"You thieving little rat!"Gregory Osborne's fat hand closed on Pan's collar and dragged him across the marble until his shoes squealed.The man's face was red to the ears. Veins stood out thick at his temples."Where are my golden cufflinks, boy? Answer me before I lose my patience."Pan met his father's glare without flinching. "I don't know, sir. As you commanded, I polished them last night and locked them away myself.""Liar! The drawer is empty. Those cufflinks were a gift from the royal family. That's more valuable than your miserable existence a thousand times over!"Pan was eighteen, and two weeks into his first semester at Cloyster University. He let himself be dragged anyway. His adoptive father tired quicker that way.The man hunted for a crack in Pan's face, but found none.Years of practice had taught him that fear fed Gregory's temper, and defiance fed it even faster. The only winning move was looking like furniture. Pretending he felt nothing.Gregory shoved him off wit

Pan had never seen a woman fully nude before. Not in real life.Family beach trips did not count. Catching a look at a girl in a bikini across the sand had been the high point of his summers. He had never got closer than that.Now he lay wedged under Lila's bed with dust in his nose, and the towel was on the rug beside his face. Above it stood a naked young woman he could not see.Forbidden thoughts moved into his head without asking.But Lila is family. She is supposed to be off-limits. No, let's be real.The Osbornes treated him as one of them only when it suited them. The rest of the time he was a servant with a bedroom over the garage and a back full of scars.The two eldest Osborne girls had made torturing him a full-time hobby. Ten minutes ago the eldest had confessed to it on the phone. She laughed about it, then called him a loser.Didn't that justify a stolen glance at Lila's body? A small act of revenge. Cosmic rebalancing.The risk kept him pinned to the boards anyway. One

Closer. Closer.Christina's sharp green eyes cut into the shadows under the bed. Up close, Pan could smell her bubblegum shampoo mixed with the crisp, sterile soap she always used.Did she bathe in holy water and bubbles every morning?Pan caught himself wondering what that looked like. Christina in the shower, all lathered up. Water droplets running down her perfect back. Then he snapped out of it, hard.What the hell am I thinking?Panic slammed back into him and his heart jackhammered against his ribs. One more inch and Christina would have his face.And it would not stop at trespassing. Lila had dropped her towel two minutes ago, and nobody would believe he had kept his eyes shut for it.Busted. Pervert. Creep. Out on the street by lunch, if the cops did not drag him off first.Gregory would not even need an excuse. The evidence would be lying right there under the bed with a hard-on.There was one card left to play. The Taboo Sin System.Pan blinked, summoning the glowing blue te

Pan froze mid-step. Then he forced his face into something neutral.Today I won't let it slide. I will get the cufflinks first. Ass-kicking and payback will follow.The system had given him tools. He needed to stay sharp and use them, instead of letting the heat in his blood make the decisions."I will go and find Mother as soon as I can."Christina laughed at him, and then her face curdled into something bitter."Look at him, standing his ground. That is all you are good for, isn't it? Polishing silver in this kitchen while Leo is out conquering the world. Student president, debate champion, and heir to the Osborne empire."Christina looked him over again, slower this time, like she was cataloging every flaw for future use."And you. An adopted mutt who is not worth the Osborne name. At least a real son could be sent somewhere to represent us. You exist only to embarrass us."Pan tightened his jaw just enough to keep the anger off his face. The words were familiar. They had been carv

The timer burned in his vision.[00:03:12]Pan had wasted too much time posing and pushing."Nah, sis," he said. "I want the satisfaction of taking the cufflinks myself."Pan let the words come slow, tasting them. "You crossed me without mercy. Dad would have whipped me and put me in the stables for a week. There needs to be a penalty this time.""What do you mean?" Christina stammered. "What do you mean?" she said again, panic rising in it.Pan offered her a lopsided grin. "Turn around for me. I want to fish into your back pocket and take the goods with my own fingers. That will be my revenge."Terror flashed across her face as the meaning of it hit.Christina's eyes darted again as she took in her position. She was cornered between the island and her brother, with no clean escape left."Pan… Please. This is wrong. I am your sister.""I am adopted, am I not?"He smirked wider as the lust made him cruel. "You remind me of that every single day. And you are a bully who needs a taste of