Chapter 2

A sharp slap landed on Celeste's cheek as she returned home. The force of her father's slap almost deafened her.

“What did I do to deserve this, Dad?” she asked her father blankly. She hadn't recognized her father since her mother died.

“What do you think you did to make me this angry?! I didn’t raise you, Star, to be a dirty woman!”

“Don’t you dare call me Star! Because since you brought your mistress and your illegitimate child into this house, I forgot I was the Star of this family. How can you still call me Star when you’re the reason why my world is dark?” she shouted angrily. Celeste is her real name, and her mom named her Star because of a celestial theme.

“Don’t change the subject, Celeste. You are a disgrace to this family! I called our lawyer yesterday to give you half of the shares, but because of what you did, I decided to give it all to your sister Hannah. We have nothing more to talk about.” Logan was about to turn away from his daughter when Celeste blocked him.

“What did I do?” she asked him.

“You are a shame to this family, Celeste. I thought you had respect for yourself, but I was wrong. What a shame.”

“Tell me what I did?!” she asked her father confused. Logan instructed his secretary to show her the video he received last night. Celeste watched it, and it was as if her strength left her body.

Her knees weakened when she saw herself entering a room and having sex with a man.

“Now that you know, leave my house, Celeste. I don’t need a daughter like you. How can I trust you with the company if you have a sex scandal? If I hadn’t asked the person who had a copy of your video, you would have been an instant celebrity today. I don’t want to see you in this house anymore, leave, Celeste, before I drag you out.” Her father said furiously.

He couldn't accept that his beloved daughter would be involved in that kind of scandal. They couldn't see the man's face clearly, but they didn't care who Celeste was with because they weren't interested in knowing.

While Celeste was packing her things, her evil stepmother and half-sister were watching her. Celeste wanted to pull the mother-daughter duo’s hair and kick them out of their house, but she didn’t want to stay any longer because the beautiful ambiance of their house had disappeared since the mother-daughter duo stepped foot in their home.

“I’ll talk to Dad so he won’t make a bigger deal out of it, just tell me if you want to stay here.” Hannah said, pretending to be sympathetic, but Celeste just laughed at her.

“Don’t pretend you’re an angel, Hannah. I know you, I know people like you, dirtbags who will cling to a knife just to get ahead in life. Remember, even if you wear expensive clothes, it won’t cover up your true character and origins. Your expensive clothes won’t cover up the fact that you’re a mistress and an illegitimate child.”

“Celeste!” Hannah shouted angrily, but Celeste just smirked at her. Elloise was about to slap Celeste when Celeste quickly stopped her.

Celeste grabbed her stepmother's wrist tightly and then let go of it, letting it fall.

“I’m not Cinderella to be your slave. Hold on to the company because you might wake up one day and find out that I’m the one who owns it.” She threatened before leaving their house. She left without looking back at her former home, which was full of love and happy memories.

Celeste quickly wiped away her tears when she finally left. It was so painful in her heart because the company her mother worked so hard for would just go to a homewrecker.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” she whispered as she cried. She was also disappointed in herself, she couldn’t explain what happened last night that made her give her womanhood to a man she didn’t know. She felt like she was drunk.

The man’s face was a bit blurry because she was dizzy. She felt an unusual heat in her body last night, and when they did something they shouldn’t have, Celeste’s body seemed satisfied because the heat her body was looking for was the heat of sex.

Celeste looked at her cell phone when her bank notified her, and her eyes widened when she saw the 100 million that had just been deposited.

She remembered what she said to the stranger last night. She offered herself for 100 million.

“Damn it!” she whispered and hung her head because she felt the shame she had done last night. She quickly called her bank and transferred all her balance to her personal banks.

Fortunately, the bank information she gave to the man wasn’t under her name. Only her surname was on the bank she used.

She also blocked her bank so the man wouldn’t be able to find her if he looked for her.

Celeste left the country with the money given to her. She wondered who the man she was with last night was, she was sure he came from a wealthy family because it was so easy for him to give 100 million.

100 million was a lot for her to start and reclaim the company from her sister.

Meanwhile, Maximus furrowed his brows when he woke up. He was still naked because his clothes were scattered on the floor. He rubbed his temple when it suddenly throbbed. He drank a lot last night and he remembered what happened.

He remembered the woman who suddenly entered his room. He couldn’t control himself when the woman offered herself, especially since he was also drank.

Celeste was gone when Maximus woke up. Maximus took his cell phone from his side table and called his secretary.

“Sir, I was about to call you to tell you that you went to the wrong room last night.” His secretary said immediately. Maximus furrowed his brows because how could he have been in the wrong room last night if he opened the room with his key?

“What do you mean? What happened?” he asked because just from his secretary’s voice, he felt something bad had happened.

“Room 3017 was the room I booked for you, but you went to room 3015. I learned that the person in room 3017 died last night. The killer left a note, you were their target, but it seems like you switched keys with the person who died in room 3017.” He reported.

Maximus’s face remained blank, and he suddenly remembered the woman he was with.

“Find the woman who has the surname Marquez.” he coldly ordered his secretary before hanging up the call. He didn’t know why he suddenly became interested in the woman he was with for only one night and was just after her money, but knowing that he escaped death’s doorstep, he wanted to meet that woman.

He knew that the woman he was with last night was unlike other women because he felt the tightness of her cave. Maximus lifted the blanket covering his body, and a trace of blood appeared on his bed.

“What a rare woman,” he said with a smirk because of all the women he’d slept with, Celeste was the only one who left blood on the bed. He didn’t pay attention to what his secretary said because how many times had he escaped death? He couldn’t count.

He got tired of women quickly, especially since they were too clingy and used his status to get ahead and have their names noticed.

His secretary quickly found Miss Marquez’s address, so when Maximus left the hotel, he went straight to the address his secretary sent.

Hannah and Elloise were having fun because their plan was successful.

“Celeste’s plane has already left, Mom, so there’s no one to stop our plans. We have Daddy, so he’ll also pass on all their assets under my name.” Hannah said excitedly, as did her mother.

“Toast to our success.” Elloise said, raising her wine glass.

“I am now the new princess of this house and I deserve to be called Miss Marquez. It’s a good thing Daddy signed my birth certificate.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t allow you not to take your daddy’s surname. Now that you have power over the company, do your best and don’t disappoint your dad. I can’t wait for you to be the new CEO of Celestial Elegance.” She dreamed of seeing herself sitting in a large office.

“But it would be better if we changed the company name because the company follows Celeste’s name.” She said annoyed.

“Don’t think about that yet. We can do that someday. Let’s take things one step at a time.” Hannah agreed with her mother.

Their conversation was interrupted when a maid came in.

“Ma’am, there’s someone looking for Ma’am Marquez.” The maid said.

“Marquez is our surname, so who’s looking for me or my daughter?” Elloise said tartly.

“I don’t know, Ma’am, that’s all the man told me.” Elloise looked at her daughter.

“Are you seeing men? You know that your Dad is still angry because of what Celeste did, so you can’t see any man.”

“I’m not seeing any man, Mom. Maybe he’s looking for Celeste. Tell whoever that man is that Celeste doesn’t live here anymore.” Hannah said.

“Who is that man?” Elloise asked.

“Mr. Lim,” The maid’s answer made Elloise and Hannah’s eyes widen. They quickly went to the veranda where they could clearly see the person outside their door.

“Oh my gosh!” Hannah shrieked, then the mother-daughter duo quickly hid. Hannah’s hands were shaking because the man all the women dreamed of was in front of their house.

“Did I see Maximus Lim? Am I not hallucinating?” Elloise said incredulously. “What does he need from Celeste?” She asked curiously. Hannah looked at her cell phone and the video of Celeste.

Hannah covered her mouth when she recognized the man who was with Celeste.

“Mom,” she said, then showed the video to her mother where you could clearly see the man’s face in the video if you just paused it.

“You stupid, I thought you sold Celeste to an old man? Why is Maximus Lim with her?” Elloise couldn’t contain her annoyance because of her daughter’s failure.

“Please think, Mom, Celeste can’t have a relationship with Mr. Lim.” Hannah was nervous, but she immediately thought of an idea. “Talk to him, Mom, tell him that the woman he’s looking for isn’t here, and if he wants to see the woman he’s looking for, just leave his information.”

“What is your plan?”

“Just do what I said. We need to get him out of here first, then we’ll figure something out.” She ordered her mother. Elloise followed her daughter and faced Maximus Lim.

“Is Miss Marquez here?” he asked. He couldn’t wait, but he waited to see and talk to the woman he was with.

“Mr. Lim, I didn’t expect your visit. If you’re looking for my daughter, she’s not here right now. If you want, I’ll just get your number so I can tell her you’re looking for her when she gets home.” Elloise’s voice was sweet.

“Okay,” Maximus simply replied, then gave Elloise his calling card and left.