Chapter 1

On the day Alexander Hayes' company went public, he was being interviewed on a TV show.

I was in a basement, my body covered in wounds, being tortured by a man.

To liven up the atmosphere, the host added a small segment.

He asked Alexander to close his eyes and call the top contact on his phone.

My phone rang immediately.

The man holding me captive tied my hands and put the phone to my ear:

"Now that you've seen my company go public, do you regret leaving me for money back then?" Alexander's voice came through.

I looked up and saw the man gesturing with a whip. I sneered:

"Alexander, how pathetic are you? Give me a million dollars, and I'll play with you for a while."

Alexander fell silent and abruptly hung up.

He didn't know that when his company successfully raised funds years ago,

It was because I had secretly sold myself to another man's bed.

On the day Alexander Hayes' company went public, he was being interviewed on a TV show.

I was in a dark room, my body covered in bruises inflicted by a man.

To liven up the atmosphere, the host added a small segment.

He asked Alexander to close his eyes and call the top contact on his phone.

My phone rang immediately.

The man holding me captive put the phone to my ear:

"Now that you've seen my company go public, do you regret leaving me for money?" Alexander's voice came through.

I looked up at the man threatening me with a whip and sneered, "Alex, how pathetic are you? Give me $100,000 and I'll play with you."

Alexander fell silent and abruptly hung up.

He didn't know that when his company successfully raised funds years ago, I had secretly sold myself to another man to make it happen.

Victor Sullivan got off me with a satisfied look, dressed, and left.

I lay curled up on the floor, touching the bite marks on my body.

My phone lit up, showing a notification of a $100,000 transfer to my account.

I froze, feeling a lump in my throat and a surge of complex emotions.

Victor called, telling me to get ready and meet him at a restaurant.

I didn't dare delay.

On the way, I wondered why he wasn't spending Valentine's Day with his official girlfriend.

I waited outside the restaurant for a long time without hearing from Victor.

Suddenly, an SUV careened towards me out of control.

I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, when a strong arm pulled me into a familiar embrace.

His scent was so familiar it made me want to cry.

"Emily, are you okay?" Alexander looked down at me in his arms, his voice full of concern.

I looked up at his handsome face and those familiar eyes.

Five years had passed, and his features had become sharper and more defined. Time seemed to favor him even more.

The only thing that had changed was that I was no longer the person he truly cared about.

When he realized it was me, his pupils constricted, and he roughly pushed me away.

"It's you?" he said in disbelief.

I forced a smile.

From his appearance, it seemed he had rushed here straight from the TV show to spend Valentine's Day with his celebrity girlfriend, Sophia.

Sophia appeared nearby in a red dress.

Alexander frowned, took off his coat, and lovingly draped it over her shoulders.

I lowered my gaze, pretending not to see them, and turned to leave.

He suddenly called out coldly: "Aren't you going to thank your savior before you go?"

I froze in my tracks, unable to move.

His eyes were filled with hatred and emotions I couldn't understand as he stared at me.

I looked at him coldly, waving my phone, and said slowly:

"Alex, my price has gone up. Now it takes $200,000 to get me into bed. Want to give it a try?"

He was stunned for a moment, then his eyes blazed with anger.

He grabbed my hand tightly, gritting his teeth:

"Five years have passed, and you've become so disgustingly cheap!"

My wrist immediately swelled and hurt.

I looked at him mockingly, enunciating each word:

"Want to sleep with me? I'll give you a 20% discount."

Alexander's expression was shocked, his eyes filled with complexity I couldn't understand.

As he was about to speak, Sophia came over and wrapped her arm around his other arm.

"Alex, is this your gold-digging ex-girlfriend?" she asked.

She looked me up and down, her tone contemptuous:

"You think you're worth $200,000? You're really desperate, naming any price. But Alex buys me bags that cost more than that."

"Now you've resorted to selling your body to make money. If you hadn't abandoned Alex for being poor back then, I wouldn't have met such a wonderful man."

Memories from years ago flooded my mind.

Alexander and I met in college. We were each other's first love, sweet yet bittersweet.

Back then, he wasn't a famous entrepreneur yet.

My reputation wasn't so bad that everyone despised me.

We were young and naive, sharing many precious firsts together.

Though we argued sometimes, we held each other's hands firmly, dreaming of growing old together.

After graduation, Alexander invested all his savings into starting a business, but was tricked and lost everything.

Debts piled up like a bottomless pit, constantly demanding more from us.

Alexander's mother suddenly fell seriously ill, adding to the burden on our shoulders.

To pay off the debts, I worked several jobs a day, sharing a single piece of bread with Alexander for meals.

We saved every penny we could, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the mounting interest.

Alexander's mother was admitted to the ICU, and we couldn't afford a cent of her treatment costs.

I watched him fall into despair, even sleepwalking at night wanting to jump off a building.

My heart was torn to pieces, and I could barely breathe.

Victor approached me, offering to pay for Alexander's mother's treatment and help revive his business.

The condition was that I become his mistress.