30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ECHO
S he waited for Daddy to reply. It had been on her mind the whole time in the bath. Echo desperately wanted to understand what he meant.
Was she in the right mind to be asking this question? No, she wasn’t, but she was doing a lot better than she thought she was. Maybe it was because she was pushing all the emotions to the back of her mind.
If she didn’t think about it, it didn’t happen.
That was what Echo was telling herself. She knew she would have to deal with it at some point, but she didn’t want to right now.
When Daddy told her it was okay to cry and that he would hold her, it almost broke her. She wanted to cry into his arms as he held her, making her feel protected and safe. But she pushed it down.
She needed to be strong for Daddy.
That was what he expected of her. Strong and courageous. That was what the president of an MC needed in a woman. Not a girl who broke down and cried any chance she got.
Nope .
That was not going to be her.
“Let’s talk about this some other time. Right now, you need the cuddles,” Daddy said.
Her grip tightened around his waist. “Daddy, please. I need to know what you meant or my mind is going to be spiraling about it until I find out.”
His whole body went stiff. What was he keeping from her? Why wouldn’t he just tell her?
He sighed. “Let's sit up for this.”
She took a deep breath in. Why did he want them to sit up? Was it that serious?
Daddy helped them get comfy, and she looked at him. He was nervous, but why? Why could he possibly be anxious right now?
Taking her hands, he gave them a little squeeze. “I want you to keep an open mind while I tell you this. Do you think you can?”
Her eyebrows pinched together. He was making her uneasy.
“Little Bit, do you think you can?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Words,” he reminded her.
“Yes, Daddy. I can try.”
Echo wasn’t about to promise something when she had no idea what they were going to talk about.
“Do you remember anything else that happened the night of your attack when you were in middle school?”
It was like someone sat on her chest, squashing all the air out and not standing up to let her breathe in. What did he know about that night?
“Take a breath, Little Bit. You’re okay,” he calmly said. “I should have been harder about not talking about this right now. You are fragile and need Daddy to hold you and make things better. How about we have this conversation another time?”
She shook her head. “How did you know?”
“Little Bit. Do you remember anything else about that night? Can you answer my question and then I’ll answer yours.”
Echo shook her head once again. “N-no. I p-passed out, and when I woke up, I was in the h-hospital.”
Tears pooled in her eyes and ran down her face. She didn’t like to remember that night and didn't like talking about it. How did he know about it? She’d never talked about it with him, she didn’t want to think about it.
He gave her a small smile. “Okay, that’s okay. I figured you probably didn’t, but I wanted to ask because you did briefly wake up.”
“W-what?” she whispered in disbelief. “I d-didn’t…”
Daddy nodded. “You did, just for a brief second. Snuggled up to my chest as I carried you to my friend's car to take you to the hospital.”
Echo took her hands from his and held them to her chest. Shaking her head, she kept her eyes on him.
“No,” she cried out.
“Did the nurses or doctors ever say anything about how you got to the hospital?”
Echo didn’t know how to respond since her brain was trying to come to terms with what he’d just said.
She snuggled up to his chest as he carried her to his friend's car.
“But I just met you this year,” she whispered, ignoring his question.
“We’ve actually known each other since middle school. Didn’t ever hang out, but we saw each other in the corridors,” Daddy explained. “Deccan Anderson is my name, but most people called me Anderson.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh, my goodness.”
“Yeah, Little Bit. I know it’s a lot to take in. We can stop anytime you need to and pick it up later.”
She shook her head. “ You were there ?”
“Not when everything happened.” A look of regret flashed across his face. “I normally walked behind you a short distance away as you headed home to make sure you were safe. That day, I had to take a test. Rushed through that damn test so I could get to you. I was too late. By the time I arrived, they were walking out of the alleyway.”
Tears ran down her face, and she sobbed.
“Come to Daddy and let me hold you,” he said.
Echo scooched back a little. She couldn’t be in his arms when they were having this conversation. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she needed to pay attention to every word. She couldn’t do that if she had his arms wrapped around her.
“You took me to the hospital,” she whispered, looking down at her hands as her brain got to grips with what he’d said. “We’ve known each other since middle school. What about after?”
“I went after them.”
Her head snapped up, and she looked at him. “W-what?”
“I went after them. Saw their faces and knew I had to do something after I dropped you off at the hospital and made sure you were going to be okay. Killed those three bastards, tortured them like they did you.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. He killed three people. Three, not four. That was why Rick was alive.
“What’s wrong, Little Bit?” Daddy asked.
“Three?” she whispered.
“Yes, Little Bit. I killed all three of them after making them pay. Had to get back at them for hurting someone precious to me.”
“There were four ,” she sobbed. “Rick came at me today.”
She could feel herself slowly breaking down from all this information. How much more can she take?
“Shit,” Daddy mumbled. “Don’t worry, Little Bit. Daddy will deal with him, too, and make him suffer, suffer much more than the other guys.”
“He had someone else with him,” she whispered.
Did part of her feel bad for these guys? Yes, because Daddy was going to go after them and make them suffer, but at the same time, she wasn’t. They deserved it, especially Rick.
“I’ll have Ace look into it, gather all the information on this Rick, and find out who else could be working with him.” Daddy took her hand again.
She blinked several times, trying to wrap her overwhelmed brain around everything.
“There was a pedestrian. Gave me his number and name.” She took the piece of paper out of her pocket with her free hand.
Daddy leaned forward and kissed her forehead. Echo couldn’t help but flinch, not expecting it. She whimpered and closed her eyes. Too much was going on; too much had gone on.
“Shhh, you’re okay,” Daddy whispered, taking the paper from her. “Daddy is right here, and nothing is going to happen.”
Before she could say anything, Daddy had her in his lap, her face against his chest. Her whole body stiffened; she didn’t know how to feel. A part of her didn’t want to be in his arms because he kept everything from her. He knew who she was and pretended like he didn’t. He never told her who he was.
Was he keeping anything else from her?
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what, Little Bit?”
“Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you tell me you knew me? Why did you go after them yourself? Why are you here? Why ?”
Echo could remember it like it was yesterday when the police officer told her three of them turned up dead after being tortured for hours, maybe even days. Back then, Echo didn’t want to say there was a fourth, and she wasn’t paying attention to anything else. She hadn’t wanted to be alive back then.
“Why didn’t I say anything when I got here or tell you I knew you? Well, I was in shock when I first came here. I knew you lived in a Springfield, but not which one. I didn’t know if you would recognize me. I waited to see if you did, to see if you were kind of lucid when you asked me for my name and snuggled into my chest. But the more we got to know each other, the more I realized that it wasn’t the case,” Daddy explained. “So, I just followed you around, made sure you were safe.”
Echo pulled away and looked at Daddy. His face was sincere.
“Why did you go after them? The police knew who they were, or three of them,” she whispered.
“Because I have always loved you. When I discovered what they did, I knew I had to go after them, to make them pay. They deserved far worse than they got.”
“Did you just torture them, or did you just kill them?”
Echo needed to know. They were just kids back then.
“Both. Xavier was with me; he got in on some of the torture, but I was the one that killed them. They needed to know it was me, that I was getting revenge for what they did.”
“You were so young,” she whispered.
Daddy cupped her face. “And I would do it again and again. I don’t regret what I did. I will never regret it. I just wish I could have been there to protect you. The only thing I would change would be getting there sooner.”
Echo relaxed into his hands and closed her eyes. He was being patient as he answered her questions. Or so she thought.
“Why am I here? We needed a new location and picked this town. Something was calling me here, and now I realized it was you,” he explained. “I’m so glad we picked Springfield. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found you.”
Her heart skipped a beat. He was being sweet, but she couldn’t help than also feel a little off. He had kept this from her. Was he planning to do that forever if nothing happened to her? Was he going to keep it away for only him to know?
“Why did you wait? If you loved me, why didn’t you come after me?” she asked, opening her eyes to look at him.
That part didn’t make sense to her. If he actually loved her, wanted to be with her, he would have come after her sooner.
“I had actually planned on talking to you that Friday before the attack. Then after, I knew you were going through a lot. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable,” he explained. “And after that, well you disappeared for a while since you were being homeschooled. I only ever saw you when you went to the doctor’s office. Then several years later, I started the Sinners and we moved around. I had Ace keep tabs on you to make sure you were okay, but I didn’t know exactly where you were.”
“That doesn’t really answer my question.”
Okay, it partially answered it. She wanted the whole truth.
“I didn’t know if you would want me after I got blood on my hands, so I watched from afar for a while. Then, when I formed the MC with Xavier and some other guys, I didn’t think you would want to be with me because of that.”
Echo didn’t know how she would have reacted to him coming up to her at the time. Probably not well since she didn’t want to be near any guy her own age. She had so many panic attacks after that.
“But I made myself a promise. If I ever ran into you again, I would make you mine. No matter what.” He kissed her forehead. “Even if you were married, I would have made you mine. Thankfully, you weren’t. You’ve been mine since the first time I saw you over twenty years ago.”
Tears filled her eyes, and Daddy gave her a small smile.
“You’re okay,” he whispered. “Everything is going to be okay now. Daddy is here. You can let everything out. I’ll catch you.”
And that’s exactly what she did.