Page 83 of Daddy's Little Survivor

Yes, she was worried right now but how could someone not be? She thought if she knew all the information, it would just make her more worried and paranoid.

Yesterday had been a dream when Daddy had come home. They’d built a blanket fort and watched three movies. In between, they’d eaten dinner with Ezra, but went right back to the fort she loved it.

Her Daddy made her feel so cared for and loved. She had wanted to play with her dolls or have a tea party but he’d told her it was time to go to bed. No matter how much she protested and tried to get out of going to bed, he didn't budge. He had told her she’d had an exhausting day and needed rest.

While she could agree her day had been exhausting, she wanted to stay up and be with him. He had told her how his friends had been worried with how much time he spent at the club, and not leaving enough time for the clinic or just to relax. He was determined, he told her, to make some decisions regarding the best way to go forward.

He wanted to make sure that the tasks he was delegating were okay with the other owners. Some things needed to be handled by him personally, but some things could just as easily be done by other people. She didn't fully understand but her Daddy knew the job and had been doing it for years and knew what was best.

“Please remember what I told you before we got in the car,” Ezra said. “It's really important that you follow the rules I gave you until we get into the building and to your Daddy. All the way into the building. Not when we arrive in front of it. There’s a difference and you know it.”

“Yes, sir,” she muttered as she rolled her eyes and slumped against the seat.

Forty minutes before they had to leave, Ezra had told her some of the rules she had to follow. They were all about keeping her safe, but it was all tedious and annoying. She understood she was in danger and everything, but spending forty minutes explaining a couple of rules seemed a little overkill.

She wished she could go back in time and never have talked to Jared. She didn't want to have to deal with all this. At the same time, she knew if she actually could go back and never have talked to Jared, she probably would have never met her Daddy. It was the one good thing that had come out of all the agony she had experienced.

“Don't you dare get an attitude with me. I'm not afraid to tell your Daddy,” he snapped at her. “This is for your safety and I know you understand, but I'm serious.”

Monroe felt bad she gave him some attitude. She didn't mean to, but he had to have known she was getting restless. This needed to be over and soon before she popped and went insane.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I know this is serious, I just want it to be over with. I'm scared and not getting good enough rest and it's making me cranky.”

He let out a sigh and turned toward her. “I know and I'm sorry for snapping at you. I shouldn't have.”

“It's okay.”

She understood. She shouldn't have rolled her eyes and joked about it. Monroe needed to take this seriously because it was a very serious matter.

“Are you ready for your lunch?” he asked.

“Yep!” Excitement bubbled up inside her.

She was going to see her Daddy soon and she couldn’t wait. She wanted a hug first but then she wanted to go play. Though, she could totally see Daddy telling her she couldn’t play until she ate with him.

He was still very serious about her food intake and tried to get her to eat more and more with each meal. Every time a meal ended, she felt stuffed and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep.

“Make sure you're buckled,” he said.

Monroe already was. Safety. That was one of her rules and she thought it was super important as well. She always had because Jared had talked about hitting people and they did not have their seatbelt on, resulting in them dying.

She had learned early on that she needed to wear one even if she didn't feel like it. It was important and anything could happen.

They pulled onto the busy street and Monroe looked out the side window. She loved seeing people walking their dogs and seeing the scenery.

Things had started to change outside and it felt like the first time she’d ever seen it. Jared hadn’t ever let her outside, so she’d only ever gotten little glimpses of the outside world.

She was loving how it was turning to fall and she could see the leaves change. Daddy had promised her he would take her to the park in a couple of days so she could walk around and see everything. She was so excited and couldn't wait for that to happen.

“Monroe,” Ezra said, his voice calm. “Can you do something for me?”

She looked over at him and smiled. “Sure! What do you need?”

“I need you to call your Daddy and let him know we're going to be a couple of minutes late.”

She immediately froze and continued to look at him. Something was wrong because there wasn't any traffic on the road for them to be a couple of minutes late.

“W-what’s wrong?” she stuttered.

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