Chapter 1

• "Emm..." Carina Osborn groaned as the pain jolted her awake from her unconsciousness.
• The room was engulfed in darkness. She could only hear the heavy breaths of a man and feel the pain he brought to her.
• She tried her best to pummel him. However, to the man, her struggle was like a tickle.
• She couldn't even call out, only praying in her heart, 'Please stop.'
• ***
• When Carina woke again, it was dawn.
• She opened her eyes, only to find herself in an unfamiliar room. The enchanting scenes from the night before popped into her brain.
• Shocked, she sat up from the bed, and a sharp pain shot through her lower body.
• As she stepped out of bed, she caught sight of the bloodstains on the bed sheets and clenched her fists.
• 'It wasn't a dream...' she murmured.
• Just then, the bathroom door opened, and a man stepped out.
• As soon as Carina saw his face, she fell back onto the bed, panic written all over her face.
• 'How could it be him?' Carina couldn't believe what she saw.
• Rolando Mendez only had a towel wrapped around his lower body.
• He glanced at her lazily, asking, "How was your sleep?"
• Carina swallowed hard and struggled to get up. "M-Mr. Mendez."
• Rolando wiped water droplets from his hair and said, "If you have something to say, say it later. Take a shower first."
• Carina lowered her eyes, whispering, "No, I'm good. I-I have to leave now. I still have things to do."
• "Ms. Osborn, don't you think we need to address what happened last night?"
• A blush crept up Carina's face.
• 'What should I say? Isn't it obvious what had happened?' Carina cringed as she thought. 'Do I have to write a report and tell him that I was too drunk to remember anything from last night?'
• After taking a deep breath, she looked up at him and said, "Mr. Mendez, I'm very clean and I don't have any venereal disease. Also, I don't think you suffered any losses last night, so could we just forget about it and never mention it again?"
• Her tone seemed confident, but the last sentence came out more like a plea.
• "I know you're clean. After all, I checked myself."
• She blushed as she thought, 'But you didn't have to say it out loud. How awkward!'
• "I'm just asking you if you need anything from me. I don't think giving you a cheque is a good idea. What do you say?"
• "I don't need anything. I only hope that you can keep it a secret, Mr. Mendez."
• "That's all?"
• "Yep," she replied seriously.
• Rolando raised an eyebrow, studying the slim woman before him. Finally, he nodded, his expression unreadable.
• Carina grabbed her clothes and bag and fled the room.
• Staring at her back, Rolando curled his lips playfully.
• 'She's kind of interesting,' thought Rolando to himself.
• Carina, on the other hand, only had one thought in her mind—getting away from Rolando.
• In Northmarble, Rolando Mendez, the 27-year-old CEO of the Mendez Group, stood for power, wealth and ... danger.
• Rumor had it that he only managed to take over the reins of the Mendez Group after killing his elder brother and crippling his second brother.
• If any of those was true, Carina wouldn't want to have anything to do with him.
• Besides, the Mendez Group was the biggest rival of the Garrett Group.
• Carina didn't want to have anything to do with the Garrett family, either.
• Getting outside of the hotel, she slapped herself.
• 'Are you crazy? How come you slept with Rolando Mendez? So many other options out there! Why him?' Carina regretted it so much.
• She kept thinking about what would happen if this were ever found out by the Garretts. The result terrified her. She shook her head, trying to get the idea out of her head.
• Just then, her phone rang.
• She took it out and took a look, only to find it was Rolando.
• Her fingers trembled. It was the first time his number had appeared on her cell phone screen.
• 'Why did he call me?' Carina wondered. 'If I don't answer it, will it make me look guilty?'
• When the ringtone was about to finish, she finally picked it up.
• "Mr. Mendez."
• "For taking your virginity, I'll make a compensation. You can ask me to do you a favor at any time, except for making me fall in love with you."
• Carina was stunned for a moment before she said coldly, "Mr. Mendez, I think you have misunderstood. I'm not a prostitute."
• Upon hearing that, Rolando raised an eyebrow.
• Carina added, "I don't need to trade my innocence for anything. Besides, I am officially resigning. From now on, I will be focused on my graduation thesis, so I won't be able to give your brother any more supplementary lessons. We won't meet again in the future. I wish you a prosperous business and a happy life. Goodbye."
• After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone.
• On the other side of the phone, Rolando's mouth twitched.
• 'Did she just say that we wouldn't meet again? So she doesn't like me? Huh, woman, it's not up to you!' thought Rolando as he pulled the phone away from his ear. His eye then fell on the screen.
• 'You are the first person, Carina, who dared to hang up on me.' Rolando was not happy about that.
• ***
• Carina wanted to run away from the villa she did not belong to.
• However, she only trotted just a few steps before she almost stumbled.
• 'Damn it, how did Rolando torture me last night?' Carina thought as she gritted her teeth. 'It's so fucking hurting!'
• In the afternoon, she received a call from Kenley Ramsey, the principal.
• She was clearly bothered as on her way to Kenley's office.
• Kenley dressed in a proper lady's dress, eyed Carina carefully.
• "Carina, I know that you are a talented girl and very smart, but the Ramsey family wouldn't accept an orphan as a daughter-in-law. So, I'm asking you one last time to choose between my son Reid and your job."
• There wasn't a single ripple in Carina's eyes. She answered right after the principal was done.
• "I'm not an orphan."
• "But it makes no difference to us."
• She clenched her fist.
• 'Anyway, Mom died. Being an orphan sounds much better than being an illegitimate daughter of the Garrett family, right?' Carina thought.
• Without any hesitation, she said, "I'll choose my job. I'll stay at school."
• Kenley was quite surprised to hear that.
• She never made such a choice before.
• "You can't go back on this decision once you've committed to your job."
• "If you're afraid that I will regret it, I can write you an agreement now, that I will break up with Reid Ramsey."
• "Good, very good. In the past two years, I have given you enough respect and never made any trouble with you. But now, things are different. You are about to graduate while my son has his own path to follow. So, I hope you will remember your words."
• "I will."
• When she walked out of the office building, she realized that it had already begun raining heavily.
• She ran through the rain as the drops fell on her.
• She had to rush for her tutoring job. Now that she had broken up with her boyfriend and lost her job with the Mendez family, she couldn't afford to lose more.
• When she reached the school gate, a familiar car stopped in front of her.
• The car door opened and a couple walked out.
• The man was holding an umbrella for the woman...
• She stopped and she was about to turn around to dodge them when the woman shouted to stop her.
• "Carina."
• Libby Poole ran towards her from the umbrella and held her hand tightly.
• "Carina, sorry, it's all my fault. You can beat me or even scold me."
• Behind them, Reid Ramsey quickly stepped forward and held the umbrella above their heads.
• He looked at Carina with guilt.
• "Carina, I don't know what happened yesterday. I ..."
• Carina looked at them and didn't know how to react.
• She had no idea what kind of drama was playing out there.
• She never thought she'd be caught in something like this—it felt like something straight out of a TV show.
• One of them was her boyfriend; the other, her friend and roommate.
• The saddest part was that they somehow hooked up and she caught them in bed. That was why she went to get drunk in the first place.
• Disappointed, Carina simply looked at Reid with a stern face.
• "Reid, do you know why I chose you as my boyfriend among all suitors?"