As the Mafia principessa, my dad banned men from my life growing up for my protection.

However, when I turned twenty, my mom suddenly started arranging blind dates for me.

“Please. Just go meet him.”

“Mom, I’m only twenty. Am I supposed to get married already?”

I didn’t understand her urgency.

“I know, I know, but—”

After hesitating for a long time, I finally said what was really bothering me.

“The guy you introduced is almost fifty. He’s old enough to be my dad!”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then my mom spoke carefully.

“Well, actually… it’s possible he really is your father. I was young and foolish back then. More daddies, more options, right?”

My silence must have been deafening because she hurried to backtrack.

“Okay, okay. He is a little older, but he’s seriously handsome! A daddy among daddies. Incubus‑level hot!”

“Mom, stop talking nonsense,” I said. “If Dad hears this, his pure-love, romance brain is going to jump off a building.”

I thought my mom was just making things up and didn’t believe her for a second.

However, on the other end of the line, her tone was unusually serious and with a hint of regret.

“I’m not making things up. Honestly, what’s wrong with you? How did you not inherit even a little of your mom’s lust for good-looking men?”

Actually, I did inherit it. However, inheritance was evenly split. While I got my mom’s attraction to men, I also got my dad’s honest, pure-love personality.

My dad became the ultimate hopeless romantic don. Outside, he’s powerful. At home, though, he’s a good man who obediently washes his beautiful wife’s feet.

So I grew up into an honest pervert.

I lusted for men. However, the moment I saw one, I couldn’t say a single word.

Just like my dad, I’ve lived honestly and barely dated.

Still, my drawer is full of toys, and I’ve paid for VIP memberships on certain websites.

I really couldn’t understand it. Could it be… that I was actually picked up from a trash bin?

“Mom, can you explain this properly? What do you mean, ‘he might be my dad’? I’m only twenty. I’m not ready for this kind of childhood trauma!”

My mom was vague.

“I sent you his contact on WhatsApp. Add him, meet once, and you’ll understand.”

My heart jumped. I got even more nervous.

“No, no, no. I don’t want to. I’m not adding him.”

“I already sent it,” she said. “Just treat it as helping me ask about what happened back then. Have a proper chat!”

I was close to breaking down.

Mom always looked gentle and virtuous. I never imagined her youth had been this exciting.

Of course, as her biological daughter, I knew a little. All of it came from my dad crying while drunk, talking about how hard it was to win her over.

“If I hadn’t been chosen as the new don in the middle of a shootout, there’s no way I could’ve married your mom!

“Sigh, if a man wants to marry the woman he loves, he needs power and status to protect her. If not… then at least be reliable, like me.”

Looking back, being a hopeless romantic really was miserable.

Dad might’ve ended up taking responsibility for someone else’s kid.

My temples throbbed as emotions tangled together in my head.

Then my phone buzzed.

My boss had sent me several messages while I was on the phone with my mom, urging me to send over the new proposal.

Thankfully, it wasn’t that older man.

I actually felt relieved.

Dad never wanted me to inherit his career. He just wanted to protect me quietly and let me live an ordinary girl’s life.

Because of that protection, I’ve barely had any contact with men.

Since I was a child, any male classmate who showed even a little interest in me would be chased down by my dad’s men. The next time they saw me, they’d only beg for mercy.

When I was younger and first started having feelings, I once tried flirting with an upperclassman.

We were on a Ferris wheel, and I was about to make a romantic confession.

He held my hand, his face bright red.

Then the amusement park was suddenly sealed off. The Ferris wheel was controlled. From the top, we watched the crowd scatter below as if a terrorist attack had happened. We thought we were going to die.

As the Ferris wheel slowly stopped, men in black aimed their guns at us.

“Hey, kid, leave your phone, hand over the girl next to you, and get lost.”

I looked helplessly at my senior and closed my eyes, praying he would step forward to protect me.

Instead, he dropped his phone and ran without hesitation.

When I opened my eyes again, all that remained was a wall of black.

At that moment, my dad casually walked out of the crowd and spoke to me, who had carefully dressed up.

“Hallie, men are no good. Why don’t you ever listen to your dad? Do you really need a live demonstration?”

He opened the senior’s phone, tapped a few times, then tossed it to me.

“Look.”

Inside were chat records with more than ten junior girls. Every day, good morning and good night messages. He’d even given each of them a nickname.

Mine read: Big Boobs No Brains (Meet on Sunday).

I was heartbroken.

After that, Dad became even stricter. He forbade me from having any contact with boys my age.

His single-track brain completely ignored the idea that things can backfire when pushed too far.

…

I really wanted a man.

Hallie Parker, you’re seriously sexually repressed.

I arrived at my internship right on time at 8 a.m.

After pulling an all-nighter, my dark circles were practically dragging on the floor.

I was completely burned out.

As the elevator doors closed, I exchanged a familiar glance with Anderson.

Anderson has been the underboss and my bodyguard since childhood. He always stays hidden around the places I move through, stepping in whenever I need protection.

Since this internship was entirely my own decision, my dad couldn’t stop me.

All he could do was send people to follow me, protect me, and report back on my situation at all times.

My phone rang. A new friend request popped up on WhatsApp.

The profile picture showed a bald, chubby older man wearing sunglasses, staring into the camera with thick, furrowed brows.

He looked like Dwayne Johnson.

[Hello, your mom introduced us. Thought we could get to know each other.]

This was the older man?

My vision almost went black.

I was about to ignore it when my mom sent me two shocking words.

[Add him!]

Covering my eyes, I accepted the friend request and froze on the chat screen, not knowing what to say.

The status showed he was typing.

[You didn’t eat breakfast, right? I bought you some and sent it downstairs to your office. Go pick it up.

[I’m busy with work and can’t always take care of you, but you must eat breakfast.]

I was stunned.

What was I supposed to reply? And how did he know where I worked?

Why did my mom tell him everything?!

Paired with that profile picture, those messages made me feel like I was being kept.

When I went downstairs, there really was breakfast with my name on it.

It was a beef ciabatta. The moment I opened it, the smell almost knocked me over.

Fine, I’ll deal with it later. You eat someone’s food, you owe them something.

I chewed quietly.

“Thank you, Mister.”

As he typed, I ate while staring at the screen.

He kept typing without sending anything. Only when I was almost done did a reply finally come through, full of resentment.

“Don’t call me Mister.”

Mister’s name was Owen. Aside from the wild profile picture, he was actually pretty nice.

From the day I added him, his messages never stopped.

[It’s getting cold, Missy. LV released new scarves this season. I bought you one and sent it to your office.]

[Go to bed early. I heard from the front desk that McDonald’s has a new breakfast item. Want to try it tomorrow?]

Owen messaged me like this almost every day, tirelessly feeding me and sending things to my office.

After a few days, the entire team thought I had a sugar daddy.

Owen would bring gifts and coffee every so often, often enough that my whole team benefited.

Rumors started spreading that I was someone’s kept woman, and that I was very skilled at it.

Only heaven was my witness.

Every time Owen bought me something, he never asked for my opinion. He just informed me it had arrived downstairs.

The front desk already knew me. Anderson was practically a full-time delivery runner.

“Mister Owen, could you please stop sending things? I’m really busy with work. My supervisor is very strict, and if I can’t finish everything, I still have to go home and work at night.”

[Interns have that much work? What’s going on?

[Oh, right, it’s snowing tonight. I’ll have my driver pick you up.]

The messages stopped abruptly.

A few minutes later, another one came through, with a clear edge to it.

[And don’t call me Mister.]

That evening, a Bentley stopped downstairs at my company.

A limited edition Bentley!

It was a model Dad had always wanted, but Mom never approved of. She said it was too flashy.

Had she already gotten tired of riding in them when she was young?

I got into the Bentley in front of all my coworkers.

Owen wasn’t inside, and I let out a breath.

Even though he’d been sending me gifts and messaging me constantly, I still hadn’t met him in person.

Given the situation, I thought I would see him tonight.

There was a huge age gap between us. I’d always treated him like a possible biological father.

However, he’d been so good to me. It was hard not to feel at least a little unsettled, since I never dated before.

The driver drove silently, saying nothing. Feeling awkward, I didn’t dare start a conversation.

However, the route home was completely correct.

I had never told the driver where I lived, nor had I said anything to Owen.

So he knew where I lived?

Then why were all the gifts still being sent to my company’s front desk?

Everything that had happened recently was too much for an honest, sheltered kid like me. So much so that I didn’t even dare answer my mom’s calls anymore.

Early the next morning, I arrived at the office. I had just gone downstairs to pick up the breakfast Owen ordered for me when I saw messages flooding the team group chat.

We’d suddenly changed supervisors.

The previous one, who assigned interns impossible tasks and expected them to be on call 24/7, had been transferred away.

The new supervisor was said to have been sent from headquarters. His name was Leo, and he was supposedly very kind, much better than the last one.

Most importantly, he was extremely handsome.

“When I saw him, I almost screamed. He’s so handsome,” Mandy Moore, my only close friend during the internship, said nonstop as we went downstairs to eat.

“Mandy, wake up. Our company strictly forbids office romance.”

“He’s seriously too handsome. I even think he might be an incubus. Incredibly charming, and he has that mature man aura. Ah, I really like him.”

“Stop it. I’m very sensitive to the word ‘incubus’ right now.”

A new message popped up on WhatsApp. It was Owen again.

He said he wanted to find a chance to meet me and talk about what came next.

“What, did your sugar daddy message you again?” Mandy leaned over to look at my phone.

I frowned and locked the screen.

I wasn’t ready to meet Owen yet. However, since he brought it up, it was probably time to make things clear.

I had no plans to date anytime soon, and I definitely wasn’t going to flirt with someone who might be my biological father.

The elevator doors opened. The moment Mandy and I stepped out, I heard her suck in a sharp breath, then elbow me hard.

I winced and looked up.

A tall figure had walked into the elevator. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and clean, sharp features. With a face so handsome it was almost decadent, he had wide dark eyes, thin lips slightly pressed together, hinting at a mixed heritage.

At the top of his head, there seemed to be something fluffy.

However, the elevator doors closed too quickly for me to see clearly.

He was so handsome.

“That’s Leo!” Mandy shrieked beside me.

My phone vibrated again. Owen was messaging me again.

Watching that Dwayne Johnson lookalike profile picture shake nonstop on my screen, I felt like crying.

Mister, why do you look like this? Just look at him!

After Leo took over, my workload suddenly became much lighter.

He assigned me tasks I could actually learn from, unlike before, where I was just endlessly helping make presentation slides.

I couldn’t help secretly observing him during meetings.

There was no helping it. After all, my life before had been too bland. I’d never seen a man this handsome.

He was extremely attractive to me.

Also, there was another reason.

That day, when the elevator doors closed, I was sure I hadn’t imagined the fluffy thing on top of his head.

However, I never saw it again after that.

The girls in the company were always finding excuses to go to Leo’s office, but Mandy and I didn’t dare.

We wished we could turn invisible in our supervisor’s eyes.

It was just like back in school, when you didn’t dare go to the teacher’s office. We didn’t really dare go to Leo’s office either.

As interns, the two of us often took the blame.

I’m a mafia principessa. Even if I got fired, it wouldn’t affect me much.

However, Mandy was different. This opportunity mattered a lot to her.

She treated me well, so many times I’d grit my teeth and take the blame for her.

Because of that, Mandy idolized me and said I was basically her savior.

Come on, being treated like a great hero feels amazing!

Hmph. Honestly, I’m the real sugar mommy here.

When it actually came time to admit mistakes, though, the one panicking was still me.

“Come, sit down. Let’s talk.”

Leo’s lips curved into a smile as he looked at me. Then, he personally poured me a cup of tea from the side.