Chapter 2

The drug crawled through my veins. Even moving a finger made my bones ache.

I forced my eyes open, my vision settling on the hand-carved golden iris pattern on the ceiling.

That was the Holt family crest.

Before I turned eighteen, this flower was embroidered on the collar of every custom nightgown I owned.

Beyond the door, Ethan's voice dripped with greed.

"Summer, is the intel reliable? Will Theodore Holt really come to this suite tonight?"

My best friend Summer couldn't hide her excitement:

"Paid two hundred grand for information from his driver. He'll be here at eleven sharp."

"When he opens that door and sees a woman who looks exactly like his first love lying in bed..."

She sneered.

"No man refuses meat served on a platter."

"Maybe Mr. Holt will be so pleased he'll hand us that billion-dollar development project in the south district!"

Listening to their gleeful whispers outside, I bit down hard on my tongue.

The metallic sweetness instantly flooded my throat.

I'd worked myself sick with exhaustion and stress for Ethan's pathetic company.

I'd treated Summer like my closest friend.

In return, they rolled around in bed in the apartment I rented with my own hard-earned money.

And now they didn't hesitate to pimp me out like a prostitute, putting a price tag on me and sending me to someone else's bed.

My stomach cramped violently.

My nails broke off in the leather sofa, but the pain didn't compare to one ten-thousandth of what churned in my heart.

But they didn't know—my father was Theodore Holt.

His first love was my mother.

But years ago, my dad had an affair with some starlet. My mother slit her wrists, and in my rage, I ran away from home.

These years, my father and I maintained an unspoken agreement not to disturb each other's lives.

He just kept depositing money into my bank account, afraid I might suffer.

Ethan and Summer thought I was some helpless orphan squandering her parents' inheritance.

That's why they dared to use me as a bargaining chip so brazenly.

But while my dad was a bastard who betrayed my mom, he doted on me obsessively.

Years ago, when some rich kid merely made a lewd comment to me, my father bankrupted him directly.

If he saw me stripped naked and offered up as a plaything on his own bed by these scumbags...

By then, even begging for death would become a luxury for them.

"Oh, right!"

Summer deliberately raised her voice:

"Once we land the Holt contract, we should finally have our wedding. Let's get that diamond ring Olivia was eyeing but couldn't afford."

Ethan laughed indulgently:

"Sure. We'll use the money from selling her to buy you a diamond ring."

I stared at the ceiling, the coldness in my eyes nearly freezing over.

The intel was correct. My dad would definitely come here, because today was his and my mother's wedding anniversary.

My mother committed suicide in this room years ago. Every year he came here to remember her.

Every year on this day, countless people sent him women. This year's surprise just happened to be me.

The next second, the door suddenly burst open.

Ethan strode over and grabbed my hair roughly.

My scalp burned with tearing pain.

"Olivia, don't blame me. Blame yourself for being powerless and deserving to be sold cheap."

"Tonight, even if you get screwed to death, you better make Mr. Holt happy!"

Powerless?

I looked at his smug face and my lips curved into an arc.

"Ethan, you'd better pray that after tonight, you can die with some dignity."

"Still talking back!"

Summer stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face.

My ears rang instantly.

"Get her changed! Mr. Holt will be here any minute!"

Summer smiled viciously as she tore off my jacket and forced me into a sheer, barely-there lingerie nightgown.

"Just like a cheap whore."

Summer patted my face with satisfaction.

I lay on the waterbed, experiencing ultimate humiliation, slowly clenching my fists.

Stripping a daughter naked and sending her to her father's bed.

Truly unprecedented.