Chapter 1 Boyfriend Cheated

Adeline Smith was still dazed when she walked out of the police station.

Early that morning, she'd received a call asking her to come to the station to assist with an investigation.

When she learned it was because someone had secretly filmed her and her boyfriend Allen Jones having sex in a hotel room, she breathed a sigh of relief.

They had agreed on a Platonic relationship and had not had sex until after they graduated from college, so the police must have made a mistake.

But when she arrived at the station and saw the couple in the video footage, she was completely stunned.

Allen and her best friend Emily Miller were naked in bed, passionately entangled. The pair had even incorporated bondage and SM into their lovemaking. The footage was extremely explicit, and on one adult video website, their video had already racked up over ten million views.

Because Emily was wearing a mask, the police had automatically assumed the woman was Adeline.

She, Adeline, discovered on her birthday that she'd been betrayed by both her boyfriend and her best friend.

Touching the condom and hotel keycard in her pocket, she could only feel the bitter irony.

She had specifically picked this special day, wanting to surprise Allen on her birthday, but he had given her an even bigger shock instead.

Adeline instinctively wanted to throw the condom in the trash, but remembering she'd bought the most expensive brand for her first time to make it special, she ultimately decided against it.

Why wasted her money because of someone else's mistake?

Just as she was feeling down, her phone rang. Her classmate Elisa Garcia was calling to ask if she could cover her shift at the bar.

"Adeline, please, I'm begging you. My boyfriend rarely gets to visit me!"

Adeline sighed in resignation. Everyone else was hooking up, and here she was, stuck covering someone's shift?

Just as she was about to refuse, she heard Elisa add, "I'll give you 30% of the tips."

"Fine, I'll do it!"

Adeline let out a long breath. The old saying was right—unlucky in love, lucky in money. At least she'd be making some cash.

As a jewelry design student who often needed to buy gemstone specimens, Adeline frequently worked at the bar to earn extra money.

She was beautiful with a silver tongue, making her quite popular at the bar.

Plus, tonight the bar was hosting a major event—packed house, high tips—so Adeline quickly forgot about her cheating boyfriend and threw herself into the hustle of making money.

She weaved through the crowd, continuously promoting drinks.

Elaine Wilson spotted her immediately from the VIP table.

Looking at her stoic brother beside her, she snatched the thermos from Ronald Williams' hand. "Ronald, you came to a bar to drink water? Are you sick? Look at all these gorgeous women around you. Your family's pressuring you to get married, and they didn't even set standards—any woman would do, right?"

The mention of this topic irritated Ronald.

He grabbed back his thermos and took a big gulp.

Groomed to be the family heir since childhood, he'd never given much thought to romance. Now they expected him to get married immediately? Are you kidding?

"But just being female isn't enough—she should be pretty, have a great body, and most importantly, be obedient," Elaine waved her hand. "Number 01, come over here."

Hearing someone call for her, Adeline walked over with a smile. "Ma'am, what can I get for you?"

She glanced at the Louis Vuitton diamond studs in the woman's ears, immediately pulled out the most expensive drink menu, and flashed her signature smile. "These are all wines that just arrived this morning."

"If you can get him to have one drink, I'll order everything on this page." Elaine glanced at Ronald, noting his darkening expression.

He was already irritated when he asked Elaine out for dinner, never expecting she'd try to set him up.

One look at Ronald told Adeline he was the bar's most difficult customer type.

Custom-tailored suit, shirt buttoned all the way up, the epitome of a buttoned-up look.

This type was either completely frigid or secretly wild.

She glanced again at the prices on the menu. "Ma'am, are you sure?"

"Here's my card. If he has one drink, I'll buy everything on this page."

Seeing Elaine hand over an SVIP black gold card, Adeline smiled as she accepted it, smoothly taking a seat next to Ronald.

When Ronald immediately shifted away, Adeline raised an eyebrow slightly. He wasn't trying to take advantage—that was a good sign.

"Sir, I have aging parents and young children to support. My whole family depends on me to earn money. Won't you just have one sip?" She picked up a glass with a pitiful expression.

Ronald didn't move, just silently watched her. Her acting was terrible, worse than the ad spokespersons that his company had selected this year.

Her face was certainly attractive though, especially those eyes that seemed to speak volumes—what his subordinates called "peach-blossom eyes that look at even a dog with deep affection."

Ronald's scrutinizing gaze made Adeline want to retreat, but thinking of the five-figure commission, she smiled again. "Sir, would you like to try some Malbec dry red? I could add some cinnamon and warm it for you?"

She had noticed Ronald's thermos earlier. Though he looked young, maybe he was middle-aged?

Perhaps his body wasn't what it used to be, so he probably wouldn't like strong liquor.

Elaine beside them could barely contain her laughter. "Honey, you've got good eyes! You can tell he's not up to par physically?"

"I'm not drinking," Ronald looked up at Adeline, then added, "And I'm not paying."

Adeline had to silently repeat the commission amount to herself to suppress the urge to curse. "Then what would you like to drink?"

Ronald handed over his thermos. "Water."

Adeline was gritting her teeth as she reached for the thermos when suddenly another customer bumped into her. She lost her balance and tumbled toward Ronald.

Ronald quickly withdrew his hand and leaned back to avoid contact, but Adeline still managed to grab his wrist. A tingling sensation instantly spread throughout his body, leaving him momentarily paralyzed.

The customer behind her apologized profusely and ordered two bottles of wine as compensation. A lightbulb went off in Adeline's head, and she immediately grabbed a full glass of wine from the table. "Sir, thank you for your help just now. I'll drink this, and you can do as you please."

She tilted her head back and downed the glass.

Ronald just watched her, saying nothing and not moving.

Seeing this, Adeline steeled herself and poured two more glasses. "A great favor deserves more than words. I'll drink three glasses, and you just take one sip—just to humor me!"

She didn't care about Ronald's expression and downed two more glasses in quick succession.

With a gorgeous woman like Adeline standing there downing three glasses in a row, people nearby started cheering her on. Ronald looked into those captivating eyes, mentally calling her "little fox," before reluctantly taking a sip.

"It's my birthday today, let me toast you again!" Adeline downed three more glasses. Even Elaine was starting to feel concerned. "Honey, you don't need to go this hard."

Adeline was getting tipsy now, plonking herself down next to Ronald.

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but she suddenly felt a wave of self-pity.

"It is my birthday today." She sniffed hard, patting her pocket where the condom and hotel keycard still lay. "I had everything ready, and then that bastard ruined it all!"

Thinking about Allen and Emily's sex video, Adeline grew agitated and started drinking glass after glass.

Ronald watched her drink with an expressionless face, his gaze never leaving her beautiful eyes.

Elaine was completely speechless. Ronald seemed bewitched—he stared at Adeline no matter what she did, like a puppet on strings.

The bar was about to close. In the brief moment Elaine went to the restroom, the pair who had been sitting there just moments ago had vanished!

Under the dim hotel lights, Adeline looked at Ronald before her, feeling like this wasn't real.

Somehow the keycard and condom had fallen out of her pocket, lying brazenly in plain view. While she froze in shock, Ronald thoughtfully picked them up for her.

Looking at Ronald's handsome face, Adeline found herself asking impulsively, "Want to come with me?"

Ronald pursed his lips and actually followed her to the hotel.

After entering the pre-booked luxury king suite, she gazed at Ronald's handsome face with hazy eyes, unconsciously swallowing.

His chiseled features, deep gaze, and tightly pressed lips made him look way hotter than that cheating Allen.

Wasn't it Allen's handsome face that had attracted her in the first place?

What's the difference between love at first sight and lust at first sight anyway?

Today was supposed to be her special day to lose her virginity. The room was non-refundable, she'd bought condoms, and now she had this gorgeous guy right in front of her. Wasting all this would surely be a sin.

Adeline moved closer to him, her breathing becoming more rapid. "If we have sex, I won't take any responsibility for what happens after."

Ronald's eyes darkened, and in the next moment, he captured her lips with his own.