Chapter 2 What's Happening

The marks on her body couldn't be wiped away. Zara's eyes were red with anger. Her boyfriend Trevor hadn't even taken her virginity. How could she be so inexplicably lost! And the man hadn't protected himself.

"Zara, you're 22 years old, not two. Look at what you've done! It's going to be crazy," she muttered to herself.

She thought: What am I going to tell my father when I get back home? He'll ask me why I didn't come back last night. What lie am I going to tell him? I can't even reach him. I just need to take a bath and get out of here!

***

After taking a bath, she felt much more comfortable. She wrapped her towel and opened the bathroom door. She quickly dried her hair, put on the clothes prepared for her and left the hotel.

Only a few minutes after she left the room, Damien came in and saw that no one was in the room. The box on the edge of the bed was open to show that she'd left. He looked around the room and spotted a note on the nightstand, "Hello, coward, it was a misunderstanding last night. I hope you'll stick to your professional ethics. If you see me later, you won't recognize me! Oh, by the way, I'll give you $250 for whores. Next time, please ask me secretly! Goodbye.

Coward? $250? Customers? For the first time, Damian's handsome face looked confused and then angry. He clenched the note in his hand and glanced at the sofa. There was a similar plum blossom blood stain on the white sofa, showing that she'd sex for the first time.

****

The scorching sun was burning, and Zara felt a little uncomfortable, so she hailed a cab. In the car, she asked the cab driver to give her his phone to make a call, which he did. Then she quickly dialed Xavier's number.

Her best friend Xavier, a 24-year-old international racing champion. They'd met through racing.

Actually, she'd first thought of calling Trevor, but she didn't know how to face him.

"Hello." When the phone was connected, Xavier spoke, his voice not as free and easy as usual.

"Hey, it's me."

When he heard Zara's voice, he was taken aback for a moment, looked at the cell number and asked, "Zara?"

"Yeah. So, I'm on my way to your place in a cab and I don't have any money to pay. I lost my purse."

"You don't have a fare? Where are you?"

"Why are you being so weird today? I'll be at your place in ten minutes and you're waiting on the side of the road."

She hung up the phone, thanked the driver, gave an address, and took a nap in the cab.

The driver turned on the radio and a woman announced, "His shares were transferred to other people's names two months ago, which means his brilliant career is over from now on."

Zara's mind was still on last night and she didn't hear a word of what was broadcast on the radio.

A few minutes later, the car stopped at the side of the road, and Xavier approached her. After paying for the cab, he carefully observed Zara's expression. Apart from the fact that she looked a little tired, nothing else was unusual.

"Didn't you go home last night?" he asked.

"No, I didn't?"

"Really?"

He took her by the hand and they both walked upstairs to the elevator. In the elevator he said, "I'm going to tell you something. You should prepare yourself mentally. You'll find out sooner or later, and the most important thing is to calm down now."

Zara looked at Xavier strangely, confusion written all over her face.

As they entered Xavier's apartment, he kept emphasizing, "Zara, I'm going to show you a video, but you've to prepare yourself mentally."

"Xavier, what video is worth taking so seriously?" Usually Xavier is a wimp, and she wondered what that was all about. Zara looked at Xavier with a sad face. "I didn't know what happened last night. How could I..."

Xavier just led her straight to the computer and opened the video he'd watched several times. In the video, there were reporters holding microphones. At various points in the video, Zara couldn't picture anything. It scared her. This was her father's company.

Did something happen to my father last night, she thought.

"Hello, everyone sitting in front of the network. I'm Blaine Gideon, a reporter for CBSN, the New York news agency. Today, someone provided information that West Logan, the president of Logan's group, has been embezzling public funds, selling stock, and secretly laundering money. Let's take a closer look at Logan's group and see the specific situation.

She pondered: daddy? Corruption and bribery? Embezzlement? Sale of shares? Money laundering? "Bullshit, how can that be?" Dad is sincere and has integrity. How could he do such a thing?

"Well, keep listening," Xavier said.

"... Dear friends, the leaders of Logan's group are meeting in the conference room right now. From the heated argument occasionally heard inside, we can tell that things aren't going well."

The video was then cut directly to the door of the conference room, which was opened from the inside. All the senior executives entered. There were also some major shareholders whom Zara had never met. Finally, Steele Trevor, the general manager of Logan's group, and Killian Malcolm, the vice president of Logan's group, entered.

As vice president, Malcolm looked toward the media with reddened eyes. He said, "It's a shame that President Logan has resigned. As of today, I will be taking over all the work Logan presented. I hope I can take good care of it in the future. Thank you!"

After this statement, the media continued to ask questions about other issues of the company. Zara's mind went blank. Her father's decades of painstaking work were now being taken over by her uncle, Uncle Killian.

Uncle Killian is her father's best brother, and Steele Trevor is her boyfriend, with whom she has been in love for three years. Now she has to think about these two people.

"Take me to the company." After watching the video for another minute, she said in a low voice.

Xavier turned off the computer without saying a word. He took the key of the locomotive to the underground garage and drove Zara to Logan's group.

***

The heat of the sun was scorching. When Zara arrived at Logan's group, she felt that she was almost exposed to the sun. The hot and dry weather made her very nervous.

When she entered the hall of Logan's group, the cool air coming from the front made people feel comfortable.