Chapter 2 A Trap

"How dare you come back to this house after everything that happened! You’re shameless!" Simon cursed.

Simon's insults made her freeze up. Why was he acting like this?

At the sight of the blank look on Laura's face, Simon's palm was about to strike again. But Nora, Laura's stepsister, immediately grabbed her dad's arm.

"Dad! What are you doing? Why did you hit Laura?!" Nora cried out, her face etched with worry.

Simon yanked his arm away from his daughter. "Stay out of this! I have to teach this damn sister of yours a lesson!"

Gilda, Simon's second wife and Nora's mother, heard the commotion and rushed out.

Seeing the scene, she immediately helped her daughter restrain her husband. "Darling, calm down! Don't be like this!"

While Gilda and Nora were struggling to hold back Simon, Laura was trembling uncontrollably. A terrible premonition washed over her. Did Simon know what she had done last night?

"Quiet! You have no idea how disgraced I am! The Myers family canceled the wedding because of Laura's shamelessness!" Simon bellowed, shocking everyone.

Laura lifted her head. "What...? Why...?"

Simon's eyes flashed with even more anger because Laura still didn't seem to realize her mistake. The man reached into his pocket and threw several photos right at Laura's face.

"See for yourself!"

Laura caught a handful of the pictures. Her hands instantly shook, and her tears began to flow even faster.

Images of her with a man entering a hotel room were plastered right in front of her eyes. The man had his back to the camera, but Laura's face was clearly visible. Their body positions were so intimate that there was no question what was about to happen once that hotel room door closed!

"You still dare to ask why, with all this proof?!" Simon growled. "Just so you know, it was Noah's assistant who came and gave me these photos and announced Noah's intention to cancel the wedding! Noah doesn't even want to look at your face!"

Suddenly, Laura's legs gave out, and she fell to her knees in front of Simon.

'Noah knows everything?' Laura thought, finding it hard to believe.

At that moment, Laura heard Nora's voice say, "Dad, there must be a misunderstanding! There's no way Laura would do something like this!" Nora turned to Laura. "Laura, come on, explain!"

Laura stared at Nora with a hollow gaze. All this... shouldn't Nora, who was fully sober the night before, know more about it?!

"You were the one who took me there, Nora..." Laura's sobs broke as she gripped her sister's arm tightly. "Shouldn't you know better about what happened after I got drunk!?"

"La-Laura..." Nora put on a shocked, helpless expression. "I..."

Laura's accusation against Nora infuriated Simon. "Your sister was kind enough to throw you a bachelorette party, and now you're throwing your negligence onto her?!"

Laura was stunned. Throwing her negligence onto her? She was asking a question! Besides, Nora was the one who forced her to go to a place like that in the first place! Her dad knew that, too!

Before Laura could say anything, Nora immediately knelt before Simon. "Dad! She is right, this all happened because of me! I shouldn't have held that party! Don't blame Laura, Dad!" Nora pleaded.

Nora's words sounded like a defense, but why did Laura feel like her sister was making her out to be the bad guy making accusations?!

"Nora! Her mistakes are not your responsibility!" Simon insisted sternly.

Although his tone was harsh, Laura could see the tenderness in Simon's eyes for his second daughter.

The sight made Laura's chest tighten even more. Why had Simon never looked at her that way? Wasn't she his biological daughter, too?!

Simon glared a deadly gaze at Laura. "Tell me, who was the man with you last night?!"

"I-I... I don't know," Laura answered faintly.

Laura had only caught a glimpse of the man's face as she was leaving the hotel room, but she honestly had no idea who he was.

"You don't know?! So... you spent the night with a total stranger you didn't even know?!"

That was enough. Simon couldn't take it anymore.

"Get out."

Laura looked at her dad with wide eyes. "D-Dad..."

"Shut your mouth! I refuse to acknowledge a daughter like you!" Simon cursed with blazing fury. "From this day forward, you are no longer my daughter. Get out of this house!"

Thud!

Laura fell to her knees, clutching her dad's leg. "Dad! Please don't do this to me!" she begged pitifully.

Where was Laura supposed to go if she was kicked out of this house?!

Coldly, Simon shouted, "Guards! Throw this ungrateful girl out of the residence!"

It didn't take long for several household guards to arrive. Unable to refuse their boss's order, they dragged Laura out and threw her out of the residence along with a large suitcase containing her belongings.

"Dad! Dad!" Laura tried to open the gates, but no one paid her any attention.

Inside the residence, Simon scoffed. "No one is to ever mention her name in this house again! Laura Hartley is dead!" The man announced before turning to go to his room with his wife.

Meanwhile, Nora seemed to be watching Laura, who was still begging for forgiveness, from the residence window. "My poor sister..." She murmured softly.

Just then, Nora's phone rang. She looked at the screen and answered with a calm expression.

"You sound quite pleased with my gift last night?" Nora asked with a bright face, her eyes watching how Laura was beginning to cry in front of the residence. "How was sleeping with my sister?"

Yes, it was true. The true mastermind behind the catastrophe that struck Laura was Nora! She had intentionally set up Laura to get drunk and slept with her friend. All for the sake of canceling Laura's wedding and taking her place to become the young lady of the Myers family, Noah Myers's wife!

"You know what?!" The man's voice snapped on the other end of the line, making Nora frown. "I didn't manage to sleep with your sister! She was taken away by another guy!"

"What?" Nora's eyes widened. "Didn't she sleep with you last night?! The photo my guy sent…"

"I was in the photo! But I wasn't the one who ended up sleeping with her! A guy came in, beat me up, and threw me out of the room! Just so you know, I'm in the hospital right now! You have to take responsibility, Nora!"

Nora ignored her friend's curses, her brain spinning with the information she had just received.

Nora looked toward the gate, realizing that Laura was gone.

Then... if it wasn't her friend, who did Laura sleep with last night?!

-

Star Hotel. Room 501.

A man woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. His muscular hand reached for the device and placed it against his ear.

"Mr. Smith! You finally picked up my call!" The voice on the other end of the line startled the man, making him open his eyes slowly and reveal mesmerizing, night-dark black eyes. "Where were you last night?!"

As the question was asked, Asher Smith frowned and immediately sat up. The man looked around and realized this wasn't his room.

At once, fragments of memory about what happened the night before flooded his mind. How he had forced himself onto an unfortunate woman and swore he would take responsibility.

Remembering that, Asher gritted his teeth. "Pick me up now," the man commanded firmly as he sat on the edge of the bed. His eyes darted to the hotel information on the nightstand. "Star Hotel, Room 501."

The moment Asher threw back the blanket, his eyes fixed on a bloodstain and a necklace lying in the center of the bed.

Realizing that he hadn't just forced himself on that strange woman, but had also stolen her virginity, Asher ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "Damn it..."

Hearing his boss curse, Asher's personal assistant panicked slightly. "Sir? Is something wrong?"

Quickly, Asher commanded again, "Immediately find out who reserved this room!" The man picked up the necklace in the middle of the bed and added, "Whoever she is... I have to take responsibility."