Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
I crawl over to the front door and turn my head to the side. Why is it open?
“Hello?” I call out, trying to see if anyone else is in the apartment.
Daddy told me he had to go out to collect a couple of things from Yamal and that he would be back later, leaving me alone. How long has it been since Daddy left? There are no clocks in the apartment, sadly, so I don’t know if it’s morning or night.
I have to rely on Daddy for all of that.
Yet another thing. It seems like everything I do, I have to rely on him to decide or help me. I can’t do anything on my own anymore.
At the same time, I don’t know if I want to do everything on my own. It’s nice to be taken care of and be loved. Daddy has taken such good care of me and always makes sure I’m okay before anything else. If we were to go back to how things were on the space station, I would be exhausted.
“Hello?” I call out once again as I get closer to the front door.
Did Daddy forget to close it? Or maybe he is outside the door, waiting for me to come to him?
When I don’t hear any reply, I push the heavy door completely open and crawl out of the apartment. Where could Daddy be?
I look to the left to find an empty hallway. I turn my head to the right and see the same thing. I start crawling to my right. Every single time we come up the elevator, we always take a left to the apartment.
Before I know it, I’m standing in front of the elevators, staring at them. Can I even get out without Daddy? Do I want to go out without him? Every time we’ve gone out, he’s always held me to make sure I stay close to him and don’t get lost.
“Little pet?” someone calls out.
I whirl around, screaming and pushing my body into the wall as I stare at an unfamiliar Venkorian male.
“Sorry for scaring you,” he gently says as he gets closer.
I shake my head and press myself more into the wall.
“You are one of the humans everyone has been talking about. I thought about getting one of you, but I think I will just keep you for myself.” He gets closer to me.
I scream again, tears running down my face as he comes toward me. I’m still unsteady on my feet, so I can’t run away. He has me cornered in the hallway, and I have no way of getting past him to get back to the apartment.
Why did I have to be curious? Why couldn’t I have just shut the door and waited for Daddy to come to me when he was done talking to Yamal?
“Pl-please,” I stutter.
“You are so cute. The things I could do to you,” he purrs. “Keep you to myself. Have my way with you. Make you do anything I want. The list is endless.”
Fear courses through my body as I watch my life flash before my eyes. I haven’t been able to experience anything on Venkoria, and he is about to take it all away from me.
“Leah?” Daddy calls out.
With Tears racing down my face, I turn my head to see him walking out of the elevator.
“Daddy!” I scream and hold my hands up.
He rushes toward me, picking me up and holding me close to him.
“Why are you out of the apartment? Why are you crying? What’s wrong?” he rapid-fires the questions.
“I walked out of my apartment and saw her sitting in front of the elevator, and I called out to her,” the man lies.
I clutch Daddy’s shirt even tighter, pushing my face into his neck. Whoever this guy is, I don’t like him one bit. He gives me creepy vibes.
“I don’t know how she got out,” Daddy says.
“The door was wide open when I walked past,” the man explains.
“Well, thank you for keeping an eye on her. I’ll take her home now.” Daddy smiles.
I don’t dare make eye contact with the man, his words still coursing through my mind. Who is he?
“Any time. If you need me to watch over her while you go out, let me know,” the man offers.
My grip tightens on Daddy’s shirt as I suck in a breath. I’m going to have to tell him that he can’t let me stay with the man, or else Daddy may never see me again. That can’t happen.
Daddy walks past him and back into the apartment, shutting and locking the door behind him. I don’t let go of him as he walks through the apartment, not ready to be away from him just yet.
“You called me Daddy for the first time.” Daddy smiles and sits on the couch, looking at me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nod and stare at the door.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“I don’t want to see him again,” I mumble as I face Daddy again. “He’s weird.”
“I’ve never met him before, but I don’t think he is unsafe,” Daddy replies. “I think you were just scared. He didn’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t know.” I shudder. “He said he wanted me.”
Nausea bubbles inside of me as I remember his words. The way he was looking at me was like I was his favorite meal.
“What do you mean?” Daddy asks.
I open and close my mouth several times before shutting my eyes and shaking my head.
“Talk to me, Little pet.” Daddy cups my face in his hands. “What did he say to you?”
“That he wanted to keep me. That I was cute. That he wanted to have his way with me and to keep me all to himself,” I whisper, tears racing down my face once again.
“He said what?” Daddy angrily asks.
I shake my head and place my hand over my mouth, trying to stop myself from puking.
“Did he really say that?” Daddy rubs his thumb across my cheek. “Tell Daddy.”
“He did,” I quietly say. “Check the camera footage. I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this.”
Daddy pulls me close to him, wrapping his arm around me so I can’t move.
“Hello, it’s Chale. Can you check the camera feed for the past hour and report back on what was said between an unknown male and my pet?” Daddy asks through the phone. “Thank you.”
Warmth spreads across my body. Daddy believes me. Part of me was worried he wasn’t going to trust the other Venkorian.
“They’ll let me know what he said, and we’ll go from there. But if he said that, he won’t get away with it,” Daddy tells me. “You are too precious to me. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
I snuggle into his embrace and take a deep breath, calming myself down.
“Why did you go outside? More importantly, how did you get out?” Daddy asks.
I pull away slightly and look up at him. “The door was open. I thought you were out there.”
His eyebrows pull together. “I shut the door behind me and made sure it was locked.”
Fear builds inside of me at his words. How did the door open? It was ajar when I walked up to it.
“What did it look like?” Daddy asks.
“It was cracked open,” I tell him. “Just enough that I noticed when I was crawling past.”
Daddy hums and pulls me closer to him again, running his hands up and down my back.
“I will have them look into that as well,” Daddy says. “I don’t like this one bit.”
Him and me both.
“What will happen if he gets caught?” I ask.
Back on the space station, nothing bad ever happened. The worst thing was a girl pulling another girl’s hair because she took something of hers.
“He will get thrown into jail if he is found guilty,” Daddy explains. “He will spend the rest of his life there, not able to do anything.”
“I don’t know if I want that to happen,” I mumble. “But at the same time, I don’t want to have to live here with him roaming around free. Especially if he does this to other girls.”
The thought of him roaming around freely sends shivers down my body. Who knows what he is going to do next?
“Once the guards look over the security footage, they will send a patrol to watch him until they can if he has done this to any other human,” Daddy explains. “Don’t worry, he won’t be able to hide forever. They will find him and put him behind bars.”
My body relaxes against Daddy, and I take a deep breath.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Daddy whispers. “I’m going to make sure you are safe. You won’t be left alone again. And if they don’t find anything, we can move and not tell anyone, so he doesn’t know where you are. I will do anything for you, Little pet.”
“Anything?” I crack a smile.
He boops my nose. “Don’t get any ideas. I will do anything to keep you safe.”
Warmth spreads across my body, and I close my eyes. So much has changed in the past couple of weeks.
“Why did you call me Daddy all of a sudden?” he asks.
I grip onto his shirt and don’t say anything. Am I ready to admit to him that I want to be with him for the rest of my life?
“Leah?” he gently asks.
“I don’t like it when you call me that,” I whisper.
“Then what do you like being called?” he asks.
I shrug. “Not Little pet, either. I’m not a pet but a human being.”
That still gets on my nerves. Does he know how insulting it is to get called a pet when I’m not one? Is that all he sees me as?
Thankfully, I haven’t told him that I want to spend the rest of my days with him. Are my feelings invalid?
“You are my Little pet, though.” He kisses the top of my head.
“I’m not a pet!” I smack his chest as I pull away. “I am a human being. I am a female who has feelings!”
Daddy looks at me for several seconds. “Where has this come from?”
“I’ve always felt this way,” I tell him.
And it’s the truth. I’ve always been hurt when he calls me Little pet and treats me like one.
“Little pet.” He cups my face.
“Stop calling me that!” I shout at him, tears brimming in my eyes.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
I push against his chest again, slapping his hands away from my face and climbing out of his lap.
“I don’t want you to call me either of those,” I say, crawling away from him.
“Stop right there,” he commands.
But I don’t pay any attention. He can’t tell me what to do.
I crawl over to my cage and get in, closing the door behind me. If he is going to continue to call me Little pet or by my name, then I won’t leave the kennel… my cage.
“Leah,” he growls.
I turn my body, lying down and facing away from him, letting the tears flow freely down my face.