ログインJules~For several seconds, I couldn't make myself move.Peter stood in the middle of my living room, looking entirely too pleased with himself. He had just threatened to expose the one secret I'd spent years protecting, all because I refused to give him fifty thousand dollars.“How?” I finally asked.He raised an eyebrow. “How what?”“How did you find out?”Peter smiled. “Does it matter?”“Yes, it fucking matters. How long have you known?”“Long enough.”I stared at him, waiting for an explanation, but he simply walked towards the sofa and picked up the remote control.“Peter, I'm asking you a question.”“And I'm telling you that you should have thought about your little secret before deciding to be difficult.”My hands curled into fists. “You can't seriously be threatening to expose me over money.”“Why not? You seem to have forgotten that I'm your father.”“Being my father doesn't give you the right to ruin my life.”“Then give me the money and we won't have a problem.”I shook my
Jules~Peter sat up on the sofa, his expression hardening as though I were the one who had just made an unreasonable demand. “Watch your mouth, Jules.”“No, seriously, I need to understand what you're thinking. I just paid a hundred thousand dollars to get you out of that place, and you've barely been home long enough to sit down before asking me for another fifty thousand. What exactly makes you think I owe you another dollar?”His jaw tightened. “I'm your father.”“And?”The word escaped before I could stop it, leaving us staring at each other across the living room. I had spent years imagining what I would say if Peter ever came back, if I ever got the chance to ask why he'd left me to deal with everything he had abandoned. I had imagined shouting, crying, demanding answers, but none of those fantasies had prepared me for the reality of standing in my own apartment while my father treated me like an inconvenient source of money.“And?” he repeated, rising from the sofa. “That's all
Jules~My father had been free for less than twenty minutes, and I was already regretting every decision that had led me to this moment.Peter sat in the passenger seat of my car with his arms folded, staring out of the window as though the city had personally offended him. His clothes were rumpled, his hair needed attention, and there was a faint bruise near his jaw, but he was alive, breathing, and no longer in the hands of the men who had held him over his debts. Father had disappeared when I had started playing hockey and piled up everything on me but now, he back and fucking being annoying?! Considering the amount I'd paid to get him released, I thought he could at least manage a little gratitude.Apparently, that was asking too much.“The place was disgusting,” he complained. “You have no idea what those bastards put me through.”I kept my eyes on the road. “I'm sure it wasn't pleasant.”“Not pleasant?” He turned toward me, offended by my choice of words. “They kept me in a filt
Enzo~The transfer had been completed before noon, and by the time I arrived at the office, I had already decided that the matter was settled.Five hundred thousand dollars was more than generous for a single encounter, particularly one that had never been arranged in advance. I had no intention of discussing the circumstances with Jules, explaining my reasoning, or entertaining whatever objections he might have about the amount. The money was his now, and what he chose to do with it was no longer my concern.That was how I intended to leave things.Unfortunately, my attention kept returning to the memory of his face when he had woken up in my mansion. Jules had looked at me as though he expected me to demand something from him, and his reaction to the possibility of being controlled had been immediate. He had made it abundantly clear that sleeping with him did not give me the right to dictate his movements or interfere with his life.I remembered his exact words because I disliked be
Jules~Five hundred thousand dollars.I stared at the banking notification on my phone, hoping that if I looked at it long enough, the amount might change into something less ridiculous. It didn't. The numbers remained exactly where they were, accompanied by Enzo Bellini's name and a transaction description that made me want to throw my phone against the nearest wall.For the sex.Of course he'd written that. Why send half a million dollars like a normal, functioning human being when you could make sure the recipient felt insulted every time he checked his bank balance?“I'm going to kill him,” I muttered.Julia, who was sitting across from me with the expression of someone watching a particularly entertaining disaster unfold, raised her eyebrows. “Are we talking about Matteo or your new sugar daddy?”“Don't call him that.”“Fine. Your extremely wealthy, emotionally constipated, aggressively unpleasant benefactor.”“That's worse.”“I'm aware.” She leaned across the table to look at my
Chapter 22Matteo~Something smelled wrong in the house.I noticed it the moment I stepped into the main hallway, stopping long enough to take another breath before looking around as though I expected to find the source sitting on the staircase. The scent was faint, buried beneath the familiar mixture of polished wood, expensive furniture, and my father's Alpha pheromones, but it was unmistakably familiar.I just couldn't figure out where I'd smelled it before.“Has someone been cleaning with a different product?” I called toward the sitting room.One of the housekeepers appeared from the adjoining corridor, her expression politely attentive. “Not that I'm aware of, sir. We haven't changed any of the cleaning supplies.”“Then why does the house smell different?”She hesitated, clearly uncertain how to answer a question that probably sounded ridiculous to anyone who hadn't grown up surrounded by Alphas and their irritatingly distinctive scents. I gave her a dismissive wave and continue







