It was already late in the afternoon when she stirred from her unconscious slumber.
Zu Yiyao opened her eyes and soon realized she was still lying on the floor, her body twisted in an awkward position.
Every part of her ached. She tried to move, but couldn't, and she wondered how she had ended up there.
Did she walk in drunkenly and decide to sleep on the floor?
What kind of sorcery was this?
She tried to remember the events of the previous day.
How did she get herself drunk enough to pass out on the floor? She managed a few indifferent interpretations but brushed the thought aside, blaming it on a brief bout of amnesia.
Slowly, she sat up and tried to move again. A sharp pain shot through her ankle and she gasped. When she tried to straighten it, the pain worsened. She bent closer and noticed a scraped wound near her knee. Surprise washed over her.
All this happened yesterday?
How did she even sustain an injury like that and sprain her ankle too?
Her head throbbed with a pounding headache.
She sucked her teeth and struggled to stand, moving slowly as she limped toward the huge king-sized bed at the center of the room. She sat down heavily and massaged her temples, letting out a tired sigh.
"Uhhh…"
Her throat hurt. It felt as dry as a desert. She looked around the room, found a glass of water on the table and gulped it down.
She felt relieved, limped to the window and looked outside.
The afternoon sun was already sinking. Her eyes widened in shock.
It was well into the afternoon.
She couldn't afford to be here, doing nothing. She had an empire to run. Why hadn't her bestfriend called her yet?
Zu Yiyao looked around for her phone, searching with growing frustration until she finally found it. She picked it up and tapped the screen.
Nothing.
The phone was dead.
She placed it on the charger by the bedstand and waited, watching it like a lifeline, hoping it would gain enough power for her to reach her people.
Her grandfather must be breathing fire and brimstone by now.
Panic crept in. Her stomach growled, she was starving.
Despite her injured ankle, she decided to head down to the reception to get something to eat. She limped to the door and pushed it.
It didn't budge.
She pushed again. And again.
Nothing.
Her heart skipped.
This wasn't good. She couldn't be locked in from the outside. How was her room locked?
She rushed back to the telephone and dialed the hotel reception.
"Hello..." she said, breathless, panic lacing her voice.
"Room..." She paused.
"I accidentally locked myself inside my room."
The receptionist interrupted her.
"Ma'am, please calm down. Kindly tell us your room number so we can bring the spare key."
"Just a second" She stopped mid-sentence.
She couldn't remember the room number.
She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed in annoyance.
"I can't remember the room number. Who's in charge there?"
"Ma'am we won't be able to locate the room unless you tell us the exact room number."
"Don't you have CCTV cameras everywhere?" she snapped.
"Just do whatever it takes and get me a spare card. I don't have all the time in the world. Oh my...just hurry up!"
She was getting really annoyed.
A few minutes later, the phone rang again. She answered at the first ring.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," the voice said carefully, "but we were strictly warned not to attend to you until the owner of the room gets back."
Owner of the room?
The words rang in her head like a bell. What did you mean by owner?
Of the...?
Her memories came flooding in like tidal waves. Her eyes widened and the phone slipped from her hand.
Then it hit her.
Fragments of what transpired yesterday rushed back.
She remembered being heavily drugged and ending up in a stranger's room, while running away from the perpetrator who would be dealt with later but for now, she needed to focus on the issue at hand.
She was in a vip room.
Still, her eyes searched the room for evidence, but there was no trace of another human being.
Nothing looked touched. The door had been unlocked yesterday when she fell in.
Forget about it.
She washed her face in the bathroom and tried to pull herself together.
No one could know about this. Reckless move or not, she had to handle it.
She needed to leave this room...now.
She was the only granddaughter of a powerful business tycoon.
Old Zu had handed the Zu Empire over to Zu Yiyao after her parents died in a car crash.
Since then, Zu Yiyao had proven herself capable of leading the company.
The Zu Empire became a multinational business under her leadership, and she was watched by the world.
She wasn't just anybody.
She was loved and looked up to by everyone in country.
Her grandfather especially, doesn't play with her, he only dislikes her stubborn and feisty character which she only showed to people close to her, which were only two in number: her grandfather and her best friend, Wanwan.
Zu Yiyao was known as the meek and kind one, but had proven herself ruthless when it came to business.
Her rival was the Lu Corp, the Lu Empire, the only company that was able to beat the Zu's.
Lu Feng, the heir of the Lu Corp, always stood as her strongest competitor.
Her company ranked second to his in the global business list.
Though the two companies were open rivals, their leaders had never had any personal interaction.
They were like strangers to each other, only seeing one another during social gatherings that required their attendance.
Yet, through all the possible culprits, Zu Yi yao couldn't ignore one unsettling thought.
Such a risky move of putting her under house arrest could only be carried out by one person.
Lu Feng.