Chapter 1

I keep having the same strange dream.

In the dream, I am entangled with a mysterious man, wrapped in passion night after night.

Yet in reality, I have never met him.

Later, I reported a female classmate for cheating on the SAT exam, almost causing her to fail graduation.

The classmate was furious and called in her influential uncle to back her up.

Everyone thought I was doomed.

I looked up and saw that man, thinking, indeed, I was done for.

Last night in the dream, I kissed him so passionately that I bit his lip-

Wait a minute.

How does he have the exact same wound on his lip in real life?!

The moment Ethan Sterling appeared, I thought I had fallen back into that dream.

I pinched my thigh hard, and only the sharp pain convinced me this wasn’t a dream.

“Avila Winters, my uncle is here. You still have time to apologize to me.”

I didn’t hear a word of her chatter.

My gaze was entirely captured by Ethan Sterling’s face.

How could this be?

He looked exactly like the man in my dream.

Distinct features, a perfectly tailored dark suit.

The most damning was his lips-

That slight damage at the corner.

Precisely where, last night, in the dream, I lost control and bit.

Is this merely a coincidence?

“Avila Winters, did you hear me?” Allison raised her voice impatiently, “I want you to apologize! And publicly state that accusing me of cheating on the SAT was pure slander, that you deliberately smeared me!”

I forced myself to tear my gaze away from Ethan’s face and focus on the clawing Allison.

“I refuse.”

“You’re crazy! Do you know who my uncle is?! He’s a director at Sterling Group! With just a flick of his finger, the offer you just got from Sterling Group will be gone! Then, with a few affiliated companies blacklisting you, you’ll be completely finished!”

“Then let it be finished.” I lifted my head, fearlessly meeting Ethan Sterling’s deep gaze, and said, word by word, “Regardless, I will never back down.”