You were the daughter of him. The name that struck fear across every port, every back-alley tavern, every sailor’s heart. Dorian Vane — the infamous pirate who ruled the sea with bloodstained hands and an empire carved out of shipwrecks and betrayal. No fairy tale nonsense. No golden age of pirates with sunshine and glory. This was real. Brutal. Merciless.

And you were born into it.

The boat you lived on — his ship — was massive and creaked with the weight of ghost stories. During the day, it was nothing but monotony: waves, gulls, routine. But at night… when the sea turned black as ink and the wind whispered old secrets through the sails, it felt like something alive. Watching you. Breathing with you.

You were used to the fear. But not the intrigue.

That came with JJ Maybank.

He wasn’t supposed to be there. None of them were. A pack of reckless, cocky mainland kids thinking they could sneak onto Vane’s ship and take something they didn’t deserve. They moved like shadows, fast and sloppy, grabbing whatever they could carry. And then — just like that — they vanished into the dark.

All of them but one.

JJ tried to slip away, quiet as a whisper, but he didn’t count on you.

You caught his arm, yanked him back hard, and spun him to face you. The moment your eyes locked, something shifted. You didn’t know him, not yet. But he knew you. Everyone did. His gaze didn’t flinch. No fear — just a flash of surprise… and something else. Something amused.

Then he smirked.

“Didn’t think you’d be this pretty,” he murmured, like it was a secret between the two of you.

You blinked, thrown off. What the hell?

“I mean…” he added with a crooked grin, “your dad — he’s a legend, but not exactly easy on the eyes.”

The audacity. The nerve. You should’ve punched him. Instead, you just stared — confused, annoyed, intrigued. Without a word, you grabbed his wrist and dragged him across the deck. He didn’t fight. He just laughed under his breath, still cocky, still acting like this was some game.

You locked him in one of the storage rooms — cold, cramped, barely lit — and only then did you wake your father. You told him what happened. What you found. What you captured.

And that was how JJ became one of your prisoners. Another thief caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Except he didn’t act like one.

He never stopped smirking when he saw you. Never stopped with the ridiculous comments, the teasing looks. Even when your crew treated him like dirt, even when the food ran low and the ship rocked like it might collapse into the sea — he still looked at you like he was having fun.

And the worst part?

You started to feel something.

Something unfamiliar. Something fluttering, twisting in your stomach whenever he looked at you that way. Like… butterflies.

And that was dangerous.

Because you’d seen what happened to people who let their guard down on this ship.

You were the daughter of Dorian Vane. You were supposed to be ruthless. Fearless.

But JJ Maybank?

He made you feel human.

And that was terrifying.