Chapter 1 Midnight (Part One)

The clock was just about to strike 12 midnight when she hit the bar.

Era Xu was sporting a mini skirt as she waved her chestnut curly hair. The bright lights on the dance floor were flickering constantly, and her black silk gloves were slipping along the edge of the glass.

Today was actually her 18th birthday. And it was such a lonely, but rather extravagant night.

Since her mother's passing four years ago, nobody had ever remembered her birthday anymore. What was worse, her father just couldn't wait to bring his mistress home. As a matter of fact, it had barely even been a month since Era Xu's mother passed away when the mistress moved into the Xu family along with her daughter.

As she looked back, tears started welling up in Era's eyes. It left such a bitter taste that it almost ruined her delicate smoky eye makeup. To try to hold back the tears that were about to fall, she hurriedly closed her eyes.

Before her mother left her, she told Era that she must do her best to endure the pain in her heart and keep smiling even when she's no longer around to protect her.

She did as her mother asked. In these past couple of years, she managed to keep smiling no matter what.

She kept smiling even when her sister, who was only three months younger than her, took away her elaborately decorated room, all of her favorite clothes, and even her boyfriend, whom she grew up together with.

'Mom was right. You can't call yours what others can easily take away.'

As she was deep in thought, a man in his twenties was making his way through the crowd toward Era Xu. She hadn't caught his eye until just now.

He walked over and turned her around, and then his handsome face leaned in closer very slowly. Era Xu couldn't really hold her liquor that well, so when she felt alcohol kicking in, she lost her balance and grabbed onto the man's neck unconsciously.

Seeing this, the man felt so thrilled with her response. So, he went ahead and kissed her with his hands at the back of her head.

'My God!' The strong smell of perfume made Era Xu feel so nauseous. At that very moment, all she wanted was to get rid of the man.

However, the man simply held her even tighter. "Let's go. I'll take you somewhere else."

"No. Get your hands off me," she flatly refused, shaking her head. Indeed, she might have come here to have some fun, but she was still conscious enough to recognize that the man in front of her wasn't her type at all even though she was already feeling a bit tipsy.

"Let's go, baby. I promise I'm going to show you a really good time..." With a lecherous smile on his face, the man persuaded her to leave the dance floor with him.

"Hey, let go of me!" Era Xu struggled to push him away, but she was much too weak to shake him off. In no time at all, the man had taken her out of the bar.

A gust of cold wind blew over, making her shiver for a while as she tried to pull herself together. "Get your hands off me! Go away from me!" She twisted her body in an attempt to loosen the man's grip on her body. But then, the man got a hold of her right away and said, "Babe, please behave yourself."

"Who are you calling baby? Go fuck yourself!" As they tore at each other in front of the bar, they accidentally bumped into a hard "black tower".

Raising her head to check what they collided with, she stared right into a pair of dark, deep and cold eyes. What a handsome man! His tall and muscular figure was at least over 186 centimeters. The well-dressed black suit highlighted his burly figure. Based from his facial features, it was apparent that he was a mixed-blood. East meeting West seemed to have that much of an advantage. His skin was dark brown, but that didn't do anything to lessen his appeal. Far from being repulsive, the smell of his perfume simply added to his male charm, and his short hair made him look more casual and ostentatious.

In her mind, Era Xu swore he must have been the most handsome man her eyes had ever seen!

Glancing at the man and woman who were fooling around in front of him, Jacob Huangfu's eyebrows were deeply knit as his deep and cold eyes stared at them. With his cold stare glistening in the light, they couldn't help but shudder. "Fuck off!"

The man yelled out, not wanting to lose face in front of Era Xu. He rolled up his sleeves and shouted, "Are you blind? How dare you act so arrogant in front of me! I'll have you know that I have quite a powerful background and you can't afford to offend me..."

"So, fuck off!" Hearing this, Jacob Huangfu couldn't help but frown, and there was a cold atmosphere surrounding his black eyes. It made people feel so intimidated, oppressed even, much like Satan from hell himself was standing in front of them.

Because of this, the man was so frightened that he lost all the strength in his legs and fell to the ground.

Upon seeing that, Jacob Huangfu simply strode toward the bar and completely ignored him, but his eyes were still filled with coldness.

The ruthless and steady footsteps seemed to have trampled on Era's heart, giving her a strange feeling of restlessness deep inside. Finally, she had made up her mind. Stretching out her small and slender hands, she grabbed a hold of the man's arm. She seemed to be caught in a daze as she looked at him. With an enchanting smile, she said in a sweet voice, "Hi! You are more handsome than that man! I'm glad I bumped into you tonight! Shall we... go to a hotel?"

Giving her a cold stare, Jacob Huangfu replied in a low voice, "Get your hands off me!"

Perhaps Era was so inebriated, but she just wasn't afraid of him whatsoever, even though his whole body was suffused with a rather suffocating breath. "...... No way!" She shook her head and rubbed her hair, feeling so irritated. Then, before anyone could even notice, she proceeded to wrap her arms around his neck and held him tightly.

"Hotel, right?" Jacob Huangfu asked as he held and raised her chin.

"Yes..." Era tightly held onto him and whispered under her breath.

"Come with me!" Jacob held Era's shoulder as they walked away and pushed her into his black sports car. At that moment, dizziness completely filled the air around her. Era kept on staggering as she walked.

In a presidential suite of the Glory Hotel.

The minute they entered the room, Jacob immediately leaned in closer to Era and let his accumulated passion reveal the hunter's nature of danger he was keeping inside. When they reached the bedroom, he held the back of Era's head, leaving her no chance to escape at all.

"Bang!" He effortlessly pushed her into the bed like a cloth bag.

"Wait!" Half-awake due to the effects of the alcohol and feeling a little scared, Era tried her best to calm down the flames. "Sir, why don't we think this through..." Unfortunately for her, Jacob didn't give her any time to think at all.

"Ahhh..." A drawn-out scream emanated from the bedroom. Right then, she could only vaguely see the beautiful crystal lamp on the ceiling emitting its brilliance. It was too late for her to have any second thoughts, as Jacob could easily hold her down.

Era had always been a well-behaved girl, performing well at school and always obedient. Even her cunning father, Enoch Xu, firmly believed that Era was only an innocent little girl, who would remain obedient to him all her life. In fact, he even started to arrange blind dates for Era and the sons of other rich and powerful families. No matter which family she married into, it would be beneficial for his company!

Little did Enoch Xu know that all the legacies left by his wife, Fancy Ling, had been fully transferred to Era already.

Never could he have imagined that that Fancy Ling's properties would be enough to buy his own company. The two of them had been married for over ten years. However, he had always been preoccupied with either his company's affairs or with his illicit love affairs. For that reason, he had never realized that his wife, who was weak and quiet, was actually an investor herself.

As for Era, she didn't come back home that night. She decided to have fun at the bar and spend a night out celebrating her birthday with total strangers. If Enoch Xu were to find out about this, he would definitely go nuts and fly into a fit of hysteria!

Era worked hard just to give her first time to a random passer-by. In spite of that, there was no feeling of regret for this matter whatsoever. Truth be told, there was even a faint happiness of revenge! -