“Baby girl, this is the son I’ll never have.” Theo’s boast regained my attention.

“She’s yours?” I already knew that, but I needed to hear him say it.

“She’s mine,” he answered with pride.

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her even when I felt him watching me. Theo was as sharp and as dangerous as my father was. If I didn’t turn it down, he would notice and lock his daughter away in the tallest tower in the furthest land because he was a smart man.

“What’s her name?” I sounded hostile even to my own ears, which is how I ended up stunned speechless when she answered instead of her father. It had nothing to do with the sweet, soft sound of her voice.

Nothing.

“Mian.” There was defiance in her tone. I used it with my father whenever he was around. “And you can ask me.”

I drank up the sound of her voice and reveled in it. My lips even twitched trying to fight a laugh when her shoulders squared. She was trying to prove how tough she was, but all I saw was someone pretending not to be affected. She was giving everything away just by standing there, and if she licked her lips one more time…

“She’s feisty like her mother. I’m going to have my hands full when she’s a teen.”

The wind had been knocked out me. I resisted bending over to allay the pain in my gut. I mentally swore and kicked myself.

I was lusting after ababy.

I just assumed she was small for her age with soft features but sixteen like me.I should have fucking known.

Theo was still rambling on. I only managed to catch the tail end of it. “…and so I’ll need you to look after her until your father and I return.”

I hadn’t hesitated nor did I miss a beat. I wanted time alone with her. Even if knew I couldn’t do anything about it. I needed to know if this was real or imagined. “How long?”

“Until Sunday.”

Two days.

I’d have two days alone with her.

“It’s going to cost you.”

He chuckled and crossed his arms over his thick chest. I wanted muscles like his one day. Maybe even better. “I’d be disappointed if it didn’t. How much?”

I shook my head. I had enough money. More than any sixteen-year-old I knew, but I had yet to earn it. “I want you to talk to my dad.” I glanced at Mian. She was looking around my room as if she had landed in a foreign land.

“About?”

“I want in.” I wasn’t sure how much I could reveal around her. Theo had never brought her around before. I’d always thought Theo being a father was a rumor. Similar to the rumor that she never came around because his late wife had forbidden him from exposing their precious daughter to his dangerous lifestyle.

He grunted. “Impossible.” His answer was quick, making me wonder if he already knew what I would ask. “He doesn’t want you in.”

“Then make him want me in.”

“You’re his son. He’ll want what’s best for you.”

“I know what’s best for me.”

“You’re sixteen. You don’t know shit,” he spat. Theo had never been one to sugarcoat something already covered in shit.

“I know you’re going after whoever’s stealing your jobs.”

Theo swore and muttered something about needing soundproof walls.

“You shouldn’t know about that.”

“But I do.” He tried to stare me down. Two years ago, it might have worked, but I wanted this.

My father was a notorious criminal.

A bad man.

And I admired him.

Even without my father’s blessing, I’d follow in his footsteps.

“Fuck.” He glanced down at Mian apologetically, but she pretended she wasn’t listening. “I’ll talk to him, but I do not promise anything.”

“I wasn’t asking for promises.”

“You’re a smart kid.” He shook his head with pity. “You could do better.”

“It doesn’t mean anything if it’s not what you want.” I cut my eye at Mian when I felt her watching me again. Her pink lips were slightly parted. Theo didn’t respond. He turned to his daughter and lowered his tall frame to his haunches. Her gaze reluctantly shifted from me to her father.

“You good here?”

“She’ll be fine,” I dictated.

Her body stiffened, the only thing moving were her flaring nostrils.

It seems she hated being spoken for. I smiled for her father’s benefit and wondered why I’d done it. Was it because I didn’t want to give her a chance to say no? I’d been in their presence together for less than ten minutes and already knew he indulged his daughter. Spoiled was written all over her.

“Well, I guess it’s settled,” he said clearly amused. He stood to his full height and ruffled her hair. I waited for her to complain and fuss over her hair like chicks do, but she only smiled up at her father and offered a fist bump when he set it up.