"If you sign it, then I can lend you five hundred thousand dollars. I can even help you pay for the liquidated damages." The man placed the contract on the table and stared at the pale woman in front of him with a generous smile.
Bella Gu read the terms in the contract in disbelief and asked with difficulty, "Why? We are a couple, aren't we?"
Instead of answering her question, Charles Si gave her a smile and replied, "What do you think? Do you like my gift?"
Her face contorted into a look of confusion. When she gazed at the playful expression on his face, she gaped in shock and exclaimed, "You were the one who set me up! Why?"
She thought about what recently happened. Her belief that she would be able to stand her ground was slowly collapsing.
He reached out his hand and gently pinched her pale and hollow face. She had gotten so thin that her cheeks weren't as soft as before.
"Of course I want to take revenge on you, my little fool!"
She broke away from the man that she had trusted most in the past. Trembling in fear, she asked, "Revenge for what? I didn't..."
"Shut up!" The blue veins on his forehead twitched. He shook her hand off from his grip and responded ferociously, "After what you've done to Michelle, you are still pretending to be innocent."
"Michelle Bai? I didn't do anything to her. I really don't know why she suddenly left!" Bella Gu began to cry, her face was covered with tears. The panic she felt that was coupled with the continuous blows, almost made her faint.
Charles Si sneered and threw the contract at her face. He impatiently ordered, "You better sign it now. This is your only chance. I'll wait until twelve o'clock tonight. If you don't give me the answer I want after twelve o'clock... Think about the liquidated damages."
Without saying anything else, he left the room. Bella Gu covered her face and slowly fell on the floor.
After the incident, she didn't cry no matter how hard everything was because she had Charles Si right by her side. However, he was on business trip back then and wasn't able to come back soon. She knew that as long as he returned, her nightmare would end.
But she didn't expect that her nightmare would actually start the moment he got back.
After staying on the floor for a long time, Bella Gu finally slowly stood up and got a hold of herself. Still shaking, she slowly took out her mobile phone and dialed a number.
"Hello, is this Director Yang? I'm Bella Gu."
"Oh, Miss Gu!" The man on the other end of the line flashed a gleeful smile.
"Miss Gu, what can I do for you?"
"Director Yang, can you lend me some money? I promise that I will pay you back as soon as I can!" She nervously held the phone in her hand. She trembled with expectation and fear in her heart.
Director Yang was a well-known director in the entertainment industry. Over his successful career, he had produced many superstars. However, if someone wanted to attract his attention, their acting skills and appearances were not that important. The most important thing was that they were willing to pay.
Bella Gu had no other choice. She also knew that if she really fell into the hands of Charles Si, who was blinded by his love for Michelle Bai, then she wouldn't have the chance to live a normal life.
Besides, she still loved Charles Si. She didn't want him to see that she had no other choice but to accept his offer. Her self-esteem refused to allow her to do so.
"Bella, are you aware of my rules?" Director Yang asked with a playful smile.
She quivered and responded with great difficulty, "Yes, I am aware."
"That's good. Come to JD Hotel tonight. I will be waiting for you." As soon as he finished speaking, he hung up from the call.
Bella stared at the phone and felt the humiliation. It was as if someone had given her a slap in the face.
She inhaled a deep breath and tried to comfort herself. "It doesn't matter. I will pay for my mother's operation first. I will find another solution to pay for the liquidated damages."
Bella Gu and Charles Si grew up together. Ever since they were kids, she was already in love with him.
When they were in high school, something awful happened to her family. Her father died in a car accident and the Gu family's company went bankrupt. It was also during that time that her mother fell ill because of the consecutive heavy blows. Since then, she had always been in poor health.
Overnight, she had turned from a rich girl into a pauper.
Charles Si was the only one who would take care of her. He had even paid for her tuition and her mother's medicine fees.
Therefore, she did not only admired him, but she also felt grateful for him.
But everything changed after Michelle Bai's sudden disappearance. Since then, Bella Gu had become Charles Si's girlfriend.
In all honesty, she was more like his sex partner rather than a girlfriend. He only seemed to remember her whenever he wanted her to please him.
She returned to the small house where she and her mother lived. She had bought it after her graduation. It was a quaint and tiny abode with two bedrooms and one living room.
Now that her mother was in the hospital because of her own doing, Bella Gu was the only one left at home.
She retrieved the most revealing dress she and put it on. She tied her hair in a bun which exposed her elegant, white, and slender neck. After putting on light make-up and looking at herself in the mirror, she clenched her fists as she left for the hotel.
It was already six o'clock in the evening when she arrived at the agreed location. Bella called Director Yang on the phone. "Hello? Is this Director Yang? I'm at the gate of the hotel."
"Okay, come up to Room 8808."
As the sound of the thunder cackled across the sky, bean-sized raindrops fell without warning. The pedestrians on the road were in a hurry to avoid the rain. As they ran for shelter, people bumped into each other and caused a ruckus outside.
Bella Gu blankly stared at the chaos and did not bother to avoid the rain.
Her life was already in ruins. What else could go wrong? She had nothing else to care about.
She tidied her dress and walked straight into the hotel, pretending to be calm.
What she didn't know was that inside the car parked at the hotel entrance, a man grimly stared at her retreating figure. He tightly held the steering wheel, the blue veins popping from the back of his hands.
When Bella finally stood in front of Room 8808, she took a deep breath. She thought about what would happen later, and couldn't help but shiver. She was still sweating even though the air-conditioning blew cool air in hallway.
Trembling, Bella knocked on the door. Director Yang, wearing a bathrobe, opened the door and greeted her. It seemed that he had already finished washing up and was waiting for her.
"Come in. Why are you still standing there?" he said impatiently when he saw her still standing at the door.
Bella scurried in and closed the door with a bang. She felt her heart sink to the bottom.
Director Yang smiled, pulled Bella over, and pressed her against the bed. He then went on top of her body and started to kiss and bite her exposed neck.
She started to panic and struggled against him. She suddenly regretted her actions, but she knew that no matter how regretful she was, she had already decided to take on this path.
Director Yang had already begun to lift her dress, making Bella scream in horror.
Getting ready was one thing, but facing it was another.
Director Yang slapped in her face and scolded her, "Don't pretend to be innocent if you want to be famous. Everything I can give to you is worth more than your body!"
Director Yang started to pull her dress.
Bella's eyes were filled with tears. The humiliation in her heart began to rise. Just as he was about to go further, she struggled against him. Caught off guard, he fell on the floor.
Bella looked at him in horror. "Director Yang, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... I'm sorry. Please forget about it." After she said that, Bella wanted to turn around and run away, but it was not going to be that easy.
Director Yang quickly reacted and got up from the floor. He grabbed her shoulders and forcibly took her to the bed. "Damn it! This is the first time I've met someone like you! Well, since you refuse me, I'll let you see what the punishment is!"
"Ah! No!" As she was thrown on the bed again, Bella began to shed tears of humiliation.
All of a sudden, the door slammed open. Charles entered the room and saw this scene.
"Damn it!" With one big stride, Charles knocked Director Yang to the floor. He kicked him hard in the lower part of his body, making him curl up on the floor. In pain, he couldn't say anything for a long time.
After dealing with the man, Charles looked at the woman on the bed with gloomy eyes and sarcastically said, "What? Are you willing to be that low?"
Bella's face turned pale. She bit her lips and shook her head as she trembled. For a long time, she couldn't speak and just tightly hugged herself.
Charles was about to leave the room, but when he saw the miserable look on her face, he decided to help her. He wrapped his coat around her body, lifted her up, and strode out of the room.
He hated Bella to the core, and had made up his mind to take his ruthless revenge against her. However, he was the only one who could ever see her miserable appearance. Nobody else was allowed to touch her!
Charles walked out of the hotel with her in his arms. Regardless of the heavy rain outside, he threw Bella on the street and got in his car.
She stood by the road alone, still wearing the coat.
Charles rolled the window down to reveal his indifferent expression. "Bella, remember that I will only wait for you until twelve o'clock tonight. I won't wait for you after that!"
Without saying anything else, he drove away without looking back.
She didn't know if it was intentional, but the car passed by her and hit a puddle on the roadside, splashing her with dirty water.
In a daze, Bella just stood under the pouring rain. She didn't come to her senses until she saw that several people were pointing at her.
Although she had some unforeseen events recently, at least they weren't made public. That way, she still had some fans.
Besides, she had acted in a lot of TV series ever since she started her career. Although she was not very popular, her face was still somewhat familiar in the eyes of the public. If she continued to act like this, then she would have another stain on her personal life. It would get worse if someone posted a photo of her in such a humiliating state.
Bella lowered her head. Her originally well-tied bun was now a mess. Her long hair stuck to her face because of the rain, covering more than half of her face.
'What should I do?' She had completely offended Director Yang tonight.
Director Yang didn't see Charles' face clearly. He wouldn't be able to recognize him, but she will be unable to escape from this. Moreover, Director Yang was famous for being narrow-minded.
Did she really have no other choice, but to beg in front of Charles?
Suddenly, her phone rang.
"Hello, Mom, how are you today?" Bella asked.
"Well, I'm fine. But why were you set up for no reason?" Gloria, Bella's mother, sighed sadly.
Bella covered her mouth as the tears streamed down her face. "Mom, you trust me?"
"Silly girl. Ever since your father left, you have been supporting our family alone. I know what kind of person you are. I was too angry before and didn't think about it too much. Now, I've calmed down and started to think about everything. I then came to the conclusion that you were set up."
Through the phone, Bella heard her mother wailing.
"Mom, don't cry. Please take care of yourself! Don't worry about me. I will find a way to get out of this. Don't worry!"
Bella tried to comfort her mother as soon as she heard her sobbing voice.
Gloria took a deep breath and forced a smile on her face. "By the way, does Charles still trust you? I hope there is no misunderstanding between the two of you!"
Holding the phone in her hand, Bella calmly said, "Mom, don't worry. He trusts me. He also says that he will help me solve this matter. He wants you to focus on recuperating and not think too much."
Gloria was relieved when she heard this and said with a smile, "That's good. As long as the two of you are fine, I have nothing else to worry about. Anyway, I'll join your father sooner or later."
"Mom! Don't say such nonsense! You still have to see my child grow up!" Hearing what Gloria said, Bella angrily stopped her.
Her mother smiled. They talked for a while before hanging up the phone.
Bella put the phone down and stood still, letting the rain hit her. She looked up at the sky only to have her eyesight blocked by the heavy droplets.
The sky was gray and depressing.
Was this her only option?
'Forget it. Just accept this. It's the same exact thing as selling my body to the director just to get the role.
Just like what Director Yang said, I have no other choice but to sell my body.
I can never let mother know what happened between Charles and me.'
She had finally come to her senses. She knew that if Charles really wanted to deal with her, no famous director in the industry would be willing to cast her.
Her life was really dependent on Charles. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so miserable all this time.
But Bella didn't expect that Charles would be so cruel to her. In order to get his revenge against her, he would be so callous.
When Bella had gotten the contract, she had been so happy. It was not only because she was the heroine, but also because Charles helped her get the role. What made her happy was his love. She never wanted his wealth, she wanted his attitude.
When she thought about this now, she felt like a fool. She had been fooled by him without knowing at all. Charles must have laughed at her behind her back.
When Bella was still at school, she already had many opportunities to play a lot of roles. This helped her become a familiar face to the public. Although she was not very famous, she was able to make some acquaintances in the entertainment industry.
Therefore, after graduation, she entered the entertainment industry. On the one hand, she would get well paid. On the other hand, she really liked acting. Whenever she was filmed her scenes, she felt like she was another person and enjoyed mimicking a different life.
Not long ago, she starred in a TV series as a female supporting role. This made her much richer because of the high paying salary per episode.
During this time, Charles, who was on a business trip far away, called her and asked her to sign the contract that would make her the heroine of a TV series.
It was the very first time that he encouraged her in such a gentle tone through the phone. He asked her not to let him down and to seize this opportunity.
After all, ever since Michelle left, Bella became Charles' girlfriend without knowing why. However, their relationship began to be more distant.
Other than the sexual needs that they scheduled every week, Bella hardly saw Charles, let alone chat with him. He didn't even seem to care about her work.
The ecstatic Bella never thought that it would be a conspiracy against her!
Because of this, she wasn't able to carefully read the contract.
During that time, she was in a hurry to finish the next play. Ecstatic with Charles' trust in her, she signed the contract without thinking about it. She didn't even know how many pages the contract contained.
However, after that day, the nightmare finally came.
Those people threatened her with the contract and forced her to shoot an adult film and nude photos.
Bella didn't want to do that, but the contract was legally binding. If one of the parties broke the contract, they must pay ten million.
How could Bella pay that much money? In order to avoid having those people make trouble, she was forced to hide at home.
She also lost contact with Charles. Bella didn't know what was his job before, and she always thought that he couldn't contact her because he was busy.
Now she thought that he must be laughing at her behind her back.
But she didn't expect that the other party would hire some hooligans to break into her house. They even made falsified nude photos of her and said something terrible in front of her mother.
"You don't know yet, do you? Your daughter is a prostitute. Look, these are all her nude photos!"
The leading hooligan threw a stack of photos in front of her mother. Bella wanted to stop him, but someone kicked her and pressed her tightly on the floor. She could not move at all. She could only watch her mother's pale face.
"Bullshit! Fuck off! Get out of my house!"
She saw her mother's face getting worse as if she was about to fall down. Bella's heart was already in her throat and in anger, she started to shout at them.
As a result of her protest, they kicked and punched her. As she saw this, Gloria became angry and anxious. She rolled her eyes to the back of her head and fainted on the floor. Bella was so scared that her heart almost stopped beating.
Ever since her father passed away, her mother was her only family and her home.
She couldn't imagine what she would do if something bad happened to her mother because of her. She would never forgive herself.
Fortunately, those people didn't expect that Gloria would react in such a way. Afraid to cause any more trouble, they decided to flee. Even though she was in pain, Bella took Gloria to the hospital alone.
Fortunately, her mother was sent to the hospital on time. If they had gotten there any later, then they would have been separated forever.
However, that incident was far from over.
Gradually, more and more people in the industry began to hear that she was going to shoot that type of movie in order to attain a higher position.
Since she didn't have many friends at the industry, her image was shattered. The role that had already been set for, was suddenly taken away.
However, those people still didn't let Bella go and there was no news from Charles either.
Although she was not very clever, Bella was aware that someone was deliberately setting her up.
But, she had no idea who wanted to hurt her at all. Although she didn't talk much, she never did anything to offend anyone.
Besides, she was just a not-so-famous actress. Who would waste so much energy to frame her?
Yesterday, those people forcibly tied her up with the intention of taking nude photos of her. Just as she was about to fall into despair, Charles suddenly appeared.
She never thought that all the incidents that almost drove her crazy were conducted by Charles himself.
At first, she still had a glimmer of hope that Charles was being deceived by others. As long as he came back, she would finally be able to get rid of the trouble. However, she did not expect that after he came back, she would fall into deeper abyss.
Bella recalled what happened a few days ago and started to walk. Her eyes were empty and even though she smiled, tears streamed down her face.
Since Charles was willing to spend so much effort to force her into becoming his mistress, it was obvious that he wouldn't give up so easily. She couldn't imagine the terrible things he would do to her.
"Well, I'll be his mistress. This is nothing big deal. It's almost the same as being his sex partner." Bella tried to comfort herself and walked towards Charles' villa.
The Green Field Villa was where Charles lived. Originally, he had planned to build a villa area for sale.
But he changed his mind after Michelle said, "The scenery here is so beautiful. If I can live here with my loved one all the time, then I will be very happy." Regardless of the obstruction of the board of directors, he turned the whole villa area into his private residential home. It was forbidden for any outsiders to enter.
Even when Bella dated Charles, he never took her there.
She only heard about the Green Field Villa when Michelle was showing off in front of her.
Michelle was the only person he cared about.