknown number.

I hesitated, then answered. “Hello?”

A woman’s voice, low and smooth. “Miss Vale.”

“Who is this?”

“You’ve been chosen." She continued. "The Game begins tomorrow night. Your acceptance is assumed.”

“I don’t play games,” I snapped. "I'm not interested."

“You will,” she replied softly. “You have thirty nights to succeed. Or you won’t leave at all.”

The line clicked dead.

I stared at my phone, pulse pounding in my ears.

“Bullshit,” I whispered, though the word tasted like a lie.

My eyes drifted back to the card. The Seduction Game. The name alone carried weight. I’d heard whispers in back rooms, rumors traded like currency in bars and brothels. An underground club where secrets were the prize, where pleasure was only the surface. No one got in unless they were invited. No one left unchanged.

And no one—absolutely no one—spoke of it openly.

The card trembled between my fingers.

“Why me?” I muttered.

As if on cue, my phone buzzed again. A text this time.

We know what you want.

My throat went dry. I typed back quickly. What do you think I want?

Three dots blinked. Then: Justice.

I froze. My stomach dropped, and my chest burned like I’d swallowed fire.

Justice. The one word that cut deeper than anything else.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Images of Lila flashed in my mind—her laugh, her hand in mine, the last time I saw her alive.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head as if I could push it away. “Not you. Not now.”

The phone chimed again. Midnight. Don’t be late.

I slammed it facedown on the table and pressed my palms into my eyes. “This is insane,” I muttered. “It’s a setup. It has to be.”

But the truth buzzed in my blood: they knew. Whoever “they” were, they knew about Lila. They knew what happened, or at least part of it.

And if they knew, maybe they had answers.

A knock rattled the door again. I jumped, grabbing the knife once more.

“Who’s there?” My voice shook despite me.

No answer.

I crept to the door and pressed my ear to it. Silence.

When I finally dared to look through the peephole, the hallway was empty again. But something new had been slipped under my door: another card.

This one was smaller, with only four words scrawled across it in crimson ink.

Zero awaits your touch.

My breath caught. The name hit me like ice water down my spine.

Zero.

The silent monster. The undefeated player. The man no one seduced, no one tamed. I’d heard his name whispered before, always in fear, always with a shiver.

And now… he was mine.

I staggered back from the door, clutching the card. My chest ached with the weight of it, but beneath the fear, something else stirred. Something sharper.

This was no coincidence.

This was a chance.

And maybe, just maybe, it was the key to Lila’s truth.

I sat down, cards spread before me like tarot, my future written in silver and red. My hands trembled, but I didn’t shove them away.

Tomorrow at midnight, I’d walk into the lion’s den.

But tonight, all I could think was one thing:

If I played this game, there was no going back.

And yet, some part of me already knew—I’d never been the kind of girl who turned down a dare.