All Chapters of Yours to Keep, Daddy: MM Taboo collection : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

VincentHe is Miranda’s son.That was the mantra I had been repeating to myself since the moment Olise Adeyemi walked through my front doors. He was twenty-four, a recent university graduate, and my wife’s child. He was a guest in my home, a young man finding his footing, and absolutely nothing more.But as I stood outside his bedroom door in the quiet, shadowed hallway of my house, the mantra felt incredibly fragile.I had been sitting in my study, nursing a glass of scotch, trying to erase the memory of the look on Olise’s face earlier that afternoon. I’d caught him staring at me from the terrace while I was in the pool. It shouldn't have affected me. I was a forty-three-year-old businessman; I was used to people looking at me. But the sheer intensity in his wide, expressive eyes had stirred something dark and restless in my chest.When I realized the housekeeper had forgotten to place the fresh Egyptian cotton towels in the guest wing, I had picked them up myself. It was a simple t

VincentI spent the next forty-eight hours actively running away from a twenty-four-year-old.I left for the office before the sun rose, worked twelve-hour days, and didn't return until I was certain Olise would be asleep. His parting words from our confrontation in the kitchen—“Protective like a stepfather, or jealous like a man?”—had been looping in my mind like a fever dream.I was a man defined by my iron-clad self-control. I had built an empire on calculated risks and unwavering discipline. Yet, a few words from my wife’s son had completely shattered my composure.On the third evening, unable to focus on the financial reports spread across my desk, I stared at the gold band resting on my left ring finger. I needed a reality check. I needed a reminder of who I was, what my responsibilities were, and who I was married to.I picked up my phone and dialed Miranda.She answered on the fourth ring, the background filled with the ambient chatter of a high-end restaurant in Paris."Vince