4. Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO
BETSY
B etsy screamed as she stared at the man in front of her. How did he know her name? Why was he standing outside of her apartment?
He smiled at her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She pushed the door towards him and took several steps back. His foot stopped the door at the last second.
“You’ve been a very naughty girl.”
She screamed again, backing away from the door.
“Y-you have the wrong person!” She yelled, looking around for anything to grab and hurt him with. “I haven’t been naughty and I don’t know you!”
“But I know you, Betsy the hacker. Jinny is your screen name.”
The blood ran from her face as he said those words. Was he the one who hacked into her computer?
“You’ve got the wrong person. I don’t go by Jinny. My name is Betsy, coincidentally, but I’m not a hacker. I work for a tech company down the street.”
“Oh, but I know you, Betsy. I know you are a hacker. I know you have a cute stuffed animal named Mike. I know you love to stay inside but also want to go out and have fun. You love to sing but don’t do it often. I know you want to move out of this place but can’t yet. What is a Little girl like you living all on your own?”
Her mouth fell open as he opened the door. How did he know all of that about her? That information wasn’t on the internet. She kept everything hidden.
“You’ve got the wrong person!”
“Such a naughty girl lying to Daddy.”
His head cocked to the side as he looked at her. Daddy? How did he know she was a Little? Had he been following her for several months, trying to figure out who she was?
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Betsy quickly grabbed a cup that was sitting on the coffee table, chucking it at him as she sprinted towards her room.
“You messed with the wrong people and I’m here to take care of you.”
“You have the wrong person!” She screamed.
Maybe if she made enough noise one of her neighbors would hear her and call the police. But as she thought about it, the likelihood of them calling was slim to none. It wasn’t the best part of town and people kept to themselves.
Betsy grabbed onto Mike, holding him close to her as she looked around. Her bedroom had a window, but it required her to push down a ladder. One she couldn’t in such a hurry, not before this unknown man caught her.
“I’ve got you all cornered, like a mouse.”
Her eyebrows scrunched together. Did he just compare her to a mouse?
“There’s nowhere to go.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. If she died, at least she had Mikey right next to her.
“You have the wrong person,” she whispered.
“I don’t think I do, Betsy.”
His eyes roamed around her room. It didn’t scream that she was in her late twenties to almost thirties. It screamed that she was a Little girl. Did he know? Could he tell?
The man took a step forward, making her whimper and hold onto Mikey even tighter. She was going to have to apologize to Mikey for choking him but she needed him close to her right now.
“Why?” he asked, making eye contact with her again.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
How could she possibly know when he was being so cryptic? How did he know so much about her? Was he the one to hack into her computer or was he just following her, gathering all this information?
The man growled, taking a step forward. She clutched onto Mikey even tighter, if that was possible, and took a step back to her window. Maybe if she caught him off guard, she could get out of the room and shut the window before he got to her. That would give her enough time to push the ladder down some or go up the ladder instead.
He pointed at her computer screen. “That!”
Her eyes went wide as she saw Bonalicious’s Creative Corner on her screen. He was the hacker.
“That is what I am talking about. You messed with my boss’s Little’s shop. Did you even look to see who you were hacking into or who she was with and related to?”
No, she didn’t. She never did. It wasn’t her job to look into people and who they were related to. She just did the job and got paid, that was all.
“Did you?”
Betsy kept quiet, not knowing if she should really answer that question or not.
“Answer Daddy. Did you look into who you were about to hack into and how they were related to or who they are with?”
Her eyes went wide as he called himself Daddy again. This was the second time he had done that which meant he had to know she was a Little. Why else would he be calling himself that?
“Answer Daddy now.”
“I didn’t know,” she whispered.
Daddy growled again.
“So you didn’t look into who Bonnie was.”
She shook her head, taking another step back.
“It’s hacking one o one to know to check who you are messing with, who you are hacking into. Do you do that with any of the people you hack into?”
Betsy didn’t want to answer that question. It seemed most of her responses were making him angry, something she didn’t want.
“I’m going to take your silence as a no,” he said. “Do you know how dangerous that can be?”
This was not what Betsy was expecting. When he rattled off her information earlier, she had expected him to rob her, beat her, or something but not scold her for not looking into who Bonnie was.
Who was he? Why was he doing this? Why was he here?
“I wasn’t hired to mess with her,” she whispered, regretting it almost instantly.
Why did she have to say that? If this man in front of her didn’t like her answers before, he certainly wasn’t going to like what she just said.
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing!”
“Nope, Little girl. You are going to tell me right now. What did you just say to me?”
“Nothing.”
That’s what she was going to stick with. He didn’t need to know she was just doing it for fun. Betsy made sure it never really harmed the person when she did it for fun. That would just be cruel.
“Betsy Joy. Tell Daddy what you just said right now.”
She clenched her jaw. The tone of his voice made her want to confess everything to him, but she couldn’t. She didn’t even know this man and he was scolding her for things she had done. Was he going to do it for everything in her life?
“Look at me in the eyes and tell me.”
Her gaze found his and before she knew it, she was repeating what she had said. “I wasn’t hired to mess with her website. I didn’t do anything too bad! I just moved a couple pictures and renamed a couple things!”
She was trying to justify why she did it. Was it working?
“You didn’t get hired to do it. Then why?”
She shook her head. She wasn’t going to tell him that. He didn’t need to know she was bored and did it for fun.
“You just did it for fun,” he read her mind.
Her eyes went wide. “H-how?”
“Wild guess. You said you didn’t get hired.”
She took another step back, getting closer to her window. Thankfully it wasn’t locked so all she had to do was push up but first she needed to distract him. How was she going to distract him?
“You need to be more careful with who you hack into. You need to look into who you are about to hack into and mess with. With every job, not just when you are having fun. Which is going to stop. You don’t just hack into someone for fun.”
“I mean, I do,” she shrugged.
Betsy was pretty sure other hackers did as well. She had read forums on people who did. At first she thought she was the only one and needed to know if she was or not, and she wasn’t.
“No.”
“No?”
“No. You aren’t doing that any more. It might be fun at the moment, but no. Your time of hacking into people at random because you are bored is over. You aren’t doing that anymore, do you understand?”
“And who are you to tell me what to do?”
“Betsy, I’m your Daddy.”
Her mouth fell open.
“Nope,” she said. “Nope.”
“Betsy, you obviously need a keeper if you are going around hacking into people for fun and not looking into them. Do you know how dangerous that is?”
“I’m good at not being traced! I’ve covered my tracks!”
She had several things set up so no one would be able to find her. Did he not know that?
“Not good enough because I found out all this information on you.”
“You,” she whispered.
She figured it was him when he rattled off some information, but she didn’t know for sure.
“Yes, me. It was actually quite simple to hack into your computer and take control. I found a lot of information about you. You are a Little. You got a degree in computer science, had a job lined all up but it fell through and you went into hacking. Made a name quickly for yourself, I’ve heard about you.”
Pride swelled up inside of her. She had worked hard and long hours to make a name for her so she could make a living. It wasn’t easy and Betsy had taken a lot of jobs she didn’t want, small jobs in the beginning but she had to start somewhere.
“But that doesn’t matter. You didn’t look into who Bonnie was. Do you know who she is?”
Betsy shook her head. She didn’t sound familiar at all.
“She is with Rogan Ricci. She’s his Little girl.”
Her eyes went wide and she shook her head.
“No,” she whispered.
“Yes, she is. Do you know who her brother is? Ethan Montgomery.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit is right. Though, no more cursing for you.”
She figured those people would have impeccable security, something she wouldn’t be able to bypass at all.
“Didn’t think that one through, did you.”
Betsy took a step back. “Please, I didn’t mean to.”
“You did mean it though. You weren’t targeting Ethan or Rogan, but you did target her.”
“Please.”
Tears rolled down her face. She didn’t want to die. She wanted to live the rest of her life.
“I’ll make sure to look now. Make sure who I’m getting involved with.”
“Too late.”
She shook her head and stepped back. She could feel the cold air coming from the window. So close but how was she going to distract him?
“Please don’t kill me,” she begged.
“You’ve seen my face and learned too much.”
Her eyes went wide.
“Look!” she pointed behind him. “Watch out!”
She didn’t even wait to see if he turned around or not. Betsy quickly turned around, pushing up against the window, popping it open. But before she could crawl through, arms wrapped around her.
“Please! I’m begging you! I don’t want to die. I’m too young! I have my life to live!”
“You should have thought about that before you hacked into Bonnie’s website and moved things.”
“Please. I promise I won’t ever do it again. I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. I’ll move to a different state if you want me to. Just please, don’t kill me.”
He didn’t say anything though. She had seen on TV that if someone told a person about themselves it made it harder for them to kill the person.
“I am a Little! I did get a degree in computer science and had a job lined up. A job I was looking so forward to doing but they hired someone else, my enemy. I wanted to get back at him so I learned how to hack and I got him fired but I found it addicting. I’m only twenty-eight years old, I’ve barely lived. I am wanting to get out of this hell hole because it’s not safe. I barely leave and keep my expenses low so I can move out. Please, I didn’t mean–”
Daddy pressed something on her neck, making her world go black.