Chapter 4

Scarlett Vance.

In my previous life, I rushed. I tried too hard to make him notice me. I let Luca’s desperation dictate my pace.

The moment I came in, I turned my ass toward him as I poured his whiskey, even though I knew the short leather skirt I had on barely covered it.

And the Alpha had fallen for me. He brushed his fingers against the smooth curve of my ass, and the moment he did that, heat spread to my cunt and my legs weakened. I stumbled right into his thighs, pressing my ass against the thick bulge in his leather pants, and that was the beginning of our forbidden relationship.

But not this time.

This time, I choose my own way.

Stopping the trembling in my hand, I uncorked the whiskey.

His gaze followed every movement I made — from my fingers, to my wrist, to the slight dip of my dress that revealed my cleavage when I leaned forward to pour the drink into the glass.

I could feel invisible goosebumps spreading all over my chest, and my nipples pebbled hard against my bra. So I paused and held his gaze.

“Are you going to keep staring at me,” he finally spoke, his voice deep and calm, stroking places I never knew existed inside my body, “or tell me why my daughter-in-law suddenly looks like she is here on another mission instead?”

My breath hitched completely.

Another mission.

Wait… did you already know?

But he couldn’t have known, could he?

Whatever it was, I couldn’t speak. I picked up the glass and turned to him fully this time. Slowly. Intentionally. Ready to begin what I came here to do.

“I brought your drink… Daddy…” I said, my tone softer than usual. Almost sultry. I didn’t even realize when it slipped out… but I liked it.

I noticed the way his eyes flickered slightly at the title.

Not Alpha, which I usually called him.

Not Father, which truly made him feel like a father figure to me.

But Daddy, which made him feel like something more. Something he shouldn’t be.

It was dark and sexy.

I stepped closer, closing the space between us until I could smell gasoline, leather, smoke, and danger clinging to him like a second skin. I extended the glass toward him.

He didn’t take it immediately. Instead, his gaze dropped — not hungrily, not foolishly — but deliberately. Calculating the neckline of my dress. The pulse at my throat. The tension in my shoulders. His jaw tightened ever so slightly.

“You’re shaking, Scarlett,” he observed quietly, though I could hear a faint hint of mockery in his voice.

Damn him.

If he could read me like this, then he might really know what I was up to. I tilted my chin up at him courageously. “Am I, Daddy?”

The corner of his lips lifted in a smirk before he reached for the glass.

And that’s when I let my fingers slip and dropped the glass. Whiskey splashed across the table, a few drops staining his shirt. The sound of glass shattering against the floor echoed through the room.

I gasped softly as if I didn’t know what I had done, and I stumbled forward. But before I could land against his body, his strong hands gripped my waist.

Firm.

Hot.

Possessive.

For a moment, I was half-straddled against him, my palms braced against his chest. I could feel the steady, powerful rhythm of his heartbeat beneath the leather.

He didn’t push me away. He didn’t curse me out like I expected him to. Nor was he irritated.

He didn’t even look at the broken glass or care about the whiskey that had stained him.

His eyes were on me, close and searching my green eyes as if he was determined to deduce whatever I was up to.

“You’re not this clumsy,” he said, his voice lower than before. Dangerous now. “And don’t you dare pretend to be, Scarlett.”

His fingers tightened slightly at my waist, as if testing whether I would pull away.

I didn’t. I couldn’t, even if I tried. Not with the way heat had pooled beneath me and my legs felt completely useless.

Instead, I let my gaze drop to the tattoos on his strong, sexy chest before staring back at his face. “Maybe,” I whispered, my voice low and seductive, “I just wanted your attention, Daddy.”

The silence in the room was almost deafening.

“My attention?” he repeated, as if he couldn’t grasp the true meaning of the words. Then he let out a dry chuckle. “Why would my daughter-in-law want my attention? Shouldn’t you be seeking your husband’s attention instead? I think you need his more than you need mine.”

My throat went dry as I searched my mind for what to say. “Well… your son doesn’t want me, so I figured that you might want me instead.” I arched my back, revealing more of my cleavage. I bit down on my lower lip. “So… do you want me, Alpha?”

A beat passed. His gaze became dark, lustful and hungry, dropping lower to my cleavage.

I smiled inwardly. He was going to fall for me. Just like he did in my previous life until…

He suddenly pushed me off him like I had burned him. He let me stand properly before removing his hands from me.

“I never knew you to be this… shameless, Scarlett,” he spat, his voice thick with barely restrained rage. “You want to fuck your father-in-law?”

My eyes widened.

What happened?

He was supposed to fall for me. So why does he seem…

He continued, “Stop seducing me, Scarlett. I will not touch you. I will not dishonor my son. And I will not indulge whatever foolish mission you think you’re on.”

Mission.

He said it again.

Did he know?

His jaw flexed.

“But, Daddy…”

His jaw tightened, his eyes blazing now and sending shivers down my spine. “Don’t ever call me that!” he snapped, as if the word was an abomination. “What should you call me as your father-in-law?”

“Father or Alpha,” I mumbled.

“Good!” He gestured toward the door. “You’ve been dismissed.”

The words hit harder than any insult.

“Alright… da—” The word died in my mouth when I remembered his warning. “Alright, Father.”

I turned and started walking out of the room. My legs almost buckled beneath me from his piercing gaze that I could feel boring into my neck… until I gripped the doorknob and he called,

“Scarlett.”

Fuck… the way he called my name had always been different, but tonight I seemed to lose all reasoning at the sound of it.

I froze.

“From today, you don’t get to serve me anymore.”

My blood ran cold.