All Chapters of What Daddy Left Behind: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

181 Chapters

You are a Mercer

~ Thea's POV"If I trip in these heels, I’m holding you responsible," Maya said, her voice muffled as she struggled into a long dress in her bedroom. "I’m talking a full lawsuit. Emotional damages. Physical trauma. Everything."I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the midnight-black silk gown hanging on the door. It looked like a spill of ink against the white wood. Just looking at it made my heart do a nervous, erratic flip in my chest."You won't trip," I said, though my own hands were trembling. "You’ve been practicing in the hallway for three hours."Maya emerged from her room, and I let out a genuine breath of admiration. She looked stunning. She had chosen a deep purple floor-length dinner gown with a sweetheart neckline that made her skin glow. It was elegant but had that "Maya" edge to it, especially with her dark hair pinned up in an intricate, messy bun."You look beautiful, Maya," I said softly."I look like I belong on a yacht in Monaco," she corrected, checking her ref

Gala For Thea

~ Thea's POVWhen the double doors swung open, I walked into a wall of sound, light, and suffocating opulence. Crystal chandeliers the size of small cars hung from the ceiling, casting a warm, shimmering glow over a sea of tuxedos and designer gowns. The air smelled of expensive perfume, lilies, and the distinct scent of money.I paused at the threshold, the ghost of Gibbs’s encouragement still echoing in my ears. You are a Mercer.I took a breath, expanding my lungs against the tight bodice of the black silk gown, and stepped forward.Heads turned. It started as a ripple near the entrance and spread outward like a wave. Conversations faltered. Glasses were lowered. Eyes, hundreds of them, landed on me.Their curiosity was leaking off them.They looked at the dress, the scandalous slit that revealed my leg with every step. They looked at the bare expanse of my back. But mostly, they looked at my throat.I scanned the room, ignoring the whispers that hissed like steam around me. I did

The Press Knew Something

~ Stellan's POVI felt Thea’s body jerk against mine. Her instinct, that foolish, soft, bleeding heart of hers, kicked in instantly. She took a step forward, her hand slipping from my waist, her face crumpling into concern. She was going to go to her. She was going to try to manage the woman who had just tried to butcher her reputation in front of half of New York’s elite.I didn't know if I should call her plain stupid or just leave her to her fate.But she was my woman, and I can dictate however she moved, as long as it meant she was good."No," I growled.I clamped my hand down on her hip, an iron anchor that arrested her movement instantly. I pulled her back, hard, until her spine collided with my chest."Stellan," she whispered, her voice shaking so violently I could feel the vibrations against my ribs. "Let me get to her and slap that attitude out of her. Everyone is staring. I have to—""You will do nothing," I commanded, my voice a low rumble in her ear. "You are a Mercer. Yo

I need Space

~ Thea's POVThe question hung in the freezing night air, and it didn't just hang there; it suffocated me. It wrapped around my throat tightly.Way for ruining my whole night.My eyes widened, shock freezing the breath in my lungs. I looked up at Stellan, waiting for the denial. Waiting for him to scoff, to tell the press they were delusional, to clarify that I was his ward, his responsibility, not his fiancée.He didn't.Stellan stopped for a fraction of a second. He looked at the reporter, a man with a microphone thrust out like a weapon. He narrowed his eyes, a look of such cold, dangerous promise that the reporter actually took a half-step back.Then, Stellan’s hand tightened on my waist, and he shoved me into the back of the waiting town car.He climbed in after me, and the heavy door slammed shut with a finality that echoed like a prison cell locking.The car peeled away from the curb instantly, tires screeching slightly on the asphalt as the driver navigated through the swarm o

Setting the boundaries.

~ Thea's POVI had whispered, the plea hanging in the heavy air of the car like a white flag of surrender.I thought, for a fleeting, naive second, that he might actually listen. That the blood on his lip and the desperation in my voice might pierce the Dragon of Wall Street's armor.I was wrong.Stellan didn't give me space. His hand shot out, and is fingers wrapped around the back of my neck."Space is not an option," he snarled.He yanked me forward. I didn't have time to gasp before his mouth crashed onto mine again. This wasn't the silencing kiss from moments ago; this was a declaration of war. It was rough, wet, and angry. He bit my lower lip, punishing me for biting him, licking the metallic tang of blood that bloomed there.I tried to push him away, my hands flat against the starched front of his tuxedo shirt, but it was like trying to shove a mountain. He only deepened the kiss, his tongue invading my mouth with a rhythmic, carnal insolence that made my toes curl in my heels

Who was that?

~Stellan’s POVI withdrew slowly, letting the friction drag a broken whimper from her throat, before slamming back into her with a force that shook the heavy frame of the bed.This wasn’t the first time they were doing this."Is there any space between us now?""No," she sobbed, her nails scoring lines down my back, her legs wrapping tighter around my waist as if she were trying to fuse her skeleton to mine. "No space. None."I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.The rage that had ignited in the car, had transmuted into a dark, inexhaustible hunger. I needed to consume her. I needed to rewrite the neural pathways in her brain so that she no longer associated safety with distance. I needed her to understand, in a visceral, primitive way, that fleeing was impossible because I was everywhere.I was the air in her lungs. I was the ache in her muscles. I was the cold metal of the collar pressing against her throat and the hot weight of my body pinning her to the mattress.Midnight came and went

Cryptic Message

~ Thea’s POV"Thea?" Stellan asked, his voice dropping an octave, vibrating with a suspicion that made the hair on my arms stand up. "Who was that?"I looked up at him, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I tried to keep my face blank, but I could feel the blood draining from it. The fear clutching my throat wasn't the fear of the press outside, or even the fear of the man sitting across from me who had just spent the last eight hours claiming every inch of my body."Just... spam," I said. My voice came out too high. Too brittle. It sounded like glass breaking. "Just a random number. Probably a reporter trying to get a quote."Stellan didn't blink. He stared at me, his dark eyes stripping away the layers of my defense. He knew a lie when he heard one. He traded in lies, in secrets, in the currency of hidden things.And he knew that reaction. He knew that my trembling hands weren't the reaction to a stranger. They were the reaction to a ghost."Open it," he command

Lance's Older Brother

~ Thea's POV"Show me," Maya demanded, her hand hovering over my phone where it lay face-down on the velvet cushion."No," I said, snatching it up and sliding it into the pocket of my sweatpants. My heart was still doing that awful, fluttery thing it had been doing since I read the text."Thea, if someone is threatening you, or stalking you... Stellan needs to know," Maya argued, her voice rising in pitch. "Or at least I need to know. Why won't you show me?""Because if I show you, you'll freak out," I said, standing up and pacing the length of the living room. "And if you freak out, you'll tell Stellan. And if Stellan sees it..."I trailed off, the memory of Stellan’s eyes in the mansion—dark, void-like, and promising violence—flashing through my mind."If Stellan sees it," I continued, my voice quieter, "he won't just track the number. He’ll burn down half the city trying to find the source. I can't handle another war, Maya. Not today. Not after last night."Maya bit her lip, lookin

Where is Ethan?

~ Stellan’s POV The lie tasted worse than the cheap wine I had found in her apartment.Just spam, she had said. Just a random number.I sat at the head of the massive mahogany table in the main boardroom of Vaughn Enterprises, my gaze fixed on the skyline of Manhattan visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The city looked small from up here. Manageable. Everything down there moved according to patterns I could predict, markets I could manipulate, and people I could buy.Everything except Thea Mercer.My hand rested on the polished wood surface, my fingers tapping a slow, rhythmic cadence that seemed to set the heart rates of the twelve executives sitting around me. They were terrified. They should be.I wasn't listening to the Vice President of Marketing drone on about the "optics" of the gala. I was back in the limestone bedroom, watching Thea’s face pale as she looked at her phone. I was watching the tremor in her hand. I was watching the practiced way she flipped the devi

Give me a Chance

~ Thea's POVThe regression analysis on Lance’s laptop screen might as well have been written in hieroglyphics.My eyes traced the columns of data, variables, coefficients, standard error, but my brain refused to process a single number. All I could process was the feeling of being watched.It wasn't the heavy, suffocating weight of Stellan’s gaze. That felt like being hunted by a wolf in the dead of winter—cold, inevitable, and terrifying. This was different. This felt like being examined by a cat that had cornered a mouse and was deciding which limb to play with first.I looked up from the screen, my patience snapping like a dry twig.Ethan Hayes was sitting across from me, his chin resting in his palm, a lazy, half-cocked smile playing on his lips. He hadn't looked at the textbook in twenty minutes. He was just looking at me. He was dissecting me. His blue eyes, so similar to Lance’s but lacking any of the warmth, were drilling into my skull."Is there something on my face, Ethan?"

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