The next day, Zoe was awakened by the pain.

She felt sore all over her body, as if she had been run over by a truck.

After tremendous effort, she made it to sit up on the bed, and she felt extremely thirsty.

Seeing a cup of water on the table next to the bed, she picked it up and just gulped it down without thinking much.

The lukewarm water indeed made her feel better. And the fuzzy memory of last night gradually crept back into her mind.

She rubbed her eyebrows. She could only vaguely remember that she got into a car with a man and did something unusual with him after being provoked by the calls from Steven and Annie…

Her heart tightened, and she fiercely lifted the quilt.

Although she was already more or less prepared for it, she felt so shocked when she saw the dense purple love bites all over her body.

“Ahhh! What the hell is it,” she almost yelled out.

She rubbed her hair in frustration, and at this moment, a “click” suddenly sounded…

She jolted and hurriedly pulled the quilt to cover her body.

“Who is it!”

The door of the bedroom was open from the outside, and a slender man walked in with steady steps.

Her pupils dilated due to the shock.

Though she only had a vague memory of the last night, she could more or less remember the man she had slept with.

The man was dressed in a black suit today, with a well-ironed white shirt inside. The shirt was buttoned up to the top meticulously. The chiseled face above it was extraordinarily handsome with his sunken eyes, well-arched eyebrows, and pointy nose. An aura of prohibitive nobility could be felt just from every part of him.

In his hand was a set of ladies’ clothes, and there was not much expression on his face when he saw she was awake.

He put the clothes on the bed and said softly, “Get changed and come downstairs for breakfast.”

Zoe called out to him when he was about to leave.

With his back to her, his lips curled up slightly, and his voice was still indifferent and cold.

“We can talk downstairs.”

With that, he just walked out of the room and closed the door after him.

Zoe’s head was all blank, and after a while, she fell onto the bed all of a sudden. She grabbed the pillow to cover her head and yelled silently.

Though her memory was a little vague, she was not entirely unconscious. She did know what she had done to the man after putting together her fragmented memories.

“AHHHHH! How embarrassing!”

No matter how regretful she was, she could not undo what she had done. Thus, after a while, she finally got up from the bed and dejectedly walked into the bathroom with the clothes.

During the shower, seeing the dense and thick bruises all over her body, she could not help but feel shameful blush again.

Anyway, she managed to finish everything, got changed and went downstairs, where she saw the man sitting on a couch in the lounge.

The lounge was quite big. Just like the room upstairs, its modern and minimalist style could be seen in the black and white colors. It was luxurious yet restrained. The French window to the side was wide open, and she felt a bit chilly when a breeze blew past her.

Maybe it was the footsteps. He looked back, and surprise could be seen in his eyes when he saw the woman standing on the stair.

Zoe was wearing the black shirt and keen-length skirt he had brought to her. The top button of the shirt was left open, and a black tie was wrapped around her neck. The simplicity of the dress showed the sexiness of her slender and well-proportioned body.

His eyes widened, and he stood up and walked to the dining hall.

She could only follow him, and when she finally caught up to him, they had already got to the dining hall.

“Hey, about last night… I’m sorry. I was drunk.”

Henry pulled the chair for her before he sat at the other end of the table himself. His voice was soft. “It’s alright.”

After a while, he added, “It’s what I should do anyway.”

“Huh?”

Zoe did not understand what he meant, and at this moment, a man walked in from the outside.

He walked right up to Henry and respectfully handed over two red pamphlets to him. “Mr. Chairman. We have got everything ready.”

Henry said nothing but gave an “Mmh” sound. He reached over, took the little pamphlets from the man, flipped them open, and handed one of them to Zoe.

“Take a look.”

Zoe was stunned, and subconsciously she found it familiar. “Would it be…”

Her heart tightened, and she hurriedly reached over to take it from him. When she saw her photo and her name on it, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“What… What is it?”

Henry took a glance at her indifferently.

Unlike Zoe, who was almost freaked out, he was much calmer. He put aside the marriage certificate in his hand and said in a grim tone, “Have you forgotten what you signed?”

Staring at him with her rounded eyes, she said, “What did I sign?”

“Huh.” As if he had long anticipated her reaction, he tapped on the table, and the man next to him handed him another document immediately.

Zoe took it from him, and on the document, two large words were clearly written: Marriage Application.

     She could not help but take a deep breath.

     “Marriage? We… How… How is this even possible! I was drunk last night, it doesn’t count!”

     Zoe looked at her with cool gaze and sneered.

     “You did not even think when you sign it. And you are done with everything, you regret it?”

     Zoe didn’t know what to say.

     “Heh!”

     He sneered again and a hint of mockery could be sensed from his tone.

     Zoe didn’t know what to do, and could only say, “Anyway, I did not force you last night, right? How is it my fault?”

     She was a woman after all. What could she do to him if he did not agree?

     But what happened next was beyond her expectation. The man in front of her simply unbuttoned his shirt.

     Zoe followed his hand and looked over. A delicate collar bone was revealed under the shirt where two buttons were open, and next to it were dense and thick love bites and scratches.

     It was just obvious what a fierce night they had.

     It took great effort for her to stay instead of just covering her face and running away.

     What a terrible thing she had done and now she must face these consequences.

     At the man’s earnest reminder, she finally remembered how passionate she was last night and her face immediately blushed like a ripe tomato.

     “I’m terribly sorry! I did not mean it. You know what, I can compensate for your loss. I can give you as much as you want. But this marriage, can we just forget about it?”

     Henry looked over at her, and the coldness in his eyes was slight yet obvious.

     “Compensate for my loss? Alright, Jack.”

     “Yes, Mr. Han.”

     Jack took a step forward, with an iPad in his hand, after swiping around on the screen, he placed the iPad in front of Zoa.

     “Miss Gil, this is the latest Forbes World’s Richest Single Men List, and for your information, the latest price for a night with Mr. Han is thirty billion dollars.”

     Her jaw almost dropped to the floor.

     She cast a swift glance over the iPad and the

man on it was noble and cold and his sharp eyes seemed to be piercing her through from within the screen itself.

     She could not help but gulp.

     “So you mean, I would have to pay this thirty billion dollars for compensation?”

     “You understand me correctly, Miss Gil.”

     Suddenly everything seemed more like a sextortion to her.

     She looked at the man suspiciously and more and more she found his face familiar. Suddenly, she widened her eyes.

     And she looked down at the names on the marriage certificate and the iPad.

     Henry Han!

     “What the hell?!”

     She felt an atomic bomb exploding in her head and she almost just jumped up from the chair.

     The name of the man had always been familiar to her but only now could she remember who he was.

     He was the heir of the Han family and the chairman of Han Properties. He had never left the Forbes list and it was said that he was rich enough to buy up the whole country. However, his background was always a mystery.

     He founded Pearl's International company years ago and the company rose in almost no time. Half of the domestic entertainment industry was taken by Pearl's International in just two years. It was indeed a miracle.

     She fell silence for a while.

     She thought thirty billion dollars was just a joke and now that she had known his real identity, she could not but admit that he sure was worth the price.

     She could only ask carefully, “Ah… Maybe there is another way I can compensate for you loss?”

     The man in front of her knitted his eyebrows and his eyes remained indifferent and cold.

     “Mm?”

     “Thirty billion dollars… Sure I can not afford that much.”

     “Then there’s nothing for us to talk about.”

     His displeasure was obvious. He cast a glance at Jack and Jack immediate put together all of the files on the desk and respectfully withdrew.

     After Jack left, he said in a cold tone, “I’ll give you three days. You should say goodbye to your past life and in three days, I’ll send someone to pick you up. Here will be your home since then.”

     Zoe was left hopeless.

     She knew it would not help to fight against him, so she could only ask, “Can I have a few more days?”

     Henry  looked at her with his usual cold eyes, and sneered.

     “Heh.”

     And she did not say any more words.

     …

     Leaving the Han Mansion, she found Jack waiting for her.

     There was a silver-gray Maserati parked in the courtyard and Jack had opened the door for her, and he said respectfully, “Miss Gil, I will drive you back home.”

     Zoe put on a dry smile, and said, “No need. I could just take a taxi.”

     “But this is the order of Mr. Han.”

     The smile on her face tightened and her beautiful eyes lost their usual luster. Finally, she got into the car.

     Zoe lived in a hotel apartment in the downtown. The apartment was small with only a bedroom and a living room. However, it was convenient living in the downtown, and she did not need a lot of space since she lived alone.

     Returning to her littler home, she plopped herself into the couch and tried to empty her head.

     Since the last night, a lot of weird things had happened and she did not even have the time to think about anything but deal with everything with her instinct alone. Now that she could relax herself completely and she started to feel a few hints of fatigue.

     From the low table next to her, she took her computer, turned it on, and googled “Henry Han”.

     The swarm of information that popped up only made her feel more and more hopeless.

     She had long known that this man was unusual, but the information she read online still gave her more headache.

     She was sure deep in her heart, this man was not someone she could afford to cross.

     Not to mention his noble background, the power and wealth of this man alone was terrifying enough.

     And a man like him should want to marry her!

     Weird!

     However, on a second thought, why should she be worried? She’s got nothing to lose now. Should there be anything, what could he take from her?

     And she still had three days.

     He might regret it after these three days.

     She could do nothing but just wait and see.

     Thinking about this, she stopped being worried.

     It was Saturday. She did not need to work. So she simply got changed and left for the store of her own.

     The store was in the downtown, too. It took her five minutes for her to get there on foot. She did not even need to drive.

     She rented the store two years ago. It was just a small store, selling all kinds of adult products.

     Since she still needed to work in weekday and she had no time to take care of the store, she hired an assistant when the store opened, and she would just come by whenever she had time.

     The assistant took a sick leave these days, so she had to come over and took care of the business herself.

     Though Steven had been looking down on her little business, she thought no business would be more decent than another, as long as they were legal. She could not understand how it would be just inferior to earn some money by working hard.

     Besides, while it was a little inconvenient, this business was indeed profitable.

     In the past few years, she had bought herself a house and saved quite a lot of money running her litter business.

     Now that she had got nothing left, money was the most important thing in her life.

     Since she had broken up with Steven, perhaps she would not be able to work at the company of the Anderson family anymore, so she had to find herself a way out.

     Thinking of this, she hesitated for a moment and took out her phone and made a call.

     While at the same time, at the Gil’s.

     The living room was filled with people, and everyone of the family was there – her grandmother, Ciara, her father, Jaden, her stepmother, Helen, the sister of Shawn, Katya, and a few good friends of Annie.

     Annie and Steven were sitting on the sofa to the side, and the atmosphere were slightly gloomy.

     “If you ask me, Annie, I would say you are just too weak. You and my brother love each other, how dare she do such a thing to you? She knew how sensitive your relationship is and she called the cop. I think she just wanted to ruin you.”

     “Katya is right. She just broke up with Steven

and immediately hooked up with another man in the bar. She’s not some decent woman.”

     “Annie, she did all these just because you are a public figure. Now everyone is talking about you online. They say you seduced Steven and was caught by his fiancée. They even say you took drugs. What a nonsense! You need to do something to solve the problem.”

     “Yeah, what a vicious woman she is. You cannot just let her be!”

     Annie cast a pitiful glance at the Ciara sitting at the head of the table and easily put up a fragile and sorrowful look on her snow-white face.

     “What can I do? How can I fight against my own sister if she insists? We are a family, after all. I don’t want to make it difficult for my father and mother.”

     Hearing what she said, Ciara cast an approving glance at her.

     However, Jaden growled in anger. “Why is it difficult for me? You treat her as your sister, but you ask her, does she ever think of you as her sister?”

     “Uncle Gil, it’s not her fault. After all, it’s me…”

     Steven knitted his eyebrows and said calmly.

     Annie hurriedly said, “No, it’s all my fault. If I did not fall in love with Steven, she would not…”

     “Annie, it’s not what I mean.”

     Steven stopped her and said in a grim tone, “I just wish that we have told her everything earlier. I should not wait that long just because I do not want to hurt her. All the grievance you have suffered today is because I did not handle it well.”

     Annie felt moved and stared at him gratefully, “Steven…”

     “Ahem!”

     With a light cough, Ciara looked at Steven with a slight smile on her face.

     “Steven, now that things have already come to this point, and you have seen what those people say on the internet, we can not just cover it up anymore. What do you think we should do to solve the problem?”

     The expression of Steven turned gloomy, and Annie clenched her hands secretly, looking somewhat nervous.

     “Don’t worried, Mrs. Gil. I would never just watch Annie suffer. I would prepare a statement when I go back and announce my relationship with Annie.”

     Pleasure was obvious on Ciara’s face.

     “But everyone knows that you have an engagement. Would they buy it?”

     Steven held her hand and explained, “They just know I have an engagement but not a lot of people know who my fiancée is. I just need to tell them you are my fiancée and that’s it. They won’t have anything to say then.”

     Only then did Annie show a touch of joy on her face.

     But the next second, she frowned again.

     “But Zoe…”

     “Don’t you worry about that. I will talk to her.”

     Ciara said with the proud authority her position in this family had given her.

     “And you don’t need to announce it online, lest some unnecessary problems would come up again. The day after tomorrow would be Annie’s birthday. We can invite some reporters and make an announcement then and there.”

     Steven nodded, “Alright, then that’s it.”

     “But you should talk to your parents. It’s your marriage. You should at least talk to them.”

     “Don’t worry. They have agreed. My parents also like Annie a lot.”

     “That’s great.” Ciara’s face finally showed a touch of relief. “Perhaps you can stay and have a lunch with us?”

     “No need, Mrs. Gio. I still have some businesses to attend to in the company. We will visit you again.”

     “Right, you are a successful business man. If that’s the case, then don’t let me stop you.”

     Ciara turned to Annie, who was sitting right next to her, “Annie, why don’t you send Steven off?”

     Annie stood up obediently, “Yes, Grandma.”

     It was only after both of them had left the house that Ciara’s face darkened.

     Her smile was gone, and she looked at Jaden, who was sitting to her left, with a fierce gaze, and said in a grim tone, “Call your cold-hearted daughter. Ask her to come back tonight.”

     Jaden said in a hurry, “Yes, mother.”

     …

     Zoe hung up the phone when she was done with the man over the phone.

     Unexpectedly, the phone rang again.

     Watching the name on the screen, she was slightly stunned, and her eyebrows was knitted subconsciously.

     Even her appetite disappeared in an instant.

     She answered it in the end, and her tone was cold, “Dad.”

     “So you know I’m your dad!”

     Jaden’s thundering voice came over from the phone and she could not help but put the phone slightly away from her ear.

     In the end, she just put the phone on the desk and turned on the speaker instead.

     “What do you want?”

     “When did you come back to the country.”

     She sighed silently, and said lightly, “Why do you ask?”

     “Why? You should have told me before you came back. Do you still think I’m your father? Are we still your family?”

     Hearing this, she raised the corner of her mouth in mockery, “Mr. Gil, if I remember correctly, I did call you when I just returned.”

     The other end of the phone went silent.

     After a while, Jaden said, in a questioning tone, “When did you call? How come I don’t remember?”

     Zoe felt hopeless.

     She did know, since the day when Annie returned home, Jaden had not paid much attention to her.

     But it still surprised her when she found herself completely ignored. He could not even remember she ever called him.

     It almost chuckled her when he asked her why she did not let him know after she came back.

     Apparently, Jaden also realized his mistake, and he sound a little embarrassed.

     “Alright, the company has been expanding its business these two years, and I have been too busy. Maybe I just forgot. I am your father, you should understand this. Since you have come back, why don’t you come home these days? What’s the matter with you!”

     Zoe did not want to waste any more time debating nonsense with him, and asked coldly, “What do you want exactly?”

     “I…” Jaden was enraged by her cold tone, but finally suppressed his anger thinking of her temper.

     Instead, he said plainly, “Your grandma asked you to come back for dinner tonight.”

     “I won’t go.”

     “Nonsense.” He growled, “We are still a family. What’s wrong with having a dinner with us. Do you even need me to come to you and get you an invitation?”

     Zoe just sneered, “You never think about me even when there’s a holiday. Now, all of a sudden, you ask me to have a dinner. I am afraid I might be poisoned instead!”