17. Chapter 17
Gideon
A dozen phone calls later and we were ready. Max drove us straight to the meeting area. Dion and Walker would bring the gear and more weapons. The plan was for Chris and his guys to go in as customers. Pretend to get stupid drunk and cause a scene. Early, so the club wouldn’t be fully staffed and no nightclubbers would be there.
Eric got us the plans and could disable the alarms. Keyhole could get us inside. We targeted the private entrance because, according to what Eric told us, it was a direct path to the lower floors. As soon as Eric let us know that Chris and the guys were causing enough problems upstairs so every security guard available had to deal with them, the alarms were off, and the cameras had been put on a loop. Keyhole got some kind of electronic hand-held box out and used it on the door.
And we were in. It was slow going because some locked rooms were empty and there were two floors, but eventually we found another flight of stairs behind a locked door.
My heart leapt. I knew she was here. I just knew it. We fanned out, but there were only three doors and only one was locked. Max and I got on either side, guns drawn, and nodded to Keyhole, but he just shook his head. No electronic lock. I almost snarled in fury and simply stepped back and kicked the door open. Sometimes knocking down doors worked just as well.
“DADDY” Abby cried out, and I took in Junior’s raised fist. Not that he got chance to bring it down because two heartbeats later Junior was down with a very large bullet hole in his temple and Abigail was in my arms. I nodded my thanks to Max and turned her away, lifting and carrying her out. She didn’t need to see anything else.
Dion drove us and Abby simply sat on my lap all the way home. She cried herself to sleep after a while, and didn’t wake until I carried her through the doors. But then she started crying and struggling. “No, don’t touch me, I’m dirty.” My heart fell to my boots, so I stepped back. “Call Margaret,” I ordered, but Abby shook her head.
“No, I don’t mean don’t touch me.” Confused, I looked at Dion, and he simply pulled at his jacket, and I took her in, understanding flooding me. She meant don’t touch me yet .
“Can I help you get a shower, baby?”
She nodded and more tears fell. She scrambled out of the tatted remnants of a god-awful red dress and then let me take her hand. I hesitated, wanting to get in with her, but not wanting to scare her even more by stripping.
“You’re not cold, Daddy,” she whispered, which was Abby-speak for I needed to strip, and I did so with relief. I turned the shower on then lavished her with attention. Every inch of skin was cleaned. Every bruise kissed. She leaned into me and closed her eyes when I washed her hair. I’d just lifted her out when Dion knocked and said the doc was here, so I bundled her up in a robe, shrugged on some shorts, and carried her back into the bedroom.
“I need the blue one,” she whispered and yanked my shirt that she’d worn before out of the laundry basket, and I shielded her as I helped her into it, ridiculously glad that she might find some comfort with what I’d worn.
Doc appeared as if he was waiting for my signal, tutting and examining her in his usual calm manner once I nodded, and he soon had her breathing slower. “Just a bit banged up, Abby,” he said. “Anywhere else I need to check?” I held my breath, knowing what he was asking, but Abby shook her head. I didn’t even show the doc out, just climbed in bed with her and she willingly let me pull her into my arms.
“I knew you’d come for me,” Abby whispered, and I had to swallow hard.
“Because you’re mine,” I confirmed.
“No,” Abby said and yawned. “Because I still have five days.”
I opened my mouth to ask what she meant, but she was out like a light.
Three days later, I was frantic. Doc had been to see her, and so had Margaret. He had even brought a therapist to see her named Anna, who reminded me of a pixie. She was barely five feet tall, had blue hair, and looked like she should be sitting on a toadstool in a fairy garden.
She spent a long time with Abby while I paced the kitchen, Doc watching me steadily. Max, Dion, and Walker were taking it in turns to be here as well, and currently Max was sitting on a kitchen stool. “I get it’ll take a long time,” I said, “but she wanted me for comfort almost immediately and still she’s getting worse.” She didn’t even sleep in my arms last night, just rolled over. “I don’t know what to do.”
Max just shook his head because I knew he felt helpless enough about Clare. He’d even tried to see her again, but she’d refused. Then there was still the matter of Jonathan Rice and Blakeny to deal with, but I knew Maddox wanted in on that.
A moment later the pixie walked into the kitchen, and I nearly pounced on her before she held her hand up. “Everything Abby said is confidential, but I have one question. She needs to continue her therapy, but she says she won’t be living here in two days, so I’m going to need her new address.”
It was a good thing I was near a chair because my legs gave out on me. I glanced at Max. “She’s leaving me?”
Anna smiled gently. “Like I said, anything we discuss is confidential, but she seemed to think you knew.”
I gazed at her in utter confusion.
“She was adamant she had two days left, so if you could give me her address, I’d appreciate it.”
The doc just said he’d email her the details when he had them and they both left. I hadn’t moved. “She’s leaving me,” I repeated hoarsely. It was all my fault. I probably reminded her of all the horrible things that had happened. No wonder she hated me.
“Isn’t that a little specific, though?” Max said.
“What?” I snapped. “Yeah, leaving me in two days is pretty specific.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. Why two days? Why not tomorrow or three days even? You know how her mind works better than anyone. Why does she think she’s leaving specifically in two days?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it and groaned. “Baby girl,” I whispered, then looked at Max. “Because I screwed up again.” He grinned, and while I was pleased to see the first glimmer of lightness in the man, I wanted to slap myself. It was the two weeks. I’d thought I was giving us both a chance to get to know each other better. I knew I’d rushed everything, and between that fucker Junior and her job, she’d been overwhelmed. She had to have taken the two weeks as if that were an end date. Nine foster homes in fifteen years? Of course, she expected it to be temporary.
But what could I do to convince her otherwise?
I smiled. “Max, I need you to go do something for me.”
“Anything,” he said, standing up. I eyed his expensive tailored pants.
“You might want to get some jeans on.”
He blinked and looked down at himself. “Why?”
“Because dog slobber and hair are a bitch to get off.”
Abigail
I didn’t know what to do. I had no job and in two days I would be homeless. Although, that wasn’t exactly fair. I knew Daddy wouldn’t throw me out, but how could I stay when I knew he didn’t want me anymore?
“Baby girl?”
I really wanted to pretend I was asleep, but Daddy had told me I mustn’t ever lie, so I opened my eyes. He gently wiped away the tears under them, then bent and kissed my lips. I couldn’t stop another tear because it felt like he was saying goodbye. I shook my head. “I still have today and tomorrow.”
He smiled and held his hand out. “Come on baby, I have something to show you, although I think she needs a bath.” I was just trying to puzzle that out when he mumbled, “So does Max.” Which didn’t make sense either.
I took his hand and stood, then waited while he carefully bent and put my slippers on even though I already had socks on. Then he took my hand again and led me from the playroom and into the kitchen. I saw Max and smiled, but then as I rounded the corner, I came to a dead stop.
“Poppy?” I whispered in disbelief. She heard me, nearly yanking Max off his feet in a mad scramble to reach me. “Poppy,” I cried and dropped to the floor, opening my arms wide and in less than a second, I had them full of a golden fur-ball. I heard Max murmur something about ruining a good pair of Stefano Ricci’s before he left, but I was too busy loving on Poppy.
Eventually, though, doubts and questions crept in, and I lifted my gaze to Daddy, who was watching me with a huge smile on his face. “But she might ruin your suit.”
Daddy chuckled. “Probably.”
I fiddled with the cheap braided collar I knew the shelter would have sent with her. “Why did you get a dog?” Because that seemed the important question.
“I didn’t get a dog,” Daddy said solemnly.
“Oh,” I said in a tiny voice and tried not to cry. “Is she going back in two days as well?”
Daddy shook his head and, seemingly uncaring of dog hairs, he sat on the floor and lifted me and most of Poppy into his lap. “We got a dog. Not me, not you, but we . And she’s going to live out the rest of her life with us. I sent Max to go get us some supplies. She’ll need her own bed in the playroom, a decent collar. She’s microchipped, but I can’t see her running away. Max is getting the basics for her, but we can go shopping tomorrow and get her some toys and some things from the vet.”
I looked up at Daddy and pressed my lips together. “She wouldn’t ever run away. Not if she has a home for real.” My tummy fluttered.
“Oh, and the two-week trial nonsense is over. I’m keeping you, and we’re both keeping Poppy. When we go on vacation, Dion will let her play with his dogs, or Margaret will stay here.”
“We’re keeping her?” And I knew Daddy knew what I was asking. He nodded and set me on my feet, then stood up.
“I’m going to get her some water and make sure she’s settled in the mudroom while we’re busy. I want you to go into the playroom, take off your shorts and panties, and go sit on your naughty stool.”
I gaped. “But—”
“Now,” Daddy said in his stern voice, “Unless you want more than five smacks on your bottom?”
I gulped and shot into the playroom, but as usual, my eyes settled on my clock, and I was immediately distracted. I walked over and took my precious list from the back of it. It was hard to read because it kept going all blurry, but Daddy keeps me forever was written on my heart.
I scanned the list that mentioned things like sitting on Daddy’s lap for mealtimes and putting my pictures up on the fridge and having morning and bedtime cuddles. I quickly found a pencil and in my best handwriting wrote, Goes for walks with Poppy.
“Abby?”
I spun around and, flushing, pushed the paper back in my clock, then realized I hadn’t done what Daddy asked, and fumbled getting my slippers off. Of course, Daddy helped me and soon I was standing with a very bare bottom. I took a step to the stool, but Daddy snagged my hand. “We’ll skip that.” He sat on the edge of the bed and patted his knee. I knew what he wanted and wasn’t sure it seemed like a good idea.
“Abby, I will add one smack for every minute you delay.”
So I shot forward, and Daddy laid me down across his lap. I wriggled and then gasped as I got a smack to stay still.
“Why are you getting punished?”
I had to think. I hadn’t eaten all my vegetables last night, but I didn’t think that was it. They were green and Daddy knew I didn’t like green. Was it because I shut the bathroom door when I went to potty this morning? “I don’t know, Daddy, but I thought I’d been a good girl.”
“Do you remember when I asked you if you knew what a Daddy was, and you told me it’s someone who always looks after a Little?”
I nodded. “And has her best interests at heart,” I added primly, wondering if that would get me out of the spanking.
“And when I asked you how he was supposed to know what they were, you said because she tells him.”
“And if she doesn’t, she gets into trouble,” I murmured because I suddenly knew where this was going.
The second smack was harder than the first, and it stung. “That isn’t because you misunderstood what a two-week trial meant. It’s because instead of talking and asking Daddy, you’ve been sulking.”
I gasped in outrage. “I wasn’t sulking.”
The third smack really hurt, and the fourth one made my eyes leak. “Those are because of the fib you told Daddy about staying in your apartment when you waited until I’d gone and left to go do your laundry.”
“But that was from before,” I wailed.
“Yes,” Daddy agreed, “but we’re starting afresh. That means we don’t take any punishments from before into our new life which starts as soon as I’m done.”
Which made me think even though I was crying. I really liked that idea. I wanted a new start, and I definitely didn’t need to take any of my old life into my new. Well, not apart from Poppy, but we were keeping her, and that was important.
The last smack made my eyes leak. “What was that for?”
“That was because I love you, you’re mine, and I’m keeping you forever.”
He gently rolled me over and I didn’t even mind sitting on Daddy’s lap with a sore bottom because he was kissing me, and my heart was full. “Daddy,” I broke off. “I need to show you something.” I tried not to wince as I scrambled off to go to my clock and get my precious list.
I came straight back, and he lifted me back on, chuckling evilly when I “ow’d” but then he waited patiently while I explained what it was. “It’s a Daddy list.”
“I can see that, baby girl,” he said softly and read it over my shoulder. “I think we should look at it every day just to make sure I’m getting everything right.”
“Yes,” I agreed, sighing happily and imagining every day for the rest of my life being just like this one. Daddy was keeping me forever, but I was going to keep him right back.
The End