by Alta Hensley
As Ariana looked over at the door, she had to stop herself from sighing. Snack time came around in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Apparently, being in Costello’s room didn’t excuse her from the cookies and milk ceremony. Like she’d become accustomed to doing, she pulled herself together and clapped her hands with excitement.
Even though she could feel Costello’s examining eyes on her, she didn’t look over at him, keeping all of her attention on the door.
“You want a cookie?” he asked tentatively. Like he was testing her.
“Yes, Daddy.” She stepped toward the door.
“Go on, then.” He motioned for her to answer it.
She bounced on the balls of her feet as she made her way to the door and flung it open as carelessly as she could. A six-year-old wouldn’t keep herself under control when there were cookies to be eaten. A six-year-old wouldn’t understand the poisonous effects of so much sugar and carbs to her hips.
“Here you go, Ariana.” Nancy smiled her biggest saccharine grin at her as she handed over a small plate with three sugar cookies. “Do you want milk too?” she asked as though Ariana could barely understand the question.
“Nope,” Ariana said, stepping back inside the room and shutting the door while Nancy craned her neck, probably trying to sneak a peek at the goings on in Costello’s room.
She spun around on her heel and brought the plate of cookies to Costello.
“Do you want to share a cookie, Daddy?” She held the plate up to him.
Ariana couldn’t peg his age, but she assumed he was somewhere nearing his thirties. But with his height towering over her, and his muscular build, standing in front of her, he probably looked every bit her daddy. Especially with the silly dress they made her wear.
“No, thank you, Ariana,” he answered, with his lips pinched together as though he were trying to keep a grin inside.
She put the plate down next to her juice box. Snagging one cookie, she hopped onto the bed and nibbled at the edges. The food given to the girls was usually pretty tasty, but the cookies didn’t meet the standards she had regarding baked goods. They would never sell such dry goods at the bakery where she’d worked.
When she had a job.
The text she’d received from her boss the night she had been kidnapped told her they thought she’d quit. When she didn’t show up for work, there was no alarm, no concern. There was no one missing her. No one looking for her. She should have made more of an effort to make friends, to start some sort of relationship with anyone, instead of keeping herself isolated from society. Now she’d been taken, and not a single soul even knew.
“Why are you pouting?” Costello asked.
She blinked. Getting lost in her moments of self-pity made her forget she was in her daddy’s room.
“I was thinking of old friends,” she answered, unsure if having memories from before arriving at the House was normal. She could be setting herself up to be caught.
He tilted his head to the side, but she couldn’t read his blank expression. Had she just clued him into what was happening?
“Did you have a lot of friends?” he asked.
“Yes. Lots.” She exaggerated her nod. Maybe if he thought there were people who cared about her out there, he’d tell Uncle Frank it was dangerous to keep her. Maybe they’d let her go.
It was a foolish thought, but she wasn’t coming up with any better ideas.
“Tell me about them,” he encouraged her.
Well, hell.
“Uh, there was Stephanie. My roommate.” She grinned. Yes. If she had someone living with her, she’d for sure be looking for Ariana. He’d have to see that.
“Your roommate?” he asked with raised brows.
Good. He was starting to understand that people would be coming for her.
“Yes. We were very, very close.” She nodded some more, then picked up her juice and squirted a bit onto her tongue. The overly sweet juice was going to give her a sugar high, but it would probably help her keep her act together all afternoon.
“Really?” he asked, pushing off the bedpost and moving to stand in front of her.
“Yes. We did everything together. I bet she misses me something awful.” She raised the pitch of her voice and pulled her lips down in a frown.
“Hmmm.” He plucked the juice box from her hands, then removed the stale cookie from her fingers, and placed them both down on the nightstand. “That’s interesting.”
“Yeah. I bet she’s super sad, Daddy. Really sad that I haven’t talked to her.” An idea popped into her head. “Do you think I could call her? Just to make sure she isn’t too sad?”
The left side of his mouth kicked up in a grin. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He shook his head. His eyes sparkled with amusement. “Ariana, do you know what happens to little girls who lie to their daddies?”
Her stomach dropped a few inches, and the confidence that had started to blossom faded back to the roots.
She looked up at him and stared into his dark eyes. “They get spankings,” she answered. “But I’m not lying,” she lied, shoving the turmoil further down. She needed to stay strong. Be bold.
“Okay then.” He slid open the drawer of the nightstand where a manila folder with her name written on the front stared up at her.
She swallowed back the whimper working its way up her throat.
Costello picked up the file and opened it, not letting her see what was inside. She didn’t need to. Obviously, these people did their homework before abducting their girls. They’d been able to drain her bank account and cut ties with her job. Of course, they would know where she lived and if she had a roommate.
“Daddy?” she whispered.
He looked up from the folder. “Yes?”
“I…was just being funny.” She tried to soften her voice even more than usual. To really hit home what a little girl the Lullaby made her, but his lips screwed up into a tense line. It didn’t work.
He snapped the folder closed and tossed it in the drawer, shoving it back in place.
“You were?”
Humiliation washed through her as she began to twirl her hair with her fingers and kicked her feet playfully over the side of the bed. “I was. Just a story.” She shrugged. “I think I should go back to the dayroom. Shelby might be worried about me,” she said and hopped off the bed.
His strong arm easily wrapped around her middle, catching her before she got two steps away from him.
“Not so fast, little girl.”
He hauled her up against his chest, hugging her tighter. She pushed at his arm, but he wouldn’t be budged.
“I think there’s more to your story than you’re telling me.” His hot breath washed across her ear.
“I…it was just make-believe,” she whispered, still shoving against his tree trunk of an arm.
“How much do you remember about before you became my little girl?” Costello’s voice dipped too low for her to misunderstand the danger she’d brought upon herself.
“Well.” She’d failed. She’d chosen the wrong path with her damn storytelling. “Nothing, Daddy. I…should I? Am I sick?” She didn’t have to force panic into her voice. If she failed, he’d know the drug wasn’t working; he’d take her to Uncle Frank. The panic was real.
“No, you’re not sick.” As easily as picking up a bag of apples, he lifted her from the ground and brought her back to the bed, depositing her in the middle. “But just to be safe, you should stay here and take a nap. Maybe I’ll have the doctor come in to check on you,” he said with his hands on his hips.
Her heart sank. How was she going to get out of that?
“I don’t wanna see the doctor,” she pouted.
“Whose call is it if you see the doctor or not? Yours or mine?” he asked, his left eyebrow arching higher.
“Yours.” She sighed and flung herself back against his pillows. Everything she tried backfired. Now she was going to pretend with a doctor that she wasn’t
a full-aged woman.
“That’s right. Just sit tight. If you move from that bed, I’ll take my belt to your ass before the doctor examines you.” He pointed a finger at her, walking across the room to the door. “Not one toe on the floor.” The door closed on his instruction.
Well fuck.
Costello found Gianni and Marco outside the dayroom deep in conversation.
“What’s wrong?” Costello asked, glancing through the window of the door. The other girls were playing blissfully in the room with their nannies supervising. Everyone except Ariana, who was sitting in his room awaiting a visit from the House doctor.
Which they didn’t have.
If the girls needed medical care, they had a doctor they could call to come in to look them over, but Costello wasn’t going to call him for this matter. It would also raise suspicions about Ariana, and he wouldn’t risk that. He needed to know for sure whether or not the drug was actually working on her or not. She would have to confess it to him, but he suspected she wouldn’t until she felt completely safe that he wouldn’t turn her in.
He’d never faced this decision before. Turning her over to Frank would mean death, or worse, she’d be drugged out of her mind on heroine and sent to work the whorehouses. Ariana was getting too deep under his skin. There should be no hesitation in what to do. If he suspected her to be playacting, he should confront her and hand her over. No decision to be made.
And yet, he didn’t act.
“Marco was just telling me about his girl.” Gianni shook his head.
“What about her?” Costello pressed.
“It’s Nancy. She’s such a fucking cunt to these girls. I think she gets off on their situations more than the assholes in the playroom.” Marco nudged his chin in the direction of the dayroom. “She’s giving Courtney a hard time today. I’m just as happy to spank her cute ass any day of the week, but when Nancy dictates it—it pisses me off.”
“We could talk to Frank. I mean, she’s a real bitch, and it’s not helping our jobs,” Gianni added.
“You forget that Nancy is his fucking cousin?” Costello shoved Gianni’s shoulder. “I think he hates her as much we do, but she’s family. Blood family. Not like us. I wouldn’t bother taking your complaints to him about her. Unless you want heat on your own ass.”
“Good point.” Gianni nodded. “I don’t think Shelby can take much more heat right now anyway.” He glanced through the window. “If she’s not adopted at the next showing, he’s not going to give her another chance. But if he puts her in the playroom any more, she won’t be adoptable anyway.”
Costello recognized the look in Gianni’s eyes. He was falling for his little girl, in the same way Ariana was wiggling her way into Costello’s mind.
“You could buy her yourself, you know.” Costello playfully threw his fist into Gianni’s belly.
Gianni laughed. “Right. Cause I got a cool million sitting under my mattress.”
Costello’s mood darkened. That’s exactly what it would cost to purchase one of the girls, at the minimum. The Romero family paid fucking great; Costello wasn’t hurting for anything. Living at the House, he had next to zero expenses. But a million dollars in cash? He didn’t have anywhere close to that to throw away.
Nancy pulled open the dayroom door and glared at Costello. “Where’s Ariana? She’s not in here with the rest of the girls.”
“She’s taking her nap in my room.” Costello leveled her with a hard stare. He didn’t answer to her, and she needed to remember that.
“The girls are taking their baths tonight. Will she be joining us?” Nancy raised her chin. The group baths weren’t something Costello could wrap his mind around. The girls each had a bathroom attached to their rooms, but once a week they were rounded up, stripped, and bathed together. It probably helped them get ready for whatever was coming at them in their future, but while in the House, it made no sense. And it wasn’t something he could keep Ariana from having to participate in.
“She’ll be joining you,” Costello said, hardening his tone.
Nancy gave a curt nod, flicked her annoyed gaze at Marco and Gianni then retreated back into the room and shut the door.
“I just want to stick my hand down that bitch’s throat and pull out her heart,” Marco growled.
Costello laughed. “If she even has one.” He patted Marco on the shoulder. “I have to get back to Ariana. Have fun, boys.” He flashed them a carefree grin and turned back toward his rooms.
If his suspicions were right and Nancy caught on to the game Ariana was playing, things could go badly for them both. Hiding her away from the group activities would shine too bright a light on her. Costello would have to send her to the baths tonight.
When he got back to his room, Ariana was sitting cross-legged in the middle of his bed flipping through a book.
“Where’d you get that?” he asked, kicking his door closed and marching to the bed.
She jolted and panicked eyes raised to meet his.
“In...in your drawer.” She pointed to the nightstand on the other side of the bed. He snatched it from her and slammed it shut. He didn’t have much time to read, but he kept a few books in the nightstand for when he could squeeze in a few pages. She’d been reading the latest psychological thriller he’d bought.
“Little girls don’t read stuff like this,” he said, shoving it into the drawer and slamming it closed.
She folded her hands in her lap.
“You like scary books,” she said in her little voice.
“The doctor isn’t available to see you right now,” he said, switching the topic. “But he told me exactly what to do to be sure you’re a healthy girl.”
“What?” She scrambled off the bed and followed him as he walked to his own bathroom suite. She stood in the doorway, her hands wringing in front of her as he pulled out a small medical kit from beneath the sink.
Her eyes widened when he unzipped the kit to reveal the different thermometers.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at the items.
“I need to check your temperature first. Then we can look at other things.”
“What does that have to do with my memory?” she blurted out in the most adult voice he’d heard slip out of her since their first meeting.
He caught himself before grinning.
“It’s what the doctor ordered.” He shrugged. “Now, get undressed and get on the bed; lie on your tummy.” He waved his fingers at her, but she stayed rooted to her spot. “Ariana, now.”
“I feel fine. I don’t need an exam,” she said. “I think I’m just tired and need a nap.”
“Hmmm, that’s probably true. But I’m the Daddy here, and I say get naked and lie on your stomach. Prop your ass up with a pillow.”
Her hands flew behind her. “Why do you need that?”
He laughed. “How else can I check your temperature?”
The color drained from her face faster than he could stop himself from grinning. It only took one touch to his belt buckle to get her moving, and she ran across the room back to the bed. By the time he gathered all his supplies and reentered the bedroom, she was exactly how he wanted her. Naked, and draped over a pile of pillows. Giving him full access to her ass.
Laying out a towel beside her, he placed down the thick thermometer, the small jar of lubrication, and the bulbous vibrator.
Using both hands, he pried open her ass cheeks until the dark ring of her clenched hole came into view.
“Hmm, too tight, Ariana. Relax.” He reached his thumb beneath her cheeks and tapped the contracted muscle. “Push out a little so your little hole isn’t so small.”
She groaned, but slowly the muscle relaxed.
“I’m going to use my finger first,” he explained. “I want to make sure your ass is nice and stretched for the thermometer. That way it’s comfortable for you,” he added. Forgoing the lubrication for the moment, he spit onto her asshole.
“What the—” She caught herself befo
re cursing, but he understood the gist.
“Uh, uh. I wouldn’t go using naughty words right now, Ariana,” he chastised her and dribbled more saliva along her ass crack, letting it roll down to her pucker. “Here, help Daddy out. Suck on my finger, just like you would a lollipop.” He reached up her body and hooked his middle finger around her cheek until he shoved it into her mouth.
She mumbled something he didn’t understand, but quickly, she began to lick and suck on his finger.
“That’s a good girl for Daddy.” He pulled his finger out and brought the wet digit to her ass. Pulling one cheek toward him, he pressed the tip to her hole. “Deep breath.”
“Daddy!” She clenched the moment he pushed past the ring. With his elbow, he pushed her back down and continued his ministrations.
“Lie still,” he said harshly, working his finger into her ass up to the second knuckle. “Such a tight little asshole. Very nice,” he praised, doing his best to ignore his growing erection. He’d have plenty of time for that later.
“Daddy,” she whimpered when he thrust forward and his finger went into her ass up to the last knuckle. She fisted the bedding, but she remained still.
“Very good girl.” He began slowly fucking her asshole with his middle finger, curling it slightly to stretch her muscles.
She groaned, but when he moved his gaze lower, the telltale signs of her arousal were there. Her pussy lips were already covered in her juices.
“Please,” she whined. “Can we be done?”
“Not yet.” He reached across her body and retrieved the thermometer. “I’m going to slide this into your hole now, and you have to keep it in. Don’t let it slip out, Ariana.” He ran the tip of the thick thermometer through her pussy lips, gathering all of her juices up. Turned out he didn’t need the jar of lubricant after all.
He replaced his finger with the thermometer easily. The measuring tool was slightly thinner than his finger, so she took it without complaint. After wiping his finger on the towel, he picked up the vibrator.
“I need to check if you’re still as responsive as before, Ariana. So, don’t fight me on this, understood?” He twisted the thermometer as he pulled it out, only to push it back in.