24. Chapter Twenty-Two
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
BETSY
N erves ran rampant as she stared at the door. Daddy had left several minutes ago and she was worried. What if he got into trouble and needed help? What if he asked the wrong question and got hurt? What if the person was still there, ready to jump Daddy when he got down there?
There were too many possibilities and Betsy didn’t like any of them. She still didn’t know who was behind this and it made her worried. What if they never found out? What if they got to her before she could figure it out and killed her?
She looked away from the door. Betsy needed to calm down before she sent herself into a panic attack. She did not want that. But how was she supposed to when Daddy took over and hasn’t told her anything?
Had he found anything? Was he closer to finding out who it was? Were they going to send another threatening message?
Betsy got up from the ground, long gone was the desire to color as Daddy was gone. She sighed and walked closer to the front door. Was it dangerous for her to stand there, waiting for Daddy to come back?
A little.
What if someone else came and tried to break in? Would she have enough time to get away and hide?
Maybe she should have brought something with her in case someone did try and break in. But how many times had someone tried to get in while she was here?
None.
The only thing was someone placed something near the door that was open but nothing was missing.
She groaned and closed her eyes. She needed to stop thinking about everything. Had there been a time recently when she could just relax? Betsy couldn’t remember.
Keys jingled and she opened her eyes, looking right at the door. Should she go get something to defend herself with? A bad guy wouldn’t have the key to the apartment though.
“Get a grip,” she whispered to herself as the door opened.
Daddy stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him. Before he could take another step, Betsy was running to him, jumping in his arms, and holding on tight.
“Whoah,” Daddy said, balancing himself. “What’s wrong?”
She just held on tighter, wanting to be as close to Daddy as possible.
“Betsy,” he gently said, wrapping his arms around her. “What’s wrong? Talk to Daddy.”
Part of her didn’t want to talk right now. She just wanted to feel Daddy’s arms wrapped around her, making her feel safe and secure. She couldn’t remember a time when she felt like this that wasn’t Daddy’s arms.
“Betsy, I need you to tell Daddy what’s wrong. I’m worried.”
“D-don’t leave,” she whispered. “Please.”
Daddy started to walk and she held on.
“I’m not going to drop you. I just want to sit so we can cuddle better.”
She felt him sit as she readjusted her legs but the whole time her face was in his neck.
“Talk to Daddy. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. She hated crying in front of people, but she had cried in front of Daddy a couple times now.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
“Daddy,” she whimpered.
“We can stay right here however long you want. I’m not going to leave you.”
“But you did and I was so worried,” she whispered.
Daddy had gone downstairs, all alone, leaving her alone in the apartment. She knew she was safe, but sometimes she didn’t feel like it. Someone had gotten up to their floor and placed a note. Someone knew where they lived.
Was she really safe?
Tears ran down her face.
“I was just right downstairs. You were safe in the apartment. Nothing was going to happen to you.”
“You don’t know that,” she wailed.
How could he predict that she would be safe? He couldn’t.
“But I do know that. I know because if someone tried to get into the house without my special key, an alarm would go off. I would get here before anyone could get to you.”
“No,” she whispered in disbelief.
“Yes, baby. I promise. I installed it in myself when you were down for a nap one day. I wanted to make sure that you were safe.”
“Only you have the key?”
“Well, you’ll have a key as well. Some of the Ricci Crime Family members have a key but only people I am close to. I didn’t just hand out the keys.”
That made her feel a little better.
“I just want this to be over,” she whispered, snuggling closer to him.
She didn’t want to have to worry about whether they were going to send another note or not. She didn’t want to have to worry about looking over her shoulder when she walked out of the house.
When was it going to end?
“Soon, I promise. Daddy is working on finding out who this person is. We are going to take him down,” he said.
So he wasn’t any closer to finding out who it was than she was. Great. Were they ever going to catch the guy?
“Daddy wants to ask you some questions. Do you think you are up for it?”
Betsy pulled back and nodded. She really wasn’t, but she knew these questions were important.
“What jobs have you done in the past month?” Daddy asked.
She closed her eyes. He just had to ask the one question she wasn’t sure of. The one question she tried to forget after every job. Even if she did remember, her mind was so frazzled from everything that was going on, she probably wouldn’t even be able to remember.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, feeling defeated.
“Look at Daddy.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him.
“You’re okay. You are safe and you are okay. Daddy wants you to take several deep breaths. Such a good girl. Now, take your time to think. We aren’t in any rush.”
Betsy took several more deep breaths and grabbed hold of Daddy’s hand. She thought about the jobs she had done recently.
“I don’t really remember much. I try to forget about the jobs after I do them so I don’t dwell on them or look into them later. I kind of remember releasing some photos I think, but I can’t remember who or what the photos were about. I also took some money from a person and gave it to another person,” she explained.
“Can I look on your computer to see if I can find anything?” Daddy asked.
She sighed. “After I finish a job, I always clear my computer so no one can trace it back to me. It’s like a ritual I do and so that way I also can’t look back at it. Whenever I get a call or text, I also delete it after.”
Betsy didn’t know if it was a wise idea, but she had done it from the beginning. Someone had taught her to do it and she didn’t question why. She agreed with the person because she didn’t want anyone to be able to look at her computer or work phone and be able to figure out what she did.
Some things weren’t amazing and could have landed her in big trouble.
“Can I look at it anyways? Maybe I can find the place you wiped it to.”
“I don’t think you’ll be able to but sure,” she mumbled.
Part of her was worried he would be able to find things on her computer. Not that she didn’t want him to, but she was worried someone else might have been able to hack into her computer if she didn’t do a good enough job and find everything.
What if they had? What if that was how the person found her?
“Lets go to your computer and figure it out,” Daddy said.
He stood up, her in his arms, and walked over to her room. Her computer was laying out on her bed. Right where she laid it when she got the note for Daddy the other day.
Daddy hadn’t wanted her to sleep alone after that so she had been sleeping in his bed. It was some of the best sleep she had gotten in a while. No nightmares or restless sleep. She didn’t know if it was because there was always a part of Daddy that was touching her and she felt safe.
“It is probably that,” she mumbled to herself.
“What was that?” Daddy asked, setting her down on the bed.
She looked away, her cheeks pink from embarrassment. Of course she said that outloud.
“Nothing.”
“Hmmm, I don’t think it was nothing, but I’ll let it slide for right now.”
Daddy sat down right next to her and grabbed her laptop. He started to type, doing something on her computer.
“You have security measures, but you don’t have a password on your computer?” Daddy asked.
“I know. I just, I always forget passwords so I made it easy on myself.”
It wasn’t the best, she knew that.
“Baby.”
“I know, it’s just hard to remember sometimes. And anyways, then I can just wake up and get to my computer without having to put a password in. Easy as pie.”
“That isn’t good, Little girl.”
“I can’t write the password down somewhere! That defeats the purpose.”
“We will be setting a password on your computer. I’ll know it and we can write it on a piece of paper so you can keep it next to you.”
She sighed and laid back on the bed, closing her eyes. She wasn’t going to win the argument so why even try? Several minutes went by as she listened to Daddy type on her computer.
“Well, I can’t find anything,” Daddy finally spoke.
Pushing herself up, Betsy looked at Daddy. “Not to sound rude, but I told you so.”
Daddy gave her the look.
Betsy raised her hand and gave him an innocent smile. “I’m right though. I told you when we were sitting on the couch that you weren’t going to be able to find anything. I had someone teach me how to really get rid of everything.”
And now she was regretting it. Maybe she should have kept it in a file on her computer, a secure file to make sure she had every job she did. Too late now, but it was something to think about for the future.
If she had a future.
What if she didn’t make it out of this alive? What if she died because they couldn’t figure out who this person was?
“Who was it?”
She shrugged. “I honestly have no clue. He said his name was Jonathan, but I know that was false. I looked into the name he gave and there was nothing. Just some random hacker who said he wanted to help me out since I was just starting.”
“And what happened next?”
“Well, he taught me a couple of things but one day he just disappeared. We were supposed to meet up that night to go over some things, but I got a note when I arrived that he had to leave and I wouldn’t be able to talk to him again.”
Was it a sad day? Yes, it was. She had cried when she got home. Jonathan, as he called himself, had become a friend. They hung out. She never saw his face and they always went to sketchy places so it wouldn’t look weird that he was covering most of his face. They also only met up at night.
But Betsy hadn’t minded at the time. She was just happy someone was helping her and willing to be her friend.
Did Jonathan consider her a friend? Probably not but she wasn’t going to think about that. He had helped her in a time when she needed it and left without a trace. She probably wouldn’t recognize him if he walked in front of her now.
“When was this?”
“I. Hmm. Maybe five years ago?” it was more of a question. “It was when I first started…so about five years ago. I don’t even know how he found me, but he did and he helped me a lot. I know he has helped some other people as well. There was a nurse who stitched him up one night and he helped her out. I think he gave her money or something.”
“What was her name?” Daddy asked.
“Why do you want to know?”
“I just want to know. Please, do you know who the nurse’s name was?”
“I think it was Anita something. I could probably find out more if you wanted me to. She didn’t work at a hospital, but for someone private. I was trying to cover a cut on his arm in an alleyway and she had walked by and said she was a nurse. Jonathan didn’t like that one bit.”
She could still remember like it was yesterday. Betsy had been waiting for him to come meet her, one of the last times she saw him, and he had come hurt. She of course didn’t have anything and had to improvise with what she had.
Tearing her shirt and trying to wrap it around until she could figure out what to do next. That was when Anita walked by and helped them out.
“But he let her help him?”
“Yeah, after she said her name and that she worked for a private place and she was a nurse. She showed that everything in her bag was sealed and nothing was contaminated. He let her help him then.”
“So he was paranoid.”
“Sure. I mean, who isn’t paranoid? All of us have a little. Some more than others, but it’s there.”
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes.
“Why did you want to know her name?” Betsy asked.
“I think I might know who you are talking about. She works for Rogan as one of the nurses on staff. She said all of the sudden there was a large sum of money in her bank account and I tried to look into it, but kept hitting a dead end.”
“Ah, so it might be Jonathan.”
“Maybe, but there is nothing we can do about it. You don’t know where he is and Anita needed the money.”
“Does Rogan not pay well?”
“He does, but she apparently got herself into trouble with some loans and used that money to pay it off.”
“Maybe I should try and put out something to see if we can get in contact with him. Maybe he can help find out whoever did this or heard whoever is doing this. Though, I don’t even know if he is alive or not.”
“Little one, we are going to figure this out. There is no need to worry about anything. I am going to find out who did this and make him pay,” Daddy said, grabbing her hand. “But I do have some rules.”
Betsy groaned. “Not rules.”
“Yes, baby. Rules. To keep you safe.”
“What are they?”
“When you go out and I am not here, I want you to take someone with you. I know someone who can watch over you while I am busy because I know he won’t be. Dane.”
“Am I going to like him?”
“He is a bit blunt at times. He won’t really talk to you but he will keep you safe. He is great with guns.”
“What does he do? Does he work for the Ricci Crime Family?”
“Of course he does. I would not trust someone else with you. I would only let trusted people come and watch over you while I am not with you.”
“What does he do?”
She noticed how he didn’t answer that question. Was it bad?
“He is an assassin.”
Her mouth fell open. “He’s a what?”
“You heard me. He’s an assassin for the Ricci Crime Family. Used to be a lone wolf, but Rogan did something and he joined. I don’t know what. I don’t think anyone knows besides those two.”
“Can I ask him?”
Daddy shook his head. “No you may not. If I heard that you asked him, there will be consequences. It is not your information to have.”
“But if he voluntarily gives it to me without me asking him?”
Daddy snorted. “Good luck. Dane will not tell you that stuff.”
Was he really that bad and closed off? She hadn’t met anyone but Angelo that was in the Ricci Crime Family. Maybe she had and she just didn't know it, but Betsy figured she would. At least Daddy and Angelo had this air to them.
“So, do you want to go out?” Daddy asked.
“Where?”
Betsy didn’t really want to go out when there was someone after her. What if they were watching them and hurt her?
“I don’t know if I want to. What if they are out there?” she whispered.
“Baby, Daddy will always keep you safe. Nothing is going to happen. But if you will feel safer with someone else coming with us, they can.”
“Where are we going?”
“I was thinking we could go to Hart’s Little Haven to pick out several things for you. Stuff that you need but also a friend for Mike.”
Betsy shot out of bed and jumped up and down, squealing in delight.
“Oh, Daddy!” she yelled.
“Yes, baby?”
“I would love to! Please can we go! I have been wanting to go there for a while but didn’t want to go alone. Please oh please can we go?”
Hart’s Little Haven had been open for over a year now and she had her eye on it. But every time she wanted to go, nerves got the best of her. Did she have to have a Daddy to go in there?
Betsy knew they had an online store, but she didn’t want it delivered to her apartment. She didn’t want other people to know what she got.
“Can we please go?” she whined. “Please!”
“Of course we can.”