Chapter 1

"Ouch…" The moment Zora came to, she felt a splitting headache. An excruciating pain surged through her entire body that made her wince. She could feel something heavy lying against her body, and as much as she wanted to push it away, she could not summon the strength to do so. Before she could catch a glimpse of the man, she caught a whiff of his unique perfume. The man was, at this moment, nuzzling the nape of her neck without a single word… The next morning, Zora woke up to herself lying naked in a bed next to a man she had never seen before. The color drained from her face. She realized that what she had seen the night before was not a dream! What happened? All she remembered was celebrating her birthday with her sister, Winona Jacobs. The last thing she could remember was taking a sip of the wine Winona handed her. Could someone have spiked her drink? Zora got out of bed and shimmied into her clothes as quietly as she could so as not to wake the sleeping man. She had to find Winona and find out what had happened! The moment Zora reached home, she was met by her father, Stephen Jacobs, sitting on the couch, scowling. It was clear he had been waiting for her. "Where have you been all night?" Zora pursed her lips at the thought of what happened and replied, "I slept over at a friend's place." Stephen tossed a photograph onto the coffee table with a smack. "How dare you lie to me? I know you were out with a man! I should've known!" The color drained from Zora's face when she saw the photo. It was one of her being brought into a hotel room by a man she had never met. At this exact moment, Winona came downstairs, her heels clicking against the tile. "Don't be mad, Daddy." She sauntered over to Stephen's side and snapped at Zora, "How can you do something like this, Zora? You've humiliated our family name! You can't behave so promiscuously, not especially since you're still unmarried, even if you really liked that man!" Zora froze. What did Winona just say? Zora had no recollection of what happened that night! She knew she should not have trusted Winona; she should have known nothing good would come out of Winona volunteering to help host her birthday party. It must have been Winona's doing all along! She tried to explain herself, "Daddy, listen to me. I was with Winona last night. Winona handed me a glass of wine that was spiked… " "Enough!" Stephen leaped out of his chair and pointed at Zora in a fury. "Winona is your sister! How can you accuse her of such a thing? It's your wrongdoing, so don't try to blame your sister!" Sister? Zora clenched her trembling hands into fists. She and Winona were not true sisters; Stephen had been cheating on Zora's mother for many years. The worst part was, barely a year after the death of Zora's mother, he decided to marry his mistress, Lauren Shaw. It was then Zora found out that she had a half-sister all along, Winona. Zora and Winona had never gotten along since the day they met; she knew that Winona had been trying to cozy up to their father all these years, but she never once thought Winona would try to frame her like this! "I had intended to hand over the family business to you once you turn eighteen, but… never in my wildest dreams had I thought you'd do something so promiscuous! You have tarnished our family's name! I don't want to see you ever again. The Jacobs will not associate ourselves with such a person!" Zora froze at this. "Are you exiling me, Daddy?" Stephen threw the cup he had been holding right at her feet. "Get out of here!" Zora quivered. The look of mistrust on her father's face and the triumphant sneer playing on Winona's lips sent chills down her spine. As she wheeled her suitcase out the door, Winona trotted up and pretended to offer help, but Zora shooed her away. "Get away from me." Seeing that Zora had realized what was going on, Winona decided not to hide her true colors any longer. "Well then, I'll just come clean. You're right, I spiked your drink last night. How does it feel to have your entire life ruined by a man you don't even know?" Zora bit her lip. "What the hell do you want from me? You and Lauren have already snaked your way into the Jacobs household, so what more do you want?" "What I want is what you have now!" Winona glared at her as she slowly approached her. "Why is it that I'm the illegitimate daughter, whereas you're the apple of Father's eye? Well, since you're so high and mighty, how does it feel now to be used and disposed of like a plastic bag? You've humiliated the family name, and you have no right to be a part of the Jacobs family any longer. Get out of here while you can!" Winona brandished her phone at Zora and declared triumphantly, "If you don't get out of here soon, I'm going to leak the video to the media so you'll become the laughingstock of the town!" Zora's expression darkened, and she released her clenched fists. With a scowl, she turned and walked away, wheeling her suitcase behind her. Winona watched as the car Zora got into pulled away, sneering. Now that Zora had left, Vienna Jewels and everything that belonged to the Jacobs family would be hers! Just as Winona was about to go back into the house, a Rolls-Royce pulled up in front of the gates. Four bodyguards dressed in black stepped out of the car and got into formation. The car door was flung open, and a slender leg clad in black custom-made pinstriped trousers stepped out. Winona's jaw dropped when she saw who it was. It was none other than Mr. Jay Sullivan, the CEO of TG Group and the youngest business hound in Zoland. His net worth was over a billion dollars, and he also just so happened to be the most eligible bachelor in Ethertown. What was he doing here? Jay glanced at Winona coldly and asked, "Are you Winona Jacobs?" A glimmer of delight flashed across Winona's face. She could not believe Jay Sullivan knew her by name! She nodded, smiling. "Yes, I am." "Are you the woman who spent the night with me yesterday, in room 6228 of Heavenview Hotel?" The smile froze on Winona's face. Room 6228 of Heavenview Hotel? That was the room that she had delivered Zora to the night before! Could Zora have accidentally slept with Jay instead of the old geezer that Winona set her up with? Damn it! What rotten luck! So what if Zora got lucky and lost her virginity to Jay Sullivan? Winona would be the one to reap the benefit! This was Jay Sullivan they were talking about. Every socialite under the sun would claw their eyes out just to spend a night with him! Winona nodded once more, smiling. "Yes, that was me."