Chapter 1 I Want You to Marry Me

In the Regalia Hotel's presidential suite, Celeste York looked at the sleeping man in front of her. For a moment, she couldn't bring herself to react.

Her body ached, and hickeys were scattered across her neck and chest. The clothes and condoms that littered the floor told her what she needed to know.

She had slept with him.

Celeste held back the feeling of discomfort and climbed past the man on the bed to get to the bathroom.

After a quick shower, she changed into her clothes. She even grabbed a box of cigarettes from the man's pant pocket and lit one for herself.

Through the smoke, she quietly watched as the sated man slept.

Damon Bishop was 26 years old and the eldest son of the Bishop family, which owned the country's largest financial group.

On top of that, his face could rival top male celebrities in the industry. He was noble and good-looking, cool and unobtainable.

His name represented influence and high status throughout Taverdale and the whole country.

Celeste knew the consequences she would face after getting involved with such a man. But she couldn't just sit by and watch him marry Shannon York, Hannah Kissinger's daughter, next month. She couldn't allow Hannah and Shannon to get what they wanted.

By the time she got to her third cigarette, Damon woke up.

He saw Celeste amidst the smoke as she sat there in her red dress. He felt disoriented.

"How much do you want?" he asked as he got out of bed. He grabbed his checkbook and pen from his bag.

He could still feel the lingering thrill from last night's amazing experience. The bloody spots on the sheets made things clear.

He would give her any sum she wanted, as long as it wasn't an outrageous amount.

As Celeste waited for Damon to wake up, countless excuses came to her mind. But as she met his sharp gaze, she could only put out the cigarette in the ashtray.

She put on a bright smile and said, "I don't want money. I want you to marry me, Mr. Bishop."

"What?" Damon laughed as though he had heard the world's greatest joke. "Who do you think you are? You're only worth slightly more than a prostitute."

Last night, while he was drunk, Celeste had brought him water while dressed as a staff member.

She had helped him shed his coat, placed it in the wardrobe, and then took off the rest of his clothes one by one.

Damon had always stayed away from the temptations of women. But when she threw herself at him last night, he couldn't resist.

He admitted that Celeste had a pure and seductive face, and her looks matched his tastes.

But she wore a fake smile that never quite reached her eyes, and her scheming ambitions disgusted him. She knew who he was and had taken advantage of him while he was drunk to get something out of him.

Damon's insulting words would've humiliated any other woman, but Celeste remained unaffected.

Her dazzling smile stayed on her face, and she felt neither sad nor embarrassed. Ever since Hannah and Sharon caused her mother's death, nothing could affect her.

Waving the phone in her hand, Celeste said, "I recorded what happened last night. Although I was the one who initiated it, you forcefully took me several times after that, Mr. Bishop."

"If this gets out, I'm afraid it would affect Bishop Group's stocks," she continued.

"You would have to first get out of here alive to release that footage," said Damon, who was no stranger to the law.

Seeing that he couldn't get rid of Celeste, he tossed his checkbook aside.

He then took his box of cigarettes from her and lit one for himself. "Don't forget, I could crush you like a bug."

What Damon hated most in life was being threatened. And since she dared to threaten him this way, she must've had a death wish.