12. Chapter 12
Daphne
Over the past week, she had gotten into a bit of a routine. Breakfast with everyone before she and Kiera would play, read, or watch movies. Then lunch. Nap time followed that. Of course, she didn’t need a nap, but she rested anyway, since the last thing she wanted was her bottom spanked by Eamon.
He was different since his conversation with Damian, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. He was super strict, and while there had been some correction, it was mostly for a bad attitude and nothing major.
Eamon assigned her a new guard, which made her uneasy. Connor, she knew. Connor was familiar, and she did not like this new one. Eamon had assured her she was safe with him, but she didn’t believe anyone or anything right now.
It had been a week and nothing had changed, and they still did not know where Callum was.
It was pissing her off. She just wanted this chapter of her life to be done.
She was over living in fear and uncertainty, and she really wanted to go out and do things—like go to the bakery in town and the library.
She had heard that a new woman was running the bakery. Eamon told her and Kiera that her name was Ms. Genevieve and she was from Hollywood! She couldn’t wait to meet her and try all of her yummy cakes in person.
Sighing, she got up from her bed and headed to Eamon’s office. He was spending an exorbitant amount of time in there these days and she felt bad for him. Maybe he would want to get out of the house, too. It was worth a shot, anyway.
The door was open, so she just walked right in.
“Hey, Eamon. What are you doing?” She sat in the oversized chair by the window. It was the most luxurious thing she had ever sat in. Everything about this house was luxurious, and if she basically had to be a prisoner, at least this was a nice place to be.
“Hey, Daphne. I hope you had a good rest.”
“Yes, Sir. Thank you for the book. I finished it.”
“Wow! That didn’t take you long at all. I will have to see about getting you some more.”
“Thanks. But…”
At her dropping voice, he came over to sit next to her.
“What do you need to ask me, Daphne?” he encouraged her.
“Well. It’s just that nothing has happened, and I was wondering if we took an army of guards, could we pretty please with cream and sugar go into town to get a cupcake from Ms. Genevieve and go to the library to get some books?” She clasped her hands in front of her face, pleading with him.
She blushed under his intense gaze, moving to fiddle with the hem of her shirt.
“Let’s go talk to Liam and see what he thinks.
” He got up and held out his hand to take hers.
Staring at it, she wasn’t sure she wanted to take it.
Sighing, she eventually took it, and when she tried to take it back, he held on tight.
They walked together to the main room that she and Kiera had taken over.
Liam and Kiera were reading a book together on the giant cream U-shaped couch.
“Liam, Daphne has a question for you.”
“Oh. Um. Well…”
“It’s ok to ask, Daphne. You are always safe to ask questions.” Liam leaned forward and gave her his full attention.
“Well, it’s just that nothing has happened, and me and Kiera have been really good, so I was wondering if we could pretty please go into town to have a cupcake from Ms. Genevieve and go to the library?
We will take a whole army of guards with us.
And we’ll do everything they tell us to do. Please, Uncle Liam?”
“Yes! Please, Daddy? We’ll be so super good!” Kiera was practically vibrating with excitement.
“I think we could probably arrange that.” Both girls squealed in excitement.
“But-if you step one little toe out of line, I will bring you straight back here for spankings. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir! I promise we will be good.” Daphne was so excited she could hardly stand it. She was bouncing on her toes as Kiera did her signature happy booty dance.
“Ok. Let’s do this. Let me get some men together and we’ll leave in about 20 minutes. That should give everyone time to potty and get changed if need be.”
Groaning, Daphne glared at him. “Do you have to say ‘potty’?”
“Yes, Little girl, I do. Now go potty and get ready before I decide you don’t get to go and you can stay here and get your butt spanked.
” At his raised eyebrow, she squealed and got the heck out of there as quickly as she could.
She wasn’t about to risk having to stay home.
She heard the men chuckling as she made it to her room.
Ryan was waiting outside her door when she got there.
“I heard we are going into town.”
“Uh-huh. Eamon said we could. Are you going with us?”
“I am. We will leave in a few minutes, and I want you to listen very carefully to me while we are in town. Your safety is my priority.”
“Of course, Mr. Ryan. I’ll be good.”
“Good girl.” He smiled at her, and she felt better and more at ease with him. As they approached the front door, Eamon came up to her, and her heart sank at the look on his face.
“We don’t get to go anymore, do we?” She felt like crying.
“You do. I just can’t go like I wanted to. I have some business that unfortunately cannot wait. But you will have Ryan and Liam with you, and Connor is meeting you in town as well.”
“Ok. I’m sorry you can’t come. Maybe we could bring you back a cupcake? What’s your favorite flavor?”
“I really like any flavor. Surprise me and pick what looks good.” He smiled at her and her heart skipped a beat, a low heat rising in her tummy she couldn’t explain.
“O-ok.” She was breathless as he winked and smirked at her.
Driving off the estate spiked her nerves, but she focused on the gorgeous mountains around her.
Since it was winter, the trees were bare, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful.
She knew they would get snow and she couldn’t wait.
The drive to town took about twenty minutes, and as they drove the winding roads, she was lost in thought about everything that was going on.
There wasn’t much between the estate and town, just lots of woods.
She knew it would be hard to traverse those woods to get on the property, and seeing that eased her nerves about her safety.
They drove into town, past the park and community center, and found a spot to park right in front of the new bakery.
Connor was there waiting for them when they jumped out of the car, holding hands, and racing into the store.
It smelled divine. Sugar and vanilla accosted their senses as they looked in the display cases at all of the pastries and cupcakes that were so beautifully decorated.
“Welcome to Genevieve’s Timeless Temptations!
” Her jaw dropped as the most stunning woman she had ever seen stepped forward.
She looked like a pin-up model. She was at least six feet tall with emerald green eyes.
She couldn’t see her hair because she was wearing a polka-dot bandana on her head, and she had on a retro dress that had tulle peeking out under it.
The apron with a wooden spoon tucked in completed the look.
“Hi! I’m Kiera and this is Daphne, and we loooooooove your cakes, and finally my Daddy and Uncle let us come down and try them ourselves. We are so excited!” Kiera was bouncing up and down at the counter, eyes wide at the treats that sat behind the glass.
Daphne wished she could be as open as Kiera, as comfortable as she was to live her life. She wanted that more than anything, but fought against it. Maybe when she had her own Daddy it would be easier.
“Well, I am just tickled to meet you both. You’re just the most adorable Little girls ever.” Ms. Genevieve smiled kindly at them. “Let’s get you girls a fun treat.”
“I also would like to bring something back for Eamon. He said to surprise him. Is there something you think he might like?” she asked her quietly as she looked at the treats.
“Well, I happen to know Eamon pretty well, and his favorite flavor is anything sweet.” She laughed and her smile was so big, it made Daphne giggle too.
“Well then, I guess I can’t go wrong with anything. Hmmm, how about that one.” She pointed to a beautifully decorated cupcake, blue frosting with gold sparkles on a chocolate cupcake.
“Excellent choice. I will package that up. Now, then. What do you girls want?”
After each picking out a treat, they settled into the red leather chairs to enjoy their pink sparkly cupcakes and glasses of milk. It was so good. She hummed happily as Kiera talked her ear off about anything and everything. She appreciated the tables and chairs that fit every body type.
After they got cleaned up, they headed across the street to the library.
“Hi, Mr. Oliver!” she greeted the older gentleman.
“Well, hello there, Daphne. How are you on this fine day?”
“I’m good. We were finally allowed to come to town to pick out some new books and to get a cupcake from Ms. Genevieve. We got the cupcakes, and now it’s time to pick up some books! I’m excited to get a few more.”
“Well, that sounds like the perfect day. Let me know if you need any help finding books, but you know where the romance books are and…” He snapped his fingers and motioned for them to follow him to the back by the fireplace.
“Since it is getting colder now, I have the fire going and a very special hot chocolate bar just for all you Littles.”
“Oh. Em. Gee!” Daphne squealed. “This is awesome! Thank you so much, Mr. Oliver.”
“Eek!” Kiera exclaimed as she raced over to the chocolate station.
“Hold on there, Little girl, let me help you. That is going to be super hot water and I don’t want you to get burned.” Uncle Liam got to helping Kiera, and Daphne looked at them longingly.
“Would you like some help with your hot chocolate, too, Daphne?” He smiled at her.
“Uh-huh. Please,” she whispered, her cheeks burning.
After they had gotten their hot chocolate in special cups that weren’t hot to hold, they made their way to the romance section.
There were so many books to choose from.
She went for the darker Daddy stuff while Kiera went for the Little Daddy stuff.
She loved that they could accept one another for their kinks and not judge how each other wanted to be Little.
They still had so much in common, but Kiera just lived in a much younger headspace.
She picked out a couple of books that looked really cool. She was definitely one of those ‘judge a book by its cover’ girls. She knew she shouldn’t be, but if there was a sexy man or woman on the cover, she was all over it.
A new book in one hand and her hot chocolate in the other, she sat on the oversized couch and began to read. When she looked up, Kiera and Liam were snuggling and he was reading softly to her. She felt her eyes burn with tears as she thought about what she was missing. She wanted that.
Connor and Ryan approached, serious looks on their faces.
“It’s time to go, girls. Pick out whatever books you need and then we need to head back to the estate.”
Sensing this was definitely not the time to argue, she got the three books she had picked out and headed to the front. Mr. Oliver checked them all out, stating that Eamon had already taken care of any books the girls wanted.
She couldn’t wait to get back to the estate and curl up in the library and read in the comfy chair. It was her favorite place in the house.
Once outside, however, chaos ensued.
Screaming.
Shouting.
Gunshots.
She looked to her left, and they had shot Ryan in the head.
There was blood everywhere. So much blood.
Her stomach churned, and she screamed. Connor came to her side and tried to haul her back into the store when a shot rang out and he slumped forward.
Screaming and crying, she ran. She didn’t know where she was going, just knew she needed to get out of there.
She didn’t see Liam or Kiera anywhere. The first couple of doors she tried were locked.
Good; they needed to be safe, she thought.
But it didn’t help her any. She kept trying to run down Main Street, trying to find a place to hide.
She knew Eamon would be on his way down here soon and would find her. She just had to lie low.
“Well hello there, piggie.”
She froze at the sound of Diana’s voice. She was the bitch who ran the separate group chat just to talk shit about other people, especially her. That entire group of girls could rot for all she cared.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” It confused her more than anything.
“I came here to help Callum get you. Now, are you going to come willingly, or am I going to have to get mean?” she sneered.
“You can kiss my ass, you bitch.” She held her head high, not backing away. She wasn’t about to let this bitch win. She was stronger and braver than that.
“Hard way it is, then.” Diana laughed and came for her.
She wasn't going down without a fight, so she ran towards the street to try another building to hide in when a van flew down the road and pulled up next to her.
“Hello there, Little girl.”
Her blood ran cold, and she froze in her tracks. Callum. The asshole from hell had found her.
“I am NOT your Little girl. Eamon will find you and he will kill you. You won’t get away with any of this,” she yelled at him before someone shoved her from behind. Falling forward, she landed by the van. Hands grabbed her and tossed her in before she felt a tiny prick in her neck.
She thought of Eamon as her world turned black. She hoped he would find her.