Chapter 21
RAELYNN
“Edmund Akers?” Daddy asked. “Are you sure?”
Raelynn couldn’t believe that she had told him. It seemed like Daddy didn’t believe her. Everyone would have been shocked about what he’d done to her. Over the years, she was, too.
She nodded. “Edmund always liked me, apparently, and was going to ask me out in high school, but then you showed up.”
She shivered at the thought. If their parents hadn’t married, would she have gone out with Edmund?
He had always been kind to her throughout the years, and she thought they were friends—kind of.
Rae hadn’t talked to him much, growing up, but they were close neighbors, and their parents had been close.
“I thought he was a nerd?” Daddy asked. “He seemed so sweet, and like he wouldn’t harm a fly.”
“I thought so, too,” she whispered, remembering all the horrible things he had done to her.
“I’ll call Neil and Ace and have them look into him,” Deccan said, pulling their attention to him. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him? Do you know who he has connections with?”
Raelynn shook her head. “He threw around some names every once in a while. When people visited, I just knew they weren’t good people. Any time I talked about leaving, he would say he had people everywhere to find me, so I never left.”
“What were the names?” Daddy asked.
Tears brimmed in her eyes. “I don’t know. I can’t remember. Normally, when I heard them, he would beat me afterward. I just learned not to remember anything for fear that, if I slipped up and said one of their names, he would get even more angry.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Daddy growled.
Her hands gripped his shirt, right on his chest. “You can’t!”
Raelynn’s hyperventilated, and she tightened her fists, not wanting to let him go.
“Whoa, Little Fairy. You’re okay,” he gently said.
She shook her head. “I can’t lose you. You will go to jail, and then I won’t see you for the rest of my life.
I’ll die early because of how much I’ll miss you.
Please, don’t kill him. They’ll put you away for life, or they’ll kill you themselves.
I don’t want to watch you die. I don’t want anything to happen to you or anyone else. ”
Rae knew she was on the verge of being hysterical, but she needed Daddy to understand. He needed to realize how much she cared for him and wanted him to be safe, no matter how much revenge he wanted.
“I won’t kill him,” Daddy said. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t make him suffer for what he did to you. He deserves that and much more.”
She rested her head on his chest and took several deep breaths.
“Maybe Dimitri can take care of him after we are done with him,” Deccan suggested. “I’ll talk to Neil. Is there anything else you want to tell me about him?”
“Don’t be fooled by his looks.” Raelynn shuddered. “He can pack a punch. He normally carries a knife on him, and sometimes when he goes out, he has a gun. I don’t know what type. I never got a good look at it, but he always kept it close.”
Daddy ran his hands up and down her back as she spoke.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he whispered.
“We’ve got one of the guys who has been asking around for her,” Deccan said. “We grabbed him just the other day.”
Raelynn sat up straight and looked at him with wide eyes. “He sent men?”
Her hand flew to her mouth as nausea took over her.
“I’m going to be sick,” she mumbled.
Daddy stood up, holding her close as he rushed toward the bathroom, making it just in time for her to spill all the liquids she had drunk that day.
“I didn’t think he would go to so many lengths,” she whispered and then gagged.
“Shh, no more talking about this. No more thinking about it, either,” Daddy said as he held her hair back. “You’re going to make yourself sick again if this continues.”
Raelynn threw up one more time before she leaned against Daddy’s chest.
“He wanted us to get legally married this year,” she whispered, tears running down her face. “It was supposed to happen on my birthday.”
She had planned to keep everything from Daddy about what happened while she was with Edmund, but he deserved to know.
“I knew once that happened, I would never be able to leave him. Not unless I died. It had been my dream to see you one last time,” she continued. “The only person I wanted to marry was you. If I couldn’t have you, then I didn’t want anyone else.”
Daddy cleaned her face with a washcloth before flushing the toilet and standing with her in his arms.
“I never gave up on finding you. If that bastard made you marry him, I would have taken you away and gotten you a divorce,” Daddy said as he sat her on the bathroom counter. “I’m glad you got away, though. Now you’re here and mine forever.”
Raelynn stayed silent as Daddy got her toothbrush and brushed her teeth for her. She had missed the simple things in life. He had a way to make her feel so comfortable, doing everything for her. Like it was natural, and she wasn’t just being lazy.
“Come on, spit, and then we are going to get you into bed, where you are going to relax,” Daddy said. “Doc said you needed all the rest you can get. We don’t want you getting sick.”
After Raelynn spat out the toothpaste, Daddy helped her off the counter and back into the room.
“What if he gets me before you can do anything?” she asked when he pulled the covers over her.
Daddy was sitting next to the bed, holding her hand. “He’s not going to do that. We have people patrolling the clubhouse, and we have everyone on lockdown. You aren’t going to leave anyone’s sight. We will get him before anything can happen.”
“But what if that doesn’t work?” she asked. “He knows a lot of people. He could get you all arrested.”
Daddy leaned forward and kissed her lips. She melted into the bed and looked at him lazily. Rae wanted to go further with him, but she didn’t want to do that in the clubhouse, where anyone could hear them.
Nope.
That would be mortifying.
“We have connections as well. So don’t worry about that. We are going to take care of this. Everything is going to be okay,” Daddy explained. “I need you to trust Daddy on this.”
“I do trust you,” she whispered.
“Good. Now, why don’t you take a little nap, and Daddy will be right here the whole time,” he said.
“I don’t want to,” she mumbled.
Daddy gently ran his hands over her hair. “I know you don’t, but you’ve had an eventful two days, and you need to get some rest. I won’t go anywhere.”
Raelynn’s eyes started to droop. “Promise?”
“I promise, Little Fairy.”
Everything was too loud. Her eyes scanned the room as she tried to find Daddy. She needed to get out of this big room, but she didn’t want to seem rude to everyone. Different people had been coming up to her, telling her they were happy she was part of the family and that Butch had found her.
Or at least that was what she was gathering from the bits and pieces of the conversation. She couldn’t hear very well when people came up and talked to her.
“Are you okay?” Reaper asked as he stood in front of her.
A low-grade headache was forming and she strained to hear everything.
“I want Daddy,” she pleaded.
Raelynn rubbed her eyes, trying to stop herself from bursting into tears.
She needed to be strong for Daddy. He had asked her if she could stay in the main room while he talked with Deccan and Ace.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but the room had gotten louder and louder, and she just wanted to go hide in Daddy’s room.
But she had promised him she would stay in here.
Reaper pulled her into his body and wrapped his arms around her. It didn’t feel right, but she was grateful he was trying to help her. He placed his hands over her exposed ear, making Raelynn grip his shirt as panic overtook her. What was he doing?
“Everyone, stop shouting!” Reaper yelled.
The room grew quieter as Reaper let her go and knelt in front of her.
“Is that better?” he asked.
She nodded and looked down, not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes. They had to know it was for her, and now she felt guilty. Raelynn should have just put up with it and pretended like everything was okay.
“Ah, you aren’t going to hide away from them. What I did was for everyone, not just you,” he gently said. “Sometimes, they forget that while this is a big room, they don’t all need to yell to talk to each other. It’s a good reminder so everyone doesn’t start losing their hearing.”
Raelynn flinched, and Reaper cursed under his breath.
“Sorry, Little Miss. I didn’t mean to say that. I just don’t want you to feel guilty,” Reaper said.
“He’s right. We were louder than normal. We should have been considerate of you,” a man said. “I’m Luther by the way.”
She shook her head. “No, you don’t have to do that. Just pretend like I’m not here.”
That’s what she wanted them to do.
Several people chuckled, while others shook their heads. She should be intimidated by all the men in the room, but Daddy had told her they would never hurt a hair on her head. That most of them were Daddy Doms, while some were just Doms.
“There is no way we can pretend like you are not here. First off, you are Butch’s woman, his Little.
Second, you are part of this family now, and we don’t ignore family.
Third, you are adorable, and we all want to spoil you,” a different man said.
“Rye’s the name. I wasn’t here when you first came here. Was out on a job.”
Rae thought it was Gears, who she had met briefly when Daddy had dropped her off, but she wasn’t so sure. There were a group of men Daddy had introduced her to, but it was hard to remember all their names when she had been so nervous to be left alone.
“See, Little Miss. You can’t just hide away in this family,” Reaper pointed out, running his hands down her hair. “You are precious to us, just like Echo is as well. Any woman who starts dating or marries one of the guys automatically becomes precious to us.”
“Who’s calling my girl precious?” Daddy bellowed.