1
My second year drifting through Australia.
Avery Anderson coaxed me into believing that once we pulled off one last big job, he’d change both our names and take me overseas.
He spent a year and a half undercover in an Australian casino before finally tracking down Jordan Turner.
I spent two months getting close to him.
Then another three becoming the only woman by his side.
Tonight was when I’d reap the rewards.
The water stopped running in the bathroom. Wrapped in a bathrobe, I stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.
A tall, powerfully built man pressed against me from behind and wrapped his arms around me.
“What are you looking at?”
“This place is so extravagantly decadent.”
Jordan Turner chuckled and bent to kiss my ear. “Do you like it?”
I shook my head and turned in his arms.
I obediently returned his kiss. “I don’t like this city, but I like you.”
2
Those words had successfully won Jordan Turner over.
The powerful man even showed an unusual amount of patience.
He waited with gentle restraint for me to adjust, accept, and take him in.
After our first time, I lay limp beside the bed, my long, tangled hair trailing onto the floor.
I was too exhausted to lift a finger.
Jordan Turner held me by the waist and kissed my shoulder passionately. “Would you like some water?”
I nodded with my eyes closed.
Jordan Turner kissed me again before getting up.
He helped me drink more than half a glass of water. After setting it down, he climbed back on top of me.
The bridge of his nose gently brushed the red mole on my chest.
My fingers sank into his jet-black hair, then suddenly clenched around the strands.
“Jordan Turner…”
I murmured his name, letting out a faint, uncomfortable moan.
“Baby, it’s all yours.”
3
When Jordan Turner woke in the middle of the night, I was curled up in the corner of the bed, sobbing softly.
“Ava Walker?”
“Mr. Turner, my brother lost a bet, and those people want to break his legs…”
“How much did he lose?”
He sat up and picked up the pack of cigarettes from the headboard. He took one out but didn’t light it.
I sobbed pitifully. “Ten million.”
He leaned back against the bed, weariness and satisfaction mingling in his eyes.
“Come here.” He patted the spot beside him, his voice gentle.
I sniffled and leaned against him, nestling against his chest and putting on a weak, helpless front.
“Don’t cry. I’ll pay off your brother’s gambling debt. From now on, you’re with me.”
He set down the cigarette and wiped away my tears for me.
“Mr. Turner?”
I looked up at him, my eyes swollen and rimmed with red from crying.
My tear-filled eyes showed just how hard it was for me to believe him.
Jordan Turner couldn’t help smiling. “But there’s one condition: once I pay off the debt this time, you have to cut ties with him. Gamblers never know when to stop.”
“I know this is the last time I’ll help him…”
“Mr. Turner, you’re so good to me. You’re the best man in the world!”
I flung myself at him, laughing and crying as I hugged and kissed him like a child.
“Once I’ve taken care of my brother’s problems, I’ll go back to Hong Kong with you.”
“I’m easy to take care of. As long as I don’t go hungry or cold, I’m fine.”
“Mr. Turner, I’ll stay by your side for the rest of my life. I’ll love and respect you.”
“All those sweet words would mean more if you did something useful.”
Jordan Turner took hold of my calves and settled me astride his waist.
My silk nightdress was so short that it fluttered against his firm muscles.
“Mr. Turner…” I called softly.
Jordan Turner gripped my waist and pressed me down. “Ava Walker, let me see you cry now.”
4
Three days and nights of passion.
Three days and nights without tiring.
I could clearly feel that Jordan Turner liked me and was pleased with me.
The tricks I’d learned over the past few years—this was the first time I’d used them on a man, and I was already remarkably good at it.
It looked like the results really were excellent.
Early that morning, Jordan Turner personally saw me off as I got into the car.
I leaned against the car window, my beautiful eyes gentle and full of reluctance.
It made Jordan Turner feel all the more sorry to see me go.
Even after the car had driven far away, he remained standing where he was.
Three days later.
Jordan Turner stood at the harbor, smoking with an utterly impassive expression.
The Assistant hurried over, looking grim.
“Mr. Turner, we found out. It was all fake.”
“Her name, hometown, age, background—everything was fake…”
“This wasn’t their first scam. They’re professional con artists.”
Jordan Turner put out his cigarette and gazed indifferently at his wrist.
There were two bite marks there, one old and one new.
One was the mark Ava Walker had left when she bit him last night.
The other had been there for twenty years.
“I know.” His voice was calm, betraying nothing.
“Mr. Turner, should we keep investigating?”
“No need.”
Jordan Turner looked at his assistant. “Pull everyone out. We’re going back to Hong Kong.”
The Assistant looked a little surprised, but quickly replied, “Yes, Mr. Turner.”
Jordan Turner hurried aboard the ship, then stood motionless on deck for a long time.
At last, just before leaving, he stroked the old scar on his left wrist.
Ten million was payment for a youthful dream fulfilled.
Even if it had all been fake,
it was still just barely worth it.
5
Five years later.
I’d just dropped Isabella Turner off at preschool when Grace Miller burst into my rented house like a gust of wind.
She plopped down on the sofa and started acting shamelessly. “Nina, I don’t care. You have to help me this time, no matter what.”
“I really can’t help you.”
“You’re the only one who can.”
“Nina, for the past few years, wherever you go, the divorce rate starts shooting up.”
“There isn’t a man alive you can’t handle.”
“I’ve found my inner peace. I’m not interested in anyone anymore.”
“But you can’t stand those men looking at you like a cat caught stealing fish.”
I could only give her a helpless look.
“It’s not my fault. I can’t just stay home and not work.”
“I have Isabella Turner to support, too. You have no idea how much that child costs me.”
“I don’t care, Nina. You have to help me. If you don’t, I’ll go home tonight and hang myself.”
Grace Miller promptly burst into noisy sobs.
She was giving me a headache. “But your husband’s seen every kind of beauty there is. He might not fall for it.”
Grace Miller sat up straight. “The first time he saw you, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.”
I frowned. Grace Miller’s husband really was a notorious womanizer.
By their second month of marriage, rumors about his affairs were everywhere.
It was a shame that the sleazebag came from a wealthy family. The Millers had rushed to marry their daughter off to him, so there was no way they’d let Grace Miller divorce him.
Grace Miller had no solid evidence, so no matter how frustrated she was, there was nothing she could do to him.
Then, for some reason, that little brat started targeting me.
Honestly, I didn’t want to do this kind of thing anymore.
But Grace Miller saved Isabella Turner, and the debt of gratitude I owe her is immense.
“Grace Miller, I can only try once. I can’t promise it’ll work.”
Grace Miller threw her arms around me and squeezed me hard.
“Nina, I’m a woman, and even I want to touch you when I see you. Those half-human animals who think with their lower halves don’t stand a chance.”
“I’ll be waiting for good news, gorgeous!”
6
I hadn’t expected the Zhao family’s Seventh Young Master to be so easy to seduce.
I hadn’t even used half the tricks I’d learned in elementary school before he fell for it.
On our fourth date, I only had to shed a few tears and say I didn’t want to be someone with no name or status.
He went home and immediately made a scene, demanding a divorce from Grace Miller.
The uproar was so great that the media were all writing wild stories about the scandal.
The news even reached Hong Kong, startling the current head of the Zhao family.
7
They say the man is thirty-two and still refuses to get married and have children.
The Zhao elders were so anxious they were practically smoking. They almost resorted to moving the family tombs.
A few years ago, they even tried pushing women in front of him.
But his bodyguards always threw them out.
Over the past two years, the Zhao family had gradually come to accept it, and stopped bringing the matter up.
When I first learned that Grace Miller’s husband was a Zhao, my heart gave a little jolt.
But I still clung to a glimmer of hope. After all, one was in Australia and the other in Hong Kong.
Only now did I learn that Zhao Yannan was related to Jordan Turner.
Sitting in a chair, I stared blankly and tried to reassure myself.
Hong Kong had more than one Zhao family. Maybe I was just scaring myself.
But the moment that tall, straight-backed figure appeared, my spirits sank.
8
Jordan Turner sat above us, his presence imposing.
I lowered my head more and more, doing my best to look meek and helpless.
After all, keeping a low profile couldn’t hurt.
“Big brother, this is Nina…”
“Don’t make things difficult for her. I’m the one who pursued her.”
“She’s a widow with no husband, raising a child on her own. She’s had a hard enough life already.”
Zhao Yannan finished, then said earnestly, “Anyway, I want to marry her and take good care of her.”
Jordan Turner said coldly, “You’re really becoming quite the catch—making this huge mess over a woman.”
“Nina isn’t like other women. This time, I’m truly sincere.”
“Is that so? And what about her—is she sincere too?”
Triệu Nghiễn Nam’s expression softened:
“Of course. She says I’m the best man in the world.”
“She also says she’ll stay by my side for the rest of her life, love me, and respect me.”
As soon as he said that, the temperature in the room seemed to drop.
I listened with a heart turned to ash, silently begging him to stop talking so much.
“Big brother… Please give us your blessing.”
Triệu Nghiễn Nam kept right on talking.
I couldn’t help sneaking a glance at Jordan Turner.
But when I met his dark, brooding gaze, I hurriedly lowered my head in fright.
But he clearly had no intention of letting me off the hook.
“Was it Taylor Anderson or Ava Walker?” Jordan Turner asked heavily.
I flinched. So terrified, I felt tears spring into my eyes at once.
“Why does every man in the Zhao family have to fall for you at least once?”