Page 59 of Daddy's Little Cupcake

"I've told you before that I don't care if your house is messy," Finn replied. He had told her several times that he didn't mind.

His house was clean because that's how he liked it, but some people didn't like clean houses.

"Why else do you not want to go in there?" he asked.

It couldn't be just because the house was messy. Deep inside, he knew it wasn't that and that there was something else.

"I'm embarrassed to say," she mumbled.

What could she be embarrassed about?

Finn thought back to everything that happened. The electricity was out. Charlotte was outside when he got here and not inside.

His eyes went wide.

"Little cupcake, are you afraid of the dark?" he asked.

It all started to make sense now. Her house was probably pitch dark in there, and she was scared. Outside there are a couple street lights that she would be able to see around her.

Charlotte nodded her head against his shoulder, and he relaxed a little bit. He could work with her being scared of the dark. It just meant he could protect her from the monsters in the closets and under the bed.

"Charlotte, can you look at Daddy?" Finn asked.

Her head came out of his shoulder, and she looked at him. He could see her glassy eyes from being sick but also from tears in her eyes.

"You don't need to be afraid when Daddy's here. Daddy will protect you from the monsters and the dark." He ran his hand up and down her back as he tried to calm her down. "When we go in, you'll be in my arms the whole time or holding my hand, so the monsters can't get you."

Charlotte's eyes started to fill with tears, and it broke his heart that she was so afraid of the dark. What could have happened to make her this scared?

"Does that sound like a good plan?" Finn asked. "You'll be safe with Daddy."

Charlotte nodded her head. "Okay, Daddy."

His heart warmed that she trusted him so much with protecting her from the monsters. Now he just needed to get her to trust him for every other aspect of their lives.

It wasn't going to be easy, but Finn was up for the challenge.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHARLOTTE

Charlotte felt overwhelmed with everything that had been going on. She hadn't felt well, and Daddy was asking her a lot of questions. All she wanted to do was sleep and be warm. Preferably in his arms but Charlotte wasn’t going to verbalize that right now.

When Daddy had put his hoodie on her, she wanted to cry. She was so cold, and he had thought about her. And the way he held her as she cried in his arms. She felt so cherished and loved at that moment, which made her cry even harder.

But it all got ruined when he asked to go into her house to grab some of her things. She didn't want him to go into her house, and she didn't want him to find out that she didn't have electricity or water, but that didn't happen.

Her Daddy had asked, and she knew she was already in trouble because she kept this a secret but also because she had disobeyed several rules already. She was in a lot of trouble already, and she was only adding on to the punishment. Charlotte didn't want to lie to her Daddy anymore because she already felt guilty.

The tight knot of guilt had been weighing down in her stomach for over a week. It made her nauseous every time she thought about it, which was constant. Charlotte couldn't get it out of her mind, and it was slowly starting to drive her crazy.

She knew she had to tell her Daddy soon, and it did come, but the guilt was still there. Charlotte didn’t know why it was still there since she had told Daddy about it. The guilt should’ve been gone, but it wasn’t.

"Little cupcake?" Daddy called out.

Charlotte loved it every time he called her that; she also liked when he called her little one, but little cupcake had a special meaning. Daddy knew she loved cupcakes, and the name stuck. It brought her joy every time he called her that, even when she felt icky.

No one had ever called her little one or little cupcake before, and it made her feel special. So special that she wanted to be called that all the time now.

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