DECEPTION

Chapter 1

Deception

“You ungrateful brat.” Stella slapped and yelled at her older half sister. Vangeline looked up at her from the floor with tears in her eyes.

“What is your problem?” she yelled back at her.

At that moment, her father and stepmother Wanda entered the room.

“What is going on in here?” Mr. Donovan Luxor Lincoln shouted, the CEO of the Lincoln Corp, worth over 300 billion, the third richest company in the country.

Stella turned around and quickly pointed at her sister, who was now standing and holding her cheek.

“It’s your slut of a daughter. I thought it would be great to take her with us to celebrate my 18th birthday, and she ended up sleeping with some random guy, embarrassing our whole family.”

Both adults were now looking at Vangeline in shock.

Vangeline began shouting while shaking her head. “No, no... they drugged me. I do not have any idea what happened to me. All I remember—” She paused for a second, trying to remember.

Then it flashed to her mind.

The man.

She had not even known him. She was running down the hotel hallway, not understanding why she felt so hot. The heat was overwhelming, and she could not control herself when she bumped into him. She was about to fall when he grabbed her.

She then noticed he looked drugged as well. He pulled her into the room and shut the door. That’s when it happened.

She now remembered.

She opened her eyes and saw his beautiful face, strong and fierce. Then she noticed the red arrow mark just below his Adam’s apple.

Looking back at him once again in total disbelief, she saw how regal he looked in spite of his bloodshot eyes. His hair was a beautiful red and his eyes were as green as the grass. He could have been a top model or, better yet, a movie star.

Suddenly she closed her eyes and buried her head into his chest. She was still quite out of it. After a few moments, she looked up at him once more. This time, they both stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity.

Then he gently rolled over onto the bed, laying completely still for a few moments before he sat up on the side of the bed, trying to pull his thoughts together.

He took a final look at her, realizing how beautiful she was... her grey eyes and wavy golden-brown hair.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had paid that much attention to a woman, yet to him she was gorgeous. What he held onto was her beautiful grey eyes, even though at this moment the whites of her eyes were bloodshot from the drug. They still sparkled with a warm, hypnotizing effect.

Finally, he was able to stand while still stumbling to his feet. He put on his clothes, stood looking at her one more time, then sat next to her and said, “Thank you. I will take responsibility.”

His voice was strong and demanding, yet at that moment it sounded kind and caring.

Taking off his ring, he placed it on her finger. He could tell she was not fully awake, so he gently kissed her on the forehead before leaving.

She smiled as she reacted to the gentle kiss upon her forehead. It was the same feeling she had when her father would put her to bed when she was little. She had always enjoyed those special moments.

Still half asleep, she never realized that it wasn’t her father, nor had she realized the burn on her finger until she had finally awoken.

She was rubbing her eyes when she felt the heat on her finger. She looked down at her hand and saw the ring. It was not an ordinary ring... it was made of diamonds with a strange texture that felt like velvet. In the center of the ring was a distinct red arrow shape.

The arrow was sitting on a foundation held by two diamonds, with a tip that was very sharp. The band had the engraving of a name: Yung Master X.

She quickly took it off and, after a few more moments of examining it, wrapped it in a tissue and placed it in her purse. She noticed the red ring around her finger had stopped burning.

What she didn’t know was the ring was their family token. All the men in the family had the same ring, except the last letter was the first initial of their names.

Taking in a deep breath, she gathered herself and headed into the restroom. Once she had finished, she stood looking around, hoping no one was in the room.

She realized she was alone. At that moment, tears fell down her cheeks. She had, on this night, lost her virginity to a stranger... the one precious thing she could never get back.

Two days had passed since the incident, and she was blocking it out of her mind completely... until now, which was all she could remember. But she could not tell them.

Standing there still in a daze, shaking her head.

“Well, Vangeline,” her stepmother shouted at her, “did this happen? Tell me, did this really happen?”

Vangeline stood shaking her head. “I do not know. I do not know.”

This time, Wanda walked over and slapped her once again. Then, turning to her husband, she shouted, “She must go, NOW!! If anyone found out about this, what will happen to our family’s reputation?”

She stared at her husband boldly, noticeably angry. He still stood there, staring at his daughter. He knew in his heart that he loved her because his first love had been her mother.

He had already allowed their son Donovan Luxor Jr. to leave, and now he was about to lose his daughter. He looked at his wife, then at his other daughter, Stella, and then at his daughter Vangeline.

He locked his eyes with his daughter, and for a moment they both could see the hurt in their eyes. But she understood that he would always stick with his wife, and she cared too much for her father to make him choose.

She moved back a little, looked around the room, and then looked at her father.

“Father, you know I would never do such a thing on my own. Honestly, I was drugged.”

She stared at him with pleading eyes. “Papa, I had no idea what was going on. I swear to you.”

At that moment, she realized as she looked into his eyes how very much he was disappointed. She knew it was no use trying to make him believe anything she was saying. Wanda had his ear and his heart.

So she wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke to him with sincerity.

“Father, I will not be the one to cause division in your house, so I will leave. I will pack tonight and go overseas.”

Before he could say anything, she turned and went up the stairs to gather her things. She knew this would be the end of her life with them — and the beginning of a new one. She would go and stay with her brother in America.

Only to her surprise, before she could even get up the stairs, her sister Stella stopped her.

“No, hold on a minute. Why would you wanna leave now?”

Turning around and looking at their father, Stella walked over to him.

“Father, we cannot let her leave now in the middle of a school semester. Why not wait until after I graduate and then let her leave? That way there will be no confusion for anyone to say anything bad about our family.”

Stella really just wanted to see if possibly she might have become pregnant, being her first time, and if so, she would humiliate her. And when her child was born, she would steal it and then have access to the Yung’s, because she had put them together.

Unknown to her, she gave her to the wrong brother.

Their father looked at her, then at Stella, and then over to his wife. He threw his hands up and said,

“Fine, whatever you decide to do. I am truly not happy with any of this; shame has been brought onto our family unnecessarily, and the man I had planned for you to marry, Vangeline, will be impossible to give you to their family now that you are considered a tarnished woman.”

Before she or anyone else could say a word, he was gone, looking distraught.

Now, standing at the foot of the stairs, Wanda ... who was clearly not happy, needed to put in her remarks.

“Vangeline, you better believe this. I am not happy with you being around here. You will be miserable until the day you leave — that you can count on.”

She turned and walked away, and it was Stella who just stood there laughing.

“You just wait. Everything will be mine. Everything. Once I finish with you, Vangeline, you will wish you were never born.”

With that said, she turned and walked away with her arrogant attitude, preparing to plot her next move toward her.