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Chapter 1
The presidential suite at the Grand Banquet Hotel was engulfed in darkness. Cyan Gienger woke up with a start, feeling a sharp, overwhelming pain coursing through her body. Was this real? Was she dreaming? The confusion clouded her senses, leaving her disoriented and in agony.
“Hang in there a little longer, and it will stop hurting,” a deep voice murmured nearby. The man’s voice was thick with an emotion Cyan couldn’t place, but she felt it—tension, and something else she couldn’t quite identify.
Her mind swirled with dizziness, and she let out a soft groan of discomfort. The room was pitch black, and her senses were heightened. She could smell something faintly familiar in the air, but everything else felt foreign, out of place. The man, though his features remained indistinct in the darkness, was close enough for her to feel the weight of his presence.
After what felt like an eternity, he stopped. His breath, ragged and heavy, filled the silence as he pulled away. Cyan lay still, too stunned to move, her body aching, her head spinning.
When she finally managed to open her eyes again, every inch of her body screamed in pain. It felt as though she had been through some kind of terrible ordeal. The world around her spun as she tried to make sense of what had happened. Slowly, her mind began to piece together the fragments of memory, though the full picture remained unclear.
She had come to the hotel to pick up some documents for her sister, Myra Gienger. She recalled her phone call, the brief exchange, and how everything had gone wrong when the lights suddenly went out. The next thing she knew, she had been dragged into the room, her vision blurry and her thoughts fogged.
Her cold, mixed with the medicine she had taken, had left her drowsy, and she had fallen unconscious, unable to resist. Now, she found herself alone, disoriented, and deeply frightened.
In a panic, Cyan hurriedly dressed herself. Her movements were shaky, her mind racing with confusion and fear. As she fumbled through the dark to collect her things, she noticed two unfamiliar objects beside her phone. Without thinking, she stuffed them into her bag, her hands trembling.
By the time she left the room, she could hardly focus. Her body ached as though she had been through some kind of trauma, and her thoughts felt like they were slipping through her fingers.
When she finally arrived at the Gienger family mansion, the sky outside was dim, still early morning. She could see the marks on her body—proof of the events she could barely understand. She wanted to keep everything hidden, to slip back into the shadows unnoticed, but just as she was about to enter, she overheard a conversation from within.
Her mother and Myra were talking—talking about her.
“I always knew she’d be useful to us in the end,” her mother said, her tone sharp and calculating. “We can use her to further our business. Mr. King is a man of certain… preferences. And Cyan, she fits perfectly.”
Cyan’s heart sank as the words hit her. She froze, her hand gripping the doorknob, her world suddenly spinning out of control.
“She’s worth more than we thought,” Myra continued. “Ten million dollars. I never expected her to be so valuable.”
Cyan stood still, the weight of the conversation crushing her. Her body felt numb, and her mind was a blur of emotions—betrayal, confusion, and a deep, aching sadness. The painful truth of what was happening to her began to seep in, and she didn’t know how to process it. She didn’t know who to turn to or what to do next.
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