DADDY'S FORBIDDEN PRIZE

The Forbidden Claim

The silence after his words was suffocating.

My ex’s eyes darted between me and his father, his breathing sharp, his fists clenched. He wanted proof—he wanted me to deny it, to reassure him that his paranoid mind was lying. But I didn’t.

I only stood there with my box in my arms, lips parted, heart pounding so hard I thought it might shatter my ribs.

“Answer me,” he barked, his voice breaking. “What’s going on here?”

I opened my mouth, but his father moved first.

He stood. Slow, deliberate, like a predator who didn’t need to rush to catch its prey. His whiskey glass was set aside, his sharp eyes locked on his son with something dangerous simmering underneath.

“What’s going on,” he said smoothly, “is that you don’t know how to value what you had. And now…” He glanced at me—oh, that look, burning through me like a secret touch—“you’ve lost the right to ask.”

The words hit like a whip. My ex froze, his face contorting. “You… you can’t be serious.” His voice cracked, disbelief dripping from it. “You? With her? That’s sick!”

I should’ve jumped in. Denied it. Sworn nothing was happening.

But instead, I tilted my head, a slow smile curving my lips. Dangerous. Teasing. Letting him drown in his own suspicion.

“Funny,” I murmured, my voice low, exotic, dripping with venomous sweetness. “You never thought it was sick when you were using me to climb into her bed, did you?”

His face drained of colour. The truth, sharp and ugly, lay bare between us. He stammered, reaching out like he could still pull me back into his orbit. “It wasn’t like that—”

“Don’t,” I cut him off, my eyes hard. “Don’t waste your breath. You lied. You played me. And now…” I let my gaze flick to his father, deliberately, deliciously dangerous, “…maybe I’ve found someone who actually knows what to do with me.”

The air snapped.

My ex lunged forward, fury blazing in his eyes, but his father caught him by the shoulder, shoving him back with effortless strength. “Enough,” he growled, his voice thick with finality. “She’s not yours anymore. And if you have any sense left, you’ll accept that.”

I clutched my box tighter, my pulse racing as heat curled low in my stomach. The danger. The revenge. The forbidden fire I had set in motion.

For the first time, I saw it clearly in my ex’s eyes—pure horror. He realized he wasn’t just losing me.

He was losing to his father.