Page 42 of Daddy's Little Survivor

“Little Bunny. Can you look at me?” he asked.

Lifting her head, she looked at him and he saw the tears in her eyes.

“It’s going to be okay. I’m going to keep you safe. You’re safe,” he told her. If he needed to remind her every day, he would. He just wanted her to know she was safe; he wanted her to always feel safe.

“We need to talk. I need to know about your background so I can better help keep you safe and comfortable. You told me what I shouldn’t do to trigger you, but what about other things around you? You don’t have to tell me all of it, just the jist of it, and you don’t have to mention any names, though I would like that so I can go after the person,” he continued to say.

Her complexion went pale when he said the last part.

“You can’t!” she yelled.

He gave her a pointed look.

“Sorry, Daddy. Inside voices,” she whispered. “But you really can’t go after him!”

“Okay, we’ll talk about that later,” he said. “Can you tell me about it?”

She started to chew on her lip, and he knew she had to be scared and nervous at the same time.

“I won’t go anywhere. I’m here until you get sick and tired of me,” he said. “You’re safe.”

Monroe leaned her head on his chest and took several deep breaths.

“Okay,” she whispered.

CHAPTER TWENTY

MONROE

Ashiver ran through Monroe as she heard what Daddy was saying. He wanted to know what had happened to her and shereallydidn't want to tell him. She just wanted to bottle everything up and keep it deep, deep inside.

She’d guessed someday she was going to have to talk about it. She had hoped the day would never come, but here it was. His friend, Leo, had triggered her, and not some little trigger, but a full-blown panic attack and everything.

Monroe had hoped that if she built a wall around the memories and didn't talk about them, eventually the pain and fear would go away. She knew doing it by herself would take longer but she was willing to try. She just didn’t want to have to talk about it.

She had heard talking about it would heal her over time, but she was worried if she started to talk about it, she would have even more nightmares. The struggle to get a good night's sleep was hard enough with all the nightmares she already had.

The thought of having to relive everything Jared had done to her scared her. She didn’t want to live in fear, but at the same time, she didn’t want to have to relive everything.

When she’d gotten the job in the department store after finishing her GED, she thought everything was under control, and her life could begin. But then they had downsized, and she’d had to make do with a part-time waitressing job. Soon, unable to pay the rent, she’d lost her apartment and began living out of the car she’d so proudly bought after her first six months in the store. She hadn’t known what she would do when winter came, but then Jared had come along like a knight in shining armor to rescue her. He’d offered her a place to stay and what had seemed like a real relationship. She’d jumped at the chance.

Jared would always bring up the fact he had saved her from a horrible life, and he was a hero. And yes, in a way, he did help her get out of a horrible life, but he’d only brought her into an even worse one.

What he had done to her was horrible and she wouldn’t wish it on anybody. He was sick and twisted and showed no remorse when he did something wrong. At one point early on, he had apologized for something he had done and she had believed him.

That was until he continued to hit her and beat her. She thought he would change over time, but he just continued to prove he wouldn’t. It was almost like he found out he loved to hit her and couldn’t stop.

It was twisted and she knew it, but she also couldn't have done anything. He was so much stronger than her and knew how to manipulate her into doing anything and staying with him.

Looking back on it now, she thought being homeless might have been better than being with an abusive man for over six years. It was a weird way of looking at it, but she would rather live on the streets than get beaten every day.

“Monroe?” Daddy said.

She took her head off his chest and looked at him. She was trying to put off telling him what had happened, but he wasn’t going to give up and she knew that.

“Yes, Daddy,” she replied.

Maybe she could get away with not telling him everything that had happened. Monroe didn’t think he needed to hear every gruesome detail. She didn’t want to relive those horrible memories.

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