Quality Novels Reading 05

To pay for my father's astronomical medical bills, I became the stand-in mistress of Kingsfield's young heir. That night on the rooftop, he tore off my dress and took me savagely. "Say it! You're mine!" The woman Lucas Bennett loved had congenital aplasia. She couldn't be intimate, and she couldn't have children. So that he could marry her into the Bennett family, he needed a child. That was why he found Claire Hart—a stand-in who looked about seventy percent like his first love. Every time, before they started, he would remind her coldly: "Don't get the wrong idea. I don't have feelings for you." But the second they were in bed, he turned into someone else—gripping her waist, moving hard, as if he wanted to devour her. "Does it feel good?" Lucas Bennett's voice was raw, barely recognizable. Claire Hart bit her lip and stayed silent. So he pushed in deeper. "Answer me." Her whole body jolted forward, fingers twisting the sheets. Finally she couldn't hold back anymore, and begged in a tear-broken voice, "Slow... slower..." Only when her pleas went hoarse did he finally finish. He tossed her a pillow and said coldly, "Prop it up. Not a single drop leaks out." She did what he said mechanically, watching him walk into the bathroom. After a long while, the bathroom door opened. Lucas Bennett came out drying his hair, water droplets sliding down his firm abs and disappearing under the towel around his waist. Even like this, he was still so elegant it was hard to look away. "Where did you go during your last ovulation?" His voice was cool. Claire opened her mouth to explain — "I don't care what you do." Lucas Bennett cut her off, his expression cold as he signed a cheque. "But don't disappear again. Every ovulation, you have to be here." He set the cheque on the nightstand. "This month's payment for your father's medical bills." Claire's face went pale. Her fingers trembled. "No need, I..." But Lucas Bennett had already turned and walked out. The sound of the door closing was unnaturally loud in the silent bedroom. He didn't even have the patience to hear her finish. "No need..." she whispered to the empty room. "My father passed away a few days ago." Tears dropped onto the cheque, smearing the ink. Claire Hart slowly curled up, letting the memories wash over her. She was the daughter of the Bennett family's driver. She'd known since she was a child that she and Lucas Bennett belonged to two different worlds. Lucas Bennett was a true golden boy. The only son of the Bennett Group, Cambridge-educated. He took over the family business at twenty-two and doubled its market value in three years. And on top of all that, he was strikingly handsome—fine-featured, every move carrying an inborn grace. A man like that never lacked admirers. Claire Hart was the most invisible of them all. She wore faded school uniforms and didn't even dare get close to him. Besides, Lucas Bennett's eyes had always been only for his childhood sweetheart, Madison Reed. Back in high school, when Madison had period cramps, Lucas climbed the school wall to buy brown sugar. When the principal caught him, the usually aloof young man bowed his head and admitted fault—but he still made sure the brown sugar got to Madison waiting at the school gate. In college, Madison casually mentioned wanting to see the Northern Lights, and Lucas used the family's private jet. That day, Claire happened to be helping out at the Bennett house. She watched him fasten Madison's seatbelt carefully, his expression impossibly soft. She thought she'd keep watching them fall in love, get married, have children. Until that rainy night, when Lucas Bennett showed up at her door in person. He offered her a sum of money and asked her to have his child. Because Madison Reed had congenital aplasia. She couldn't have s*x, couldn't bear children. A family as prominent as the Bennetts would never let its heir marry a woman who couldn't continue the bloodline. "You look about seventy percent like her." Lucas Bennett's gaze was clinical, as if he were evaluating a product. "After the baby is born, I'll tell everyone it's mine and Maddy's. That's the only way she can marry into the Bennett family." At the time, Claire's father had just been in a car accident. He was in a vegetative state. The daily ICU cost was a bottomless pit. She didn't have a choice. The first time they slept together, Lucas Bennett took her for the entire night. He grabbed her waist and said hoarsely, "Don't try to s*ducē me." After that, every time was the same—he lost control in bed, and no matter how much she cried or begged, he wouldn't stop. Three days ago, her father had died suddenly. She'd handled the entire funeral with red-rimmed eyes, and the moment she came back, Lucas Bennett was already pressing her underneath him again. He didn't know her father was gone. She also had no reason to stay by Lucas Bennett's side anymore. Claire Hart pulled the pillow from under her hips and stumbled out of bed, her legs still shaking. She was about to go into the bathroom to clean up when the door burst open — "Claire Hart!" Madison Reed stormed in on ten-centimeter heels, her flawless makeup twisted with rage. "How many times did you do it tonight?" Claire stepped back instinctively. "Se... seven..." "Slap." The strike burned on her cheek. "Liar!" Madison shrieked. "I counted outside—it was eight times! You b*tc*, you were only supposed to give him a child. Why are you s*duc*ng him?" Claire held her face and said nothing. Lucas Bennett did lose control in bed, but she couldn't say that. She didn't dare. Madison's eyes fell on the hickeys covering Claire's body. Her eyes reddened instantly. "Shameless woman!" She raised her hand and hit Claire again. Blood trickled from the corner of Claire's mouth. "Leaving all those marks on purpose—are you trying to taunt me?" She waved toward the door. Two maids came in. "Drag her away and wash her clean," Madison sneered. "Use steel wool. Scrub every last one of those disgusting marks off." Claire was dragged into the bathroom and shoved onto the cold marble floor. The maid pressed the steel wool against Claire's skin and scrubbed hard. The fine metal wires scraped across her delicate flesh, leaving bloody scratches. "Ahhh—!" "Keep scrubbing!" Madison stood at the door, watching coldly. "Especially her neck and chest. Make them clean." When the steel wool scraped over her collarbone, the pain was so intense that Claire's vision went black. She almost passed out. But Madison wasn't satisfied. She had the maids drag Claire to the disinfection tank in the backyard. "You're so filthy, you need a good disinfecting." Madison sneered, grabbing her hair. "Throw her in." Claire was thrown into the stinging disinfectant. Her wounds burned like a thousand needles. She struggled desperately, but the maids only pressed her down harder. "Leave her in there all night before letting her out," Madison told them. "I'm going to sleep on my beauty rest." Claire lay limp at the edge of the tank, her consciousness fading. In a daze, she felt someone lift her. She opened her eyes with difficulty and caught a familiar scent—cold pine and cedar. "Young... Master..." she whispered weakly. "Don't talk." Lucas Bennett looked down at her, his expression complicated. "The doctor will be here soon." In the bedroom, Lucas Bennett laid her carefully on the bed. He got the first-aid kit and started treating her wounds. When the alcohol swab touched her raw skin, Claire flinched. Lucas Bennett paused for a second, then kept applying the medicine while saying, "Maddy's temper is a little spoiled, but she's not a bad person. She's had a really hard time this past year. That's why she did something like this." Those words were like a dull knife slowly cutting through her heart. Seeing her in this condition, his first reaction wasn't sympathy for her—it was defending Madison. Of course. Madison was the one he loved. This was exactly how it should be. From the very start, he had told her not to hope for anything more... Lucas Bennett reached out and wiped the tears from her face. "I'll arrange the best medical team for your father, as compensation for what happened today." She closed her eyes, and more tears fell silently. No need. Her father was already gone. This transaction was over.