Chapter 2 Gone Too Far

"Oh, right. The video has been uploaded to my account, and the password shared with my best friend." Celeste shrugged as if it was no big deal.

She moved closer to Damon and said, "You'd better kill me now, Mr. Bishop. I don't mind sacrificing my life to ruin the Bishop family's reputation a month before your wedding."

She knew he was getting married soon, and yet still dared to scheme against him.

What a shameless and crafty woman she was.

Damon took in Celeste's smiling face. It seemed like she was sure nothing could get at her. Then, he reached out for her slender neck.

The suggestive marks on her fair skin were all caused by him. And for some reason, this made his breathing ragged.

Even as he gripped her neck, Celeste just kept smiling and didn't fight back.

Damon didn't let go until her face started to turn a little purple and her smile began to crack.

"If you want money, come to the 16th floor of Bishop Tower after 9:00 am. If not, you can do whatever you want. Just make sure you can handle the consequences of your actions," Damon coldly said as he picked up his clothes and put them on before leaving.

As soon as he slammed the door closed, Celeste lost her composure.

She slid to a seat on the carpet and shed all her pretense.

As tears ran down her face, she called her best friend, Megan Schultz.

"What happened, Cel?" Megan asked worriedly when she saw Celeste's face through the video call.

"It's nothing. I'm great," Celeste said as she took a deep breath and forced herself to stop crying.

"Meg, help me check what's next on Damon's agenda," she asked.

Megan's family was wealthy and among the richest in Taverdale. But it still couldn't compare with the Bishop family.

In fact, the only reason why Celeste had access to this hotel was because it belonged to Megan's family.

"Cel, do you think it's worth doing this?" Megan asked, sounding choked up.

When she saw Celeste defenseless, she felt her heart ache for her friend.

"Of course it's worth it," Celeste thought.

She had stopped living for herself the moment Hannah and Shannon forced her mother to jump off the top floor of that building.

Besides, the marriage contract between the Bishop and York families was always meant for Celeste.

Why couldn't she take back what was hers?

On the 16th floor of the Bishop Group, Damon called the reception for the third time today.

"Is anyone here to see me?" Damon asked.

Meanwhile, his assistant, Liam Fletcher, knocked on the chairman's office door and went in.

"Mr. Bishop, this is the information you wanted," he said as he handed over a stack of papers.

Celeste York, aged 20, was the top student in Taverdale three years ago.

Two years ago, she'd gone to one of the world's top universities as an exchange student. She had a full-ride scholarship for two years but paused her studies to return to the country at the start of the year.

And now, she was working as … a server at the Regalia Club? This had to be nonsense!

Damon tossed the considerable stack of papers onto his desk.

"Liam, is this all you can find out?" he asked.

No one would believe that a top student like her just paused her studies abroad to sell drinks at a local club.

"It's a little unbelievable. But I got someone to dig up her academic transcripts."

Liam immediately flipped to the back and showed Damon the document.

He hadn't believed it at first either. He hadn't expected the woman who tricked his boss into sleeping with her to have such an unexpected background.

"I got it," Damon said with annoyance. He waved his hand and indicated for Liam to leave.

Damon lit a cigarette. His head was filled with the image of Celeste shrouded in smoke as she looked at him.

Frustrated by this, he extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray.

She was a top student at a renowned school. She must've gone through something for her to drop out and come back to the country.

This was especially true when he considered her current shameful job of selling drinks.

Still, whatever changes she went through shouldn't be an excuse to become so greedy.

It certainly wasn't an excuse for her to threaten him either.

Damon felt another wave of disgust when he recalled how she tried to blackmail him into marrying her.

The next few days passed peacefully, and there was no bad news about the Bishop Group in the media.

It seemed that Celeste was quite sensible.

After all, the Bishop Group was a powerful establishment. No matter how greedy she was, she wouldn't dare put herself in a sticky situation.

With that in mind, Damon slowly forgot about what happened.

That was until he bumped into Celeste again.

This time, it was at a card game in Marksville. It was then he found out how hard it was to shake Celeste off.