Marked by the Devil

Title: When the Devil Fell in Love

Chapter One – The Night That Changed Everything

She never planned to go to that place.

Lina was a university student, twenty years old, living a simple life between lectures, coffee, and late-night studying. She was not the kind of girl who liked trouble. Not the kind who believed in dangerous men or dark love stories.

But that night…

Everything changed.

The music was loud.

The lights were low.

The bar was full of laughter, glasses, and careless smiles.

“Just one night,” her friend Sara said, pulling her hand.

“You study too much. You need to live.”

Lina hesitated.

Her heart told her to go home.

But her feet followed her friends inside.

She sat quietly, holding a glass she didn’t even drink. Her eyes moved around the place nervously. She felt out of place. Too innocent. Too soft for a place like this.

Then… he walked in.

The air changed.

People didn’t notice it clearly, but they felt it. Conversations stopped. Laughter became quieter. Even the music felt slower.

His name was Adrian Volkov.

He was not just a man.

He was power.

Danger.

A name whispered in fear across the city.

The future leader of the Volkov mafia.

Tall. Dark eyes. Sharp jaw. A cold expression that showed no emotion. Men stepped aside when he walked. Women looked at him with curiosity and fear.

Adrian hated places like this.

He hated noise.

He hated weakness.

But that night, his eyes stopped on her.

Lina.

She was laughing softly at something her friend said, unaware of the storm watching her. Her smile was pure. Real. Different from everyone else in that room.

Something inside him moved.

“What is this?” he thought.

He had everything—money, power, control.

Yet one look at her made him feel something he never felt before.

Interest.

Obsession.

He sat at the bar, his eyes never leaving her. Lina felt it. She slowly turned her head… and their eyes met.

Her heart skipped.

There was something terrifying in his gaze. Something dark. She quickly looked away, her hands shaking slightly.

“I don’t like this place,” she whispered to Sara.

“I feel watched.”

Adrian smiled for the first time in years.

A slow, dangerous smile.

“She’s mine,” he said quietly to his right-hand man.

“I don’t know who she is… but I will.”

Lina didn’t know it yet.

But that night…

She didn’t just enter a bar.

She entered his world.

And once Adrian Volkov loved something…

He never let it go.

Lina tried to focus on her friends.

She really did.

But she could still feel his eyes on her.

They were heavy.

Dark.

Dangerous.

“Relax,” Sara laughed. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

Lina forced a smile.

“It’s nothing… I just feel uncomfortable.”

She stood up. “I need some air.”

As she walked toward the exit, her heart was beating too fast. The night air outside felt colder, quieter. She took a deep breath, hoping the strange feeling would disappear.

It didn’t.

“Running away so soon?”

Her body froze.

The voice was low. Calm. Controlled.

She turned slowly.

He was standing there.

Closer than she expected.

Up close, he was even more intimidating. His dark eyes studied her face like she was a puzzle. Like she was something rare.

“I— I wasn’t running,” Lina said, her voice shaking despite her effort to sound calm.

“I just needed air.”

Adrian watched her carefully.

She was nervous.

Honest.

Nothing fake about her.

“Bars are not your place,” he said quietly.

“And you know that because…?” she asked, surprised by her own courage.

A small smile appeared on his lips. Dangerous. Amused.

“Because you don’t belong to places like this.”

Lina frowned. “You don’t know me.”

“No,” Adrian replied. “But I will.”

That sentence sent a chill through her.

“I should go back inside,” she said quickly.

She tried to walk past him.

He didn’t touch her.

He didn’t need to.

His presence alone stopped her.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

She hesitated. Every instinct told her not to answer.

“…Lina.”

Adrian repeated it slowly, like he was memorizing it.

“Lina,” he said.

“Don’t come here again.”

She looked at him, confused. “Why do you care?”

For a moment, something dark crossed his eyes.

“Because this city is not kind to girls like you.”

She didn’t answer. She simply walked away, her heart racing.

From inside the bar, she didn’t see the way Adrian watched her leave.

The way his jaw tightened.

“She’s a problem,” his man said behind him.

“A dangerous one.”

Adrian didn’t look away from the door.

“No,” he said calmly.

“She’s mine.”

And somewhere deep inside him, he knew—

Meeting her was not an accident.

It was the beginning of a war between his world…

and his heart.

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