Page 43 of Daddy's Little Foreigner

“Deep breath in. Hold it. Let it out,” Jaxson softly said as he placed her hand on his chest, right above his heart. “That’s it. Such a good girl for Daddy.”

Her heart fluttered as he called her a good girl and she felt herself slowly start to calm down.

“Daddy’s so proud of you,” he whispered. “Such a good girl.”

Tears still ran down her face as she managed to calm herself down. She knew she was going to have to tell him and she needed to stay calm the whole time.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded her head. “I, I got m-mugged l-last night,” she whispered, not looking him in the eyes.

Sofia didn’t want to see his reaction when she told him that. What would he think? How was he going to react?

“When you walked from the car to your building?” he calmly asked.

More tears ran down her face as the mention of getting out of a car. She hadn’t, and she felt so guilty for lying to him several times.

“I didn’t have a ride,” she wailed. “I walked to my apartment yesterday. I lied and then I got mugged.”

“Shhh,” he said. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll talk about you walking home later. Right now, I want to know everything about what happened and what you did afterward.”

“I walked home last night and when I was close to my apartment building,” she took a shuddering breath in. “He came out of nowhere. Told me to give him my purse, and I didn’t. Hepunched me in my face, knocking me down on the ground, and then ran off.”

Had he kicked her? She honestly couldn’t remember and right now she didn’t want to. Sofia just wanted to forget about what happened and go on with her day. She didn't want to have to think about it any more and bring it up in her mind.

Had the guy followed her to her apartment? She couldn’t remember what she had in the purse besides the money. Did she have something valuable or that he could identify her with?

“You should’ve just let him take the purse,” he said. “Your safety is important and we could have always gotten you another purse but we can’t get another you.”

She knew that now, but at the time, all she could think about was losing her last bit of cash. Jaxson didn’t know that she was struggling for money, and she wanted to keep it that way. What would he think of her if he knew she could barely pay for rent and she didn’t eat a lot?

“Was there anything valuable in your purse?” he asked. “Do we need to talk to the police? Did you get a good look at his face?”

“There was cash, but I can’t remember if there was anything else,” she started to cry again. That cash was super important to her and now she didn’t know what she was going to do. “I didn’t get a good look at him at all.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked. “You know I would’ve been there in a heartbeat. You should’ve called me.”

“I just wanted to get to my apartment and go to bed. I was scared and wasn’t thinking straight.”

And that was the truth. It may have briefly crossed her mind that she should call him, but her being scared took over and she didn’t call him. Maybe he could’ve made things better.

“Did you put anything on your face?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t have anything, and I just wanted to lay in my bed, snuggle up to Trixie, and go to bed.”

“Next time, you call me,” he said. “Not that there will be a next time because I’m walking you to the car and watching you get in. No more walking to your apartment.”

She nodded her head, not telling him she never had anyone picking her up. She’d been lying to him all along. Next time she worked, she needed to call a cab before her shift ended so it would be there for him to see.

“For the next couple of days, you’re going to be staying with me so I can take care of you and make sure that your bruises are healing up nicely,” he said. “You’re going to have several days off so you can just focus on healing and nothing else. Understand?”

“I can’t,” she blurted out. Sofia didn’t even have to think about that. “I need the money.”

“You’ll be taking sick leave. Everyone gets two weeks of sick leave.”

“I can’t.”

Sofia didn’t think Jaxson understood she couldn’t take sick leave. She needed the money so she could pay her rent and the little food she could buy. There was no way she was going to be able to afford rent if she didn’t work the next couple of days.

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