Page 57 of Daddy's Little Survivor

She took in a deep breath trying to calm herself. It didn’t work.

“He found me,” she whispered. “I need to leave.”

Tears were streaming down her face at this point. She would start walking if she had to. She didn't have any money, but she was pretty sure she could hitchhike with somebody and get away before Jared came and hurt her Daddy.

“Monroe,” his voice came through the phone. “I need you to stay put. I'm getting in my car right now and I'm coming home. Jaxson is coming over now. He's going to keep you safe until I get there. He knows what to do but I need you to go back to the house where you're safe.”

“I'm not safe. Nobody's safe. Need to leave,” she mumbled, not even paying attention to the words he was saying.

“Monroe. House, now,” he commanded.

She found herself walking into the house and sitting on the couch. She didn't know why, but every time he used that tone of voice, she always followed his instructions. This was one of the instances where she didn't want to, but her body betrayed her and did it anyway.

“I'm going to be there in a couple of minutes and Jasxon'll be there in less than a minute,” Michael said.

Monroe let out some air and tried to think of different things she could do. She didn't have any money so she was limited on what she could do. She didn't have her car and didn't even know what city she was in.

Obviously, Jared knew.

What if he had associates that found out about her when she went to the club with her Daddy?

She should have taken extra precautions, but Daddy had made her feel protected and everything she knew about keeping safe had just flown out the window. She knew better and yet she still let it happen. Stupid, stupid Monroe.

Ding dong.

Monroe let out a shriek, dropping her phone and dashing toward the kitchen. She needed to hide, and quickly.

“Monroe?” a voice said.

She didn't recognize it, which worried her. Who could it be? How did they get into the house? Had Jared hired somebody to get her?

She yanked open a cabinet in the kitchen and crawled in. It was a tight fit, but she could do it. She needed to hide. She wasn't taking any chances.

“Monroe,” the man called again. “I'm Jaxson, a friend of Michael’s, your Daddy.”

She didn't trust him. He could have just said that to get her to trust him so she would come out of hiding. Right now, she couldn’t trust anybody besides herself. She needed to keep herself safe.

“It’s okay to stay where you are. I’m here to protect you until your Daddy gets back and then we’re going to figure everything out,” he continued.

It didn’t help ease anything inside of Monroe. This man knew where she lived, he knew that Michael was her Daddy, and he knew she was alone in the house until Daddy came back.

He could do anything to her and she wouldn't be able to stop it.

It scared her that she was alone in the house with a man she didn't know. It was like meeting Michael, her Daddy, all over again and not knowing what to do.

She knew Daddy had said Jaxson was going to come over, but that didn't mean she trusted him. He was a stranger — unpredictable and frightening.

“Your Daddy's almost here. You're okay and you're safe,” the man called again.

She just wanted him to leave. All Monroe wanted was to get out of the city and away so Jared couldn't find her.

First, she needed to ditch the phone so he couldn't trace her again. Second, she needed to get money. Then she could decide how to get out of there.

She felt overwhelmed, the way she had when she’d first left Jared. There were so many things to do and remember she’d gotten overwhelmed easily and that had led to multiple panic attacks. At that point, she had tried to focus on one thing, then the next one, and not on the whole picture.

That's what she needed to do now but it was harder this time. Daddy had made the decisions for the past week and she’d started getting used to it. It was different from what Jared had done and she found herself craving it even more.

Jared had never given her the option and wasn't looking out for her, but Daddy was. His focus was to make her heal, get healthy, and just make the right decisions so she was happy, healthy, and safe.

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