Sinful Duty

In the presidential suite of Resch Hotel.

"Aaah..." The sharp pain made Sophia Jian gasp out. On a hindsight, it made her hazy mind a lot clearer. She clenched her teeth as she tightly grabbed onto the sheets.

As she tried to endure the pain, Sophia Jian opened her heavy eyelids. A handsome looking man came into her view!

He was the head of the largest financial group, the most powerful man in S City -- Victor Xiao!

'What's going on? Where am I? Why am I having sex with this man?!' Scouring her memories, Sophia Jian remembered that she went to the engagement party of Jasper Lin and Alice Ye. Alice Ye was the daughter of the prominent Ye family. After Sophia Jian had a glass of wine with Alice Ye, she was molested by Wade Kang and they started to fight. Wade Kang was publicly shamed and after that... 'After that...

Damn it! I can't remember what happened next!'

"Humph!" All of a sudden, Victor Xiao had leaned in and kissed Sophia Jian on her soft lips. With her eyes narrowing angrily at him, Sophia Jian bit down hard on his lips.

The metallic taste of blood spread through her tongue.

Victor Xiao pulled back immediately, a surprised look in his eyes.

There were countless women who tried to seduce him and get his attention. Despite this, he had never given them more than a split-second glance. How could this woman under him drive him crazy like this!

'This woman makes me feel.... pretty damn good!' Victor Xiao thought with a devilish smirk.

"Get off of me!" Sophia Jian screamed. 'I've been in love with Peter for such a long time and I didn't even give myself up to him yet! And now this stranger is going to take my virginity!' Sophia Jian panicked.

With all her strength, she tried to get out of Victor Xiao's grasp. But he was much too strong for her. Victor Xiao had her firmly pinned down on the bed. Sophia Jian shouted in frustration, her beautiful face flushed with anger and shame.

"Get off?" Victor Xiao said coldly, making Sophia Jian tremble in fear.

"If you stop right now, I... We can just pretend that nothing ever happened!" The moment she said this, Sophia Jian instantly regretted it. It was obvious that Victor Xiao was completely at fault here. Why should she be the one to give compromises?

"What if I don't?" Victor leaned in closer, his hot breath grazing Sophia face.

"Then I... Uhhh... I'm going to... I'm going to sue you!" Sophia stammered, trying her best to threaten him. However, Victor noticed how jittery Sophia was with her threat.

A cruel and scornful smile made its way to his thin lips. "My name's Victor," he said beside her ear in a low voice. "Remember that. You are mine now."

In one swift movement, Victor pressed into Sophia, completely taking over her.

The night grew deeper, and the sounds of their lovemaking filled the luxurious presidential suite.

Sophia's body was worn out through the whole night by Victor!

It wasn't until dawn that Victor finally had enough. Sophia felt so exhausted that she slept until noon.

When she woke up, she found herself alone in the big room.

Fluttering her eyes open, Sophia could feel just how much her entire body was aching. Sitting up, she rubbed her temples, her head was also aching quite badly. After a few moments, memories of last night came flooding back to her. "Victor... That fucking bastard!" Sophia grabbed a pillow and screamed into it.

After about few minutes of letting out her anger, she started to feel a bit better. With a deep breath, she stood up to get dressed. Much to her surprise, there was a newly bought dress carefully placed at the edge of the bed. And then, on the floor next to her feet, she saw that the evening dress she was wearing last night was torn into pieces!

Sophia gritted her teeth. 'Well, it's no wonder he bought me new clothes. He completely ruined my dress from last night! What a violent man!'

With nothing else to wear, Sophia put on the clothes Victor prepared. Obviously she wasn't able to come home after she got into that fight with Wade Kang. 'Dad must be worried about me, ' Sophia thought.

Just as Sophia was about to go to the bathroom to freshen up, her phone rang.

Sure enough, it was her father calling.

"Where are you?" Caspar Jian said each word slowly, trying to suppress his anger.

His anger was nothing new to Sophia. Caspar Jian seemed to have never been nice to her in the first place.

Sophia frowned, but kept a calm and modulated tone. "I'll be right there. I'll tell you all about it when I get back."

After washing up, Sophia grabbed her handbag and headed out the door. Upon opening it, however, she was surprised that two waiters were standing right outside. One was pushing a fining cart, while the other balanced a silver tray on the tips of his gloved fingers. "Miss Sophia, Mr. Victor prepared this for you," one of the waiters said with a smile.

Glancing at the sumptuous and extravagant food in the cart, Sophia sneered, "Mr. Victor is really kind, but he's too full of himself!"

"This is Mr. Victor's business card. Mr. Victor specially asked us to give it to Miss Sophia," the other waiter said as he pulled out a small card from his pocket.

"No way!" Sophia said as she folded her arms over her chest.

"I'm afraid we can't let you go if you don't take this. Please, Miss Sophia. There is no need to make this difficult."

"Are you threatening me?" Sophia asked, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.

The two waiters kept silent. They stood by the door, looking as if they weren't about to move an inch until Sophia took the card.

After a few moments, Sophia let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed the business card, stuffing it carelessly in her bag. "Now, get out of my way."

In the Jian family's household...

When Sophia didn't come home last night, Caspar Jian and Stellar Ruan were actually quite happy and hopeful! They thought that maybe Wade Kang and Sophia were finally in good terms about their engagement, and that their family would soon benefit from Wade Kang.

However, early the next morning, they received a phone call from Wade's assistant. Caspar Jian and Stellar Ruan soon found out that Sophia had in fact caused so much trouble! 'Sophia fought with Wade? I can't believe that girl! She must have embarrassed the man in front of so many prominent people!' Caspar Jian thought.

'All of it is now gone in vain!' For quite some time now, Caspar had planned to use Sophia so that he could get a contract signed by Wade. Sophia was supposed to be a kind of 'token' for him. But now, it seemed as if there was no way Wade was going to cooperate now.

Sophia got home, her shoulders were hunched forward as she felt that she was in incredibly low spirits.

"Sophia! Where on earth were you last night? How dare you get in a fight with Wade?" Caspar scolded at her, his ear turning red from anger.

'Oh, no. He already knows what happened...' Sophia panicked.

Then, the anxiousness she was feeling turned into contempt. "I did as you told me and went to the Lin family's engagement party," she said coldly as she squared her shoulders.

At this point, Sophia was starting to realize what her father was trying to do. Yesterday, Caspar told her that as long as she could get the contract from Wade, he would allow her to date Peter Sun. At first, she thought it was because her father was softhearted and wanted to give her a chance to be with Peter Sun. But this was proven not to be true.

'How could I have been so naive! He was practically trying to selling my body in exchange for that stupid contract with Wade!' Sophia sneered to herself.

There was so much sadness and disappointment in Sophia's heart.

"Your father is asking you why you offended Wade last night and why you didn't come back home. And on another note, what is that dress you are wearing? That dress costs tens of thousands of dollars! How were you able to afford something like that?" Stellar Ruan interjected. It had always been a bit confusing for Sophia whether Stellar Ruan was deemed as her mother or stepmother. Caspar hadn't married Sophia's biological mother, and Stellar Ruan was that only woman Caspar had ever wed.

Stellar Ruan looked up and down at Sophia's clothes, her eyes full of doubt and surprise. Although Sophia was the respected daughter of the JH Group's boss publicly, Sophia didn't have much pocket money and never asked for money from Caspar.

'But those clothes are so expensive! There's no way Sophia couldn't afford it at all!' she thought.

Sophia cast a sidelong glance at Stellar. It was undeniable that Stellar was a clever and elegant woman, but Sophia didn't like her one bit.

"Wade humiliated me. I was just trying to protect myself. Was that so wrong? I was drunk last night and was in a bad mood, so I slept outside,"

Sophia lied. There was no way she was going to admit that she had her innocence taken away by a stranger.

The events were so unreal that it felt like a fading, bad dream. Never in her life did she think that she would get involved with people like Victor. Sophia had thought that she would get married with her boyfriend Peter Sun and live happily ever after. From the way things were right now, it seemed unlikely that things were going to go her way.

"Can't you do anything right! I am so ashamed to call you my daughter! You are just a good for nothing rubbish!" Caspar shouted at her, fuming with anger.

Although Caspar usually treated Sophia in such an ill manner, this was the first time he used such hurtful things. His words were the final straw for Sophia. Raising her chip up, Sophia glared at her father coldly. "Well, it's too late now, isn't it? Maybe you shouldn't have gotten my mother pregnant if you knew this day was going to come!"

"How dare you answer back! I'm going to teach you a lesson!" With his nostrils flaring, Caspar raised his hand, intent on hitting Sophia. Although Sophia saw this, she didn't flinch or move away, and just stared at her father with loathing eyes.

She couldn't understand how anyone could love such a man!

Just when Caspar's hand was about to go down on Sophia's face, Stellar stopped him. "Never mind, Caspar!" Stellar comforted. "Beating her would do no good. It's pointless now."

Sophia looked at Stellar with a raised eyebrow. 'This woman is so fake! Always pretending to be so kind and sweet... Well, she's not fooling me! I know Stellar is a shallow, narrow-minded person. She's just protecting me now for her own benefit. Whatever. I've had enough of this.'

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Sophia went straight upstairs.

Seeing this, Caspar became even more furious. "If you can't get Wade to sign the contract, you can't be with Peter!" he shouted at Sophia's back.

Sophia paused, her hands balling up to fists at her side. "I can make my own decisions," she said without looking back.

"You don't know what I'm capable of doing, Sophia."

Her father's threat made her a bit anxious. Without another word, she made her way to her bedroom.

As soon as Sophia closed her bedroom door behind her, she left out a deep sigh. From the very beginning, she never really liked Stellar. But earlier, when Stellar defended her, it seemed that she had nothing to do with Caspar's ploy.

There was a growing sadness in Sophia's heart. Caspar was the only family she had, and yet he had done nothing but treat her so badly.

'Maybe I should just leave this house, ' Sophia thought as she slumped onto her bed.

For a while, Sophia stared blankly at the ceiling as she considered the possibility of just running away. Then, her phone suddenly rang. It was a WeChat message from Peter.

It was a little strange that he messaged her all of a sudden. Peter just gotten a job right after graduating from college. Because of this, he was always busy, and seldom contacted Sophia.

The moment she clicked on the WeChat app, Sophia's heart dropped to her stomach.

In Peter's message, there was a photo of him naked... and kissing a different woman! The woman's face was secluded, and only her bare arm was showing.

At that moment, Sophia felt like her head was about to explode!

How could the man she had been dating for two years betray her like that!

Just when Sophia was about to angrily question him, she saw Peter had withdrawn the photo. Then, he sent her a short message. "Hey, are you busy?"

'What do I say?' Sophia thought nervously. Her phone was lightly shaking in her hands.

After a few minutes, Sophia came back to her senses and shook her head determinedly. After carefully thinking it through, Sophia replied, "Sorry for the delayed reply! I was doing something. I didn't see your message right away."

Sophia and Peter chatted with each other like they normally would. In fact, Peter didn't even act suspicious at all. "Would you like to have dinner later?" Peter then messaged.

Sophia still couldn't wrap her head around the photo she just saw. But her strong woman's intuition told her that Peter probably wasn't the one who sent that photo to her. It was most likely the woman in the photo who sent it, and she was probably with Peter right at this moment.

'I can't believe that Peter would betray me like this...' Sophia sobbed in her heart. 'If all of this is true, I can never forgive him! He's always been so kind... How can he do this!'

...... In the evening, Stellar went to Sophia's room. Even though Stellar was just at home, she always dressed up elegantly. But, no matter how good she looked all the time, it still couldn't hide her heinous evil face.

Unless she was with Casper, Stellar always had a cold and disdainful expression on her face in front of Sophia.

"Since you are the daughter of Jian family, you should know how much your actions have an effect on others. Our company has not been doing so well lately. I know that you are aware of this, Sophia. We are getting buried with debt! And if Wade is unwilling to cooperate with us, the JH Group will be bought by the YS Group. It could mean the end for Jian family!"

Sophia looked up at Stellar and narrowed her eyes. "What does any of this have to do with me?"

A bitter smile flashed across Stellar's face. She did not expect Sophia would talk like this. In the past, Sophia barely spoke, and even if she did, she had never spoken to Stellar this way. "You think you can enjoy all the luxuries around you without lifting a finger?" Stellar said angrily. "Tell me, how do you think you've got everything you have right now? Because of money! There's a storm brewing, Sophia. If Jian family is done, you're going down with it. Wade loves women. He is easier to please than you think. If you are not even able to handle him, how could you possibly think that you will be able to hand the JH Group in the future? I can assure you that your father is very displeased with you. He will never agree to your relationship with Peter!"

Sophia curled her lips and sneered at Stellar. "If it's so important, why didn't you make Jenny go then? Why did it have to me? We both know who will get the JH Group. There's no need to pretend. There's no doubt that the company will go to Jenny. But frankly, I don't really care! What's more, you should all mind your own business and leave my relationship with Peter alone! I can do whatever I want!"

Jenny Jian was two years younger than Sophia, and was the biological daughter of Stellar. Of course, Stellar loved her daughter very much. How could she send her daughter to the old lecher Wade's bed!

But Sophia had a mother too. She was also her mother's loving daughter!

With a scoff, Sophia grabbed her handbag and stood up to leave.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going out to get some fresh air so you don't have to see me,"

Sophia snapped back as she marched out the door. After storming out of the house, Sophia went straight to Peter's apartment.

Peter's family was not as well-off as she was, and so Sophia was the one who had been paying for his rent. It wasn't a big deal for her since she had always thought that they would get married sooner or later. But after seeing that photo....

Sophia didn't call Peter to let him know that she was coming over. What she wanted to do was surprise him and possibly catch him cheating. Plus, she wanted to confront him about the photo face to face.

At first, Sophia had held onto a slither of hope that maybe Peter wasn't really cheating on her. But as soon as she reached his front door, she heard a muffled sound coming from inside.

'Is that... a woman's voice?!'

The anger and betrayal swallowed up Sophia.

Her knees wobbled weakly. 'My dead mother is probably the only one in this world who really loves me. My father... My boyfriend... No one can help me aside from myself!'

Sophia's heart was surging, but her face was surprisingly calm! Not even a single tear rolled from her eyes.

She didn't raise her hand to knock on the door until she heard the people stopped talking.

Knock... knock!

Nobody answered.

Knock! Knock!

For a second time, nobody came to the door.

After a third try, the door finally cracked open.

Peter stuck his head out, his eyes widening with panic. "You... Sophia... Why are you here all of a sudden?"

'How did I ever come to love such a cowardly man!' Sophia thought at this moment.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Sophia said sweetly with a sly smile.

"Sophia, I..." Peter stammered, not being able to think up of a good excuse.

"Call me Miss Sophia from now on, okay?" she snapped back at him. Then, Sophia opened the door and shoved Peter away, heading straight towards the bedroom.

Peter tried to get there before she did.

But it was too late! Standing by the bedroom door, Sophia glared coldly at the woman who was wearing Peter's shirt.

When Sophia decided to come here, she was prepared to accept the fact that Peter was seeing another woman. But it still didn't prepare her for what she saw. Her heart broke into even tinier pieces -- Peter was hooking up with her half-sister, Jenny Jian!

Jenny Jian stared back at Sophia with a naughty look in her eyes!

Ever since the first day Stellar and Jenny came into Jian family, Jenny Jian always stared at Sophia with that same look in her big eyes. It wasn't long before Sophia noticed that Jenny Jian wanted everything she had. As long as it was Sophia's, Jenny Jian would try her best to get it from her through either Caspar or Stellar.

But it never occurred to Sophia that even her boyfriend, Peter, was going to be taken away by her!

No wonder Jenny Jian sent Sophia that picture in WeChat earlier. She was showing off her success!

"Sophia! Please, just let me explain!" Gritting his teeth, Peter grabbed Sophia's arm.

"Fine!" Sophia grabbed Peter's hand and pushed it away from her. "Tell me how you can possible explain this," she said coldly.

Sophia was cool and calm, which made Peter speechless for a moment and looked at Sophia in astonishment.

"You see. I told you I was right. She doesn't love you at all, Peter. She has caught you cheating and yet she doesn't even seem angry at you! I think it's time to wake up and smell the roses." Jenny giggled as she twirled her hair around her fingers.

"You never really loved me, did you? You never let me touch you. Not even once, ever," Peter said in a low voice.

"Do you really think that's supposed to let you off the hook? Peter, I just want to ask you one question. Do you even know what the relationship between me and that woman is?" Sophia sneered.

"Of course he knows!" As Sophia spoke, Jenny got out of the bed, walked to Peter's side and held his arm intimately. As if that was not enough, she lifted his face up and kissed him deeply and shamelessly right in front of Sophia.

"I am your woman and you should be responsible for me. Tell her, you knew exactly what you were doing," Jenny whispered in his ear, although she knew well that Sophia could hear.

A pained expression appeared on Peter's face. "I'm sorry," he said softly, not daring to look directly at Sophia.

"It doesn't matter," Sophia sighed indifferently. For a moment, Jenny was shocked at how calm Sophia looked, but managed to quickly compose herself. "We have decided to be together. You'll give us your blessing, right? My dearest sister?" Jenny pressed. She raised her chin at Sophia, not wanting to stop her bragging.

"You go behind my back and you still expect me to give you two my blessing? Huh, I never thought that you were this naive," Sophia replied, her lips pursing thoughtfully.

Then Sophia slowly turned around. Looking around at the apartment for a bit, her face frowned with disgust, looking as if she couldn't stand being in that dirty apartment for another second.

Being the prideful woman that she was, Jenny gritted her teeth with anger. Just when she was about to chase after Sophia, Peter stopped her.

The moment Sophia stepped out of Peter's apartment, she felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Now, she just couldn't help but think how she had been so blind all this time!

With a faint smile, she headed back home. Upon reaching home, Sophia heard shouting coming from inside the house.

'What's going on? Are Caspar and Stellar actually fighting?'

Sophia frowned. She wanted to go back to her room directly, but it was obviously impossible. With nowhere else to go, Sophia went up the front door. As soon as she entered, Stellar immediately turned her attention to her. "Where's Jenny?" Stellar asked in a hard tone.

"If you know where she is, you'd better tell us right now," Caspar chimed in.

Sophia shrugged her shoulders callously. "I don't know. She's probably busy finding a son-in-law for you. I'm sure she'll come back when she's done playing around."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Stellar snapped back furiously, feeling deeply insulted. All her life she had groomed and taken extra care of Jenny so that her daughter could marry into a wealthy family.

But unfortunately, that ship had sunk! If Stellar knew that Jenny had an affair with Peter, she would definitely lose her head!

"I'm not talking nonsense! You can go ask her yourself. Who knows? Maybe she'll even bring her new boyfriend here tomorrow."

This was the first time Caspar saw Stellar get angry like this. "Enough!" Caspar boomed. "Do you even know what the most important thing at hand is? Today, the people from the YS Group came to me and made an ultimatum. We have to pay off all our debt plus interest within three days or else we have to sell the JH Group! If we lose the JH Group, this will be the end for all of us?"

"The YS Group?" Sophia asked in shock. 'Isn't the YS Group that asshole's company?' Sophia thought as she remembered Victor. It turned out that this was the reason why Caspar was losing his temper -- he was about to lose his company.