Chapter 1: You Did It!

  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 has nothing on. 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 there were touches and then some…

  There was no doubt about it. It happened.

  It must be her stepmother. Her stepmother must have put something in her drink! 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 do this to 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 woman who tried to be 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 medicine would make them pass out and put up a deception of them having done it.

  They weren’t supposed to actually do it 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! 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.

 

  Chapter 2: She Swore She Would Get Revenge

  Evan was sick and tired of the farce. He smoothened his clothes and walked out of the room.

  Sydney went running after the young man immediately. She had to gain his favor.

  The strong smell of desire filled the room. Anya was alone.

  She stared at the vast and empty presidential suite. She couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. Evan must hate her now. She had lost her chance with him forever.

  Anya wrapped her arms around herself and sat silently in bed. It was a long time before she finally left the suite and the hotel. She stepped out into the empty streets with the intention of hailing a cab and getting a ride back home. What she saw instead was Evan and the MacMillans. They were standing in the carpark in front of the hotel.

  The young woman dried the tears in her eyes. When she took another look, she saw the thunderous look on Evan’s face and her stepmother talking incessantly to Evan. Anya had no idea what her stepmother was telling the man.

  She knew it. She had been set up. They had planned to ruin her all along. Evan loathed loose women who fooled around. Anya had known that all along.

  Anya made her way to the carpark. Mdm MacMillan’s eyes fell on her disheveled clothes and her rumpled hair. “Look at what you’ve done! You’re shameless! How could you do this to Mr. Welton? Do you want to die? Think of what you’ve done to the Marshalls! You’re not my granddaughter. My granddaughter would know shame. Leave. Don't you dare take a single step into our house again!” Mdm MacMillan reprimanded.

  “I didn’t do anything to him!” Anya retorted furiously as she cupped her swollen cheek. “Melissa set me up!”

  Melissa Campbell was Anya’s stepmother. She started sobbing when she heard what Anya had said. “Mr. Welton, don’t listen to her lies. She’s the one who asked me where she could get the medicine. I told her where she could get some but I had no idea what she needed it for. I didn’t realize she intended to use it on you! Mr. Welton…please don’t get upset. That’s just the kind of woman she is. She’s greedy. She’s greedy for Zachary’s love and for your family fortune. She wanted to marry into the Weltons and resorted to such a despicable way to achieve her plan. But please, don’t get upset!”

  “The truth is out. There’s no place for a loose woman like you in the MacMillan family,” Mdm MacMillan said thunderously. “You’re no longer part of this family!”

  Evan cast an icy look at Anya. “You wanted to marry me? In your dreams.” Having said that, he stormed off.

  The rest of the MacMillans left as well.

  Anya’s eyes reddened. She fell into a shapeless heap on the cold and hard ground.

  She couldn’t believe how cruel the MacMillans are. How could they have set up such a vicious ploy just because they had wanted to drive her out of the family?

  Of course, that wasn’t the only thing they wanted. They wanted her reputation ruined. They wanted to crush all her hopes of ever marrying into a respectable family. They wanted to make sure that Evan would never fall for her.

  Anya wiped the tears off her face. They drove her out of the family but so what? She never intended to stay. She’ll show them. She didn’t need them to survive. In fact, her life would be better without them!

  She would find a way to take back what had once belonged to her mother. She would make them pay. She swore she would!

  Two years passed. The sun rose, its rays shining through an apartment somewhere in Nordeny. Anya had just sent her CV to a fashion design agency. It was the last application form from the batch sitting in her laptop. She stretched her arms and left the study. It was time to make breakfast for the kids.

  Time had been gracious to Anya. The helplessness and fragility she felt before was replaced with a deeper and more mesmerizing beauty.

  Her long dark hair spilled down her back, a stark contrast against her perfect skin. Her eyes sparkled like stars and her red lips plump.

  After she had been driven out of the MacMillan family that night, she sought help from her maternal aunt, Ellie.

  Then, a month later, Anya had discovered that she's pregnant.

  The first thought that flashed across her mind was to get rid of the baby. But after seeing two dark shadows on the sonogram, something had softened inside her chest. She ended up keeping the babies. She continued her studies while taking care of her children. Since she has decided to keep them, she swore she wouldn’t leave them on their own. She would do her very best to give them the best life she could provide them.

  Anya strolled into the kitchen leisurely and began making breakfast for herself and some supplements for her kids.

  The kids and Ellie were still asleep. Anya didn’t want to wake them.

  She got breakfast ready, laid it out on the table and waited for her family to wake up.

  As she waited, she received a reply from the fashion design agency. Her application had been accepted. She was to turn up for work at nine later. Anya stared at the letter and tried to stifle her screams of joy. She was elated. She finally had a job. She could finally provide for the kids and for Ellie now.

  The young woman grinned widely at her phone as her two precious darlings slowly stirred awake.

  Chapter 3: He Remembered Her

  Ellie emerged from the bedroom with the kids. She held the children's petite hands in each hand. “Anya, you’re up early today. What’s the occasion?”

  Anya placed her phone down and raced towards her aunt. She gave the woman a tight hug. “Ellie, I got a job! I’ll be able to provide for the family now!”

  “You got a job?” There was surprise in Ellie’s voice. “You’re not joking, right?”

  Anya nodded firmly. She squatted and hugged her adorable twins.

  The boy had strong and handsome features while the girl was as pretty as a doll. They were of the same age. But Nathaniel had been born a minute earlier than Eudora. That made Nathaniel the elder brother.

  The kids had just reached one and still didn’t know many words. The only word they knew was ‘mama’.

  “Let me feed them first. I have to head to my new office after that,” Anya said before picking Nathaniel and Eudora up and heading to the couch. She sat down and began feeding her kids.

  She had been feeding her children herself since they had been born. Formula milk powder was too costly. She felt bad spending Ellie’s money. Fortunately, she had enough milk of her own to spare. After a year of feeding, she still had more stored in the fridge.

  Anya fed the kids, gobbled down her breakfast, packed her pumps and empty bottles and headed to work.

  She wasn’t expecting to find herself in front of Welton Group Tower. She hadn’t realized that the fashion design agency was located in that building.

  She didn’t realize that she might run into Evan one year later. In the building that he owned and worked in.

  But she desperately needed the job and the money. The young woman toughened herself up and stepped into Welton Group Tower. She could always turn and walk away if she ran into Evan. She no longer harbored any fantasies when it came to him. That ship had sailed a year ago.

  Anya took a deep breath and marched towards the lobby. She entered the elevator and pressed a button. The fashion design agency was on the tenth floor. That was where she needed to be.

  A commotion erupted in the building suddenly. A group of men dressed in suits appeared in the hall of the first floor without any warning.

  They were headed her way.

  The man leading the charge was Evan Welton himself. His arrival drew sharp gasps from every woman in the vicinity. In the presence of his perfection, every woman had to struggle to keep themselves on their feet and not swoon at his. He was the epitome of male perfection. The man whom every woman in Nordeny coveted for her own. Every one of them longed to throw themselves at him and worship at his feet.

  Anya used to be one of them. But not anymore. She would never gain his favor. Besides, he still believed that she had set him up. All she wanted to do was to stay as far away from Evan Welton as possible.

  The young woman stood in the elevator, her eyes downcast and her mind lost in thought. Before the doors could slide shut, she saw a pair of shoes step into the elevator. Then, she caught the scent of Evan’s perfume.

  She took a deep breath in. The heady scent filled her lungs.

  The desire to run out of the elevator seized her immediately. He was going to recognize her if they got stuck in the same elevator and she didn’t want that at all.

  Before she could move her feet, the doors to the elevator slid shut.

  Evan’s eyes fell on her. The look in his eyes hardened. His voice was as cold as winter. “You again? What do you have planned this time?”

  She knew it. He remembered her.

  Anya found herself floundering for words. Nothing she said would help. Finally, she bit her lips and, with a sudden surge of courage, let loose a rush of words. “Nothing! You think too highly of yourself. I’m not interested in you at all.”

  The look on Evan’s face darkened instantly.

  It was obvious that Anya was the first person who had dared speak to him in such a manner. The fact that two years ago, in his eyes, she had set him up which made things worse.

  The young man was seized by a sudden urge to make her pay for her impudence.

  Anya realized that she spoke too harshly. She bit her lips again and fell silent. Her back was as stiff as a board. She dared not move a single inch.

  Evan shoved down the anger burning inside him. He wasn’t a petty man who held grudges. He didn’t enjoy making life difficult for ladies. But this woman was the first person who had dared to do this to him.

  She had a night with him too.

  It infuriated him. The anger had stayed with him for two years. It had barely faded and receded from his mind.

  Now, Anya had appeared in front of him again, brazenly and shamelessly. He was naturally outraged.

  Chapter 4 This Is Your Second Warning: Stay Out Of My Sight

  Evan’s voice was husky and rough with anger. “I believe I told you I never wanted to see you again. Ever.”

  Anya wanted to stay out of his sight too. But she had no choice. She had applied for hundreds of vacancies and this was the only company who had accepted her application.

  She had to make a living.

  Besides, he hadn’t been the only victim that night. She had been the biggest victim. Of course, she wasn’t going to tell him that. After a moment of consideration, Anya decided to play dumb.

  The tower was huge. She simply had to try her best to avoid the man and stay out of his way in the future.

  Evan eyed the young woman. Her silence seemed intentional, as if she was thinking of ways to get closer to him. His voice filled with rage. “This is your second warning. Stay out of my sight. You’re not going to get a third one. Do you understand me?”

  Anya understood Evan perfectly.

  He seemed convinced that she had done this on purpose. That she had willingly made her presence known to him again. Her hopes of earning his love had been crushed a long time ago. She dared not hope. All she wanted was to stay as far away from the man as possible.

  She cast her gaze downward and murmured. “I understand. You’ll never see me again.”

  Evan withdrew his piercing gaze. He had no intention of spending the rest of the ride up with her. His voice remained cold when he spoke. “Get out of my way.”

  His sudden command sent Anya jerking back in alarm.

  It struck her that she was standing in his way. She had somehow made her way closer to the doors while trying to get away from the man.

  She took a step back hurriedly. Fear or perhaps her nerves must have gotten to her because she somehow twisted her ankle as she took a step back. The young woman lost her balance and tottered forward , falling onto her knees with a loud thud.

  Her pretty face smacked Evan’s abdomen squarely and hit something. It was rod hard.

  Anya wondered if she might have broken her nose.

  Her face flushed red instantly, her cheeks burning with mortification. She knelt stiffly on the floor. The young woman had no idea what to do next.

  It was Evan who spoke first. His jaw was clenched tight and his voice edged with hostility. “Get out of my way!”

  Anya ignored the pulsating pain along the bridge of her nose and scrambled away. Her cheeks were still burning.