Treat Me Gently, Mr. Venderbilt

The night was shrouded in darkness, with a gentle breeze caressing the earth.

Inside the most luxurious presidential suite at Silverton's grandest hotel, a nineteen-year-old girl, dressed in a seductive black silk nightgown, lay in a daze on a soft bed, her beautiful eyes tightly shut, and her hands bound behind her with a rope.

Suddenly, her eyes darted around, and she forcefully opened her almond-shaped eyes.

At this time, a man and a woman were fawning over an overweight middle-aged man with a brainy look as they walked towards the presidential suite.

"Mr. Anderson, rest assured, she's my daughter. She might be a bit stubborn, but I can guarantee she's still a virgin! Once women experienced it once, they become as obedient and docile as little kittens."

The man finished speaking, and the woman immediately said, "Exactly, Mr. Anderson. Also, young women are more likely to have healthy pregnancies and deliver healthy babies."

With his hands resting behind his back, Mr. Anderson said, "Alright. I'll see her first. If I'm satisfied, I'll give the project in Riverton to the Donovans."

The man was beaming with joy, while the woman's heavily made-up face was just beginning to crack into a smile.

"I promise you'll be satisfied!"

As they spoke, they had already reached the door of the presidential suite. The man promptly took out a key card, opened the door, and politely extended his hand. "Mr. Anderson, please."

Mr. Anderson entered without any delay. His protruding belly swayed as he sauntered confidently. The man and the woman promptly followed suit.

Once the three of them entered the room and saw the empty white bed, they were all dumbfounded!

Where was she?

Mr. Anderson's face darkened, and he turned back to glare at them angrily. "Robert, are you playing a trick on me?"

Robert was also dumbfounded and turned to the woman beside him. "Alice, where is she? Didn't I ask you to bring her over after you knocked her out?"

Alice was also stunned, looking at the empty room, her forehead covered in a cold sweat from anxiety. "I did bring her here. To prevent her from struggling, I even tied her hands, and I even ..."

Just then, a black figure quietly emerged from the bathroom beside the door. Without even glancing at the room, she walked out.

She really wanted to run, but she felt highly uncomfortable now. Her body was feverish and weak. Her legs felt so weak that walking normally was difficult.

This stepmother, Alice Campbell, not only made her faint, but also drugged her!

She bit her red lips hard, the pain helping her gather her strength. She leaned against the wall for support and took slow, deliberate steps towards the elevator.

From behind, Claire heard Alice's malicious voice, "This is impossible! Claire couldn't have gone far. Let's search this hotel. We can definitely find her!"

Claire's heart tightened, her gaze quickly scanning the nearby room doors. Suddenly, she noticed that one of the doors was slightly ajar, revealing a thin gap. If someone didn't look closely, they wouldn't even notice it.

Claire grasped at this glimmer of hope. She bit her lip until it bled, and the pain gave her a burst of energy. The young woman rushed to the door just as Alice and Robert came out of the presidential suite. She used her body to push open the door and slipped inside.

With her back pressed against the door, she could still hear the voices of Alice and Robert talking outside.

Finally, she escaped.

Claire breathed a sigh of relief, a smile of surviving a calamity tugging at her lips. Her whole body leaned weakly against the door.

Suddenly, a cold and stern gaze locked onto her face. The look was so icy that her smile froze in an instant. She looked up anxiously and saw a man standing before her, his upper body bare, and only a towel wrapped around his waist.

At first glance, it was clear the man had just taken a shower. His hair was half-dry, with a few strands damply clinging to his smooth forehead.

Claire didn't have time to appreciate the splendid sight of a handsome man after a bath. Just as someone knocked on the door behind her, the man's brows slightly furrowed, and he gazed at her with slightly parted lips.

No!

She couldn't let him speak!

Perhaps it was Robert and Alice knocking on the door. If they found out she was here, they would definitely drag her back and take her to Mr. Anderson again.

With an unknown surge of strength and courage, Claire rushed forward in a single step. Before the man could say anything, she tiptoed, capturing his lips with her own.

It was as if an electric current ran through the man's body. Heat swiftly spread from his lips, making his eyelids droop as he gazed at the audacious girl before him. His hazel eyes widened slightly.

Damn it, he fell into a trap with a single moment of carelessness!

There was something on her lips, some kind of drug!

Claire was unaware of this, feeling only that when her lips touched the man's, the fiery heat within her surged even more, like a trapped beast desperately trying to break free from its cage, rendering her body even more limp and weak.

The knocking paused briefly, then resumed.

Claire parted from the man's lips, gasping for air. Her deep brown eyes looked pitifully into the man's intense gaze. Lowering her voice, she showed him the bound hands behind her, pleading, "Please, save me ..."

The man's gaze grew colder, and a sinister curve formed on his thin lips. Save her?

Heh!

Now he needed to save himself!

Without hesitation, his long fingers firmly grasped Claire's delicate waist. Before she could react, he had already thrown her onto the spacious and soft bed.

The next second ...

Claire's eyes fluttered open as the first ray of sunlight streamed through the curtains.

The previous night, her body had felt like it had been run over by a car, every movement causing pain.

She gritted her teeth and sat up, looking at the man's exquisitely handsome face sleeping beside her. She was so angry that she wanted to reach over and smack his head!

She had asked him to save her, to help her untie the ropes on her hands, not ... not this!

Oh, well!

Let's just consider it as being bitten by a dog!

In any case, he was far more attractive than Mr. Anderson. When comparing the two men, Claire didn't feel like she had missed out too badly.

After gently lifting the blanket, Claire silently got out of bed, careful not to make a sound. The pajamas she wore last night couldn't be worn again.

She walked to the sofa, picked up the man's white shirt and black pants, and carefully put them on herself. They were oversized and too long, but still better than wearing nothing at all.

There was a wallet in the pants pocket. Claire took it out and opened it. A thick stack of money made her eyes squint with joy.

She had to run away. How could she do that without money?

With this much money, she could buy new clothes and a plane ticket.

She pulled out the money and stuffed it into her pants pocket. She glanced at the ID card inside the wallet before tossing it onto the sofa.

Sean Vanderbilt.

Hmm ... so his name was Sean Vanderbilt!

The man on the bed suddenly turned over, startling Claire. Without daring to linger, she hiked up the pants that trailed on the floor and hurried toward the door.

Half an hour later, the man woke up.

Staring at the empty room, if not for the vivid crimson stain on the white sheets, he would have thought last night was just a dream.

This damned woman!

She drugged him, slept with him, and left without saying a word?

Wasn't she supposed to sit on the bed, threaten him with tears, tantrums, and even threats of suicide until he agreed to marry her?

Or was she planning to leave, doll up, and then return to extort him?

Sean picked up his phone and dialed a number. "Victor, get over here!"

Ten minutes later, Victor Garcia rushed in, looking all flustered and alarmed.

"Mr. Sean, I was here last night. I knocked on the door, but you didn't respond or open the door, so I didn't dare to come in."

Sean leaned against the headboard, wearing only a white shirt with the collar slightly open, revealing his strong chest, making him look restrained and charming.

He gazed at Victor, and a chilly glint flickered in his deep eyes. "How many people know about my arrival in Silverton?"

"Huh?"

Victor was momentarily taken aback. He had thought Sean had called him over to scold him for not delivering the documents promptly last night, but this was unexpected.

After a moment of contemplation, he affirmed, "No one! Even your parents are unaware of your visit to Silverton, let alone anyone else."

Sean's brow furrowed in confusion. He had been careful to keep his arrival in Silverton a secret, so how did the woman from last night know about him? Could she be a trap set by someone else?

Why did she come to his room and apply drugs to her lips?

His gaze slid to the empty wallet on the bedside cabinet, and a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes. "Victor, last night I was slept with by a woman, top to bottom. You better find her for me!"

What?

It is hard to believe that Mr. Sean, the imperious Ascalon figure who had lived a chaste and simple life for 28 years, had slept with a woman.

Victor's body jolted as if he had been injected with a shot of adrenaline. He was so excited, he could barely contain himself.

Hahaha! Victor couldn't wait to find out which audacious woman had dared to sleep with the vengeful Sean Vanderbilt of the Vanderbilts.

Victor could already envision the scene once they found her. She would be tormented by Mr. Sean until she wished she were dead.

After checking the hotel's surveillance footage, Victor quickly identified the woman as Claire Donovan.

Claire was the eldest daughter of Robert Donovan, the CEO of Alpha Ventures. Her mother had passed away, and Robert had brought his longtime lover, Alice Campbell, into the family. Claire grew up oppressed under Alice's rule.

Claire was the Donovans' outwardly perfect child, but behind closed doors, she was their scapegoat. Despite this, she excelled in her studies and was admitted to Silverton University at the age of 15.

Though her family was in Silverton, Claire had been living on campus. She earned a PhD with a double major by the age of nineteen.

After reviewing Claire's profile, Sean lifted an eyebrow. "Where is she?"

Under Sean's icy gaze, Victor's facial muscles tensed, and a layer of cold sweat formed on his back. His throat felt as if it were stuffed with cotton, and he finally managed to force out a few words, "We haven't ... haven't found her."

Four years later.

Sean Vanderbilt, the pride of the Vanderbilts, had not returned to Ascalon but had been living in Silverton.

While others might not know why, Victor certainly did.

Mr. Sean was butting heads with Claire!

The woman who had slept with him four years ago had seemingly vanished from the earth, leaving no trace of her whereabouts.

Sean controlled the nation's largest conglomerate and had an elite team under his command. He had utilized all his connections to search for Claire, yet nobody could find her.

Despite the aid of cutting-edge technology, they couldn't catch a glimpse of a single strand of Claire's hair.

This drove Mrs. Vanderbilt to desperation. Over the past four years, she had made countless phone calls, but Sean remained resolute in his decision not to return to Ascalon.

"Sean ..." Mrs. Vanderbilt couldn't let it rest and continued pleading on the phone, "Your nephew has found a girlfriend this year. You're already thirty-two. If you don't marry soon, people will call you an old bachelor."

Sean, walking through the airport while talking on the phone, said, "Everyone addresses me as Mr. Sean of the Vanderbilts. Who would dare to undermine my reputation?"

Mrs. Vanderbilt was directly choked by his words and coughed a few times.

Among her five children, Sean was the one who caused her the most worry.

Sean was her precious child, and she had spoiled him rotten since he was little. However, this indulgence had led to him developing a stubborn and unruly temperament. He was like a wild horse that had never been tethered, running free without constraint. Now that she wanted to control him, it proved impossible.

After her coughing fit, Mrs. Vanderbilt wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and sobbed, "I haven't been feeling well lately. My heart keeps hurting. I just wanted you to come back and start a family before I pass away. Can't you fulfill such a simple request? Sob, sob, sob ..."

Sean was accustomed to this ploy of Mrs. Vanderbilt's and didn't find it strange at all. He had seen her use it on his father countless times.

His father fell for it every time, but he didn't.

It wasn't that Sean didn't fall for it, but rather that he had become numb to it.

"Alright, Mom, please don't cry anymore. If your heart isn't well, see a doctor. I have to go through a security check now."

"Ah, wait a moment!"

Mrs. Vanderbilt knew Sean was about to end the call, so she quickly said, "Brighton is not far from Ascalon. Why don't you come home after you're done in Brighton? I miss you."

Brighton was more than 1,300 kilometers away from Ascalon. And this wasn't considered far?

Sean slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out an exquisite cigarette case. "Alright, if I have time, I'll come back to visit you."

Just as he was about to hang up, suddenly, someone lightly tapped him on the back.

Sean frowned and turned around.

The girl behind him was dressed in youthful clothing, with a plaid skirt that showed off her fair thigh. She also wore white knee-high socks and black leather shoes.

Her face was lovely, with light makeup that enhanced her natural beauty. It was hard to tell her age, but her clothes made her look like a teenager.

Pointing to something on the ground, she tilted her head and smiled at Sean. "Sir, you dropped something."

Sean was in a daze until her voice snapped him out of it. He glanced down at the business card on the ground and removed the phone from his ear. "What did you call me?" he asked.

The girl smiled and shrugged, her eyes glancing at the cigarette case in his right hand. "Just a friendly reminder, Sir, smoking is not allowed in the airport," she said.

"Claire, the driver has been waiting at the gate for a long time. Don't dawdle and hurry up!"

Hearing her companion's call, the girl waved her hand at Sean and happily ran over. "I'm coming!"

Watching her youthful and lively figure, Sean's thin lips curled into a sly arc. "Claire, I've been waiting for you."

The driver outside the airport checked his wristwatch for the umpteenth time. He had been waiting for the screenwriter C. S. Lawrence for a long time, and he was starting to get impatient. He had already texted Lawrence's assistant, who said they would be out shortly after picking up their luggage. But so far, there was no sign of them.

Stretching his neck, he kept glancing around the airport.

"Hey, what are you looking at?"

He was lightly touched on the shoulder. Looking down, he saw two girls who appeared to be in high school. Feeling somewhat annoyed, he said, "If you're looking to be extras, head over to the film set. I don't handle that here."

One of the girls giggled lightly. "Hey, Claire, did you see that? They think you're only fit to be an extra."

Claire rolled her eyes at her assistant. This little assistant always enjoyed joking around with people, and she liked to tease anyone, regardless of who it was.

Taking out a lollipop, peeling off the wrapper, and popping it into her mouth, Claire turned to the driver. "It was Mr. Smith who sent you to pick up C. S. Lawrence, right?"

The driver was dumbfounded.

C. S. Lawrence was a renowned and accomplished author of romantic novels, having achieved fame several years ago. The driver looked at Claire and then at the girl next to her. He couldn't tell their ages for sure, but they both looked like they were in their teens.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Claire said, "I am C. S. Lawrence. I wrote 'The Twenty-Fifth Hour.'"

"C. S. ... C. S. Lawrence?" The driver was tongue-tied, his eyes widening like saucers.

It was surprising that C. S. Lawrence, who was so skilled at writing ambiguous scenes that readers would yearn to be in a romantic relationship, was actually so young.

Julia couldn't help but burst into laughter at the driver's expression. "Hahaha. Don't be fooled by her appearance. She just likes acting cute. In reality, she's already ..."

Claire elbowed her, and Julia held back the rest of her words.

Only then did the driver come to his senses, excitedly opening the car door and welcoming the two girls inside.

"Ms. Lawrence." While driving, the driver eagerly asked, "Can I take a photo with you later?"

Seeing Claire's raised eyebrow in the rearview mirror, he quickly explained, "You see, my girlfriend is a huge fan of your novels. The reason she fell in love with me is because she thinks I'm just like Max Taylor from your novels. Even though he's a supporting character, he's a romantic type. Hehe ..."

Max Taylor?

Julia blinked suddenly. Max was at best a minor character in "The Twenty-Fifth Hour." Julia hadn't expected this young girl to be so infatuated with Claire that she would even make a move on a man who resembled Max, a character barely mentioned.

"Cough, cough ..." Julia feigned a smile and said to Claire, "Claire, she's definitely in love with you for real!"

Claire chuckled while biting her lollipop. "Alright, let's take a picture then."

The driver could not contain his joy as he raced the business car on the street.

Half an hour later, the driver dropped Claire and Julia off at the hotel arranged by the production crew, handing them two room keys.

"Ms. Lawrence, you should rest for now. I'll go report to Mr. Smith."

Claire took a room key, said nothing, opened the door, and walked in, promptly sprawling on the spacious bed.

Silverton, I'm back!

Thinking back to how she had left in such a sorry state several years ago, a cold light gleamed in her deep brown eyes.

Although she knew that her father did not love her and that the Donovans did not consider her a true member, Robert was still her only family. Claire had always dreamed that if she worked hard, excelled in her studies, and showed her strengths and merits to him, her father would eventually love her.

When she woke up in the presidential suite that night, all of her dreams were crushed.

People who didn't love her would never truly love her, no matter how hard she tried. She was nothing more than a tool for exchanging benefits.

Julia didn't return to her own room. After freshening up in Claire's room, she rushed back out. Seeing Claire lost in thought on the bed, Julia jumped onto the bed. "Claire!"

Claire turned her face away, concealing the tears that had welled in her eyes.

Julia had noticed Claire's sadness but pretended not to have seen it. She bit her lip and lay beside Claire, asking, "Hey, now that we've safely arrived in Silverton, what's your plan? Are you leaving as soon as this job is done?"

Leaving?

"Heh!" Claire's lips curled coldly. "Since I've come back, how could I not return home and give my dear father a big surprise?"

Julia felt a chill ran down her spine when she heard Claire's cold voice.

Although only 23 years old, Claire had started acting cute due to particular circumstances. She claimed that she would always maintain a youthful heart. However, beneath Claire's pure and beautiful appearance lay a heart that had long been scarred.

Claire had never been a simple and innocent girl!

This topic was getting too dangerous, and Julia licked her lips before changing the subject. "Then ... what about that man?"

Claire turned to look at her. "Which man?"

Julia chuckled mischievously, turning to face Claire with an ambiguous expression. "You know, the man who slept with you that night!"