Sayla
I watched the tall electric gates open. The ones that weren’t there when I arrived all those weeks ago. I glanced at him but he didn’t say anything. We just waited for the gate to slide open.
Was he keeping me in or someone out?
I plucked up some courage.
“Has Gabriel been here?”
The tyres of the car crunched on the gravel as we moved forward. He stopped past the gate and turned to face me as they began to close.
“He’s been served the divorce papers by my attorney,” he said, taking my hand and placing it on his thigh.
His hard thigh. So thick and—
“You came to me for a reason, remember? I will keep you safe,” he said as I squeezed his thigh.
He caught my fingers as they began to slide down his inner thigh.
“Safety first. No cock-handling while I’m driving.”
I sighed and took my sunglasses from him. He put his on and brought the top of the car down. Some kind of flashy sports car. A deep wine colour. Pandora would approve.
I wished I’d brought her with me. I hadn’t realised how nervous I’d feel leaving the sanctity of the house.
Daddy placed his hand on my leg and patted it slowly. I rested both of mine over his.
He always seemed to know what I needed.
Sometimes before I knew it.
?
?
?
He held the dark blue bag, but I kept my eye on it. He’d bought me a Swarovski frog prince figurine. The tiny crystal frog wore a gold crown while holding a heart in its little hand.
He bought me too many things.
“Maybe I can help you with your work?” I asked.
Gabriel wanted me to work. Then didn’t want me to work. He became paranoid and began accusing me of having an affair with colleagues. That was early on. I should have known. I should have walked.
I hadn’t. But I was walking now—beside someone who held my hand like he meant it.
Daddy’s hand tightened around mine.
“Are you bored at home?” he asked.
“Not really, but I do feel like a freeloader,” I confessed.
“You can work it off. I have a few ideas,” he said with a wolfish grin and a wink.
He wasn’t lying. He had a filthy mouth—in many ways.
But no matter what words he used, he always made me feel as though I was the only woman in the world.
Clichéd, but true. I’d watched him all afternoon and his eyes never once lingered on another woman.
Not a glance. Not even the casual, automatic kind that most men didn’t realise they were doing.
He ordered me a strawberry milkshake and some nasty green concoction for himself. I couldn’t stop looking around us. I don’t know why I expected Gabriel to follow us. He was probably drinking himself into a stupor after receiving the divorce paperwork. Or plotting revenge.
I glanced at Asher.
He might be the only one who truly understood what Gabriel was like.
Who’d always known. The photographic evidence he’d shown me of their years together had dismantled every lie Gabriel had ever told about his childhood—every carefully constructed grievance he’d used to explain himself, to excuse himself, to make me feel responsible for managing his moods.
Asher had shown up. Consistently and quietly, the way good fathers did without needing credit for it.
Gabriel hadn’t been neglected. He’d simply never been told that the world owed him anything, and he’d never forgiven his father for that.
Asher always put me first in everything he did. My body was fully healed because of his strict regimen. I slept better with him beside me and as silly as it was to love a stuffed toy, Pandora had managed to heal some distant lost part of my soul. The part that had stopped expecting gentleness.
Daddy turned and handed me my drink.
I blinked the tear away and smiled brightly.
“Thank you, Daddy,” I said, uncaring who was there. Who heard.
We were happy.
?
?
?
Daddy was unpacking everything but I couldn’t take my eyes off my sparkling frog prince. The sun hit his crown just right, but it was the heart that drew my attention. The way he held it up, offering it with hope in those dark eyes.
Such a precious thing, one’s heart.
My legs gave and I sat at the dresser, staring at my new frog.
Without Gabriel, there would be no Daddy.
My fingers were bare again. Free from him.
Daddy never pushed me. Not like he had.
Would I ever be free from his cruelty?
I wiped the corner of my eye with a sniff.
He came to stand behind me. I felt his touch before I saw him in the reflection of the gold-edged mirror.
“Forever,” he murmured, scraping the back of his fingers along my cheek.
There was concern in those troubled blue eyes and I held his hand against my cheek for a moment, wishing I could magically erase my past.
But that wasn’t realistic.
“Let’s get you tucked in for a nap, Princess,” he said, resting his other hand on my shoulder.
I nodded—not because he was controlling me, but because the trip and the mental fatigue had hit hard, and right now a nap with Pandora was exactly what I needed.
But Daddy took it one step further. Instead of tucking me in, he got into bed with me. Placed Pandora snugly between us and held us both until I dozed off.
I just drifted. No noise. No pain.
Only safety in Daddy’s arms.