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.

Arthur raised the belt and started hitting Denise without hesitation. Denise instantly tried to make a run for it, but Vivian had already told her men to block her way and pin her to the floor.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

The belt landed hard again and again on Denise. She bit her lip, fists clenched tight, eyes burning with defiance. One day, she'd make them pay-double!

"Denise, don't blame your dad. You've brought this on yourself," Vivian said smugly from the chair. "Look at Samantha. She just got engaged to the CEO of the Harrington family. Soon she'll be Mrs. Harrington, and we'll all benefit from that. But you? We ask you to sleep with Mr. Donovan and you beat him up instead? Your dad had to pay for his hospital bills! Seriously, are you crazy?"

Denise shot Vivian a hateful glare. "Since it sounds so easy, why don't YOU go sleep with Mr. Donovan?"

Vivian's face went stiff with anger. Just as she was about to snap back, the butler came rushing in. "Sir, Madam, Mr. Harrington is here."

Vivian's face instantly lit up. "Well well, speak of the devil!"

Samantha's cheeks flushed with excitement.

Denise couldn't care less who this CEO guy was. She only vaguely recalled hearing Samantha got engaged to some rich dude.

Arthur finally stopped hitting her and barked at her to get out of the way.

Right then, a tall man walked through the door. Black suit, white shirt, legs so long he could've walked straight off a drama set. And that face-so damn handsome it was unreal.

"Jason!" Samantha sprinted over, her voice honey-sweet.

Jason barely reacted, his expression cool. His gaze swept past them and landed on Arthur and Vivian. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery."

"Jason, come in! Sit, sit!" Arthur said eagerly. "Butler, tea, now!"

He wasn't stupid. Jason wasn't just some rich kid-he ran the entire Harrington financial empire. The youngest CEO in Seaville, a real shark in the business world. The man could shake the whole city by just moving a finger.

Then Jason looked over to where Denise stood. Their eyes met.

Oh. Hell. No.

That face. That voice. That was the guy from last night?!

Her one-night stand was... her sister's fiancé?!

What kind of twisted mess was this?!

Heh.

Denise's lips curled into a cold smile.

Alright then. Since they played dirty first, she'd stop playing nice.

Jason turned to Arthur. "Mr. Montgomery, who's she?"

Before Arthur could answer, Samantha jumped in, eager to set the tone. "She's my younger sister. Bit of a troublemaker. Dad was just teaching her a lesson."

In Seaville, everyone knew Samantha. Nobody had ever heard of Denise.

No wonder Jason had no clue who she was.