Chapter 1
FLASHBACK.
*Boom!*
The heavy crystal scotch bottle shattered against the wall, raining amber liquid and jagged shards over the man slumped on the floor. Jian didn't blink. She calmly flipped her dark hair over her shoulder, the coldness in her eyes contrasting with the chaos of the hotel room.
She sat on her worn suitcase, the only thing she truly owned, and dialed the man who had lured her into this trap.
Two days ago, a frantic call had reached her in Kalyndo. "Your father is dying," they said. She had spent her last credits on a red-eye flight, her heart in her throat, only to be directed to Room 409 of the Anjal Hotel.
There was no hospital bed. There was no dying man. There was only Austin Rhys-Davies—a man who looked like he had one foot in the grave and the other in a pile of filth—waiting for his "prize."
Did she go to the wrong room?
"Hello, you..." Jian began, her voice trembling with suppressed rage.She just wanted to ask what was going on
"You've had a hard time living alone in Kalyndo with that broke Omma and her husband all these years," Mr. Frankie's voice interrupted, sounding disgustingly healthy. "I'm not feeling well either, Jian. You have to understand that Dad really loves you. I've found you a prospect. Mr. Rhys-Davies is… traditional. He knows how to take care of people,especially young girls. If you marry him and have children with him in the future, you won't have to worry for the rest of your life and that of your brother."
Jian's grip tightened on her phone until her knuckles turned white. she stared at the noxious man she had just knocked unconscious.The old man had introduced himself as Austin Rhys-Davies earlier.
"So... you weren't really sick?" she whispered. The realization hit her like a physical blow. They hadn't wanted her back out of love. They wanted a transaction.
"Frankie!" she spat his name, discarding the title of 'Father' like the trash it now was.
"Don't be ungrateful," Frankie's voice lowered, turning manipulative. "You've always wanted to be part of this family, haven't you? Make Rhys-Davies happy. Get him to invest. Do this, and I'll finally announce to the world that you and your brother are my true heirs."
Jian coldly curled her lips. No wonder they said a father knows his daughter best. He really understood her and knew how to tempt her with the things she cared about most.
THE FATHER'S DEMAND AND THE ULTIMATUM/
If this had been some years ago, she would have wobbled upon hearing such words, but now, she just felt cold.
"Frankie Kodai Lee, you think too highly of yourself!" Jian's voice was icy and lacked any emotion. Jian hung up the phone without waiting for a response.
"Damn it!" She didn't know why she had come back in such a hurry. After everything, she put her phone in her pocket and walked down the street with her suitcase. Anger kept burning inside her as her phone kept ringing.
At first, it was Frankie calling, but she ignored it, so he started sending a voice message.
"Jian, your father is doing this for your own and your brother's good. Rhys-Davies is a wealthy man and the Rhys-Davies Family is a well-known powerhouse in the capital. If you marry him, you will definitely live a good life. You have to understand your dad. Business has been tough in the recent years and he is facing a crisis. Mr. Rhys has already told me that if you agree to marry him and be his eighth wife, he will give us 6 million Verdants as a dowry,you are not even worth of that amount. This will not only solve my urgent financial problems, but also allow you to send that brother of yours to a good school, take your aunt and his good-for-nothing husband out of that stanky slum. The family will also get to work with the Rhys-Davies family, which will benefit us all.
"What a load! He and that wicked stepwife will profit while she bears all the harm. They've never treated her as a family member!"
Jian clenched her phone tightly, her anger about to explode. There was a beeped voice, and her father sent two more messages.
"Jian, I'm telling you! I've already taken the dowry money. You have to agree to the marriage, whether you like it or not. You're going to his house today! I will break your legs if you dare not marry him. I have supported you and your brother for so many years, fed and clothed you guys! What's wrong with letting you get married? How dare you disobey me, you useless and ungrateful slug!"
"Get lost!" Jian yelled into the phone, her eyes all red and puffy. Screaming hurt her lungs. "I won't marry an old man old enough to be my great-grandfather! And how dare you say you've supported and fed us when..."
Suddenly, a car horn sounded, and Jian spontaneously turned her head. "Screeech!"
"Ah!" The car was moving too fast, and Jian screamed as she fell to the ground, scraping her palm on the pavement.
The truck stopped less than a meter away from her, and the driver leaned out of the window, shouting: "Can't you see where you're going?!"
Jian was already angry, and hearing the driver's words made her erupt. Jian jumped up and walked over to the driver, grabbing his collar through the window. "You're the one who ran the red light, look closely. You hit me."
The driver couldn't believe that the girl who looks gentle and quite, could be so aggressive. To the extent of her coming straight for him, "Hey miss I'm sorry."
Jian looked at him and suddenly believed she was hurting him.
Jian let go of the driver's collar, her chest heaving. The adrenaline that had fueled her through the bottle-smashing and the phone call was finally starting to ebb, replaced by a cold, hollow ache.
"Just... watch where you're going," she muttered, stumbling back toward her suitcase.
The driver adjusted his shirt, grumbling something about "crazy girls," and sped off. Jian stood alone on the curb, the neon signs of the city blurring through the tears she refused to let fall. Her palm stung where the pavement had shredded the skin, but it was nothing compared to the burn of her father's voice messages.
6 million Verdants. That was her price. She wasn't a daughter; she was a debt-clearing check.
Her phone buzzed again.without checking the screen she yelled
"I'm not going back to that hotel," she whispered to the empty street. "And I'm definitely not becoming an eighth wife."
She grabbed the handle of her suitcase, her eyes hardening. If Frankie wanted a war, she would give him one. But first, she needed a place to hide.