11. Chapter Nine
CHAPTER NINE
BETSY
“ W here are we going?” Betsy asked.
“We are going back to your apartment.”
Excitement filled her. Two days had passed since she had woken up from her nap. He had put her down for a nap every day since then and made sure she got enough sleep at night. It was weird to say the least. Betsy wasn’t used to it and honestly didn’t like it.
She had complained several times, saying she didn’t need to but Daddy wouldn’t have it. He said her health was super important and he was making sure she was healthy.
Healthy her butt.
Betsy honestly thought he just liked bossing her around. Making sure she followed his rules.
She groaned. Daddy had gone over the rules yesterday. There were so many of them and she didn’t understand why. No lying, no putting herself in danger, always eat three meals a day, no taking hacking jobs until she did the research and showed it to Daddy, inside voices and so many more.
She knew rules were important, but some of them were overkill. She didn’t need a rule about not putting herself in danger. There was no danger. Or eating three meals a day. Betsy loved food.
Sure, she had gotten a little skinnier since she had been only eating a little each meal, but she had a reason. She was trying to save up for a nicer place and if she had to sacrifice how much she ate every meal, she was going to.
Daddy didn’t know that though. He hadn’t asked and she didn’t give up the information. He knew she lived in the bad part of town.
“When we get some of your stuff, your computer specifically, I want you to remember that you have to do research before and come to me with it,” Daddy said as he pulled into the parking lot.
She groaned. “I still don’t understand why I have to talk to you about it. If I do the research, I should be able to take the job or not. Make my own decision.”
“I have a feeling even if you did the research, you would take any job.”
Daddy wasn’t wrong with that statement.
“If they aren’t a pedophile, I’ll do it.”
“I heard you had put a pedophile away.”
Her mouth hung open as she stared at him. “Where did you hear that?”
“Small community.”
“I covered my tracks really well with that one. Made sure to.”
“You did an amazing job at it. I covered your tracks a little more when I saw it. Another hacker, Rolo, was the one who found out about it. Thankfully he found it and not someone else. He and I don’t like pedophiles either.”
It made Betsy feel better that she wasn't the only one who would have done that.
"I still don't know why I need to tell you what I found before accepting or declining the job."
Daddy cupped her face. "I just want to make sure that you are safe. Sometimes you can't find everything and I don't want you to cross the wrong person. And sometimes I may know the person."
"And?"
"And if I know the person and we are friends, I don't want you doing something to them. Sometimes the person asking for a job isn't in the right or just wants to ruin someone's life to make them feel better about themselves, not because they have a good reason. People can lie about their reason and that's why you look into things."
Maybe she was too trusting. She never really looked into people before and just took their word. How many people had lied to her? How many people took advantage of her being too trusting?
"That's why I am going to help you. You can still hack, I'm not telling you not to, but I want you safe and for you to cover all your bases."
She nodded, understanding what he was putting down. It still didn't fully make sense. She could do her own research and make the decision for herself.
"Do you write down anywhere the jobs you do?"
She shook her head. "No. I just do them or turn them down. Then I forget about them."
Whenever she did a job, she tended not to think too much about it. She didn't want to get attached or remember too much of the details.
“Wait,” she whispered.
“What’s wrong?” Daddy asked. “Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?”
“We’re picking up my stuff?”
She thought he was dropping her off. Was he not?
“Yes, Little one. We are picking up a couple of things that you need right now and then I’m having some guys come over to pack up the rest and move to my apartment.”
“No.”
“Yes, baby. We’re going to pick up your computer along with some clothes and Little items you need. Well, and anything else you need that you can’t live without for a week.”
She shook her head. “Your apartment is going to get so crowded.”
Betsy hoped that excuse worked. His apartment wasn’t small, but she did have a lot of things. Some she could part with but he didn’t need to know that.
“Nothing to worry about. I bought the apartment right next to it and will have some people knock the wall down so it can be one big apartment. Plenty of space.”
“B-bought?” she stuttered, not believing what she just heard.
“Yes, Little one. I bought the one I am in right now and I bought the next one over. I may even buy a third one if you think we need more space. But if you would rather have a house, I can buy a house as well.”
“As well?”
How much money did he have? Buying an apartment and then a house is expensive.
“Yes, Little one. I figured we could keep these two apartments and live in the house if you want one. Then we can have the big apartment as a getaway or as a play space that is bigger than the one that would be in the house.”
She blinked several times, not believing what he was saying.
“How much money do you have?” She asked. “Wait. Shit. Don’t answer that question. That was super personal and I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s okay. I have a lot of money. My expenses have been pretty low so most of my money goes into a savings account. I’ve got a lot saved up so I can spoil you.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need that.”
“You need that and I know you want it as well.”
How did he know? Betsy figured almost everyone wanted to be spoiled at some point in their life.
“You just let me know when you want a house and I’ll buy one. We can even go look at houses tomorrow if you wanted.”
“No, that’s okay.”
Betsy didn’t figure she would live with him for her whole life. He was going to get sick of her at some point and ask her to leave.
“I know that look on your face.”
“No you don’t.”
He couldn’t.
“Yes, I do. We are living together forever. You are my girl. My girl.”
“We just met.”
“Doesn’t mean shit. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Can we get my stuff?”
Daddy nodded. “We’re going to talk about this at some point. You aren’t getting away from it.”
Betsy ignored him and placed her hand on the door.
“Don’t even think about it. When you are with me, I open the door for you and help you get out. When we are together, I pay for food and anything. Understand?”
Sighing, she nodded and relaxed in her chair. She wasn’t going to give up on fighting him, but she needed to be wise about what battles she fought. Betsy didn’t want to make herself tired fighting all of the smaller battles and not have any energy for the big ones.
Daddy walked around the car and opened her door, grabbing her hand and helping her out.
“Such a good girl waiting for Daddy.”
Not like she had much of a choice.
“Do you have some bags in your apartment or do you need me to grab some?”
“I’ve got some.”
Daddy wrapped her arm around his waist as they walked. She was just the right height for it not to be awkward.
“Is that a–”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Why was he carrying around a gun?
“To keep you safe and because people know I work for the Ricci Crime Family. You can never be too careful. This isn’t the best part of town.”
She knew that really well.
“Has anything happened to you while you were living here?” Daddy asked as they stepped into the elevator.
“No.”
It wasn’t a lie but it also wasn’t exactly the truth, Her neighbors were a little weird, having people over at odd times. Betsy didn’t go out much or interact with many people.
“Betsy.”
“I promise nothing has happened. I haven’t interacted with anyone since I’ve been living here.”
“But?”
She sighed. “My neighbors are sketchy, but what do you expect? Some people hang around the building, but I knew about this before I moved in. I’ve dealt with it and I’m fine. I’m always careful.”
That wasn’t always true. She got distracted and sometimes forgot to look at her surroundings. But nothing ever happened to her so she was fine.
“Mhm, I find that a little hard to believe.”
She fake gasped as they stepped off of the elevator.
“How dare you. I am safe. A lot of the time I get things delivered so I don’t have to go out.”
“Do you look through your peephole?”
“No.”
She stood outside of the elevator.
“It might be a little sketchy here, but normally it’s pretty quiet around here. Nothing has happened yet.”
That she knows of. She hasn’t looked into anything in fear of getting scared or paranoid. She didn’t need that.
“Well, you won’t have to worry about that anymore. My place is safe and nothing is going to happen.”
“Whatever. Let me go first since I have the key to the apartment.”
Before he could say anything, she started walking to her door. She immediately saw a paper taped to the door. Her steps slowed down. Sometimes the landlord taped things to peoples doors if they weren’t home to let them know of anything that was going to happen.
Betsy sucked in a breath as she saw her name written on the paper. Shit. She had put the apartment under a fake name so no one would know she lived there. Who could possibly know she lived here?
She quickly took it down and held it to her chest. Everything was going to be okay. Maybe it was from Daddy, but he didn’t say anything about it.
“Is everything okay?” Daddy asked.
“Yep,” she squeaked.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep, I am. My friend sends me letters all the time. She doesn’t like text messages. Something about people being able to see them so she sends me letters all the time. I basically get one or two every day.”
A ball formed at the pit of her stomach as she uttered those words. They were all a lie. She didn’t have a friend who was paranoid and sent her letters. But she didn’t know who this was from and Daddy didn’t need to know either.
“Well. come on. Let's go in and get your stuff. Let’s pull the bags out first and fill them with whatever you will need for the week. The rest of it will be packed up by some of the guys and brought to the apartment.”
Betsy held the note close to her chest as she unlocked the door and stepped in. Just how she left it.
“Do you have any vibrators or toys you don’t want them to see?”
“You did not just ask that question.”
“I did. Do you? We’ll pack things you need but also don’t want other people to see.”
“Okay, I can pack my coloring books.”
She walked towards her room. The first thing she needed to do was place the note in her laptop and in her bag so she could look at it later. Everything in her wanted to look at it now, but she knew she couldn’t. What if it was bad? Daddy would ask her so many questions and she didn’t want to be bombarded with questions.
“You didn’t answer Daddy’s question.”
Betsy continued to walk towards her bedroom, completely ignoring Daddy.
“Stop right there, young lady.”
She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. “What?”
“Do you have any vibrators or other sex toys?”
“That’s none of your business.”
He walked closer and bent down so he was eye level. “Oh, but it is. Answer Daddy.”
“No, I don’t.”
That was the truth. Most of her friends from high school had sex toys while they were teenagers. She never did because for the first few years of her teenage life it was just her and her dad and she didn’t need him getting into her business. Then she was in foster homes and it didn’t feel right.
Not that she could have bought them anyways. She didn’t have much money and the money she did have she was saving up for college.
“Why not?”
She groaned. “We are not having this conversation.”
“Yes, we are. Tell Daddy why you don’t have any toys.”
She shrugged. “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope. I’ll continue to ask.”
“Fine,” she let out a dramatic breath of air. “I don’t have any because I never wanted one. When I did, I didn’t have the money and now I just don’t want one.”
“Why do you not want one?”
She closed her eyes and turned around. Betsy did not want to be having this conversation. It was weird and just shouldn’t be happening.
“I just don’t want one now. It’s not a crime. I would rather get my pleasure from a real person and not a toy.”
“Good girl for answering Daddy’s questions. Such a good girl.”
Betsy turned around and started to walk to her room. Every single time he called her a good girl, he made her knees weak. If he continued, she wouldn’t be able to walk.
“Hmmm, does my girl like to be called a good girl?” He called out.
She safely made it into her room and placed the note on her keyboard before closing her laptop. Betsy placed it in her bag before Daddy walked in.
“Does she?”
She didn’t answer, not wanting him to know.
“I think she does. Maybe if she is a really good girl, we can go out for ice cream. Daddy does owe you three big scoops of ice cream.”
Betsy had completely forgotten about that. After the scare with the knife, she had forgotten and didn’t remember until he mentioned it.
“Technically I can be a bad girl and still get the ice cream since you owe it to me,” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Daddy didn’t say when you would have it. Just that it would be at one sitting. And naughty girls don’t get rewards, even if it was promised from before. It will get pushed back.”
Well, she hadn’t thought that one through.
“But good thing for you, you’ve been a good girl so far today.”
Betsy didn’t reply. How was she supposed to? Say thanks and tell him she’ll be a good girl for the rest of the day? She had no idea if that was going to be true or not. No reason to promise something when she didn’t know the outcome.
“Let’s get packing. You let me know what needs to go in what bag and once we fill them up, I’ll take them down to the car.”
Nodding, she started directing Daddy in what she needed. Her coloring books, few polly pockets, and some clothes for Mikey were the essential stuff and things she didn’t want the other people to see.
Next were a couple clothes for her, toiletries, and her other equipment for work.
“Let’s go look at the kitchen to see what we need to bring.”
Before she could utter a single word, Daddy was walking out of her room with the two bags in hand. Kitchen.
Her eyes went wide. “Shit.”
Betsy went after Daddy, trying to stop him from looking in.
“Wait!” she yelled.
But Daddy was already opening the fridge. “Little one?”
She closed her eyes and looked away. “Please floor, swallow me up,” she mumbled.
“Betsy?”
“Yes?” She was so hesitant on answering him. Why wouldn’t the floor open up and take her down with it?
“Why isn’t there any food in your fridge?”
She didn’t answer and continued to look away. No matter what she said, he wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Betsy. Look at Daddy,” he calmly commanded. “Now.”
She turned around and looked over. Daddy’s face was calm and neutral, something she didn’t like. Betsy wanted to see the emotions on his face so she could tell what he was thinking and feeling. Right now, she was in the blind spot.
Was he angry? Worried? Disgusted?
“Are you starving yourself?” He asked.
She shook her head.
“Then why is your fridge empty?”
“I don’t cook much?” it came out more like a question.
He blinked several times. He wasn’t buying what she said.
“Try again.”
She sighed. “I eat out a lot?”
It wasn’t a lie but it also wasn’t the truth. How was she going to get out of this?
“Betsy.”
“Fine. I’ve been trying to save up money to get out of here. I go down to the little sub place a block away and get food. Sometimes I go to the grocery store to grab a couple of things but I always forget. It also takes time to cook, even though I like to, and I need to work to earn money.”
But now that she had earned over one hundred grand from that one job, it had pushed her time table up. Betsy could probably look for other apartments now and get one.
“Baby.”
“I don’t need your pity. I did this to myself knowing it would suck.”
And it did. Sometimes Betsy would go without food because she got sick and tired of sandwiches. But it was her problem and not anyone else's.
“Betsy.”
Daddy walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. She sunk into his embrace.
“Everything is going to be okay. Daddy is here and I’m going to take care of you. No more sandwiches or skipping meals to save money. I’ve got plenty of it.”
She pulled back. “I’m not taking your money.”
Daddy ran his hand through her hair. “Daddy is going to buy you a lot of things with his money. I know you can work and earn your own money but Daddy wants to take care of you.”
“I have worked hard to earn the money I saved up for.”
“And you still can, but you don’t have to worry about saving up and trying to eat cheap things. You can spend that money on new equipment. A better computer, monitors, a desk, chair.”
Betsy had been waiting to buy all of those until she got her apartment. The apartment was the first thing on her list, then she could splurge on other things.
“I’m not staying for long.”
Daddy gripped her chin. “You are staying with me forever. There is no getting out of it. You were made for me.”
“I was not!” she yelled.
“You were and we aren’t going to talk about it anymore.”
She huffed. They were going to talk about it again, she would make sure of it. She had to make sure of it. With every passing hour, she found herself wanting to stay with him more and more.
He was possessive and demanding, really demanding, but everything he had done was always something for her. To keep her safe, make her feel welcomed, and was just looking out for her.
Was she ever going to find someone like that again?
She shook her head. Betsy couldn’t be thinking about this. She needed to keep herself focused on the plan. Daddy had to leave her at some point to do things for the Ricci Crime Family. She should just have to leave then and start somewhere fresh.
First she was going to have to transfer all of her money to an offshore account so Daddy couldn’t trace it. Then she would be able to leave whenever he left the apartment.
“Come on. Let’s go home,” Daddy said as he grabbed her two bags.
Picking up her backpack, she followed Daddy out of the apartment, locking it, before they made their way to the elevator.
“I can carry that.”
“Daddy said no. Be thankful you can carry your backpack. I can carry that as well if you want me to.”
Her hands gripped the straps tighter. The note was in the backpack and she didn’t want him touching that.
“No, thank you.”
“That’s what I thought. When you are with Daddy or any of the Ricci Crime Family men, you will not open your own door, pay for your stuff, or carry anything heavy.”
“So chivalry isn’t dead,” she muttered.
“Not with us, baby. We take care of our women.”
She should be thankful. What he was doing was sweet, but her circumstances were not. She was living with him against her own will. Would she ever be able to leave? Would he leave the apartment without her so she could escape or would he make her go everywhere he did to keep an eye on her?
“Will I ever be able to carry things again?”
“You are carrying your backpack right now.”
She sighed as they walked out of the elevator. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to get used to it because if she did and then left, it would be horrible.
“We’re going to put your stuff in your own room,” Daddy said as he started to unlock the door.
Disappointment filled her for a couple of seconds. Why was she disappointed? Betsy should feel relief and happiness but she wasn’t. Maybe it was because he declared that she was his and figured she would be sleeping in his bed with him.
Was that what she wanted?
Betsy shouldn’t want that, not when she was trying to leave. She should want to have her own room so she can come up with a plan to get out.
Closing her eyes tightly, she took in a deep breath before letting it out and looking at Daddy. He was already staring at her, worry in his facial expression.
“Are you okay, Baby?”
“I’m fine.”
He walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her. “Are you sure? It’s okay to not be okay. I’m right here if you need to lean on someone, cry on someone's shoulders, or just be held until you feel like you can stand on your own two feet. And if it takes a while, then it takes a while but I’m always here for you.”
How could Daddy say that when he had only known her for a day? If he continued to keep saying things like that, it was going to make it harder and harder to leave when she had the chance. Was that his plan all along?
“You’re okay,” he whispered. “If you need anything, you let me know. Even if you think it’s really small or silly, you come to Daddy. I’ll listen to anything.”
“But not about me leaving,” she mumbled.
“Baby, we’ve gone over this.”
“I know.”
But she still wanted to go over it again. She wanted to let him know how she really felt about everything. Would he listen?
“Let’s go inside and put your other stuff away.”
His arms left her as he walked to grab her things and open the door.
“In you go.”
Betsy walked into the apartment and waited for him to tell her where she was going. She had yet to explore the whole apartment.
“The construction for the wall being torn down in going to start tomorrow and should only last a couple of days. They will be working long hours in the day to get this done.”
Nodding her head, she followed him as he walked past the kitchen and down the hall. They passed his office where her cot still was.
Was she going to sleep in that every night or did she actually have her own bed? What if she had nightmares? Were the rooms soundproof so he wouldn’t be able to hear anything?
Betsy highly doubted they were soundproof and she wasn’t about to ask. That would raise questions. Questions she wasn’t ready to answer.
“Come on, baby.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled and started to walk again.
She hadn’t even realized she stopped walking. Was he going to get worried even more? Was she going to have to come up with answers on the spot and try to make them believable? Would he fall for it?
“This is your room. I already placed Mike on the bed for you,” Daddy placed the bags down next to the bed. “Do you want to unpack right now or do you want to do it later tonight?”
“Later tonight.”
She didn’t want to unpack anything in case she could leave. But Betsy figured if she was going to leave, she wouldn’t be able to bring both of those bags. They would slow her down and she didn’t know if Daddy had placed any tracking devices on them when she wasn’t looking.
“I’ll be right back,” Daddy said.
She watched as he left the room. Placing her backpack on the bed, she looked over at Mikey.
“We’re going to be stuck here forever,” she whispered. “No way out. He keeps saying he wants me, but I think it’s just because I know too much.”
Mikey didn’t reply.
“He’s making it hard to want to leave when I get the chance. Him saying all those nice things to me. That he’s going to take care of me, be there for me, spoil me, discipline me, and more. Am I ever going to find another man like that? But he kidnapped me and is keeping me here against my will.”
He said he wants you. He’s told you so many times. You call him Daddy in your head and avoid calling his name so you don’t mess up and call him Daddy out loud. Though, you already have once or twice. Mikey said.
“Not fair. You know I was hurt and not in my right mind.”
But still. He’s told you this several times. Believe him.
Before Betsy could reply, Daddy walked back into the room.
“Do you want to go get ice cream or decorate your other room?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Other room?”