All Chapters of Yours to Keep, Daddy: MM Taboo collection : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

OliseThat dinner with Miranda had been a trial by fire. Sitting across from Vincent at a candlelit table while my mother laughed and poured wine felt like walking a tightrope over a pit of knives. Every time Vincent’s knee brushed mine under the table, my heart hammered so hard against my ribs I was sure she could hear it. Every time his dark eyes met mine with that raw, suppressed hunger, the air grew so thin I could barely breathe.We had survived that night, but we hadn't stopped. In fact, we had crossed a threshold from which there was no turning back.The secret affair officially began in the quiet, shadowed spaces of our double lives. Out of sheer necessity, we forged a hidden language known only to the two of us. A closed blind in his corporate suite meant the security cameras in the hallway were off for fifteen minutes. A black pen aligned vertically on my desk meant meet me in the private parking garage. And at the mansion, a single dim lamp left burning in the study past mi

OliseI spent twenty minutes in front of my bathroom mirror that morning trying to cover the faint, purplish bruise on my waist where Vincent’s fingers had dug in on the balcony.My lips were still tender, my skin still humming from the wild, dangerous way he had claimed me just feet away from four hundred society guests and my own mother. We had survived the gala without getting caught, but the air in the estate the next morning wasn't just tense—it was suffocating.When I came downstairs, Miranda and Vincent were already in the sunroom. Vincent was dressed in a casual grey cashmere sweater, but his posture was as rigid as iron. He didn't look at me when I walked in, though I felt the sharp, electric shift in his focus the moment my feet crossed the threshold.Miranda looked between the two of us, her sharp, perceptive eyes tracking the heavy silence that settled over the table like fog. I froze, my hand hovering over the back of my chair, waiting for the sky to fall."Alright, that'

OliseThe air was sucked right out of my lungs, leaving me suffocating in the quiet corridor outside Vincent’s study.I reached out, my fingers trembling so violently I could barely hold the glossy photo as I took it from Vincent’s hand. There we were. Clear as day. The camera had captured every single detail under the harsh streetlamp in the executive parking garage: the way my back was pressed against his sedan, the grip of his heavy hand tangled in my hair, the undeniable, raw desperation in our kiss.My eyes dropped to the index card in his other hand.Ten million dollars by Friday. Or these go to Miranda and the press.A cold, paralyzing dread washed over my skin, turning my blood to ice."Oh god," I whispered, the photo slipping from my numb fingers and fluttering to the hardwood floor. "Oh god, Vincent..."Vincent didn't panic. He slowly leaned down, picked up the photograph, and slid it back into the heavy cardboard envelope alongside the others. His face was a mask of unreada

OliseThe morning after I confessed my love on that wind-swept beach, the sun rose over the Pacific in a brilliant, cloudless blue. For the first time since the photos arrived, the dark, suffocating fog hanging over us seemed to vanish into thin air.Vincent’s phone rang early. His head of security had finally caught the blackmailer—a disgraced IT analyst from Cole Industries who had intercepted the private parking garage camera feeds. Legal and private security had neutralized the threat quietly, securing every original file, drive, and printed photograph under non-disclosure agreements backed by heavy federal extortion charges.It was over. The nightmare had been erased without a single headline.Vincent stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass in the living room, setting his phone down on the wooden counter. When he turned to face me, the heavy, rigid tension in his broad shoulders melted away for what felt like the first time since I had moved into his home.He walked across the room,

OliseMy hands were shaking so violently I could barely pull the zipper around the edge of my second leather suitcase.The sound of the metallic teeth tearing through the silence of my bedroom felt like a physical tearing inside my chest. Every single item I packed—the dark suits I had worn to Cole Industries, the silk ties Vincent had adjusted with heavy, possessive hands, the soft sweaters that still carried the lingering, intoxicating scent of his black amber cologne—was a piece of a dream I was forced to abandon."Olise. Stop."Vincent’s voice sliced through the dim, amber lighting of the room. He didn't sound like the untouchable corporate titan who commanded boardrooms. He sounded ruined.I didn't stop. I shoved my boots into the side compartment and pulled the heavy leather handles together. "I'm leaving, Vincent. My flight to London leaves at seven in the morning. I've already booked a hotel near the airport."Before I could drag the suitcase off the bed, two massive hands cla