“And why shouldn’t I be sick of you?”

The moment the words left my mouth, the room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.

Before I could even gear up for a full-blown screaming match, my feet left the floor. Dinh scooped me up without a word and hauled me straight into his bedroom. The lock snapped shut with a harsh click. Pinning my waist against his, a dark, dangerous smirk played on his lips.

“My little girl, did you really think I raised you all these years just to hand you over to another man?”

With that, he tossed me onto his massive bed.

The last time I had laid on this bed was when I was eight years old. It was my very first night at the Pho estate, and after crying my eyes out from a nightmare, I was given special permission to crawl into his bed. Back then, I used to call him “Big Brother,” only switching to family titles as I grew older.

The plush down comforter swallowed me whole, making it impossible to scramble up immediately. Out of nowhere, his voice drifted over—soft, yet sending a chill straight down my spine. Slowly, casually, he began unbuttoning his black dress shirt, his lips curling into a predatory curve.

“Pho Dinh… what… what are you doing?”

Panicking, I scrambled backward. He, on the other hand, was completely unhurried, like a predator watching a tiny fish struggle in a net.

“Sweetheart…”

Dinh kept his eyes locked on mine as his long, elegant fingers worked their way down the buttons. Catching a glimpse of his broad, chiseled chest, his dangerous intentions suddenly clicked in my head.

“You’re… you’re scaring me…”

I tried to retreat, but it was already too late. His massive hand shot out, clamping around my ankle, and yanked me brutally toward him.

“Which part of me did you say was failing? Hmm? Tell me clearly—which organ?”

His heavy, masculine scent instantly enveloped me. My mind went into overdrive, a chaotic mix of panic and tremors. The terrifying weight of his presence made me desperately search for an escape route, but Dinh’s patience had clearly hit rock bottom. With a single hand, he seized both my wrists and pinned them above my head.

“Stop squirming.”

Seeing his towering frame about to settle completely over me, I panicked and shoved at him with my legs. “Why are you getting on top of me?!”

Dinh raised my wrists slightly, tightening his grip, clearly amused by the sight of me blushing so hard I was about to combust. He looked down at me with a lazy, mocking smirk. “You got to straddle me last night. Why can’t I get on top of you today?”

My face burned hot. I scrambled for an excuse. “But… you’re going to crush me to death!”

I mean, think about it! Dinh was six-foot-two, broad-shouldered, and built like a brick wall. If he put his full weight on me, I’d literally pass away right here!

His fingers, which had been idly playing with mine, suddenly paused. He lifted his head, his dark, fathomless eyes gazing at me with a heavy, unspoken intensity. When he spoke, every word was dripping with pure, undeniable lust:

“Crush you to death… in bed?”

Oh God. I swore he had completely twisted my innocent words into something filthy!

Just as the tension reached a scalding, breathless high, a frantic pounding at the door cut through the air like a lifesaver.

“Sis! Are you okay?!” Lu Wangang’s frantic voice echoed from the hallway. “Mr. Pho, if you don’t open this door right now, I’m calling the police!”

Dinh remained as immovable as a mountain, lazily watching me lose my mind. A few seconds later, he reached out, lightly tapping my cheek, and whispered, “Are you going to call for help, my little girl?”

Hearing those three words—”my little girl”—in a situation like this sounded dangerously taboo and insanely thrilling.

“Option one: you tell that kid outside to beat it. Option two… I open the door and let him watch what we’re doing. Pick.”

I had never seen Pho Dinh act like such an unmitigated rogue. Before this, he had always played the role of a cold, composed guardian who kept a strict, respectful distance. I pouted, whining in a tearful whisper, “But I don’t know… I really don’t know what to tell him…”

Outside, Lu Wangang kept yelling, “Open the door, Pho Dinh! Or I swear I’ll break it down!”

Dinh treated the threat outside like noise in the wind, sinking his body even lower over mine. “It’s my fault. I haven’t disciplined you properly over the years.”

With that, his fingers lightly caressed my earlobe. A bolt of electric pleasure shot through me, making me shiver and involuntarily release a soft moan:

“Mm…”

Dinh looked thoroughly pleased. He let out a low, dark chuckle, pressing his lips right against my ear. “Good girl. Keep making those sounds.”

“Ah…”

Before I could react, he tilted his head and swallowed my gasp whole with a fierce, dominant kiss.

“Mmm…”

I froze for a split second. His tongue invaded authoritatively, plundering my mouth and sucking at my lips. As my sanity slowly returned, I tried with all my might to push against his shoulders, but he merely half-lidded his dark, dazed eyes, quickly interlocking his fingers with mine to lock down any resistance.

At some point, the frantic pounding on the door outside faded into complete silence.

Only after a long moment, when I was on the brink of suffocating, did he finally release my swollen, crimson lips. Dinh gently pressed a soft kiss to my forehead, whispering in a raspy, intoxicatingly deep voice:

“Now, say those words you blabbered while drunk yesterday again. Let me hear them.”

Gasping frantically for air, I used every ounce of my remaining strength to push him off. Clutching the duvet around myself in the corner of the bed, flustered and furious, I snapped:

“Pho Dinh, do you have split personalities?! Yesterday you coldly rejected me, and today you pin me down and kiss me senseless! Do you think I’m some kind of joke to you?”

He sat down quietly beside me, his thumb gently brushing against the tiny bite mark and lingering wetness at the corner of my lips. His voice dropped into a coaxing whisper: “Yesterday was my own stupidity. I’m eating my own words today, okay?”

Without giving me time to react, he pulled me straight into his lap, forcing me to sit sideways across his thighs. His warm breath tickled my ear as he murmured sincere apologies and soft confessions, occasionally dropping feather-light kisses on my sensitive earlobe.

I was thoroughly enjoying his sweet pampering—until my ears caught five specific words: “…keep it a secret for now.”

I snapped my head back from his chest, my brows furrowing. “Why keep it a secret?”

Dinh fell silent for a moment, then let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“Right now, my power isn’t absolute enough to shut everyone’s mouth. People can call me a beast, a scumbag—I’ll take it all, I don’t care. But you? I won’t let you become the target of anyone’s vicious gossip.”

Ever since I was adopted by this man nine years my senior, I had never felt what people called “familial affection.” That feeling had long mutated into romantic love. So I instantly understood why he had dodged my confession the night before.

An overwhelming warmth flooded my heart. I couldn’t help but reach out and clasp his hand. “I’m not afraid of what people say. Dinh, we can face it together.”

Hearing that, his brows arched, and his eyes flashed with the familiar arrogance and ruthless pride of a dominant man. He let out a lazy, disdainful smirk.

“Only weak, useless men need their woman to step out and take the hit with them.”

His gaze softened, his voice turning tender yet carrying a vow as solid as iron:

“Shen Yu, I won’t let a single stain touch your name. By my side, all you have to do is be a pampered princess.”

“And a princess has no obligation to make sacrifices or endure public scandal. Because if a man lets his woman get hurt for his sake… he’s nothing more than a piece of trash. Got it?”