Chapter 4

Sunlight shone into the presidential suite of Grande Hotel.

Etan Mann opened his eyes. He had a sharp-featured face and eyes that gave out no emotions. Every inch of his skin was impeccably perfect.

A young girl was lying beside him with her eyes closed. The fragrance of her perfume was so overpowering that he frowned at it.

He wondered why she now smelled so different from what he had remembered from last night.

His memory told him it should be a pleasing, faint scent that lingered and got him addicted.

The mess on the off-white velvet carpet reminded him of what happened last night.

Etan got up, his tall stature making the vast suite look a bit cramped.

He hesitated for a few seconds before he grabbed the sheet and put it on the woman.

As he turned and left, the eyelashes of Anne, the woman who was lying on the carpet, flicked twice.

After cleaning himself up, Etan picked up his mobile phone. “Bring in the clothes.”

Elliot Mann, who had been waiting outside, flew in with the clothes.

He kept his head low as he did not dare to look at Etan. “Someone is trying to harm you, Mr. Mann. We have no choice but to find as many women as we can. But you chase them all out. Your grandma has put the word out; any clean woman from the upper class may try. So Miss Garrison volunteered herself. She said she likes you and she never has a boyfriend. Knowing that you are fastidious, so I gave her a chance.”

“So be it. Send her back when she wakes up,” Etan said.

Elliot’s mobile phone rang. He glanced at it and said to Etan in a low voice, “It is your grandma.”

Etan took the phone and put it to his ear, and the female voice came. “I know what happened last night, Etan. You had not touched a woman for so many years. Now that someone fits the bill, you should first get engaged and settle down.”

The alluring scent from last night was still lingering in his mind. “I know, Grandma.”

He hung up and furrowed his brows. “Was Anne Garrison the only one here last night?”

“Yep. There was no one else.”

…

The servants of the Mann family helped Anne clean up and changed her into the latest designer dress, then sent her home.

As she arrived and got out of the car, the Mann family butler handed her a beautifully carved jewelry box.

“Miss Garrison, this is a gift from Mrs. Mann, Mr. Etan Mann’s grandma. She wants you to know that the Mann family will treat you like family.”

Anne took the box and opened it. It was a diamond bracelet. Even those who knew nothing about diamonds could tell that this diamond bracelet cost a bomb.

She knew she had been selected.

This was the rich and powerful Mann family that people had been talking about. Who would not want to be associated with it?

She suppressed her excitement and pretended to be cool. “Please thank Mrs. Mann for her kindness.”

She turned around and got inside the house. Once inside, she could no longer hold back her smile.

Taking out her mobile phone, she called her mom, Alana Merrill.

“Hey, Mom, it’s me. Mrs. Mann gave me a bracelet, a keepsake of the Mann family. She is probably thinking that I was the person who saved Etan.”

Alana smiled with delight. “Good to know.”

But the dozen missed calls from Jean were unsettling her.

“Mom, if Jean finds out that we have set her up, she is going to kill me.”

Alana sneered at the thought of her stepdaughter.

Anne was no longer a virgin, which meant she did not meet the requirements of Mrs. Mann. But yesterday was an opportunity that she could not miss. So Alana used Jean, her stepdaughter, in a bait-and-switch scam.

Anne lured Jean into the hotel, and after Jean left, she went in and took Jean’s place, pretending to be the woman who helped save Etan.

She had killed two birds with one stone by setting her stepdaughter up while helping Anne, her biological daughter.

Alana sounded confident. “What is there to be afraid of? She wouldn’t dare to say a word even if she found it out.”

Jean was a celebrity who was about to get married. She would not want the world to know about his scandal.

“Don’t worry, Anne. I will help you marry Etan and replace Jean’s status in the Mitchel family. You don’t have to rely on the Mitchel family anymore. They are just a small fry. As for Jean, I have a plan for her.”

“Really?” Anne was excited.

When Alana married Jean’s father, she concealed the fact that she had a daughter from her previous marriage.

She and her biological daughter, Anne, had been contacting each other in private for years.

And Anne was coveting the wealth of the Mann family.

“Why would I lie to you, Anne? Everything Jean possesses will be yours soon. Return her call. She won’t be a threat to you. Hold your breath. The most interesting time will be tonight at the wedding.”

Anne took a deep breath. She gritted her teeth and then dialed Jean’s number.