Chapter:01: Reality:

 ”Darling, do you want more? Do you want me to take you to the heavens above your head and make you touch the sky?”  The man's low voice caressed her ears and his warm breath tingle her. His dark eyes seem to be a whirlpool of desires,drowning Miranda inside.

Her face grew rosy as her heart skipped a beat for a splitting second, she raised her brows slightly, and just as she was about to answer , the man's phone  rang all of a sudden.

Their heated moment was instantly interrupted as Lucas scrambled to answer the phone.

 He picked up the phone and as soon as the line got connected, the expression on his face changed and the next moment he said on the phone, “My wife”, he said softly to the person on the other side of the line.“Alright. Wait for me, I'll come home immediately”.

Hearing this, Miranda felt as though a basin of ice water was splashing on her at that moment. She felt a series of shivers runs down on her spines.

She couldn't believe what she heard him say on the phone– She felt as though her ears were playing a tricky game of deceit with her. So, she quickly swallowed the lump in her throat.

Looking up at him with her almost moist, dilapidated pale eyes she asked with a rigid voice “Y-You are married? You have a wife?”

Why- She doesn't even know about this!

How could he probably be married all this time?

“We aren't married yet. However, we're getting married tomorrow”  He hooked her chin tightly and stared down at the kiss marks he had left on her neck a while ago. He caressed them gently for a while until the lights in his eyes turned dark and the tone of his voice changed.“Don't come looking for me in the future ”. He said with a cold, icy voice. The look in his eyes could attest to how serious the words he said was and the cold tone of his voice sounded as the a warning.

Upon hearing him say this Miranda was fretted. She couldn't process what she just heard and it felt as if she had gone numb at that point.

At that moment, Miranda's heart stopped beating. Without caring much about her appearance, she scrambled forward and grabbed hold of Lucas's hand. She held onto his big pal like she was determined to get the truth out of him no matter what happens.

“Lucas, since when? Since when!” She asked with a desperate outlook. Her voice was laced with anxiousness, and what more, she looked like a broken woman begging for pity from an acquaintance.

He looked at her sternly and sneered.“Could it be that you are a woman ,who's willing to do anything for money? You have taken more than three million from me in the past two years , right? But I'm thinking, how come other men don't have to spend so much money to keep their women at will?” He mocked her with a smudge on his face.

      Smack!!!!

There was a responding slap in a blink of an eye, and Miranda dazely held her red cheek. She slowly raised her eyes up to the man , who was cozily doting on her just a few minutes ago.

“Lucas, is that how you really look at me all this time?” She asked with a trembling lips. She struggled to hold back the bag of tears welling up in her eyes and threatening to fall off at any given moment. However, she didn't want to break down in front this man and give him the joy of seeing her shattered all because of him.

Lucas wasn't just any man to her.She had always held him close to her heart after falling in love with him at an elite party four years ago. When She met him at the party , she felt that she could get along well with him and even create a future with him.

Back then , she was still a proud daughter of the Quentin family. Lucas was the successor of the Grant's family empire.So he naturally had an excellent upbringing that she couldn't help but like him.

During this time ,It so happened that the Grant Empire faced a huge crisis three year ago. They had faced bankruptcy and couldn't afford to pay up the huge compensation.

It was due to some certain they issues had at the time, so everything escalated involuntarily and at the end of the day, they went bankrupt. The situation was so bad that no one wanted to offer them any kind of help, no matter what they offered in return.

The trust people had in them was broken.

When she heard the news of their ruins at the time, she was quick on her heels to help. She was so anxious about their ruins that she didn't even pay attention to her own imagine and had gone ahead to do she can to help save the Grant's Empire. She had gone ahead to beg Grant Empire's client one after the other, asking them to give them a chance. She had even drenched in the rain for three days and three nights before she managed to get a client to sign the contract with them.

She also took some money from her father and have it sent over to the Grant's family, temporarily solving the problems surrounding their empire.After that , the Grant's Empire regained its glory and even grew bigger.

During this time , Miranda was the happiest person alive when things started going well for the Grants again. She felt like she was in the victor in all of this.

However, two years ago, it was the turn of the Quentin family to fall under a huge debt because of a contract leak.

When the news of the incident hit the World, her father could not accept going go to prison since he couldn't afford to pay back the huge compensation , so he decided to end things as he jumped down from the Quentin Corporation building and died immediately. Soon after, it was the turn of her mother, who did exactly what her father did.

Miranda had lost the two most important people in her life overnight. Right then and there, she had felt how it was like to be in a despair. However, she couldn't follow after her parents ,because she had a twin sister, who has always been in a poor health .She knew she needed to stay strong and alive to take of Amanda , so she tried her best to save the largest amount of money she could to pay for the medical expenses.

After a few months, however, they ran out of money.She couldn't afford to pay for the hospital fees anymore , so she swallowed her pride and asked Lucas for help. It was a tough nut to crack.  She bring herself to think of begging for help from him, she left ashamed at the thought of.thisowever, it was her last glimmer of hope .She had hoped that he would at least return a little bit of the help she had given him ar the time when he needed her help as well.

After contemplating on this matter , she sent her Secretary over to his office. However, for some reason , her secretary reported back and informed her that Lucas had asked her to wait for him at a hotel.

She had her own doubt about the arrangements–She had thought that he  probably have plans of doing wrong things with  but her desperation led her to follow. She made up her mind and went to look for him despite all the obvious danger signs,  it wasnot like she had any chances of changing her mind.

She went to look for him at the hotel that he had asked her secretary to tell her about. When she got there, he was already there.

He was lying on the bed with a magazine in his hand, upon hearing the soft knock on the door, he over and opened the door for her.

As as she arrived in the room, she looked around the place with disdainful eyes. However, before she could register everything around her. Lucas came from behind and push her to the bed.

The intention wouldn't be hidden after his initial action, would it? Miranda was instantly reminded of what his intentions were. However, she succumbed herself to his domination.

He indeed gave her money each time they meet up, in return she was selling her honour and all the dignity she had left.

She had completely become a tool for him to vent his desires on , and solve his lumping hungerr each time he felt like it.

”What do you think?” Lucas raised his brows and then he laughed,  “This is purely business. No strings attached. You've been with me for two years ,but it's easy for people to get together and part ways later,don't make things ugly if you don't want to find another patron. Anyway, it's very easy for girl like you to get entangled with men”.

He clicked his tongue and immediately wore his clothes. afterwards, he picked up the cheque , signed it and smashed it on Miranda's face.

“One hundred thousand. That's already twice the usual amount. You should be happy. I even added extra money for you this time, I just feel pity for you”

Miranda held the cheque in her hand , but her grip was right as though her heart has been torn apart by him. Although, she has had her own doubts before, she has never thought it through and definitely not imagined this day because she loved him.

She let him do what he wanted, but she didn't think he would hurt her like this.

“That's right. Fifty thousand a night, he gave her a hundred thousand today. It was already twice as much”

She bit her lower lip bitterly and painfully tried to console herself. It was fine , at least she had more money this time.

The pain in her heart could be heard in her voice but she tried to mask her pain under the consolation.

While she was still lost in her daze , her phone suddenly rang.She picked it up, still dwelling in her trance. However, when she finally answered the call , her expressions changed instantly.

It was a call from the hospital.

 

  “Doctor , how is my sister? Is she alright?” Miranda asked with a panicked stricken tone.

“Her alveoli had just ruptured. She needs to be admitted to ICU right away” The doctor said .“Also, you have to use the imported medicines I prescribed , otherwise.....”

  Miranda was left speechless. She couldn't move an inch as well and only tightened her grip on the phone.

“Staying a day in the ICU is already ten thousand. And Now , adding an expensive medicine would cost so much more....”

 She was afraid that even the money from Lucas would not be enough to cover the whole expenses at this time. Moreover, she had already used the hundred thousand dollars she had just received from Lucas to cover up the sixty thousand she owed for treatment.

“You have to come to a decision as soon as possible if you still want her to live” The doctor urged, after seeing how silent she had become.

“Stop!!” Miranda gritted her teeth and held the phone even more tighter.“Ill pay the bills immediately”

“Pay the bill in one go for three days. However, you can deposit Fifty thousand dollars first,” The doctor said.

Miranda raised her red eyes and asked, “Can I make a deposit of forty thousand dollars first?”

“Then we have to make up for the rest of the money tomorrow ” the doctor said before agreeing to her request.

That day, Amanda was posted into the intensive care unit.

The Next day , Miranda arrived at Lucas's wedding.

She had nowhere else to go at this point. Although, she knew that she was courting trouble by coming here and she would end up with humiliated, she could only borrow money from him.