Jason might come off as cold, but he's still got principles. He hadn't planned on taking advantage of anyone, but the way Denise was dressed-and the fact that she was all over him-he was still a guy at the end of the day.

A wild, out-of-line thought popped into his head. Without thinking, he lifted Denise onto the bed, unbuttoned his shirt, and tossed it aside.

Under the soft light, he noticed for the first time-this woman was actually quite the looker. Her face was full of youth, and her figure... let's just say it didn't leave much to the imagination. Every inch of her seemed to scream temptation.

As his eyes landed on her tempting lips, he instinctively leaned in, ready to kiss her. But just as quickly, his sharp mind pulled him back. He shoved her off with a grunt, got up, dug a camera out of the drawer, set it at the perfect angle facing the bed, and hit record.

"When you wake up tomorrow, don't go blaming me. You climbed into my bed all on your own," Jason smirked wickedly at the woman sprawled on his bed before diving back in.

In the glowing night lights of Seaville, what happened on that bed was anything but calm.

The next morning.

Denise groggily opened her eyes, her whole body sore. How long had she been out? Was she going to be late for class?

What was this hard thing next to her?

She looked down... and saw a shirtless man lying beside her.

"AHHHH!!" her scream pierced the air of the presidential suite.

Jason groaned awake from the noise, and when he saw who it was, he frowned, clearly annoyed. "What are you screaming for this early? You're gonna wake the entire city."

"Who... who the hell are you? Why are you here?!" Denise stared at him in disbelief.

"You're asking me? This is my suite, and you stormed in begging me to sleep with you last night. Don't make it sound like I forced anything."

Denise's brain short-circuited. She couldn't process any of it. Wrapping herself in the blanket, she stared at him in shock.

"What are you covering up for? I already saw and touched everything," Jason shrugged, the corner of his mouth quirked up, clearly finding the situation amusing.

"You pervert! I'm calling the cops-I'm reporting you for assault!" she shouted.

Jason simply chuckled, "Go ahead. I've got plenty of evidence to back me up." He got up casually, wearing only boxers, his toned abs and strong build on full display.

He grabbed the camera's card, plugged it into the TV, and hit play. In an instant, the screen lit up with intimate scenes, along with some very unmistakable sounds. Denise was just about to cuss him out as a lunatic, but then she suddenly froze-

That woman on the screen... was her.

No way. That couldn't be. She couldn't have done something that shameless.

And then it all started coming back. She remembered being drugged-she'd escaped that creep Mr. Donovan's room and, by accident, ended up in this man's room.

She hadn't escaped after all. She just swapped one man for another.

Her fists clenched tight. All the resentment she'd buried-toward Arthur, Vivian-came bubbling up.

Then her eyes landed on Jason again. Honestly... he was good-looking. Tall, defined face, sharp features, and-okay, fine-a killer six-pack.

Compared to Mr. Donovan's greasy, aging fifty-something self... well, maybe this wasn't such a bad deal after all.

"So, what now? Wanna take this video to court and sue me or what?" Jason raised an eyebrow at her with a teasing grin.

At that moment, Denise yanked the bed sheet off herself and started walking straight toward Jason, completely unfazed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa-you're not actually thinking about round two, are you? Damn, didn't peg you as the insatiable type..." Jason muttered to himself. But just as he was mumbling, Denise reached down near his feet and casually picked up his shirt, slipping it on.

His shirt was huge on her, pretty much covered her down to her thighs.

Watching her move, Jason instantly felt a wave of awkwardness wash over him. Wow, talk about overthinking.

"I'm not gonna sue you," Denise said coolly, then walked over to the drawer, pulled out some paper and a pen, and started scribbling quickly.

"What's your name?" she asked, suddenly turning to look at him.

Jason raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. He was curious now-what kind of play was she trying to pull?

"Jason."

After jotting it down, she tossed the paper at his face. "There. I admit it-I slept with you. I should be compensating you, but I'm broke. That's your... payment, okay?"

And with that, she strolled over to the TV, yanked out the card, slammed the door behind her, and left.

"Hey! That's my shirt-" Jason called after her, but she was already gone.

This woman seriously had guts. She even had the nerve to leave him "payment."

He picked up the paper to take a look. Turns out, it was an IOU.

Denise: Confirmed sleeping with Jason on [date], owes him 200 bucks. There was also her number and her signature.

Jason stared at it, his face going stiff.

No way. Did she seriously treat him like a bootleg gigolo? That was brutal.

But the kicker? Only 200 bucks?! That just rubbed salt in the wound.

That shameless woman. How could she humiliate him like this? He wasn't just anyone-he was the CEO of the Harrington Group. 200 bucks? Seriously?

Once the rage died down, something else bubbled up-Jason actually found the whole thing kind of hilarious. No woman had ever dared to pull that move on him before. And instead of actual money, she handed him an IOU?

If word got out, people would laugh their heads off.

He scanned around for a shirt but only found a pair of pants. Took him a second to remember-yeah, she literally walked off in his shirt.

Denise... Not only did she show zero gratitude, she had the audacity to leave him with some fake payment and take his clothes too.

Jason instantly whipped out his phone and called Ben Torres. "Bring me some clothes. Now."

After hanging up, he tossed the phone on the bed and went to the drawer, pulled out a camera, popped it open, and retrieved another memory card from inside.

A smirk crept up on his face. "Denise, you think I didn't plan ahead? You've got another thing coming."

He'd made a backup already-years of business had taught him never to leave things to chance.

Meanwhile, Denise hadn't gone far from the hotel. She chucked the card into a trash bin and borrowed someone's phone outside to call Lily Bennett.

"Hey, Lily, I need you to bring me some clothes-like, ASAP. It's an emergency. I'm near the east side mall by our school, it should only take like ten minutes by taxi."

"Girl, are you serious right now? It's Cynthia's class today, and now you're skipping and dragging me along? You trying to get us both failed?" Lily complained on the other end.

"I don't care, I'm waiting here anyway," Denise said before hanging up.

Well, Lily was her ride-or-die after all.

About ten minutes later, Denise finally saw Lily heading over.

"Oh my god, girl! What are you even wearing? Is that a man's shirt?! Don't tell me you got laid last night, Denise!" Lily stared at her like she'd seen a ghost.

Denise had known Lily would show up. "Close enough. Vivian and Arthur drugged me and set me up."

"Seriously?! That's messed up. Okay, Vivian being evil I get-she's your stepmom and all-but Arthur's your real dad! How can he even sleep at night?"

Lily was fuming. As Denise's bestie, she really felt her pain.

"What can I do, right? Anyway, weren't you supposed to be in Cynthia's class? How'd you manage to bail?"

"I have my ways. Told her I had a 'stomachache' and needed the bathroom."

"And then poof, disappeared down the toilet, huh?"

"Exactly. Otherwise, people would be side-eyeing you right now like you just walked off a scandal set in that outfit."

Denise found a public restroom to change into Lily's spare clothes. Luckily, they were pretty much the same size.

"So, what now?" Lily asked, pulling a face.

"What else? Suck it up and move on. You should go back to class though, or Cynthia might actually send people to fish you out of a toilet."

"You're so annoying," Lily muttered as she turned to leave.

Denise wandered down the street alone, heading slowly toward the Montgomery house. That ache in her chest hadn't gone away. Her own father did this to her.

She had a half-sister-why couldn't they throw Samantha Montgomery at Mr. Donovan instead? Why her?

Thinking about everything she went through last night, Denise clenched her fists. She swore she'd get her revenge one day. No more letting them walk over her.

When she finally got home, the whole family was waiting.

"Oh wow, look who finally decided to come back," Samantha said with a smug grin. Her half-sister couldn't sound more fake.

"You useless girl! You've got some nerve showing your face after what you pulled last night!" Arthur roared the second he saw her.

"You're my father! How could you?! Just for a bit of money, you literally sold me off? Disgusting!" Denise shouted back, heart broken all over again.

Smack!

Arthur slapped her hard. "Ungrateful brat! I gave you life-least you can do is repay me! Mr. Donovan fancied you, and you repaid him with a smashed ashtray to the head?! You trying to ruin me?"

All Arthur cared about was his precious contract.

"Exactly! Denise, do you even consider the consequences of your actions? Thanks to you, Mr. Donovan canceled the deal and swore he'd never work with our company again!" Vivian chimed in, delighted to throw gasoline on the fire.

She was just dying for Arthur to beat the crap out of Denise.

"Someone get the belt! I'll teach this wretch a lesson today!"

"I'm your daughter. If I'm a wretch, then what does that make you?" Denise shot back, eyes cold. She was past caring. Before, she would've stayed quiet. Not anymore.