Page 48 of Her Forever Daddies

“Lean forward for Daddy,” he instructed.

To his surprise, she leaned forward without argument and let him clean her up. As soon as he was done, he lifted her from the toilet and carried her into the bedroom, setting her back on the bed. She stared up at him with a look of awe in her eyes.

Leaning forward, he gently kissed her lips and then looked her in the eyes. “Don’t ever doubt the lengths I’ll go to take care of you.”

She smiled and nodded, a blush rising to her cheeks.

“I need to go wash my hands. Can you get her pajamas on her?” he asked Jace.

Jace nodded and stepped forward with the footie pajamas already in his hand.

By the time Zane came back into the bedroom, Ruby was already dressed in the pajamas and looked as cute as could be. The fabric was light pink with white bunnies all over it and a drop seat that had the words ‘Cute as a Bunny’ embroidered into it.

Leaving the bedroom, Zane went into the nursery and grabbed a hairbrush. When he returned, he sat in one of the armchairs in the room and dropped a pillow down by his feet.

“Come sit in front of me so I can take your buns out and brush your hair,” he said.

She grinned and scrambled to get off the bed, having to drop the last few inches to the floor since she was so short.

He carefully removed the hair ties and pins and started brushing through her long locks.

“Tell us about your family, Ruby. Do you live with them?” he asked.

Jace gave him a warning look but he ignored it. They needed to know more about her. About who hurt her in the past.

She sat quietly for a long moment and he didn’t think she was going to answer him until she finally let out a sigh and spoke.

“My parents own one of the largest jewelry store chains in the United States. That’s how I got my name.”

Zane smiled. Rubies were known to be rare gems. That fit their girl perfectly.

“I don’t really know my parents very well. They travel a lot so when I was a child, I was raised by tutors, maids, and nannies. The only time I ever really saw my parents was when I did something that got me in trouble, and they would video call me to lecture me.”

“I remember when I was five or so, my mom told me that I would need to learn to be a lady so I wouldn’t embarrass them around their friends. But somehow, I always seemed to do something that embarrassed them.”

“I never went to public or even private school. All my schooling was done at home by tutors because my parents didn’t want the other kids at school to tell their parents how weird I was.”

Clenching his jaw so hard it felt as though his teeth were going to crack, Zane looked at Jace, who had a murderous expression on his face.

“You’re not weird, Ruby,” he ground out.

She shrugged and continued talking, “My dad was pretty much non-existent in my life. When he was home, he was always in his study working on whatever it was he worked on. I’m pretty sure he was having an affair with one of the maids, but my mom chose to ignore it since money and status was the only thing that mattered to her.”

“My parents’ dream had been for me to work for them after I went to college, but by the time I graduated high school, they decided I wasn’t cut out for their business. I wasn’t prim and proper like they wanted me to be. I wasn’t skinny enough or quiet enough. I was too emotional, too much of a troublemaker, too much of everything.”

“I wanted to go to college. It’s not like they couldn’t afford to send me to any college in the world, but my mother didn’t want me spreading my weirdness out into the world and it potentially affecting their lives, so they bought me an apartment and allowed me to do online college. I graduated early with perfect grades. I told my parents I wanted to get a job but they won’t allow it. They told me they would cut me off completely if I got a job.”

“Motherfuckers,” Jace barked, making Ruby startle.

Zane rested his hand on her shoulder to calm her as he glared at Jace who was visibly seething.

“Baby, you know you’re perfect just the way you are, right? You’re not too much of anything or not enough of something. You’re perfectly unique and amazing just the way you are,” Zane said.

He reached down and pulled her into his lap, cradling her in his arms. Tears filled her eyes as she studied his face for a long moment.

Jace walked over and sat in the other armchair, reaching over to touch her head.

“I’m sorry I scared you, baby girl. I just… I can’t believe they treated you like that. I… fuck. I can’t even process it,” Jace said.

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