Page 1 of Bound

Chapter One

KARA

I was utterly confused by the situation that was playing in front of me. Honestly, I didn’t know what the think. In actuality, everything in me wanted to run, but there was a little girl attached to my legs.

“How about we go inside and let the adults talk,” I told the small child as I guided us inside. I didn’t know what to do with her since I wasn’t around kids much growing up.

“Can I see what’s in your backpack?” I asked when we entered an empty room.

She handed me the backpack and I sat down on the floor to organize what she had with her.

“Okay, so you have some clothes, a few toys. Which one is your favorite?”

She pointed to a dirty and almost torn teddy bear.

“We’ll probably have to get you a new one.”

She yanked the bear from my hands. I couldn’t blame her for lashing out. Her mom was giving her away. And, apparently Damon was her father. That was a blow I didn’t expect. It was like being kicked in the teeth.

“Are you gonna be my mom now?” the child finally spoke.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. But you don’t have anything to worry about, okay? Everything is gonna be fine.”

She shook her head.

Damon came into the room. “I swear I didn’t know about her. You have to believe me, Kara.”

I sighed. “I believe you.”

“Had I known, I would have taken care of my responsibilities. I can promise you that.”

“We can talk about that later. Damon, meet your daughter, Rose.”

He knelt and smiled at her. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Rose moved to be closer to me as she was apprehensive of Damon. “It’s okay. She’s just familiar with me. She’ll warm up to you. We were going through her stuff and she doesn’t have much. Just some clothes and a few toys.”

“I already have Susie out getting some stuff for her for now. We can do some shopping together later. What do you think about that?” he asked Rose.

She smiled and nodded her head.

“You’re in good hands here. You don’t have anything to worry about. You’ll get your own room and everything.”

She rubbed her eyes like she was tired.

“Want to lay down for a nap?”

She nodded once again. I looked to Damon to see where we could put her. He asked her, “Can I carry you upstairs to our bed?”

Again, another nod. She didn’t like to talk much, that was clear. My heart swelled seeing Damon carrying his daughter up to the room. This was still such a shock, and I had no idea what to do.

Damon came down as the guests started leaving. We bid them goodbye, thanking them again for coming. A lot of them said it was nice to meet me. And most of them seemed decent.

“Wow,” Damon said, deflated, sitting on the sofa.

I placed a hand on his leg. “What are you gonna do?”

“I need to get a DNA test done to make sure she’s mine. Even if she isn’t, I would still take care of her because her mother is a junkie and she doesn’t need to be put into the system.”

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