"Claire, bring two boxes of condoms to Room 8808 at Shangri-La."

Claire Wilson stared at the message for a whole minute, cycling through disbelief, suspicion, and eventually resignation. Confirming it was from her boss, Ethan Baker, she quickly replied, "Got it, Mr. Baker. On my way."

Ethan did have a meeting planned this afternoon with a foreign partner at the Shangri-La. About thirty minutes ago, she'd seen him leave with Lucas Thompson.

Still, as his assistant for three years, this was her first time being asked to handle something this personal.

After leaving work, Claire realized at the convenience store that condoms came in way too many brands. Not having a clue which to buy, she grabbed a mix—one medium and one large from different labels—and rushed to the hotel.

Standing outside Room 8808, Claire composed herself and rang the bell. From inside came a sound that instantly made her cheeks burn.

She stumbled back a few steps, completely flustered.

Mr. Baker always looked so polished, cold, and buttoned-up—you'd never guess he’d be... enthusiastic in bed.

Thinking about it, maybe it wasn't so shocking. Just last month, he got engaged to Sophia Grant, the heiress of Grant Capital. Young, attractive couples doing what young, attractive couples do wasn’t exactly headline news.

Click—

The door opened.

Ethan stood there, perfectly dressed in his usual formal suit, tall and sharp as ever.

Their eyes met—his gaze was calm as ever. Claire froze for a second before robotically handing over the bag. "Mr... Mr. Baker. Here’s what you asked for."

He gave her a neutral glance. "Come in."

Caught off guard, Claire hesitated but followed him inside, mind racing: How was Sophia making those sounds with him still fully dressed?

The place was a presidential suite. On the coffee table sat Ethan’s laptop, right next to a half-finished cigarette resting in a crystal ashtray.

The bedroom door was wide open. The bed inside was spotless. Clearly, no one else was there.

Claire blinked, confused, then took out the boxes and placed them on the table. "Here’s everything. If it’s not the right type, I can—"

"Watch this."

Ethan cut her off flatly. Holding the remainder of his cigarette between two fingers, he turned the laptop screen toward her.

With a tap of the spacebar, a video started playing with audio that immediately made her skin crawl.

"Baby, your uncle really can’t handle it, huh? Look how desperate you are..."

Boom.

That voice hit her like a truck. All the blood drained from her face in seconds.

She stared at the screen, paralyzed, her stomach twisting as two familiar figures tangled together in bed. Clenching her hand over her mouth, she stumbled into the bathroom and threw up everything inside her.

A few minutes later, Claire came back out, composed but pale. After splashing cold water on her face, she'd at least managed to fix her lipstick, masking some of the mess she felt inside.

Ethan shut the laptop and put out his cigarette. "You’re a decent assistant, Claire. But girlfriend? Not so much. Didn’t satisfy him, so he went looking elsewhere?"

His voice was flat, tinged with mockery.

Claire laughed bitterly. "Mr. Baker, you're hardly better. If Sophia was getting everything she needed from you, she wouldn’t be crawling into your nephew’s bed, would she?"

Yeah—what Ethan had just shown her was a full-frontal sex tape starring her boyfriend Ryan Baker and Sophia Grant.

And Ryan... was Ethan’s nephew.Three years ago, Claire Wilson graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University with a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree. She thought, being fluent in five languages and loaded with certifications, finding a translator job would be a piece of cake. Turns out, reality slapped her hard — rejection after rejection from every kind of company, public or private, some didn’t even bother granting her an interview.

Ryan Baker eventually figured out why: her family background.

With his help, Claire ended up going through the backdoor into Ethan Baker’s company, NAS Capital, working as his secretary.

Over the past three years, although her main tasks were still translation-related, she basically learned all the business secretary stuff from scratch. Knowing how rare this job opportunity was, she threw herself into it — studying operations, management, communication, even figuring out how to read cues and survive networking events. She practically transformed herself into a battle-hardened, top-tier assistant worthy of the title.

Looking back now, there was still one crucial skill she never acquired: how to keep her cool after being betrayed.

You know, like Ethan Baker just did.

His newly announced fiancée just slept with his nephew — with the kind of decisive personality he had, he should’ve blown his top, right?

But nope. Dude wore his green hat and didn’t even flinch. The more she looked at him, the harder he was to read.

“Ha.”

As the thought crossed Claire’s mind, Ethan gave a dry chuckle and tossed a key card her way. “They’re still at it. If you go now, you’ll catch the highlight reel.”

On reflex, Claire glanced at it. The room number matched this floor.

She hesitated.

If she went to catch them in the act, and the affair got exposed, sure, things with Ryan might go south — but the real damage would be the Baker-Grant alliance blowing up.

She knew exactly how much effort Ethan had poured into locking down the Grant family’s resources through this marriage.

And her? If Sophia turned around to blame her for saying anything, staying at NAS wouldn’t even be a question — heck, she might not even make it out in one piece.

Compared to heartbreak, these consequences were way more terrifying.

Besides, her current identity as “Ryan Baker’s girlfriend” was a useful card to play. Dumping him now? No way.

As she sorted all this out in her head, Claire quickly calmed down and turned toward Ethan, who was smoking.

Half his face was hidden behind a haze of smoke, but that sharp jawline and sculpted features were still strikingly clear. Her heartbeat, which had just started to level out, went haywire again.

Claire suddenly remembered how, whenever Ryan tried to get close to her over the past few years, she'd freeze up — stiff limbs, cold sweat, borderline panic. The doctor called it a psychological block toward intimacy.

But that one night, when Ethan was drunk and she helped him into a car… the crisp, clean scent on him had made her feel like her bones had dissolved. All she wanted was to sink into him.

Back then, she’d blamed herself for reacting that way.

But now? Not so much.

Sex and love — totally separate things.

Ryan and Sophia clearly knew how to keep the two apart. From what she’d heard, Ethan had his own great love once too. Yet here he was, marrying for business.

So why couldn’t she, someone with nothing to her name, make survival her priority?

Truth be told, if she could actually get something going with someone like Ethan, she wouldn't be the one losing out.

“I’m not interested in watching the drama,” Claire said, stepping closer and squatting beside the coffee table. Her eyes looked up toward Ethan. “But I don’t think you’re just gonna let this slide, are you?”

Ethan put out his cigarette, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at her. His face gave nothing away. “Changed your mind about the little ambush?”

It was the first time Claire had been this close to him. Her heart was pounding.

She’d obviously snuck glances at him many times before. That face? Flawless. But up close? Every detail stood out even more — the edges of his expression, those unreadable dark eyes. Just one look and you felt like they could swallow you whole.

Taking a breath, Claire reached out and placed her hand on his thigh. “Your fiancée slept with my boyfriend. Fair trade? You sleep with me.”