She Used Me for a Dare… Now I Own Her Mother

Vivienne sat in the driver's seat of her Mercedes, hands gripping the steering wheel, and exhaled slowly.

Her body was still burning.

Every nerve ending felt raw, oversensitive, like she'd been stripped down to something fundamental and exposed. Her lips were swollen. Her skin flushed. The ghost of his touch lingered everywhere... his hands on her waist, his mouth on her neck, the hard length of him pressed against her.

God.

She'd nearly lost it.

Nearly abandoned every calculated plan, every carefully constructed scenario, and begged him to take her right there on that terrace.

The urge had been overwhelming... primal in a way she hadn't experienced in years. Her body had screamed for it, demanded it, and it had taken every ounce of willpower she possessed to pull away instead of pulling him closer.

If she'd stayed another minute...

If he'd pushed just a little harder...

She would have given in.

Completely.

And that terrified her almost as much as it thrilled her.

'Control', she reminded herself firmly. 'You're supposed to be in control.'

But she hadn't been.

Not really.

He'd kissed her and she'd melted. He'd touched her and she'd trembled. He'd looked at her with those dark, knowing eyes and she'd forgotten she was supposed to be playing a role.

She'd walked into his villa with a plan.

Tease him. Seduce him. Make him want her so desperately he'd do anything to have her.

Then snatch him away from Victoria Blackwood... cleanly, completely, irrevocably.

Let that frigid bitch feel the fear of losing something precious. Let her experience helplessness for once in her perfectly controlled life. Watch her scramble, panic, break.

That would have been victory.

Clean. Elegant. Utterly satisfying.

But nothing had gone according to plan.

From the moment he'd opened the door... standing there half-dressed, morning light catching on skin and muscle like he'd been carved from something divine... she'd felt it.

Enchantment.

Not the calculated attraction she'd expected. Not the mild interest she could manipulate.

Genuine, overwhelming, utterly consuming desire.

His body alone should have been illegal. Broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. Muscles that moved with predatory grace beneath golden skin. The kind of physique that made her forget she was supposed to be in control.

But it wasn't just his body.

It was him.

The way he looked at her... like he saw straight through every lie, every performance, and found her fascinating anyway.

The way he moved... confident, unhurried, like he owned every space he occupied.

The way he spoke... that low, rough voice that made promises without saying a word.

His charisma wrapped around her like smoke, impossible to escape, impossible to resist.

She'd meant to play him.

Instead, he'd played her.

Made her forget who she was. Made her forget why she'd come. Made her so nervous, so utterly off-balance, that when he'd asked her name she'd panicked and blurted out...

"Helena."

Not Vivienne.

Not herself.

Instead, she'd introduced herself as the assistant like some flustered teenager caught off-guard by her crush.

'What a blunder.'

Vivienne laughed... sharp, mocking, directed entirely at herself.

'Pathetic.'

Forty-five years old. CEO of a media empire. A woman who'd outmaneuvered senators and corporate sharks without breaking a sweat.

And one handsome man had reduced her to stammering out the wrong name because his bare chest had short-circuited her brain.

Ridiculous.

Humiliating.

Thrilling.

Now she understood how wrong she'd been about Victoria.

He wasn't her toy... it was the opposite.

The thought made Vivienne laugh, sharp and breathless. She couldn't even imagine Victoria Blackwood... that ice-cold, untouchable woman... behaving the way she herself just had. Trembling. Desperate. Barely coherent. No, if Alex could reduce her to that state, then Victoria... God, Victoria must be completely, utterly his.

Vivienne turned in her seat, looking back one last time at the villa's front gate.

At the place where she'd lost herself.

At the man who'd made her forget to perform.

Her pulse quickened.

Tonight.

She couldn't wait.

'Tonight, I'll be waiting for you to come and make me yours.' The thought sent heat rushing through her body, made her breath catch, made everything inside her tighten with delicious anticipation.

A slow smile curved her lips as she started the engine.

Her only problem now was figuring out how the hell she was going to explain all of this to Helena.

But that could wait.

For now, she drove away, her body giddy with the promise of what was to come.

***

Alex stood alone on the terrace, the morning sun warm against his skin, the taste of Vivienne Vanderbilt still lingering on his lips.

He touched his mouth absently, replaying the encounter.

The kiss. The performance. The manufactured tears. The narcissistic brilliance of her praising herself while pretending to be someone else. The revenge proposal delivered with such conviction he'd nearly applauded.

And beneath it all... woven through every calculated gesture... genuine desire.

She wanted him.

Not just as a weapon. She wanted him.

A presence slid into his awareness like silk against skin... familiar, intimate, inevitable.

"Well." Lilith's voice curled through his thoughts, rich with amusement. "That was quite the performance."

Alex didn't turn. He'd grown accustomed to her arrivals.

"She's insane," he said flatly.

Lilith laughed... low, delighted, utterly entertained.

"She's magnificent," she corrected. "Crying on command? Praising herself while maintaining a completely different persona? Darling, that's not insanity... that's artistry. Pure, unadulterated, narcissistic genius."

Her voice turned almost admiring.

"I haven't seen deception executed with that level of skill in decades. The woman is a masterpiece."

Alex was quiet for a moment, his gaze still fixed on the distant outline of Villa Six.

"So," he said finally. "What do you think about her?"

Lilith's presence seemed to coil closer, her voice turning thoughtful.

"I scanned her thoroughly while she was in your arms. Read her intentions, her emotional state, everything beneath that theatrical performance."

A pause.

"She has no malicious intent toward you, Alex. None whatsoever."

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"She's just... rebellious. The kind of woman who's spent her entire life refusing to be controlled, refusing to follow anyone else's rules. Not easily tamed."

Lilith laughed... warm, knowing, utterly entertained.

"But it looks like you won't have to work very hard for that either. She's already halfway to taming herself for you. Did you see how completely she melted the moment you touched her? How desperately she wanted to surrender?"

Alex felt his lips curve into a small smile.

"I noticed."

"Of course you did." Lilith's approval was clear. "She walked into your villa thinking she was the predator. Left knowing she'd been the prey all along. And the best part?"

Her voice dropped to something almost conspiratorial.

"She loved it."

***

Alex was quiet, his mind working through the implications.

It was almost too perfect.

Vivienne was engineering the exact scenario the system wanted... seduce the mother while the daughter watches, then bring them both together. She thought she was using him for revenge, manipulating him into position like a chess piece.

In reality, she was delivering both women to him on a silver platter.

"She's doing my work for me," he murmured.

"She is indeed." Lilith's satisfaction was palpable. "All you have to do is show up, look devastatingly handsome, and let her think she's in control. The rest will fall into place beautifully."

Alex allowed himself a small smile.

Alex allowed himself a small smile.

Then he glanced at the sun's position and swore under his breath.

"Shit."

His training session with Viktor. He was supposed to be there by now.

Pavel was probably wondering where the hell he was. Or worse... assuming he'd chickened out after yesterday's humbling.

"I'm late," he muttered. "Viktor's going to have Pavel beat the shit out of me for this."

Lilith laughed, utterly unsympathetic.

"Oh, they're definitely going to beat you up. But not for being late, darling. That's just their job."

Alex straightened, pushing away from the railing.

"Shower first," Lilith suggested dryly. "You're wearing her perfume like a brand, and while I'm sure Viktor won't comment, subtlety has its advantages."

***

The water ran scalding hot, steam rising in thick clouds that fogged the mirror and wrapped around Alex like a second skin.

He stood under the spray, letting it wash away the physical evidence of the morning... Vivienne's jasmine perfume spiraling down the drain in fragrant ribbons, the sweat from their encounter dissolving into nothing.

The path forward was clear.

Straightforward, even.

But as he reached for the soap, Lilith's voice cut through the sound of running water... sharp, almost eager.

"Before you go running off to let Pavel use you as a punching bag... "

"I don't punch him," Alex muttered. "He punches me."

"Semantics." Her amusement was evident. "I have a suggestion. Something that will accelerate your progress considerably."

Alex paused, water streaming down his face, waiting.

"The system shop has training enhancement packages," Lilith continued. "There's one specifically designed for combat skill acquisition. It multiplies your training speed and comprehension by a factor of one hundred."

The number hung in the air between them.

One hundred.

Alex's mind seized on it immediately, calculating implications with the same strategic focus that had kept him alive this long.

"One hundred times faster," he said slowly. "What would normally take a year..."