Chapter 2

Lisa's car drove on the highway, her eyes which were focused on the road suddenly turned red and teary, she swallowed and tried to keep her emotions in check but it wasn't just working. 

Suddenly, she swerved her car to the side of the road then turned the engine off before falling on the steering wheel. 

She stayed that way for some seconds before the sound of sniffs could be heard. It started from sniffing, to crying out loud. She couldn't pretend anymore, she couldn't take it anymore...

"It hurts..." She muttered and hit her chest gently. 

Her shoulders trembled and her bloodshot eyes were filled with confusion. She covered her face and cried out loud, she screamed out of her lungs and vented out her anger and frustrations. 

All the pain, the suffering, both emotional and physical, she let it out by screaming. 

She didn't want to care about anything, she didn't care that people heard her, but if she didn't do this, her mental state would collapse.

She had gotten married to Dane, the poor graduate three years ago and just four days ago was their 3rd anniversary but it became one of the most painful days of her life. She had secretly watched as her husband kissed someone whom she was familiar with-His secretary, Claire. 

The most painful part of all this was that she had been stopped by his Assistant who said Dane had gone to inspect his projects, but on that day, she knew she had long become a joke. 

She should have begun to suspect when he didn't want to be seen with her, when he stopped caring about her even when she told him about his toxic mother's emotional abuse. His mother would always call her different names-Useless, Money Waster, Barren...

Like how would she get pregnant when her husband doesn't touch her?! 

Lisa wiped her tears with her hand but it still kept on gushing out which blurred her vision, but she continued doing so until she could finally see the road. 

She ignited the engine, but as she prepared to drive off, her eyes locked on a building, her eyes pierced through it and she read the familiar name, "CITY MORGAN BAR" 

How could she not be familiar with this bar? This was one of her family's businesses, the one she had let go of to marry her so-called dream guy. 

Lisa didn't know how she got into the bar, but by the time she realised what was going on, she was already on her third drink. 

She kept on drinking without a care, even when she coughed and choked on the alcohol, she continued to swallow it all. 

She looked around the hall and her eyes turned red. 

She had met Dane when she was admitted to the hospital after she was involved in an accident, he had been a student of the surgeon and it also turned out that they were in the same college, with just different courses.

She studied Neurosurgery, though she really had no interest in it, but she did it to spite her father who had married another wife after her mother had gone missing a day after she entered college. 

She had been so shocked and went against her father's wish, changing her course from Business management to a course totally unrelatedly. 

Meeting the gentle and bright Dane had made her feel so much love she hadn't felt after her mother had gone missing, and to make him comfortable, she hid her identity just to be with him, and even left her home after her father disagreed to let her marry Dane saying she had a fiancée. 

But who knew three years later, she would regret her silly actions... 

Lisa drank until she became pressed, she stood up drunkenly and walked around the bar looking for the female washroom but she didn't expect to collide with someone. 

"Ouch!" she cried out in pain while rubbing her nose. 

Her eyes turned red immediately but when she raised her head to look at the man, she realised he was so tall. 

"You-!" 

"Are you okay?" The man whom she had collided with asked calmly.

Lisa paused, her ears twitched from his voice and she couldn't help but admit that the man had a sexy voice. 

She looked up to see the man's face, but her eyes were so blurry that all she could see were double, triple or multiple faces. 

"Hey! I think you're drunk, you keep moving around!" She yelled, then hit the man's chest as if to stop him from moving. 

The man looked at the drunk Lisa and felt a headache, he needed to take care of something and he didn't have time to take care of a little drunk lady but Lisa wouldn't let him go.

From poking him, she began to cry about how much she had suffered, how she had just got divorced, how her husband had treated her and even how she hadn't had sex for more than a year, and how she doesn't even know what it tastes like anymore. 

The man was totally speechless. He looked at the woman who wouldn't let him go, and amusement flashed in his eyes. 

"Then, do you want to do it now?" he asked teasingly. 

Lisa paused, her eyes turned red as she looked at him with those beautiful grey eyes of hers which made the man freeze, "Yo...You find me attractive? You think I'm attractive enough to want to have sex with me?!" She repeated twice in disbelief.

The man grew even more speechless, and he realized the woman had so much self doubt, and she lacked confidence in herself. He, who doesn't show compassion to anyone, suddenly found himself nodding. 

Lisa froze, then suddenly pulled him down to kiss his lips which shocked him.

He tried to pull back but her lips were so... 

"Your tattoos are so enchanting.." 

****

Lisa stirred awake on the bed, the sun shone on her bright face and she remained in a daze when she opened her eyes. 

Suddenly, she shifted her body, but then froze in shock. Her eyes widened as she felt so much pain in her waist and also, down there. 

"What the heck happened?! Oh my goodness, it's better not be what I'm thinking! Maybe, it's just a casual fall... maybe..."She muttered under her breath nervously, then jumped out of bed and rushed to the mirror. 

She looked at herself and gasped in shock, her body was covered in marks but when she looked around, there was no one except her. 

She closed her eyes in shame and tried to recall what had happened but all that appeared in her mind was a tattoo and a black suit. 

"Oh my goodness, Lisa!" She scolded herself, then immediately rushed to pick up her clothes, and then began dressing before rushing out of the hotel. 

But what Lisa didn't know was that the man whom she had slept with came back an hour later. 

***

Lisa sat in her hotel room exhausted, a lot had happened during the week which had drained her energy. 

She looked at the wall in a daze, then picked up her phone and dialled a number. 

"Young miss.."

Lisa paused hearing the relaxed voice on the other line. 

"He signed it, Lawyer Simmy," Lisa muttered, then bit her lips as her red eyes focused on the wall. 

Lawyer Simmy tapped on the table for a bit before her calm voice sounded again. 

"So, what next, young miss?" 

Lisa closed her eyes as embarrassment flashed through her eyes, "I really don't know..."She muttered, but it sounded like she was about to cry.

She had been rendered so useless by Dane and his family that she felt confused about what the future held for her.

"Young Miss, please, go back home. You're the only heiress of the Morgan Empire, and you shouldn't be suffering here. Please, go back home even if you're still angry with your father!" The lawyer said with a tense but kind voice.

Lisa froze, her breathing became rapid and her eyes turned red, but she still shook her head like a rattlesnake.

"No, I won't! He was the one who disowned me, so why should I go back?! Besides, he's busy with that woman and has never looked for my missing mother! It's been almost 7 years now!" She roared in pain at the thought of her missing mother.

The lawyer sighed, "That is all the more reason you should go back, Young Miss. You need to look for your mother, and without the title of the Morgan heiress, it would be too hard for you to search for her. Think about it." 

Lisa froze, her head bowed in confusion. 

What should I do?

Chapter 3

"You're a disgrace to the Morgan family! Get out!" 

Lisa stood in front of her father with her head bowed low as she listened to him rage. 

She didn't say a word no matter how she was insulted. She wasn't a kid anymore and life had taught her patience. The young her,  had been so arrogant, hot-headed and did things according to her belief but now... 

"I wouldn't listen to a word she says! Ask her to leave my home!" Her father yelled, then turned around, "Guards!" He roared and in no time, the guards who had been positioned in hidden places rushed out to take orders.

Lisa looked at her father with a pale face, her fist clenched behind her dress, and her eyes glared at him, but she remained silent. 

Her father, Reed, turned to look at her and sneered seeing her stubborn self, he pointed at her and commanded, "Throw her out of my house!" 

The air in the room froze until the gentle woman who seemed like she was about to cry spread her arms in front of Lisa which surprised her. 

This woman was the person she hated the most but she didn't think she would be the one to fight for her at her most helpless, but when she thought about it, her eyes flashed with mockery. 

"Pretender!" she muttered under her breath but continued to watch the woman stop the guards from coming close to her.

Her father, Reed Morgan felt a headache as he looked at his wife, he gritted his teeth but when he saw the same indifferent look on Lisa's face, he grew more determined to chase her out.

"Get away from that ungrateful girl, Lauren! She doesn't even appreciate you. Just look at her face! Look at her expression. She deserves to be treated wrongly by that poor man she ran away with, idiot!" He raged even more, then reached out to pull his wife away from Lisa, then signalled the guards to do their jobs. 

"Let me go!" Lisa cried out as the guards pulled her.

"We're sorry, young miss.." One of the guards apologised guiltily. 

"What young Miss?! She is not my daughter! I disowned her long ago!" Her father roared again, then pulled Lauren who was still fighting and begging them to let Lisa go.

Lisa looked at her father as she was pulled out, she glared at him, then calmed down and said, "You'll have no choice but to later let me in, Father." then she didn't fight the guards anymore and allowed them drag her out. 

Lisa knelt in front of the Morgans' family's entrance. 

She was determined to let her father let her go in. If he wouldn't accept it easily, then she would go hard on him. She knew her father so well and was very familiar with his pride and arrogance. He hated to see his reputation tarnished and that is what she was targeting.

She had purposely knelt in an obvious place where outsiders would see her. This mountain estate is a place for the most wealthy and powerful people in the country and in the whole mountain, only 10 families have houses here. 

She knew her father wouldn't want the other family to see her kneeling on the floor as it would be a big embarrassment to him.

And Lisa was right. 

At this moment, her father was seething with rage as he watched Lisa through the camera, he wished he could go down there to beat her up. 

He gritted his teeth and glared at the figure that looked like it was about to break kneeling under the hot sun. 

"Can you see her?! She did this on purpose, she's trying to provoke me! Darn that girl!" He complained to his wife angrily and pointed at Lisa's image on the screen.

Lauren on her own knew how stubborn both daughter and father were, and none of them would give in to each other if she didn't do something about it. 

And true enough, Father Morgan hit the table with his palm, "If she thinks she would make me take her back by doing this, then I would prove her wrong!" He roared, then stood up and walked away leaving Lauren looking at his back with a sarcastic expression. 

"Stubborn man!"

Lisa knelt on the ground stubbornly and no matter how the sun beat her and how hungry or tasty she was, she never stood up. 

She could still remember the lawyer's words.

"For the sake of your mother." 

She closed her eyes tightly, and when she opened her eyes, determination flashed through them. 

She had made a decision to put her pride behind her and come back home after being persuaded by the wise reasons of Lawyer Simmy, and had come straight to the Morgan family when she dropped from the plane. 

An hour later when Lisa was about to collapse, she felt someone hug her gently. 

"Lets go in! Don't mind your father, he wouldn't dare do anything with me around." A gentle voice whispered into Lisa's ears jolting her. 

She raised her head to see that it was Lauren, her stepmother. 

Her eyes flashed with surprise, but she clenched her fist to keep herself from pushing her away. 

"What do you mean? Did my father allow me in?" Lisa asked in surprise but Lauren shook her head.

"Just follow me." She said confidently then walked in with Lisa staggering behind her. 

They both got into the house and paused seeing Reed sitting on the couch with a calm expression. 

Lisa watched Lauren do her thing. Hugged and wiggled in his arms as she tried to placate him while Lisa watched with an indifferent expression which irked her father but he could do nothing. 

After a while, her father looked at her and then burst out in laughter, "So...That poor boy cheated on you?" 

Lina looked at her father in speechlessness. She gritted her teeth and glared at him for him to stop but he continued to taunt her about her wrong steps. 

After a while, he turned serious, then looked at her with a cold expression which made the room turn dreadful. 

"I can allow you back into the family, but..." He paused and stood up from the couch. 

Lisa grew tense as she waited for him to make his demands. 

"You have two options," he said again, his face deadly serious. 

Lisa's heart skipped a beat and she swallowed nervously. "What do you want?!" She asked. 

"Take over the company!" He said which startled Lisa. She parted her lips to say something, but he raised his hand to stop her. 

"Don't lie to me. I know that while you were studying that course, you were also taking business management with it and you have your certificate. You can't fool me!" 

Lisa froze at her father's words, she looked at him in shock, then turned calm again. 

"Okay!" She said firmly. 

"Leave the family or you have to marry the fiancé chosen for you, Joseph Bronson!"

Chapter 4

Lisa stood in front of the luxurious restaurant where she would be having her date with her so-called fiancé whom she had never met. 

She had only heard of him once when her father had rejected her marriage to Dane. He had told her she had a fiancé from a young age and it was the son of his best friend. According to him, they had both made a promise to marry their children to each other. 

She had found it ridiculous then, and had resisted with all her heart and it's also one of the reasons she was so decisive in leaving as she had believed her father had sold her. 

Now, standing in front of the restaurant about to meet the fiancée, Joseph Bronson, she felt nothing other than calmness. 

She had agreed to her father after some quick thought. What is the difference between staying single and marrying someone in her state? 

At this stage, she doesn't care who she marries because it will be the same. Her heart had grown cold and tired. 

She inhaled deeply, then walked into the restaurant in her heels. Her black wavy hair bounced behind her and her elegant gown followed her sway making look more enchanting. 

The people in the restaurant threw a glance or two her way as she walked passed. 

A gentle waitress stopped her, "Hello, are you Ceo Bronson's date?" 

Lisa returned her smile politely, then nodded at her words. 

"Then, please follow behind." The waitress said, then began walking away while she followed.

"Here, Ceo Bronson is in there." She said then bowed before retreating.

Lisa took a relaxed breath, then knocked on the door. 

"Come in!" 

Lisa raised an eyebrow at the deep but sexy voice she heard, her brows furrowed in thought but she snapped out and walked in. 

She walked elegantly to the man who sat behind the table, their eyes met and the air seemed to freeze, they maintained eye contact even when she already sat down. 

"Miss Lisa Morgan?"

The call of her name snapped her out of her daze, she looked at him in confusion for a second, then recalled that she hadn't introduced herself.

"Hi, yes, I am," Lisa said, then stretched out her hand to shake his. 

The moment their hands touched, her body jolted, and she released his hand awkwardly, but her gaze saw the tattoo on his wrist. 

The more she looked at the tattoo which looked cold but also seemed to have a deep meaning, the more she found it familiar. 

"Please, make yourself comfortable, Miss." 

His deep voice sounded again which finally snapped Lisa out of her daze. She looked up and met Joseph's confused gaze and felt embarrassed at her rudeness, but she just couldn't help it. 

She felt she had seen that tattoo somewhere, but... 

Suddenly, Lisa's heart pounded against her rib, her eyes flashed with shock as she raised her head to look at the handsome face in front of her.

To be honest, she had been shocked when she saw him as he looked too attractive and different from what she had expected. 

His aura was cold and elegant, his eyes carried traces of gentle indifference, and he looked relaxed which made people subconsciously respect him. 

"Are you alright-" 

"Have we met before?" Lisa interrupted him and her eyes looked straight at him like she wanted to detect something from his expression.

Joseph looked at Lisa calmly but he was not that calm inside him, he looked at her with a solid expression, then spat out one word, "No!" 

Lisa regained her senses, then let out a chuckle, "Sorry, I had mistaken for someone." She said, then turned serious. 

"Ceo Bronson seems to know why we're here, so I'll go straight to the point," Lisa announced, then sat up straight. 

"I've been through heartbreak, and I don't desire love. Even if I marry you, I won't give you love." Lisa stared pointedly at him, " Are you okay with this, President Joseph?"

Joseph's fingers were tapping on the table as he listened to her, his eyes narrowed in deep thought, he couldn't help but recall how she had told all her problems and difficulties to a stranger, which really made him helpless at that time as he had wondered how much she had drunk. 

His head lowered as he thought of how she had held onto him that night, how her legs had curled around his waist, the corner of his lips curled up in a smile and his eyes lit up dazzlingly but all this was something Lisa couldn't see.

When Joseph raised his head again, he had returned to being expressionless. 

"Miss Morgan, I think we have the same thought, I also don't need a love marriage, just a collaboration between the two families, and I need someone who can help me stop the mutters of the boards," Joseph said, then sat up with a serious aura. 

"That's good!" Lisa sighed in relief.

"Then...Let's sign a one-year contract. If after one year we still don't find ourselves compatible, we break it off." He suggested. 

Lisa frowned as she hadn't thought of that. She looked at Joseph, and her gaze couldn't help but shift to his wrist again which made Joseph who had noticed her focus sigh as helplessness flashed through his eyes.

"What do you think of my suggestion, Miss Lisa?" 

Lisa shifted her gaze back to him, "Then let's do it that way." 

****

Two hours later, Joseph and Lisa walked out of the marriage registry with two certificates in their hands. 

Lisa looked at the certificate in a daze. She had remarried, just like that? 

She turned around to look at the handsome man who stood behind her with the sun casting on him making him look more handsome. 

She watched as he stretched out his hand towards her; 

"Hello, Mrs Bronson."