Chapter 4

Peneolope’s POV

She stumbled back, holding her cheek, eyes wide with disbelief and fury.

Before she could lunge at me again, a deep, commanding voice echoed from the porch.

“Enough.”

We both froze.

Callista turned, her face draining of color.

A tall man stood at the doorway. Broad-shouldered. Sharp suit. Sharp jaw. Salt-and-pepper hair swept back like a storm waiting to hit. He looked too hot and too old to be her brother.

But I knew who he was.

Alpha Daemon Dray. Her father.

I’d only seen him twice since I have known Callista. He was always away, handling business. That’s why Callista got away with so much.

Not anymore.

“She’s a member of this household now,” he said, walking down the steps slowly, like he owned the world. “She lives here. So I want no fighting. No scenes. I don’t care what happened in the past. Respect yourselves.”

His eyes met mine briefly—cold, unreadable, but strong. Then he got into his car and drove off without another word.

Callista stood frozen. Still red. Still embarrassed. Julian looked like he wanted to evaporate.

I bent down, grabbed my bags, and followed the maid who had appeared silently at the door.

“Come, miss. I’ll show you your room,” she said softly.

I didn’t look back. I didn’t need to.

I bathed. I unpacked. I sat on the edge of the bed, towel on my head, staring at the wall.

So this was my new life.

The lion’s den and  I wasn’t just prey.

I was a threat.

I stood in front of the vanity, towel wrapped around my hair, eyes scanning the room. It was too clean. Too quiet. I needed something, anything to feel grounded.

I pulled open the top drawer to start setting up my things.

My hand froze.

There, tucked neatly in the corner, was a picture frame.

Curious, I picked it up.

Alpha Daemon.

Not in his usual cold, sharp suits—but casual. A black button-down, sleeves rolled to the elbows. Smirking. Arms crossed in front of a sleek car. His hair pushed back like he didn’t care, like the world bent at his feet anyway.

My breath caught.

Damn.

He looked like a Greek god who could ruin your life with just a glance—and you’d thank him for it.

I blinked, dragging my eyes away only to land on the second frame tucked behind it.

This one burned.

Callista.

Grinning. Her arm wrapped around his. The perfect daughter. The golden princess of the Callista name.

I clenched the frame so hard, my knuckles turned white.

That smug face. That snake in designer clothes. She had everything—status, power, a home people feared and respected. And she still had the nerve to act like I didn’t belong.

But now I was inside.

Inside her world.

Closer than ever.

Closer to everything she held dear.

I set the picture down slowly, my heart thudding with something sharp—cold, delicious.

Revenge.

“If only you knew, Callista,” I whispered to myself, lips curling. “I’m going to make you pay. Slowly. Sweetly. And you won’t even see it coming.”

I glanced at Alpha Daemon’s photo again.

A wicked thought slid into my mind like silk.

“What if I got closer to him?”

What if I made her watch as her perfect little world crumbled?

What if I took everything she thought was hers?

I stepped back, staring at my reflection in the mirror.

Messy towel hair. Fresh skin. Tired eyes that had seen too much—and weren’t done yet.

“I’ll take it all,” I whispered. “And when I’m done… I’ll return home. And rule.”

Night had swallowed the mansion in silence.

No footsteps. No laughter. Not even a whisper of life in the halls. Just me… alone.

I paced my room for what felt like hours, growing restless. No calls. No friends. Nothing familiar to cling to. Just cold walls and memories that haunted every corner.

That’s when I remembered the beach.

Hidden at the back of the estate, just behind the tall hedges. Callista and I used to sneak out there, slipping past the guards just to feel the ocean on our skin, to laugh and splash like we didn’t carry our family names on our backs.

Without thinking, I grabbed a hoodie and slipped out.

The path was the same. Stones lining the trail, the salty breeze pulling at my hair. The moon glowed, casting silver light across the water like it knew I needed peace.

I kicked off my slippers and stepped onto the sand, cold and soft between my toes. The waves whispered as they lapped the shore, a sound that wrapped around me like a lullaby.

I sat down, hugging my knees, staring up at the stars.

They didn’t look so far tonight.

Then I thought, Why not?

Just a quick swim.

No one was around.

I stood and pulled the hoodie off, then slipped out of my dress, leaving myself in nothing but my panties. My chest bare, the night air cool against my skin.

I stepped into the water.

It kissed my ankles. Then my calves. Then my hips. Slowly wrapping me in its cold embrace.

I gasped a little, then dove in headfirst.

The chill hit me instantly, but it felt good—cleansing, like it was washing away everything. I swam deeper, the water smooth against my skin, my hair fanning around me like flames in the dark. The silence underwater was perfect. Just me, the ocean, and the thudding of my heart.

When I surfaced, the moonlight glistened on my skin. I smiled for the first time in days.

Peace.

I swam back to shore, water dripping from every inch of me. My chest rose and fell with each breath as I stepped onto the sand, my wet hair clinging to my shoulders, my body glistening under the stars.

Then I stopped.

Frozen.

Because someone was watching me.

A tall figure stood at the edge of the beach, his presence like a shadow that had always been there—watching, waiting.

Alpha Daemon.

His eyes locked with mine.

Unmoving.

Dark.

Hungry.

He didn’t speak. Didn’t blink.

Just stared, lips parted slightly, gaze dragging down my body like a storm waiting to break.

My heart pounded.

I stared back—daring him to look away first.

He didn’t.

So when I saw the way his eyes clung to every inch of my wet skin, I didn’t cover myself. I didn’t shrink. I walked slow, confident, majestic—back to where my dress lay crumpled in the sand.

I could feel his gaze burning into me.

Let it burn.

I picked up the dress, slipping it over my damp skin, then turned toward him.

“Good evening, sir,” I said, my voice steady. “Didn’t expect to see you out here. I just wanted to take a swim.”

He took a slow sip from his bottle, eyes never leaving mine.

“Not a problem,” he said coolly, then turned and walked away, his steps unsteady.

Was he drunk?

I rushed to him, catching his arm gently. “Are you okay, sir?”

“I’m fine,” he muttered, voice tired, heavy.

A small wooden hut sat ahead, Callista and I used to sit there for hours. I remembered how we laughed, how everything was still whole then.

He stepped inside without a word and sat on the bench. I followed, the night feeling different somehow.

Silence settled between us, thick and heavy.

Then he spoke, voice low: “You miss your dad, don’t you?”

I nodded slowly, staring at the waves through the open arch of the hut.

“Yeah… I do,” I whispered. “He wasn’t perfect. Not even close. But he was mine.”

My throat tightened. “He was all I had left. And now he’s just… gone. Like he never existed.”

Alpha Daemon didn’t speak right away. Just took another sip from his bottle, the glass catching the moonlight.

“I keep wondering if I’ll ever see him again,” I added, my voice barely a breath. “If he’s safe… if he’s even alive.”

Silence again. Heavy. Real.

Then he finally spoke—low and steady. “Sometimes… the ones who leave do it to keep us alive.”

I looked at him then. Really looked.

For the first time, I didn’t just see Alpha Daemon the cold, ruthless ruler.

I saw a man who’d lost something too.

I blinked hard, holding back the sting behind my eyes. “Thank you… for not pretending.”

His brows lifted just a little, eyes still fixed on the sea. “Pretending?”

I nodded. “Most people try to say the right thing. Lie to your face. Tell you it’s going to be okay. But you didn’t. You said something honest. Something that hurt… but it made sense.”

He didn’t answer. Just stared ahead, took another drink—silent, brooding.

Then the first drop of rain hit the sand outside.

It came slow at first. Then heavy. The sky opened up, and the sound of it filled the silence between us. Still, he didn’t move. Neither did I.

The rain fell hard outside the hut and Inside, we were tucked beneath the wooden roof, surrounded by shadows and ocean wind.

His shirt clung slightly to him and my hair, still wet from the swim, stuck to my skin. The cold should’ve made me shiver. But it didn’t.

Because all I could feel was the pounding of my heart.

And him.

There was something about the way he sat there, unmoving, drinking in the storm like it belonged to him. Something broken, something strong. And something so… lonely.

I shifted closer without thinking. Slowly. Carefully.

His head turned toward me, eyes sharp—dark.

My chest rose and fell, tight with something I couldn’t name.

And then I kissed him.

No hesitation. No warning.

Rain crashed behind us. Wind howled through the cracks of the wood. And I kissed him like I had nothing left to lose.

He pulled back just for a second 

For a second, the air between us froze—my breath hitched, and my mind screamed, What have I gotten myself into?

But this moment… the rain, the dark sky, the ache in my chest—I didn’t know what had come over me.

I leaned in, close enough to feel his breath. My voice low, unshaken.

“Next time you pull away, make sure you really mean it.”

Then I kissed him.

Hard.

My hands gripped his shirt, pulling him closer as I poured everything into that kiss

Anger. Longing. Power.

Like I meant it.

Like I dared him to stop me.