Daddy's Girl: A Daddy Issues Novel

by Rebel Wild

  “Daddy never told me anything like that, and why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “Look, don’t be pissed at me, okay? I’m just the messenger over here. Plus, he never did anything to you back then, right? Of course, he didn’t. He’s the DA. His like whole life would have been over because you can’t keep a secret for shit and people would accuse him of being a sex abuser like his dad.”

  “He’s nothing like his dad. He’s not a rapist, and it’s all lies. My dad was fired because he lost a stupid case, that’s it, and I don’t feel comfortable talking about it.”

  “Sorry, I’m just being a bitch because I’m jealous. What girl wouldn’t be. I can just look at him and see he’s good. What is he like forty?”

  “Thirty- five.”

  “He has to be good. No one in their right mind would be able to resist his charms.”

  “You sure couldn’t. I thought Matt was going to have to pick your face up off the pavement when you saw him walking up.”

  “Give me a break. I looked up to see Adonis walking toward us. I freaked out. It took all I had not to piss my pants,” she says, and I laugh. It’s funny that I don’t see him that way. I mean, he is intimidating sometimes, but he’s not the torture monster that I thought he was when I signed that contract. “Let’s go before Matt blows up our phones,” she jokes.

  “Speak of the devil,” I tell her as I take my phone out of my pocket to take his call.

  “We’re coming, Matt,” I answer the phone before turning to Leslie to roll my eyes.

  “Sydney Warren,” a female voice comes through the phone.

  “It’s not him,” I whisper to Leslie, covering the phone with my hand. “Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”

  “Okay, but I can’t guarantee Matt will wait for you,” she says.

  “Hello?” I answer the phone after she leaves. “Yes, this is Sydney.”

  “This is Isabella Chang, an on-call doctor at Cedar Sinai Hospital.”

  “Yes? How can I help you?” I frown, wondering why she’s calling me.

  “I got your number from the prison infirmary—”

  “What’s happened to my dad?”

  “He was brought in a week ago.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “I’m afraid not. He was stabbed multiple times.”

  “Oh, my God.”

  “We’ve managed to treat the wounds, but the ones on his left leg are problematic. His poor circulation is preventing healing. We wanted to operate, but your father refused.”

  “What? No, he can’t refuse. Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

  “He told us not to. The reason why I’m calling now is that he’s become confused. Whatever they stabbed him with has infected his leg, and the antibiotics we’ve started him on aren’t working. We’ve managed to treat the sepsis. That’s when—”

  “I know what it is. What else can you do for him?”

  “We need your permission to operate—”

  “Do it.”

  “We have to take the leg. It’s the reason he refused the surgery.”

  “Do it.”

  “How soon can you get here to sign the paperwork?”

  “I’m on my way.”

  I grab my bag and my car keys, leaving my unpacked books behind as I race out of the library to my car. I hit Mr. Garrett’s number on speed dial.

  “Miss Warren,” he answers the way he normally does when I call him.

  “Sir,” I say, near tears.

  “What’s wrong?” I can hear the concern in his voice, but I can’t even get the words out. “Sydney, what is it?”

  “My dad was attacked and he needs emergency surgery. I need to get to Cedars.”

  Why I called him, I have no idea. He’s on the other side of town and too far away to help me.

  “You’re too upset to drive,” he says. “I’ll have someone take you.”

  “But, sir,” I start to tell him that I can’t wait.

  “Miss Warren.” A woman comes up behind me. I’m a little freaked out by her.

  “Yes,” I say to her, holding my phone tightly in my hand up to my ear.

  “I’m Joanna. I work for Mr. Garrett. He’s informed me of your situation and I’ll be more than happy to get you to the hospital.”

  “Go with her,” Mr. Garrett says.

  “Okay,” I tell him, not having the time or even caring enough to question where she came from so fast.

  “I’ll meet you there,” he assures me.

  “Thank you,” I tell him, feeling relieved that he’s coming to be with me.

  “You don’t have to thank me,” he whispers to me.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Roger has been in surgery for over two hours and we haven’t heard a word from anyone. With Sydney’s permission, Mom went to go see what she could find out. She’s been a volunteer here for many years, so I called her as soon as I got off the phone with Sydney. I wanted her to have someone to help with what I’m sure was a difficult decision in sending her father in for surgery. I knew Mom could get the answers to all her questions and ask the doctors a few Sydney might not know to ask. Mom learned a lot about this kind of shit when Dad was sick. When I arrived, she was sitting next to her helping her fill out forms.

  Right now, Sydney sits quietly next to me in the waiting room, looking at a photo of her father, lost in her sea of worries.

  “Anything?” I ask Mom when she approaches us. Sydney and I both stand, eager to hear.

  “He’s halfway through the surgery,” she tells us. “He’s doing very well. They said his vital signs are stable and holding and his will is very strong.”

  “Thank you, Beverly,” Sydney says, hugging her.

  “You are very welcome,” Mom says, hugging her back. “I’ll leave you two alone. Do call if you need anything.”

  “We will, Mom,” I tell her, kissing her cheek goodbye.

  Sydney and I sit once again in silence.

  “You don’t have to stay,” she says. “It’s going to be a while and I’m sure you have better things to do. You’ve missed almost a full day of work already and…”

  I lift her hand and press it to my lips to calm the worry I see in her eyes.

  “There’s no place I’d rather be. You must be hungry. I can have something delivered.”

  She shakes her head.

  “I just can’t eat right now,” she tells me, and I nod in understanding.

  We sit in silence again, but now I continue to hold her hand to comfort her.

  The surgeon finally emerges, and Sydney’s out of her seat as soon as she sees him. I can feel the anxiety radiating from her as I stand beside her.

  “How is he?” she asks.

  “He made it through just fine,” Dr. Chang says, smiling at us for good measure. I’m sure the concern is evident on both our faces. “He’ll be in recovery for a few more hours, then he’ll go back to his room.”

  “Can we see him?” Sydney asks.

  “Yes, of course. He’s allowed two visitors at a time right now, but very briefly. He’s still out of it from the anesthesia.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Chang,” Sydney tells her as she gets the nurse to escort us back.

  I stand in the doorway of his room as Sydney visits with her father. I don’t want to intrude, but at the same time, I want to see for myself that he’s okay. I listen as she talks to him, the man that’s mainly responsible for raising the amazing woman that she is today. The woman that intrigues every inch of my mind and body like no one ever has before her.

  “I know you’re going to be so mad at me when you wake up,” she tells him. “But just know that I did this because I love you. I’m doing all of this because I love you and I can’t lose you.”

  I watch as she gently kisses his forehead and smooths his
sandy-red hair off his face. Guilt hits me when I see her reason for being with me lying there, helpless, and in living color. Her desperation to save him led her to a cold-hearted bastard like me, and after all I’ve done, she still believes I have a heart. I have a heart all right and it’s just like my father’s. The nurse’s voice interrupts my thoughts, telling us our time with him is up.

  Sydney says her goodbyes and promises to be here the minute they tell her it’s okay to visit again. I extend my hand to her and she places one of her small soft ones in mine while she wipes at her tears with the handkerchief I gave her earlier.

  “It had to be done,” I tell her as I drive us back home. “He’ll see that. He’ll understand.”

  “I don’t think he will. Would you understand someone going against your wishes?”

  “Eventually, I would. Once I learned the circumstances. Sydney, you had no choice. The alternative would’ve been him dying.”

  “I think he would have preferred that.”

  “He’ll be okay with a little therapy. Once he’s free and realizes he can go back to doing everything he did before he got hurt, he’ll be back to himself in no time.”

  “He didn’t just get hurt. Some bastard in there abused him and then tried to kill him. Can anyone come back from that?”

  “People have and your dad can. He has no idea what you’ve sacrificed for him—”

  “And he never will. Promise me you won’t tell him. I couldn’t handle him knowing about all this stuff we’re doing. He wouldn’t be able to deal with it on top of everything else.”

  “I promise you,” I say, glancing over at her. She looks exhausted. “Everything will look better in the morning once you’ve had some sleep.”

  “I guess,” she says, sniffling her nose before wiping her eyes with my handkerchief. “I’m going to have a nice size collection of these,” she says, holding up my handkerchief to gesture her meaning. “I should give this one back though.”

  “Keep it. I’m sure your rabbit can make good use of it,” I say, pulling into the driveway and parking the car in front of the door.

  She gifts me a laugh about her rabbit. The first night I came into her bed, I’d dislodged the matted old stuffed animal from under her pillow and was shocked to see he was sporting one of my handkerchiefs around his neck. Sydney’s face flamed with embarrassment as she pushed him off the bed onto the floor and we continued with our fucking without a word about it. We’ve yet to speak about it until this moment and obviously, she’s still embarrassed by it.

  “That is a beautiful sound,” I tell her and she looks at me in question. “Your laugh, you should do it more often. Perhaps I should give you more reasons to do it.”

  Her mouth opens slightly to accommodate her gasp. Her eyes are begging me to kiss her. Long since given up the pretense that I have any power to resist her, I lean in and give her what she wants. Her fingers are in my hair, making this more than just a little kiss. I undo our seat belts, push the button to slide my seat away from the steering wheel, and pull her into my lap. She comes to me willingly, turning me on with her mouth, but stops short of doing anything else when we see Joe standing with the front door wide open, waiting for us.

  I could take it further, but it would be a gross misuse of power. She would be mortified, and that isn’t what I want her to feel about what we do. He closes the door when he sees what’s going on, but it doesn’t change the cock block he just managed to pull off. I put my libido on hold for the time being as matters are going on that we need to deal with right now.

  “Let’s go in. You need to eat.”

  I lead her into the dining room where Brianna’s already prepared our meal. I’m pleased to see her appetite has returned and she eats a good-sized portion of the vichyssoise.

  “That was amazing,” I say, sipping my white wine after I’ve cleaned my plate of Bree’s delicious soup.

  “I’m happy you enjoyed it,” he tells me. He gets up and pulls my chair out to help me stand. “Leave the dishes,” he says, taking my hand. I walk with him into his office and take the seat he offers me.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “There are a few things we need to discuss. Mainly the reason you’re here and the part I played in it.”

  “I’m here to do a job, sir.”

  “There’s more to it than that. It’s not like you had a choice in the matter.”

  “You didn’t force me to sign the contract and I’m glad I did it because I don’t know how I would have been able to pay that lawyer to help my dad prove his innocence. I’m very grateful.”

  “Stop it. It’s not like I did this out of the goodness of my heart, and your father isn’t innocent. He dropped the ball on a high-profile murder case. My office was under pressure that was understandable under the circumstances, and we had to let him go. Later, after we investigated the case, we found out that he’d thrown it on purpose. Not only that case, but many others.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Money. Most of which went to support his gambling addiction.”

  “That’s bullshit. He didn’t have a gambling addiction. He never even played solitaire on his phone.”

  “He threw the case on purpose. I have all the evidence.”

  “How could he do something like that without anyone knowing?”

  “People knew. Detective Dalton, for one. That’s why he was coming around questioning you. He was trying to see if your father was going to give him up. When he found out you were close to me, it made him anxious. I think he’s responsible for having your father moved to another cell. Roger’s his gambling partner. They’re both dirty.”

  “No. My father didn’t gamble. He wouldn’t collaborate with dirty cops, and he sure didn’t throw his cases. You worked him too hard. His caseload was too heavy. You didn’t even let him spend Christmas with me.”

  “Sydney, the office is closed on Christmas, every Christmas. Cases aren’t heard because judges aren’t working. Your father was out gambling—”

  “I don’t want to hear this. Why are you even telling me this right now?”

  “Because I need you to understand who your father is. Because you only see the good in him and you’re doing the same thing with me. It’ll only hurt you in the end.”

  “So, you want to hurt me instead, is that it?”

  “I’m trying to help you.”

  “By turning me against my father?”

  “I’m trying to protect you. I’m trying to make you see the truth.”

  “Why do you care what I see?”

  “I don’t.” He backs away from me like I’m pointing a gun at him. “I care about fucking you, that’s it.”

  “Bullshit. You want me to see the truth, but you won’t even see it.”

  “I’m telling you the truth. Make no mistake, when I’m done with you, I intend to send you on your way without a second thought. Stop deluding yourself into thinking I give a damn because I don’t. Fucking you is the only reason I’m doing all of this. I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you.”

  “At the restaurant?”

  “Before that,” he says. He walks over to the wet bar and pours a glass of what looks like whiskey. He stares at it for a moment before finishing it in one swallow. “I was attracted to you when you used to hang out at the office and it’s not something I’m proud of so don’t bother with the judgment.” He pours another glass and finishes it before setting the glass down. He walks back to his chair and undoes the first button of his shirt before sitting back down. “You’re the reason I’m in therapy.”

  “Me? I’m the reason?”

  “More or less. I was attracted to an underage girl. No man in his right mind wouldn’t have an issue with that. I was a pedophile.”

  “But I never even knew. You never touched me.”

  “I wanted to. That was eno
ugh. When I saw you at that restaurant, I was determined to have you. I couldn’t walk away from you and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let you walk away from me.”

  “Is that why you did the contract and the power exchange? You didn’t want me to be able to walk away from you?”

  “I would like to say no. I used what happened to your father as leverage because I knew you’d do anything to help him even though he didn’t deserve it. I used every advantage to get you, and I took advantage of you. If that doesn’t prove to you who I am, I don’t know what can.”

  I shake my head in disagreement.

  “Don’t,” he tells me. “Stop believing all this shit you’ve convinced yourself of about me. I’m not the man you think I am. I fantasized about you when you were a kid. I wanted to fuck the shit out of you, to eat your cherry right before I broke it. The only thing that stopped me was the fear of ending up right where your father is and where my father should have been.”

  “That was years ago. It doesn’t have anything to do with right now.”

  “Of course, it does. It’s the whole reason you’re here. The minute you turned eighteen, I figured out a way to have you.”

  “Why didn’t you just ask me out?”

  “I don’t take unnecessary risks. I needed a guarantee. You want me to say the truth, well here it is: I’m a selfish bastard that wasn’t going to give you a chance to say no and being territorial goes with that. I wanted you and no one else was going to have you, so I took you.”

  “Oh, please, you didn’t take me. You sound like you’re living in some lame mobster movie. I know it’s hard to admit because you like to control everything, but I agreed to be here and I could have left if I wanted to.”

  “If you think leaving was a possibility, then you’re more naive than I thought.”

  “I don’t know why you’re trying to make it seem like you’re some evil person but you’re not. Nowhere close. If you were, then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation… sir.”