Chapter Four
Chapter Four
___________
Vito
She hasn’t met my eyes for the rest of the day.
Understandable, considering she almost fainted from calling me ‘Daddy’, and it’s endearing of her to be so shy about something that I had virtually made her walk into.
It’s a success on my part and I don’t see any reason for her to be disconcerted. We are going to be here for a long time, and I believe it is beneficial to both of us to be on a level of comfortableness.
She doesn’t need to hide anything from me, and I would be glad to take on the role of her Daddy.
Fia curls up at the headboard of the bed, music sheets in her hands and nervous gaze darting from the papers to me as I come up the stairs. She draws her knees more up and slides down the bed so her face is behind her knees.
“Sit up, darling girl. Don’t slouch.”
She scrambles up with a blush as the duvet crumbles on her lap, the sheets of music crinkling in her trembling hands.
“I’m sorry,” she mutters.
Her eyes are adamant on the papers as I inch closer to the bed. I had turned off the lights around the cabin and encased the second floor in dull lights from the moon with the help of the night lamp by her side.
I climb into the bed, my bare skin grazes on the soft duvet as the heat from her body travels to mine. Her small hands flop the papers on her face and the only thing peeking out is the red tips of her ears.
“About earlier…” she whispers with a strangled choke.
I was never the one to beat around the bushes. “I’m not.”
Fia hiccups in shock, big doe eyes catching mine with mortification raging in them. “What?”
“I don’t mind you calling me that.”
She jerks her head back to face the sheets of music, but I take them away from her grasping fingers. Her strength is not matchable to mine, and I put them on her nightstand as her breath hitches when I lean over her tiny body.
“But—”
I raise an interrogative eyebrow. “But what?”
She quiets down, uncertain and faltering as she kneads the duvet. “I don’t know.”
I turn with a hand pushing down her pillow and the other hand cradling her pink cheek, and I keep her attention on me with a mere pinch of strength traveling to her jaw.
It’s a gesture that she has experienced from me on multiple occasions, and she knows the meaning behind it—a possessive, controlling, and degrading demand for obedience.
“Do you want me to be?”
As expected, Fia’s face turns sweltering red with heat sizzling under my fingers. She shyly pulls her face back, eyes unfocused and scared as I keep my hand on her to let her know that I am not at all repelled by that notion.
“N-no,” she murmurs lowly. “No, no… um, no.”
It’s not an easy concept to come to terms with, but I’m willing to take the time to help her divulge into that role. She wants it, she wants to be my darling girl, but she’s scared of what it encompasses.
“Daddy doesn’t like liars, darling girl.”
She sniffles weakly, doe eyes sitting in unshed tears. I can’t tell what they are from, but it is a visceral image that imprints in my heart.
My darling is so pretty.
“I’m sorry.” She coughs, restless fingers pulling at the duvet. “I-I don’t—I… I’m sorry, I know it’s not normal. I’m sorry!”
“It’s perfectly normal,” I croon with a gentle stroke of her cheek.
The aspect of her inexperience in relationships is warped and she doesn’t understand that there are connections based on what I want from her. She wouldn’t be the first pretty little thing to have a Daddy.
“It is?” she whispers in awe as a hint of hope shines in her eyes.
“Yes, it is.” I nod with steady caresses of her face. “It’s not talked about much. Do you know why?”
She shakes her head with curious eyes. “Why?”
“It’s built on the ultimate trust between two people, and maybe more if the relationship is formed on polyamory.”
The word ‘polyamory’ interests her, but it leaves her curiosity just as fast. I wasn’t going to stay on that, either. We will be monogamous. I am too possessive to have another man put his hands on my darling. I would go crazy with jealousy and wonder where I lack that she would need another man to fulfill her need.
“When I become your Daddy and you become my darling, we are in the deepest level of trust.”
Her eyes widen even more with wonder and dare I say a bit of love behind the appreciation of my hand supporting the symbolic weight of this change in our relationship.
“Does that mean Cyrus…?” she asks, and it’s a stupid question.
I give a disapproving growl. “No, our trust goes deeper. It’s only between us because every relationship is unique.”
“Relationship?” She throttles on the squeak. “We are?”
“Yes, we are in a relationship.” I nod with affirmation.
She tilts her head, nuzzling in my palm with confusion. I don’t let her dive too deeply into her thoughts. It’s best if I steer her to where I want her to be, and her mind needs my guidance to find the right footing.
“You want this, darling. I know because I have been watching you for a very long time.”
She shudders. “I know. Cyrus said that when he’s busy, you’re the one that protects me.”
Well, that isn’t what I am talking about, but if it makes her fall deeper into my trap, then it’s alright to let her think like that. I don’t care about morals and consent on this matter, she is what I want, and I know she wants me, too.
“Your subconscious wants to be with me. You miss me when I’m not there, and you crave to be touched by me, don’t you, darling girl?”
Whenever I ‘leave’ I would make sure she is left with a bit of wonder about anything. She could dwell on something I said, done, or the way I touched her when I left. I never truly left; I simply shadowed her every move.
I have an understanding of her routine despite her trying to change it up, but she has this subconscious desire to do some things in a certain order, and that puts her at greater risk.
“Do you trust me?” I ask with a disarming smile.
She relaxes with a timid smile. “Yes, I trust you.”
“Then I will be your Daddy.”
Fia’s little pink mouth opens and closes. Her anxiousness and ashen face begin to flush red again as her lips quiver with speechlessness. I don’t expect her to be this sudden grateful and gleeful girl that accepts my request, but I do want an answer.
“Say ‘Yes, Daddy’ darling.”
She stutters, testing the new territory with her sweet voice. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good,” I say with praise at the end.
I open the duvet and tip my head down. “Get down. I want you to sleep well tonight.”
She curiously voices her interest in that. “How did you know I didn’t sleep well last night?”
That’s an awfully big step on the assumption that I know about last night”s sleep. Though she is right, I do know about the internal turmoil that she had when she found out I had gathered her into my arms.
I must make sure she gets the best of care; I can provide warmth with my abnormally high body temperature, safety through the iron cages of my arms, and the lure to sleep with my heartbeat.
That combination works like magic on her, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep without a care for the world.
“You were moving too much,” I remark blandly.
She apologizes profusely. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. It’s just that—you were… you know.”
“I know what?” I push her as I lay the heavy white duvet on her neck. Her big eyes gaze up at me as I drop to my elbow to watch over her.
“The cuddling…” she squeals in embarrassment.
It’s normal for couples to be in the same bed and cuddling as she puts it. She may not have been ‘mine’ yesterday, but I have considered Fia my darling for years now.
No one is going to change that, and certainly not the fatherly figure of Cyrus. I know that man will have a word or two about this relationship, but it is not his business. He needs to focus on his wife and leave Fia in my care as it has always been.
He is a stubborn man, and I think he knew something was off about me when he first introduced me to Fia, but he was in denial and pushed it down to his subconsciousness.
He doesn’t think a man twenty years older should be with someone so young with a bright future ahead of her. I never did like to listen to anyone before, and I believe I had been written upon insubordination a couple of times.
None of the consequences went anywhere because the army needed me, and they couldn’t afford to lose a brain that thought differently than the average.
“You were cold, darling. I was not about to let you freeze on my watch.” I tuck her hair behind her ear.
Her lashes flutter prettily, brushing on her skin in the lightest touch, and she sighs at the slow brush of her hair.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, her small body curling deeper down the bed and securing her spot in front of me.
“What was that?” I pull on a piece of silken hair.
She makes a noise in the back of her throat. “Thank you, Daddy, for keeping me warm.”
My chest rumbles with approval. Her body begins to relax as the grip of sleep sinks its claws into her mind.
I had prepared myself for the questions that she would have when I put this choice on her, but I must admit that it wasn’t a choice that I gave her. It was a controlled guide to a mind-space that I want her to be in so I can control the narrative better.
I didn’t have trouble at all. She was all too trusting and too na?ve to understand that this is not a healthy way to start a relationship, but she has no baseline to distinguish the manipulation coated with a sweet poison that seeps into her mind.
I do what is best for her, and I deem this is the way. Some dangerous people want to hurt her because she is out in the public a lot, and one day, they will be consumed by their obsession and violence will answer their prayers.
In my eyes, violence is always the answer. It is almost a guarantee that they will learn their place once I teach them a lesson if they dare to touch what’s mine.
I have had enough of being the guardian angel in the shadows. It’s time for me to become her protector in the lights.
Cyrus will no longer be able to take this responsibility since his wife is too sick to let him take one step away from her, but I have no obligation to Alana or her husband.
I rest my head on the edge of the pillow, my head touching hers as I feel her breathing on my skin while sleep completely steals her away.
She wouldn’t be sleeping so peacefully next to me if she has any inclination of what goes on in my mind, but she would never know. I’ll make sure of that.
Closing my eyes, sleep comes rather quickly.
Time passes, and I get woken up by something not quite right. The hairs on my arms, the pinch of a nerve at the back of my neck, and the nipping of a warning swirling in my mind snap my eyes open.
Darkness blocks the entire wall as my eyes focus.
I stay in my position stiffly, arms around Fia, and securing her deeper into my embrace. The subtle changes in the air are alarming, but I haven’t been able to pinpoint them for the last five minutes.
Taking a brazen chance, I sit up from the bed and press my palm on the bed space behind Fia. My eyes scout the pitch-blackness around the cabin, and my eyes land on the place where the stairs would be.
I should remember in the morning to make a wall and a door to enclose the space for privacy. It’s another layer of protection for Fia, and I could use that right now.
The more I stare into the darkness, the more it stares back at me.
I keep my eyes there and move to turn on the lamp. I’m prepared for something to be there, but the light shows nothing other than the small whispers in my ears that the air is wrong.
I may be retired, but I still have the training to detect the notion of being watched.
It’s an asset that comes from experience, and I am not wrong about this. Someone is watching me, and it’s not an animal.
My gray eyes scout the room with care before scanning the open living room down below with a detailed sweep. Nothing has been moved. I don’t see any signs of someone being in here because I would have heard the door open.
This place has more touches from nature, but I am not that much of a risk-taker when it comes to Fia, so I had a security system installed beforehand. Although I am paranoid, it’s at times like this that it is definitely appreciated.
It’s an off-network system that doesn’t connect to anything other than this cabin. The cables and some of the sensors are in the walls to use as a secondary wall of protection if someone with a basic comprehension of security systems sees the tell-tale signs of gadgets.
Once I know that there is no intruder, then that leaves the world beyond these walls. Someone is here with us, and I was not positive before when I felt a tip of the scale in my head on the first day, but this afternoon confirms my suspicion.
“Daddy?” Fia murmurs sleepily; her small knuckles rub her eyes as she groggily lifts her head.
I smooth down her fluffy hair and lure her back to sleep. She lays back down, closes her beautiful eyes, and falls asleep again.
Something sharp like glass shatters on impact against the front door. That startles Fia out of her sleep, and she jerks up in fright. She hits my arm with her chin as she heaves through short breaths.
“W-what was that?” Her concerned and concerned eyes fall to the door.
She hides behind me with her small hands, finding my naked back for support. I lean over to my nightstand and reach under to take the gun that I have hidden there.
“Stay here, darling.”
She tries to grasp my arm, but she slips and falls on the bed. “W-wait, Daddy.”
“Scream if you see something.” I unhook the safety clip on the gun, ready and willing to take out the threat.
I look over my shoulder at her as she huddles to the headboard of the bed while scrunching up the duvet over her nose. Scanning the massive living room, I steadily walk down the stairs and turn to the space under the second floor that I couldn’t have seen from upstairs.
Everything is in its rightful place before I make my way to the door. I put my back to the wall, gun pointing down at the ground before I flick my eyes up to the second floor. I could see the night lamp casting a halo and the edge of her shadow with nothing obstructing the glow, so I know no one is up there other than Fia.
I crack the door open and wait for a moment, but nothing comes through, so I open it a little more. A piece of glass topples inside as it had laid on the door, and it’s clear of any distinctive markings.
I look closer. Are those ashes?
I peer out the door, and all that greets me is the darkness of the night, the bickering crickets and the rustling trees form a cloud of white noise to serve as background noise.
I shut the door and pick the piece of glass up. The ashes cling to my fingers as I put the glass on a table so I can have a better look when I turn the lights on.
“Daddy?” Fia calls from above.
She pokes her head from the top of the stairs. “Is it safe?”
“Yes,” I answer before gathering my attention on the ashes.
Fia’s gentle footsteps smack on the hardwood floor as she makes it down the stairs with her finding a straight line to my side.
“What is it?” she asks, peering over my arm as her cold hands wrap around my bicep.
“Ashes,” I note and rub the fine specks between my fingers.
She repeats the word with confusion in her voice. I separate my fingers, looking at the ashes more closely to find that they are sparkling.
Fia gasps breathlessly, hand slapping over her pink lips, and horror stains her face.
“What are you thinking, darling?”
She stammers, thoughts coming out of her mouth incoherently. Fia breathes deeply, calming her nerves with a shuddering chill. I wrap my arm around her, bringing her closer, so she’s not exposed to the cold cabin.
“It’s the interpreted backstory of Pandora’s Star.”
I recall it’s her first piece for the next performance that is mere days away. She will have to return to the city for that, and I’ll organize a way to get her there, but she will need to come right back to his cabin after that.
“People think the piece is about a concubine falling out of a king’s favor, but it’s not that dark. Even the composure said that it’s a light piece to begin the entire performance.”
Her explanation doesn’t tell me why this bottle of ashes was thrown on my door. This also solidifies the fact that there is someone else in these woods.
As suspicion erodes away the common sense to pack our things to leave for the city in the morning. I have this sick notion of knowing that they are here for Fia.
No matter where she is, they will follow, and I can’t protect her to the best of my abilities when there are more chances of being in danger than being here where I can put all my focus in this restricted environment.
“I’m scared.” Her whimper causes her small body to tremble in my arm. “He’s here. He found me, and I—”
I shush her with a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m here, darling. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”