Chapter 2

The supervisor, Mark Davis, was a greasy, arrogant middle-aged man in his forties.

Ever since I started working here, I noticed the creepy way he looked at both Maya and me. I had warned her to be careful around him, but she brushed me off, saying I was overthinking.

"He's a top manager. He can have any woman he wants. Why would he look at broke college girls like us?

Chloe, you might look plain, but you sure are full of yourself."

Unable to convince her, I could only watch from afar as she flirted her way around Mark, smiling brightly even when he groped her.

After that, our duties became worlds apart. I was assigned to scrub bathrooms and hallways, while Maya was handed the presidential suites.

Whenever Maya had me cover her shifts, Mark turned a blind eye.

I had already anticipated that he would cause trouble for me on Maya’s behalf, so his harassment didn't rattle me in the slightest.

"I heard you lied about your mom being sick just to skip work. Young and already rotten, even cursing your own mother! Spill it—where did you go yesterday? Whose bed did you crawl into?

Looking like a cheap little flirt, acting trashy all day long. Probably batting your lashes at male guests while scrubbing toilets. Shameless!"

Seeing that I didn't argue, Mark grew bolder and reached his hand straight toward my chest.

"Probably worn out by men already anyway. Come on, let me touch. Make me happy, and I might just take you off bathroom duty."

From the corner of my eye, I caught several shadows turning the hallway. The people I was waiting for had arrived.

I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face, intentionally provoking him.

"Mark, stop acting like you own this hotel! If you lay another hand on me, I’m taking this straight to upper management and filing a sexual harassment report!"

Taking the slap without a flinch, Mark sneered with blatant arrogance.

"Report me? Go right ahead! Let's see who believes you! In this building, I am God! If you want to keep working here, you do whatever the hell I tell you to do."

With that, he grabbed my shoulders and leaned in to kiss me.

"Stop!"

Mark was violently yanked backward, a fist slamming square into his jaw, knocking him to the floor.

"Fuck! Who the hell dare—"

Mark looked up, only to freeze when he met the venomous stares of the hotel's corporate executives. He choked on his words.

The hotel had been anonymously reported for mismanagement, prompting high-level executives to conduct a surprise inspection today. They had just guaranteed that their operations were strictly regulated.

Who would have thought that the moment they stepped into the housekeeping department, they’d be humiliated like this?

"Are you alright?"

Ethan Hayes asked in a remarkably gentle voice.

Meeting his warm gaze, I froze for a moment before quickly lowering my head. "I'm fine."

In my past life, after that night happened, I sneaked out while he was fast asleep.

I couldn't afford to get entangled with billionaires, so I wanted to pretend it never occurred. But the morning-after pill I bought at the local pharmacy turned out to be expired.

The next time I saw Ethan was at the Hayes manor. I was six months pregnant, and his mother smugly announced to him,

"Ms. Price has agreed to carry the child to term. I’ll give her a lump sum, and the baby will have nothing to do with her afterward. As for you, get married if you want, or don't. I won't nag you anymore."

I still vividly remembered how grim and repulsive his face looked back then.

Right after that, Ethan flew abroad and never returned until the day I was killed.

I knew he simply didn't want to look at me.

I thought our paths would never cross again in this life, forgetting that this luxury hotel was an asset under the Hayes Group.