Chapter 2

At dawn, the woman woke up with a splitting headache and aches all over her body. Glancing around, she realized she was in an expensive suite, clearly in a five-star hotel in the capital—a luxurious room. 

Victoria forced her eyes open and, mustering all the strength left in her body, pushed herself to sit up. The scene before her began to piece together the events of the previous night.

Her red dress from the evening was torn, exposing soft, delicate skin as white as snow. Her long blonde hair fell lightly over her shoulders, further highlighting her pale, flawless complexion. 

The massive bed had its sheets in disarray, and scattered across it and the floor were not only her clothes but also men’s clothing.  

Victoria trembled in shock and turned to look at the other side of the bed. There lay Jackson Carson—the man she had always been infatuated with. 

He was the most sought-after bachelor in the capital, not only for his status as the heir to a $7 billion fortune but also for his striking looks. His exhausted face remained serene, his eyes shut tightly, indicating he was in a deep sleep, oblivious to her gaze. 

He was completely naked, his perfectly sculpted body exposed before her. 

Victoria’s headache intensified.  

Had she… slept with Jackson Carson last night?  

Her legs gave out, and she sat back on the bed, trying to recall the events of the night before. All she could remember was a visit from her stepmother—after that, everything was a blur. 

Fragments of memories surfaced: touches, kisses… there was no doubt. They had been intimate.  

But how had she ended up with Jackson?  

There was no other explanation—her stepmother must have drugged her. It was the only plausible reason.  

“I need to get out of here!”  

Victoria thought quickly and tried to leave the bed without waking him. She knew exactly who Jackson Carson was. 

He was the direct heir to the Carson family fortune—the wealthiest family in São Paulo. Moreover, he was the most eligible bachelor in the city. Everyone knew he despised women who schemed to trap him, and incurring his wrath was akin to courting death.  

The mere thought of Jackson waking up sent shivers down Victoria’s spine. What would he think of her? There was no escaping this situation.  

She had been infatuated with him since her youth and couldn’t bear the thought of Jackson hating her.  

As she carefully tried to slip out of the bed, an alarm buzzed on the other side, and within moments, Jackson pulled her against his body, gripping her waist tightly. His deep, raspy voice whispered in her ear:  

“Victoria Lazer, how dare you drug me?”  

Hearing this, Victoria quickly shook her head.  

“Jackson, I didn’t… I wasn’t the one…” Before she could finish, Jackson grabbed her face.  

“Not you? Then how did we end up in the same bed?” Jackson despised lies, and his fingers tightened on her arms, nearly drawing tears from her with the pain.  

Uninterested in her excuses, he saw her as just another despicable, opportunistic woman who had drugged him for her gain.  

“I never want to see you again. If you show up again, you’ll regret it!” Jackson pushed her roughly aside before getting out of bed and starting to dress.  

At that moment, Ciara, Victoria’s half-sister, entered the room. Upon seeing the mess, she instantly grew furious. She had only planned for the drug to make them pass out and make it appear as though they had been together—not for them to actually sleep together.  

Despite her anger, Ciara concealed it well. She had always been in love with Jackson, and this was not the time to slip up or arouse suspicion.  

“Victoria, how could you do this?” Ciara exclaimed in feigned shock. “Weren’t you supposed to marry Bruno? Didn’t you claim to be madly in love with him? And now look at what you’ve done—drugged Mr. Carson to sleep with him. How could you?”  

Bruno Lima was the man the Lazer family had arranged for Victoria to marry, a match she had never agreed to.  

“Madly in love with Bruno? When did I ever say that?”  

Victoria questioned, though she knew that no matter what she said, Jackson wouldn’t believe her.  

As she glanced at him, Jackson gave her one last look of contempt before storming out of the room. Ciara quickly followed him.  

Victoria was left alone in the suite. As she stared at the empty, luxurious room, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Jackson surely hated her now. She had lost any chance she might have had with him forever, even though he had never noticed her before.  

Wrapping her arms around herself, she sat in silence, dwelling on all that had happened. It took her a long time to finally leave the suite and exit the hotel.  

Outside, as she stepped onto the quiet street intending to hail a taxi, she saw Jackson and his family in the parking lot. They stood near their cars, engaged in conversation. Wiping her tears, Victoria looked again and noticed Jackson’s gaze on her. Her stepmother, standing beside him, seemed to be saying something to him.  

Victoria knew exactly what her stepmother was doing—framing her.  

Her stepmother and Ciara had planned this from the start. Everyone knew Jackson despised manipulative women.  

As she approached the parking lot, her grandmother’s eyes landed on her disheveled appearance.  

“Just look at you! How dare you drug President Carson?” her grandmother spat in anger. “You’re shameless! You are no granddaughter of mine. Get out, and don’t ever come back!”  

“I didn’t drug him!” Victoria protested, only to feel a stinging slap across her face. “It was Suelen who set me up!”  

Suelen, her father’s second wife, feigned incredulity at the accusation.  

“President Carson, please don’t believe her lies. How could I possibly do such a thing? Victoria is the kind of woman who only thinks about money and fortune,” Suelen twisted the truth.  

“That’s why there’s no place for a disgrace like her in our family!” Cassia Lazer added. “You’re no longer a part of this family!”  

“If you thought this would make me marry you, dream on!” Jackson said before storming off toward his car in anger.  

“I demand to speak to my father!” Victoria retorted, unwilling to accept being disowned, especially when they still controlled her mother’s inheritance.  

“Go ahead, but I doubt he’ll side with you, Victoria!” her grandmother, Cassia, replied, winking at her granddaughter.  

With that, the family left, shooting her looks of disgust.  

Victoria wiped her tears. They had disowned her, but so what? She had never wanted to stay in that family anyway.  

She didn’t need them to survive. In fact, her life would be better without them. She would find a way to reclaim everything that belonged to her mother, and she would make them pay.