The memory was too painful, so Seraphina Quinn instinctively pushed the video Celeste Buckley had sent to the back of her mind.
An hour later, she arrived at The Begonia, Aurelium's most renowned gilded cage.
"Seraphina Quinn, you are unbelievable! What took you so long?"
At the entrance to the private room, before Seraphina Quinn could even steady herself, she was grabbed by Quincy Sterling.
"And what in the world are you wearing? It's so drab and black. Are you going to a funeral?!" Quincy Sterling's hand roughly pawed at Seraphina Quinn's collar, yanking open the top button of her long black dress.
"Auntie! I'm here for a blind date, not to seduce someone," Seraphina Quinn said, a flicker of unease crossing her face.
"What's the difference?" Quincy Sterling shot back.
"Seraphina, listen to me, and don't be a fool! Mr. Sharp's nephew is the warden of the men's prison in the suburbs, and your younger uncle is locked up right there. The Sharp family's fortune is something even the Quinn Family couldn't compare to at their peak. If he weren't almost seventy, I'd be trying to marry your cousin Tanya off to him."
As she spoke, Quincy Sterling pulled Seraphina Quinn into the private room.
"Mr. Sharp, our Seraphina is here. You two have a nice chat. Kenneth, let's step outside and take another look at the menu."
Quincy Sterling shoved Seraphina Quinn onto Mr. Sharp's lap, then used the excuse to drag her husband, Kenneth Thorne, out of the room.
Seraphina Quinn tried to get up from Mr. Sharp's lap.
But Harold Sharp's hand grabbed her and held her in place.
"Where do you think you're going?" Harold Sharp's hand shamelessly kneaded Seraphina Quinn's slender waist, gradually sliding down to the top of her thigh.
Seraphina Quinn frowned in disgust. "Mr. Sharp, please don't. I'm just here for a blind date."
Seraphina Quinn tried to get up again.
But before she could move, a wave of dizziness washed over her.
A strange fragrance filled her nostrils, and suddenly, her entire body went weak.
She looked down and realized that a patch on her collar, right where her aunt had pulled it open, was damp.
'It was a drug!'
"Sweetheart, you're so naive. What blind date?" Harold Sharp cackled, his hand immediately slipping under the hem of Seraphina Quinn's dress. RIIIP! He tore the fabric, exposing her long, pale, slender legs.
Harold Sharp's eyes practically bulged out of his head.
In all his years of carousing and chasing women, he had never encountered anyone like Seraphina Quinn.
A single glance was all it took to get him hard.
She had such an innocent-looking face, yet the sliver of skin revealed at her neckline was as smooth and flawless as jade, utterly intoxicating.
A wolfish glint lit up Harold Sharp's eyes. His fingers kneaded her roughly as he uncontrollably buried his face in Seraphina Quinn's chest.
He moved as if to bite at her breasts. Seraphina Quinn struggled desperately to dodge him, but her resistance only inflamed his brutish lust.
He seized one of her full breasts, the black fabric doing little to conceal its shape.
"Sweetheart, stop fighting it. Your aunt's husband took out a two-hundred-million-dollar loan from my bank. He's already sold you to me."
"If you're a good girl and do as I say right now, I promise that after tonight, you'll become the new Mrs. Sharp."
"But if you insist on doing this the hard way... I can just break you, and you'll have to take it."
While speaking, Harold Sharp ripped off Seraphina Quinn's underwear and unbuckled his own belt in the same motion.
Just as he was about to force himself on her, Seraphina Quinn mustered all her strength, snatched the ashtray from the coffee table, and smashed it down on the crown of his head. Blood immediately began to gush from Harold Sharp's wound.
"You bitch!"
"You've got a death wish, don't you?"
Seething with rage, Harold Sharp swung his arm and slapped Seraphina Quinn twice across the face with all his might.
Blood trickled from the corner of Seraphina Quinn's mouth as she tumbled to the floor. Her forehead struck something hard, and the jolt of pain managed to cut through some of the drug's numbing effect on her nerves.
She scrambled on all fours, desperately crawling toward the door of the private room.
"No!"
"Help me!"
"Somebody, help!"
Seraphina Quinn was weak, frantic, and terrified.
"Miss Quinn, you cracked Mr. Sharp's head open. If you don't want to make a scene and end up in jail, you'll come with us right now." Behind her, Harold Sharp's two bodyguards were closing in.
Panicked and desperate, Seraphina Quinn blindly pushed open the nearest private room door to hide, only to collide with a man walking out.
"I'm sorry, please help me." Seraphina Quinn had no time for formalities. She murmured an apology as she hooked her arm around the man's, cowering behind him.
The collar of her dress had been ripped open by Harold Sharp, revealing a swell of pale cleavage. As her soft skin pressed against the man's warm arm, a mortified blush crept across Seraphina Quinn's pale face.
But she had no other choice. She could only cling tightly to the man's arm.
"Sir, I'm begging you. Their boss was trying to rape me..."
Her voice trembled, laced with sobs.
"You wretched girl, what nonsense are you spouting?"
Quincy Sterling had rushed over the moment she heard there was trouble.
Fearing the truth would be exposed, Quincy Sterling put on a facade of frustrated concern and scolded Seraphina Quinn in a disappointed tone. "You wretched girl, is your condition acting up again? The dinner was going perfectly fine, and you suddenly smash an ashtray over Mr. Sharp's head! He's called the police now. Come on, be good. Come with your aunt and apologize to Mr. Sharp."
"Apologies, everyone. My niece... she isn't right in the head. I'm so sorry for the disturbance."
Quincy Sterling reached out to grab Seraphina Quinn.
"No! Sir, she's with them! I'm begging you, help me call the police..."
Seraphina Quinn dodged her aunt's hand, shaking her head frantically as tears streamed down her face. 'I can't go back with them.'
"Please, I'm begging you..."
Seraphina Quinn bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood. She clung to the man's arm for dear life, as if it were her only lifeline.
But the man's cold words dealt her a fatal blow.
"Who are you? Why should I help you?"
The man's voice was indifferent, as if rising from an abyss, from Hell itself, chilling her to the bone.
His strong, powerful hand suddenly seized Seraphina Quinn's wrist.
Already limp and weak, Seraphina Quinn lost her balance. Just as she was about to collapse, the man suddenly hauled her up. He gripped her chin forcefully with one hand, tilting her head up to face him.
When she got a clear look at the man's refined, handsome face, it felt as if Seraphina Quinn's mind exploded with a BANG!
"Fair..."
"Damian Fairchild?"
'So many years had passed. It seemed she didn't even have the courage to say his name out loud anymore.'
"You... you're really not... dead?"
Even the effects of the drug were not enough to quell the trembling, the shock, and the profound anguish that seized her.
It felt as though someone had seized her heart in a vicious grip, the pain so intense she could barely breathe.
"Damian Fairchild, it's been five years..." 'Why did you never come looking for me?'
Seraphina Quinn's voice was hoarse as tears streamed down her cheeks.
She reached out, attempting to caress Damian Fairchild's face.
But Damian Fairchild recoiled in disgust. Seraphina Quinn's hand froze in mid-air, and her face grew several shades paler.
The man then caught her by the wrist and, with a slight application of force, flung her a few feet away.
His deep baritone followed, the sound as cold as falling ice, nearly shattering her on the spot.
"Miss Quinn, I'm not dead. Are you very disappointed?"
The man let out a short, derisive laugh. "Just how out of your mind must you be, Miss Quinn, to cry for help to the pathetic, broke ex-husband you abandoned years ago?" He paused. "How does it feel to beg?"