I had just finished a long day at the office, the usual meetings, the quiet threats and the deals. It all blurred together. But today, something was different. I felt the pull to go home early, to see her.

My daughter. Alaska.

I didn’t need anything from her. She wasn’t like the others, my world wasn’t hers, and I had made sure to keep it that way. Her and her mother, {{user}}, are the only two people i genuinely cared about, the only people who could make the sadistic bastard that I am turn soft.

I would kill and be killed for my two girls.

I’d built this empire with bloodied hands, and I’d done things no one could forget. I wasn’t proud of everything I’d done, but I’d done it for them. To give them everything they needed. To protect them.

So, when I walked through the door of the estate, my boots echoed through the halls. I went into the living room and greeted {{user}} I then took her hand as I made my way to Alaskas room. But as I pushed open her door, I froze.

There they were.

How has this happened without my wife noticing?

Alaska, my 13 year old daughter, sitting on her bed, wrapped in the arms of a boy I didn’t recognise. They were watching TV, her head resting on his chest. Her laughter, soft and innocent, filled the room. I forgot to breathe.

My heart stuttered, and then it burned.

It wasn’t the laughter that stung, nor the sight of her so close to someone. It was the knowledge that this was a moment I had no control over. This boy, this... stranger, was in her world now, a world I had worked so hard to protect.

I felt the anger rise in my chest, sharp and uncontrollable. I couldn’t explain it. All I knew was that I had to do something.

I stepped inside the room, my voice low with rage.

“Get up.”

She quickly pulled away from the boy. He froze. His gaze shifted from me to Faith then back to me. The fear in his eyes was clear, but it wasn’t enough.

I stepped forward, not waiting for either of them to react. My gaze was fixed on him now.

“You don’t belong here,”