Page 76 of Daddy's Little Survivor

Deep down, she knew if she told him everything, he was going to call her Daddy and she didn't want to bother him. She knew this was important, but Ezra knew what to do and had people who could do things while her Daddy would just bring her comfort.

Yes, she did want comfort, all the comfort that she could get, but she didn't want her Daddy to leave work and have to do this again because he missed several of his meetings. He had said that they were important, and she didn’t want to ruin any chances of them getting anything done just because she called him.

“I’m okay. Drained and jittery,” she replied.

She left out feeling scared, but she felt like he already knew that. Who wouldn't be scared if their ex-boyfriend was after them? A powerful ex-boyfriend who had all the resources to do anything and get away with it.

“Scared?” he asked.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

She shakily lifted up her phone and unlocked it before she handed it to him. She didn't even look if the text message was from Jared again or if it was from somebody else. She didn't want to, and Ezra would take care of it now.

“I got a text from him,” she whispered, her voice shaky as she stared at him.

She waited for his reaction and her eyes went wide when he abruptly stood up and whipped out his phone. She watched him as he stood several feet away and talked on the phone. He gave someone two phone numbers before he walked into the kitchen and back out. Probably hers and the one Jared texted from if she could guess.

“Jared just texted her. It was very threatening which you'll see in a couple of seconds. He may escalate very soon so we need to be prepared and you need to find him,” Ezra said. “I'm going to call my contact here and let him know but keep me in the loop if you find anything.”

Once Ezra got off the phone, he turned toward her and sat down on the couch across from her.

“Monroe, can you tell me what your relationship was with Jared?” he asked.

Unease filled her stomach with that question. She hadn’t told anyone what her relationship with Jared was and she was worried.

“I need to know so I know how far he’s going to go,” he said. “No one is going to judge you for the relationship you had with him.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” she whispered, looking down at her hands. “Well, I guess he was my boyfriend. He basically kept me prisoner for six years, but when anyone asked, he told them I was his girlfriend.”

Every day that passed, she regretted saying yes to him when he asked the question. She hadn’t been in the right mental space and he’d known that and taken advantage of it.

“When did you break it off with him?” he asked. “How?”

Taking a shaky breath in, she squeezed her trembling hands. “I didn’t take anything with me. I just left.”

She had never told him she was breaking it off with him, but she thought leaving her jewelry and running away was significant enough to say she didn’t want to be with him anymore.

“Okay, thank you for telling me,” he said. “I need to tell that to my guys but first, I need to call your Daddy.”

Monroe shook her head and stood up. Immediately, her vision started going in and out.

“Woah,” he said, grabbing onto her arm. “Easy there.”

“You can’t call him,” she said. “Please don’t. I’m okay.”

She wasn’t okay at all, but she needed to be strong for her Daddy. She didn't want to disappoint him. He still had several hours of work left and she didn't want to interrupt that.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I really think I should call him.”

“Please don't,” she begged. “He’s busy at work and needs to get this done. If you tell him, he's not going to get it done until this is resolved and who knows when that could be.”

She tried to reason with Ezra. She didn't know if he was actually going to do as she asked, but she hoped he would.

“Alright. If it changes at all, you let me know,” he said.

“Yes, sir.”

---