’First, he pretends to invite me over, lets me get my hopes up, and then he’s going to cruelly humiliate me?’

Her mind cleared in an instant. She took a quiet, deep breath. "Mr. Sheridan, it’s getting very late. I should be going."

This was a mistake. She didn’t want to repeat the same error.

Georgia Thorne turned to leave the suffocating place.

’In truth, Elliot Sheridan is not someone I can afford to provoke. In the future, when I’m with Selena, I should try to avoid him...’

She had only taken a single step when her elbow was grabbed forcefully. She was pulled around, her cheek pressing straight into the man’s chest.

A smirk played on Elliot Sheridan’s lips. "What’s this? Now that you’ve got me hooked, you’re trying to run away? Just leave me hanging?"

Her clear eyes were wide with astonishment.

Georgia Thorne felt like she must be hallucinating. Otherwise, why would he be holding her of his own accord?

"Mr. Sheridan, I... you..." She averted her gaze, stammering incoherently.

’This isn’t how things were supposed to be between them.’

"Good girl. Call me Elliot," the man said, lowering his head. The tenderness in his dark eyes was about to drown her.

Georgia Thorne’s entire reason for getting close to Elliot Sheridan was so that this man would take her.

Now that she finally had this chance, how could she possibly let it go?

Her fair, delicate hand immediately clutched his shirt, her knuckles turning white. "No. You said you’d take me, so you can’t go back on your word!"

Elliot Sheridan looked down and pushed her onto the nearby sofa. "If you don’t leave now, you really won’t get a chance to regret it!"

Georgia Thorne was incredibly shy, yet she didn’t dare push the man away, terrified he would suddenly change his mind and reject her.

Her fingers held fast to his shirt. "I don’t regret it."

Giving herself to a man like Elliot Sheridan was a hundred times better than being sold off to some wretched old man by Jared Thorne and Hayley Sullivan.

So, she truly wouldn’t regret being with him.

He was her best choice.

Georgia Thorne’s eyes were wide open. She let go of his shirt, leaving deep creases in the fabric.

"Elliot, I want you to take me!"

Elliot Sheridan bent his head and kissed her tenderly.

Georgia Thorne nodded, burying her face in his chest, her voice muffled.

"I’m scared!"

Before, she still had a sliver of hope, but now, she truly had no way to turn back.

Her first time was painful. Even after waking up, she still felt uncomfortable all over.

When Georgia Thorne opened her eyes, she was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.

She was dazed for a long time before she realized she was in Elliot Sheridan’s bed.

Recalling everything that happened after the lights went out yesterday, she couldn’t help but blush, her heart racing.

The man was ferocious in bed. He had worn her out until she could barely take any more.

She shifted slightly and heard someone’s displeased voice. "Don’t move."

Georgia Thorne’s body trembled. She glanced to the side and saw the man sleeping next to her.

His arm was wrapped tightly around her waist.

On their first morning sleeping together, Georgia Thorne learned about one of this man’s bad habits.

And he had it. She looked down and saw it with perfect clarity.

Her watery eyes widened in an instant. She tried to shrink back again; her body couldn’t take any more.

’One more time, and I’ll really die at Elliot Sheridan’s hands.’

Elliot Sheridan wasn’t that depraved. It was her first time, and he had already put her through it three or four times. He wouldn’t touch her again, if only to take her physical condition into account.

After they both showered, Georgia Thorne came out wrapped in a bath towel, having no clothes to wear.

Her clothes were scattered on the floor, torn to shreds by the man’s impatience last night.

The clothes were unwearable. She clutched the towel and turned her gaze to Elliot Sheridan.

"Um, I don’t have any clothes to wear."

Elliot Sheridan grunted in acknowledgment. He didn’t keep any women’s clothes here, so he left the room.

Georgia Thorne wondered where he had gone. When he returned a few minutes later, she saw him holding a dress.

"This is Selena’s. Just make do with it for now." Elliot Sheridan handed her the clothes. She took them and went back into the bathroom.

Selena Sheridan had a similar figure to Georgia Thorne, so the long dress didn’t look out of place on her.

Elliot Sheridan had left many marks on her body. Thankfully, they were hidden, and the dress concealed them well.

She carefully examined herself in the mirror, then turned to go out and saw Elliot Sheridan with a pair of scissors, cutting the bedsheet.

When she saw clearly what he was doing, Georgia Thorne’s face suddenly flushed red, and the tips of her ears burned.

He was cutting out the proof of her virginity—a patch of red staining the white sheet.

Georgia Thorne barely dared to look at Elliot Sheridan’s face, unable to comprehend how he could have the nerve to cut that out.

She was, after all, a young woman and easily embarrassed.

Elliot Sheridan placed the cut-out piece of sheet in a drawer, then pulled the rest of the sheet off the bed and threw it in the trash.

"Are you still sore anywhere?" Elliot Sheridan asked as he walked toward her.

His presence was overpowering. Georgia Thorne, still not used to it, took a step back, her back hitting the bathroom doorframe.

She stammered in reply, "It doesn’t really hurt anymore!"

Elliot Sheridan grunted and continued to approach her. "You’ve already slept with me. Are you still afraid of me?"

’I want to cry but have no tears. It’s *because* we slept together that I’m scared.’

’Because I’ve been with him, experienced it firsthand, I know just how terrifying this man can be.’

Wearing Selena Sheridan’s dress, Georgia Thorne had the air of a proper lady.

Elliot Sheridan took out a cigarette, his dark eyes narrowing as he watched her. "Come here."

Georgia Thorne obediently walked over.

The moment she got close, the man pulled her down to sit on his lap. Through the two thin layers of fabric, she could clearly feel his heat.

It felt hot enough to melt her.

The smell of tobacco on him was heavy, with a slightly acrid note, very different from yesterday.

His gaze remained fixed on Georgia Thorne’s face. She shifted her eyes away slightly. "Don’t look at me."

Seeing the slight furrow of her brow, Elliot Sheridan chuckled softly and handed her the cigarette.

"Put it out for me."

Georgia Thorne took the cigarette, her eyes searching for an ashtray, finally spotting one on the coffee table.

Elliot Sheridan’s hand was on Georgia Thorne’s waist, making it difficult for her to get up. She leaned over and extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray.

"I’ll take care of the Thorne Family’s situation. You don’t have to worry for now."

Elliot Sheridan spoke, and Georgia Thorne snapped her head around to look at him.

"This was your goal for choosing me, wasn’t it?" Elliot Sheridan’s eyes were full of understanding. "Now that you’re with me, I won’t let you be wronged. Did you think just any man can touch Elliot Sheridan’s woman?"

His long, fair fingers gently grazed her cheek, then tenderly tilted her chin and he lowered his head to kiss her red lips.

Selena Sheridan had indeed drunk too much last night.

When she got up, her first instinct was to find her phone and call Georgia Thorne.

Georgia Thorne was currently in the guest room. Luckily, the maids didn’t come upstairs without reason, so no one had discovered that she had slept with Elliot Sheridan last night.

She ruffled the covers to make it look as though she’d slept there, then neatly made the bed.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she clutched her chest, feeling the heart that had been pounding wildly in her throat finally settle back into place.

’Elliot Sheridan... he seems like a man who keeps his promises.’

’But what will he do to stop Jared Thorne from coming after me?’

’If he says it outright, it will expose their relationship.’

As she was thinking, the phone in her pocket rang.

It was Selena Sheridan. She answered the call and walked toward Selena’s room.

"Selena, I’m right outside your door. I’m coming in," Georgia Thorne said into the phone as she pushed the door open.

Selena Sheridan thought she was hearing things, but when she looked up, she saw Georgia Thorne standing in the doorway.

"Um, you didn’t go home last night?"

"You were drunk last night, and it was getting late, so Mr. Sheridan had me stay the night. Um, I slept in the guest room." Fearing Selena might get the wrong idea, Georgia Thorne made sure to emphasize the words "guest room."