Chapter 1 Ch. 1

It was June, at the crack of dawn, a beautiful woman woke up with pains wracking her body and a splitting headache in a presidential suite of a five-star hotel, somewhere in the capital city, Nordeny.

She felt utterly exhausted. Her head was killing her. It was as if she had woken up in a stranger's body. The young woman was Anya MacMillan. She forced her eyes open and pushed herself up. The sight before her baffled her.

A huge bed. Messy sheets with streaks of dried dubious fluids stained. Clothes strewn across the bed and the floor. Clothes that belonged to her and a man.

Anya jerked in shock. She whipped her head around and stared at the other side of the bed.

On the huge and messy bed slept the man whom she had been secretly in love with forever. Evan Welton, the most sought-after bachelor in the capital city. The Adonis of Nordeny.

Exhaustion lined his handsome face. His eyes were tightly shut. He showed no signs of waking up. He was completely naked, His finely sculpted form laid completely bare to Anya's eyes.

The pounding in Anya's head worsened.

Her breathing quickened. Did she...had she...with Evan...last night?

Anya shoved aside the splitting pain in her head and forced herself to recall what had happened last night.

Last night...she remembered that she had paid a visit to her stepmother.

What had happened after that?

Her memories were a blur. Her head felt heavy and her neck was killing her. Amid the fog clouding her head, snippets of memories flashed. She remembered heated touches, naked flesh and then some...

There was no doubt about it. They had sex.

It must be her stepmother. Her stepmother must have drugged them! Anya couldn't think of anyone else who would do something so vicious to her!

Anya felt an alarm sound off in her head. 'She had to get out of here,' she thought. She tried to clamber out of bed immediately. She knew exactly who Evan Welton was.

The man set to inherit the vast fortunes of the wealthiest family in Nordeny and the bachelor whom every young woman from any respectable family sought to marry. A man who loathed the advances of women he didn't know. Angering him would mean death.

Anya imagined the possibility of Evan waking up right now. What would he think when he saw the mess? There was no way she could talk her way out of this one.

She had been secretly in love with the man since she had been a girl. She didn't want the man to detest her.

Anya scrambled to get out of bed. Suddenly, something shot towards her from the other side of the bed. He wrapped himself around her slender waist and yanking her back forcefully. The next moment, she was trapped under someone. She heard a husky male voice, rough with anger and through a clenched jaw. "Anya MacMillan...how dare you drug me..."

Anya's mind cleared up. The fog that had clouded her head dispelled immediately. She shook her head frantically. "I didn't do it! It wasn't me..."

"You didn't? How did you end up in my bed then?" Evan detested such shameless and stealthy means. His fingers tightened around Anya's pale arms. His strong grip nearly crushed her fragile bones.

Pain spiked down Anya's arms. Her eyes reddened as she repeated herself.

Evan wasn't interested in listening to her denials. In his view, she was just another despicable, loose woman who drugged him so that she could sleep with him. He released his grip on her and shoved her aside roughly. Then, he got out of bed and began to dress himself. "I don't want to see you again. Ever. Appear in my sight again and you're dead."

The young man pulled on the rest of his clothes angrily.

It was then that Sydney, Anya's stepsister, burst into the room suddenly. The sight of the mess in the room sent her into an instant rage. She had thought that the drug would make them pa** out and put up a deception of them having had sex.

They weren't supposed to actually sleep with each other!

Sydney burned with rage but quickly collected herself again. She was in love with Evan. This wasn't the time for her to slip up and draw his suspicions. All hints of outrage vanished from her face. She cupped her cheeks in feigned shock. "Anya, how could you! You told me that you were going to marry Zac! You told me yesterday! You said you were madly in love with Zac. But look at what you've done! Drugging Mr. Welton and sleeping with him. How could you!"

Zachary Marshall, or Zac for short, was the man the MacMillans were forcing Anya into a marriage with.

She hadn't agreed to marrying him at all.

"I never said anything like that!" Sydney was telling an obvious lie but there was nothing Anya could do about it. She knew that Evan wouldn't believe a single word she said.