Devil CEO: Best Of My Love

The Grand Nightclub -- the most luxurious of its kind in J City -- was already alive and in full swing the moment the city lights started to turn on. Its name alone invoked the picture of a magnificent and high-end establishment.

"Mary, send these bottles of wine to VIP Room 8," Jada Chen said, stopping a passing girl. Jada was the lobby manager of the nightclub, and was responsible for the arrangement of the beverages being served.

"What?" Mary Liu asked, confused. Today was her first day at work. She was a third year student at the C University, who was deep in her struggles. Her father had been framed and accused of bribery, and was now serving sentence in prison. Her mother couldn't stand it and had been completely bedridden since then. Now Mary had no choice but to be the breadwinner. She was the only hope of her family ever rising from their current predicament.

She had had a hard time looking for a high-paying job these recent days. Fortunately, her good friend Lainey Li had told her that nightclubs were particularly profitable. She did warn Mary, though, that the environment was complicated and very tricky to maneuver.

Nevertheless, Mary had no choice. She had to soldier on for the sake of making money. She believed that everything would be fine as long as she was careful.

"Hurry up. The customers have been waiting for a while now. If you serve them well, you will get a nice tip." Manager Jada's tone was a little urgent.

"All right, Manager Jada. I'll be right there." Mary's voice, on the other hand, was soft and clearly nervous. Despite her fluster, she quickly took to her task and took the wine to the second floor.

'The Liu Group has gone bankrupt, Mary, ' she told herself as she walked. 'You are no longer a rich young lady, but you are your family's only daughter. Dad is still waiting for you to help clear his name and remove him from jail. Mom can't leave the house or be much help because of the stress. The responsibility is all yours now. Trust yourself. You can do this.'

Right after reporting to work, Mary had been oriented by another waitress called Emma Zhou as per Jada's instructions. She had been told about her duties, as well as the layout of the nightclub.

Wearing the establishment's uniform and matching high heels, Mary looked even taller than her original 167cm height. Since she wasn't used to such shoes, her gait was unsteady, and her progress on the steps was slow.

When she finally reached the second floor, she discovered it to be a sharp contrast to the lively atmosphere below stairs. It was as if she had entered another world. It was unnaturally quiet. She had not expected that two completely opposite environments were only one floor apart from each other in the same building.

Holding the bottles of wine tightly, Mary walked to the door of Room 8. She summoned her courage and took a deep breath before knocking.

"Come in," a gentle voice came from the other side.

She pushed the door open to find the occupants of the room talking animatedly, not noticing her presence. Afraid of offending anyone, Mary lowered her head and made a beeline for the round table in the middle of the VIP box. She set the bottles down, then asked softly, "What else can I do for you?"

The moment she spoke, all conversations stopped. One of the middle-aged men was the first to recover, and he immediately engaged her. "Don't be so nervous. Raise your head and pour the wine for us." The man was Zeke Wu, the CEO of the XY Entertainment Company, and he had in fact been paying attention to Mary ever since she had opened the door. However, they had a very important guest tonight, and he had to maintain a good image and leave a good impression on him.

That didn't mean that he would ignore Mary. Indeed, his first thought upon seeing Mary was that she was an absolute beauty! The nightclub's uniform consisted of a pink shirt with a heart-shaped collar, and a tight, pink and green miniskirt. Mary's long legs were welcome for anyone's view, and Zeke, who had always had a greed for beauties, felt lust stir in his heart.

It was Mary's first time working in such a place, or to be in such a scenario at all, so she was generally clueless about the way of things. She thought that the middle-aged man had sensed her nerves and was being kind by telling her to relax. And so, she obediently did as he said and poured the wine.

The moment she looked up, Zeke's breath caught in his throat. She was so beautiful, her delicate and fair skin glowing. Mary was not used to wearing any makeup, and she was without any makeup today, as usual. Her thick, arched eyebrows and large eyes were without artificial substances. Everyone in show business was aware that the boss of the XY Entertainment Company liked pure, innocent girls like her.

After pouring the wine, Mary stood to the side with her head down, waiting for their orders. 'Although I've never been to a nightclub before, I can tell from their clothes and temperament that they are not ordinary people.' That made her all the more careful, afraid that she might do something to displease these customers and inadvertently cost her this hard-earned job.

These men were all elites in the business world, and they had gathered together because of a very important person: Franklin Leng. Aged twenty-nine years, Franklin was the CEO of the Leng Group. His conglomerate engaged in real estate, finance, hotel, entertainment, food and most other industries. The Leng Group had even been cited among the top fifty business entities in the world in the past year.

This CEO was young and promising, but he had no wife nor children. He even had no scandals to speak of, which might be why his performance in bed had been questioned. The man was arrogant, domineering even, and these traits seemed to be innate.

Once these men finished their business talk, they dissolved into idled chatter and called a few club girls over. All men liked to play the field, especially successful men.

Soon ladies started to trickle into the room and sit beside the men. Mary had never been in such a predicament, and she was itching to leave as soon as possible. She took a small step towards the door, and Zeke immediately took notice, mostly because he had been keeping an eye on her. Now that he had seen an opening, he pounced. He walked right up to her and asked gently, "Miss, may I know your name?"

"Oh, my name is Mary Liu." She had not expected that this big boss would ask her name, so she easily gave it without much thought. She stopped in the middle of her escape altogether, racking her brains for an excuse to leave.

"What a nice name," Zeke complimented. "And it suits you, Mary. Sit down. Come and sit next to me. I'm sure you've grown tired from standing all this time."

"No, thank you. I have work to do, so I have to go. Please call me if you need anything." Mary made a motion to the door again.

But Zeke was quick to grab her hand. "Never mind that. All you have to do is serve me well tonight. There's no need for you to do other work. Your manager won't trouble you, I assure you, and you'll get a big fat tip as well." He yanked her to him just as he had finished speaking, and Mary found herself plopping down on the seat next to him.

"Sir, please let me go," she protested as she struggled to stand up. "I really have work to do."

"Surely you can drink a few glasses of wine with me before tending to your other duties." Zeke had already made up his mind, and he was determined to have Mary keep him company tonight.

For her part, Mary could be quite simple sometimes, but she knew then that something was wrong. Something in the air inside the room was screaming at her to go, and she heeded it. She struggled even more fiercely, and knocked over a glass of red wine in the process. The drink flew into the air and splashed all over Zeke's expensive suit.

"Don't play innocent with me now. You're a club girl here, aren't you? Stop acting so pure! You should thank your fortune that I take a liking to you." It was obvious Zeke had not expected to be refused, much less be soaked with wine. He lost his temper, and let loose a stream of abuse despite him being a prominent figure.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Please let me go. I'll pay for your clothes. I'm really just an ordinary waitress. I'm not a club girl. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." Mary's tone had gone low. She knew she had to humble herself in that instant, and she only hoped that the man would eventually let her go.

"I can do that, of course, but you ruined my clothes so you have to do something about that at least. Well, I suppose I can let it slide as long as you drink three glasses with me. We'll be even then. If you keep refusing, then I will go to your manager and tell her myself about how you disrespected the guests and how you lack the qualities that an employee of such an establishment ought to have. I will personally tell her that an employee like yourself doesn't deserve to work here. How about it? What will you do? I'll give you one minute to decide." Zeke had already been lusting after Mary, so the look of alarm in her beautiful face at that moment only served to fuel his desire even more.

"Ooooooh." The rest of the guests were quick on the uptake of his words, and soon a buzz went around the room.

"Mr. Wu, it's clear in her expression that she is still young and inexperienced. Don't be so hard on her. Girls these days prefer the prince charming type, so you should try to be more gentle."

The young man who had spoken seemed to be interceding for Mary's sake, but the other men knew that he was using a snide way to make fun of Zeke.

Everyone watched in anticipation as the fun unfolded. It appeared that this was not the first time something like this had happened. Only Franklin, who was sitting in the far corner, looked unaffected. He hadn't spared Mary a single glance since the moment she had walked into the room.

She, on the other hand, was in a difficult struggle against herself. 'I can't lose this job. I only have two hundred dollars left in my account. If I get fired here, I won't be able to find another high-paying gig that doesn't conflict with the rest of my schedule. And I'm still a college student. I'll never get hired by a decent company without a diploma.

And if I can't get the job to save up money, there's no way I can pay a lawyer for my father's defense or even pay for my mother's medical fees. But I really don't know how to drink. I have only ever drunk wine once in all my life.'

"Your one minute is almost up, you have to make a choice," Zeke drawled, looking at her with sharp eyes. 'I know for a fact that this girl will definitely choose to drink with me. If she didn't care about her job at all, she would have walked out the moment I stated my conditions. Instead she stayed, getting herself even more tangled in this situation.'

Mary gritted her teeth, thinking it was only three glasses of wine anyway. 'It shouldn't be a big deal. I'll go to the manager and ask to leave right after drinking. I won't cause any trouble as long as I go home immediately.'

And so, she bravely picked up a glass of wine and started to drink. What she didn't know was that this particular wine was strong, and had high alcohol content. Even Zeke, who enjoyed drinking often, would not dare to gulp down three glasses of this beverage in one go.

As soon as the liquid touched her tongue, Mary felt a warm and tingling sensation spread throughout her body. It also had a rather spicy aftertaste that lingered in her mouth.

She coughed violently, feeling her throat burn. But Mary had no choice; two more glasses were waiting for her. Taking a deep breath, she arched her shoulders back and picked up the second glass. The room broke into applause, and Zeke shot her a look of determination.