Chapter 426

Chloe Valentine stood on the neon-lit street, her stomach twisting with hunger pangs.

"Got any food?" She stopped a heavily made-up woman.

The woman's red lips curled as her eyes raked over Chloe. "Come with me."

The Golden Fortune Club's sign glared under the night sky. Chloe knew exactly what kind of place this was, but starvation had devoured her reason.

Designer bags, high heels, mansions—all the things she once took for granted had become distant dreams.

She followed the woman through the gilded doors.

As long as she survived, she would make Nathan Evans and Evelyn Langley pay.

——

Reality slapped Chloe hard.

On her very first night serving VIP rooms, she learned the brutal rules of this game.

At 3 a.m., she staggered out of the private booth.

Her miniskirt hung in tatters. She clutched $50,000 in cash, her skin burning with bruises and scratches.

Three days later, she marched into the manager's office with $200,000.

"I quit."

The manager's smile vanished. "The contract states clearly—early termination requires a $5 million penalty."

Only then did Chloe notice the trap clause on the final page.

"This is predatory!" She turned to leave.

Two hulking men blocked the door.

Lighting a cigarette, the manager ordered, "Teach her some manners."

As fists rained down, Chloe heard him phone someone: "Mr. Sherwood, it's done as you instructed..."

They threw her into a pitch-black storage room.

For three days, she subsisted on a single cup of water daily.

In her starved delirium, she hallucinated returning to that gilded mansion—servants bearing silver platters, addressing her respectfully as "Miss Valentine."

Tears mixed with blood streaked down her face.

How had she fallen this low?