The next day, after several marathon sessions with Richard, we head home in his Ferrari with my bags and everything in tow, ready to move in.
“Where did you get all that money from?” he asks, motioning his head towards the boot of his car.
“You went through my—”
“Don’t fucking start, Scarlet. Just answer the question.”
I slink back in my seat, almost crossing my arms like a petulant child. How dare he go through my things? “It was my half of the money that was owed to me. I picked it up from Reid’s office.”
I hear him growl before stating, “You don’t need his fucking money. I have plenty of it myself.”
“It’s my money,” I spit back.
“I don’t care if it’s your money because it isn’t anymore. You belong to me now, and I’ll take care of you.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I know your game. You just want me completely reliant on you. If I have no money of my own, then there’s no escape.”
He bashes the steering wheel with his hand. “Too fucking right. You will live with me, and I’ll take care of you. Today is the day it starts, Scarlet. You’re mine and only mine. No one else’s. Got it?” When I don’t answer straight away, he looks my way, fixing me with those intense eyes of his. “Got it?!”
“Yes!” I scream back, pissed that he rendered me to this. I knew it was coming, but it still hasn’t lessened the anger.
“Your mother and Amber want to visit, but I told them to give you a few more days,” he says, changing the subject. He’s a lot calmer now like a switch has been flicked. “We’ll go round for Sunday lunch in a couple of weeks. That should make her happy enough.”
“You know she still wants you,” I say, completely ignoring everything else he’s just said.
He surprises me when all he says is, “Yes.”
I frown. “Yes. That’s all you’re giving me?”
Richard smirks, cutting off the engine once he’s parked outside his house. “Are you jealous?”
I turn away, making a pffft sound under my breath. “Don’t be silly.”
Surprising me further, he trails a finger under my chin, making me look his way. He’s smiling adoringly at me. “You and I both know that it’s always been just you and me.”
Hearing those words makes me smile back, but as soon as he sees that, his own drops. “Which reminds me,” he says, dropping his hand and getting out of the car.
Aimlessly, I follow suit opening the car door as he starts taking out my luggage. “Go open the door,” he commands, shutting the boot before picking my bags back up.
I do as I’m told, but all the while I’m wondering why he started a sentence without finishing it. As soon as I’ve walked through the door, I hear it slam behind me and suddenly feel Richard grabbing my hair. I quickly realise he left the sentence unfinished because he’d become angry again. I scream when he strengthens his grip on my hair, yanking it and pulling me along towards the basement door.
“You may have gotten me to be pliant with you in that hotel, but no more. You’re back home now under my rules, under my fucking say so.” With his free hand, he yanks the basement door open before shoving me in and forcing me down the stairs. “You’ll stay down here until you come to realise what a fucking bitch sister you really are.” With one final push, he throws me on the bed, making an undignified grunt leave my lips.
“You fucking bastard!” I scream, causing him to smirk at me.
“You’ll stay down here until you come to your senses. No more fucking around with your family, Scarlet. I mean it.” He throws my bag of clothes my way before saying, “Make yourself comfortable. You’re going to be here a while.” He turns to leave, and I just watch him. Shouting and screaming won’t help me. I realise that. And not only that, it’s what he’s expecting. It’s what he wants.
I refuse to give him the satisfaction.
I hear the door slam before a lock clicks, and pretty soon after, silence reins upon the room. I look around the white walls, taking in the fact that it has no windows. Great. I had never been in this room before, and now I can see why. Out of all the rooms in this house, this is the least pleasant. It may have a nice big bed and all the things one needs to live and sleep in, but that’s about it. Down here, I won’t be able to tell when it’s dark or light. Other than my watch, I’ll have nothing to go by.
I sit for a while, contemplating how long he’ll keep me down here for. I know it can’t be more than a couple of weeks because that’s when we’ll have our compulsory Sunday lunch at my mother’s. A Sunday lunch that I know Richard loathes every other week. He much prefers being balls deep inside his daughter than playing happy families around Wendy.
That thought makes me smile. In fact, it makes me smile so much that laughter soon erupts. Richard may or may not know this, but he’s treating me more like his daughter than he is a lover. I laugh even harder at the thought that I’ve been such a naughty girl that Daddy’s locked me in his basement to teach me a lesson.
The whole time I’m there, all I can think about is teaching him a lesson. A real lesson that he’ll soon learn: messing with me is never a wise thing. I may still be at his mercy, but I will never take anything he unleashes on me lying down.
At day ten, Richard comes down to the basement with toast and tea—minus his sling. Once he lays that down by my bedside, I watch as he picks something up and throws it beside me on my bed. I look down at it, frowning.
“You haven’t had your period in over a week. Time to take this.”
Confused, I look up at him, wondering how on earth he knows more about my cycle than I do. In my head, I start to do the math and realise that he’s right.
But I can’t be.
I’ve been taking my pills religiously.
“Go take the test, and if it’s good news, I may just let you out of here.”
Deciding to humour him, I pick the test up and make my way into the bathroom. I pee on the stick knowing that it’ll be negative and that I’ll have to stay down in this hellhole for at least another couple of days.
After finishing, I wash my hands and walk outside to find my dad standing there staring expectantly at me. “Well?” he asks, looking frustrated.
“Well what?” I answer. “I left the test in there. It’s not instantaneous, you know.” I roll my eyes, and he immediately rushes past me into the bathroom.
My eyes immediately flit to the door, wondering if I can make a dash for it. I’m too slow, though. Richard emerges, holding the stick in front of him. He’s smiling wide, and I think I even see a hint of happy tears. But why? I can’t be pregnant.
It’s then my eyes zoom in on the test he’s holding—more importantly on the two very pink, very visible lines that tell me I’m pregnant.
“We’re finally going to have that baby,” Richard chimes, grabbing me and pulling my shocked frame into his.
I’m stock-still, rigid against him. I can’t be. How can I—
It’s then I realise something. “You planned all of this, didn’t you?”
He pulls away, looking at me. “Yes, I planned it, but I certainly didn’t expect you to go fuck your sister’s husband,” he says, gripping my shoulders tightly. “Now, all we have to do is wait a few weeks. Then we can find out if I’m the father. And, Scarlet,” he says, gripping my chin, “the baby better be mine.”
At the moment, I’m not even thinking about that. I’m too shocked. I start to shake, my hands trembling uncontrollably. “I don’t understand.” And I really don’t. How has he managed to pull this off?
“You really didn’t think I was oblivious to the fact that you were playing me, did you? Despite everything, Scarlet, you promised me a baby. You can’t be mad at me for this.”
“But … how?”
“I knew you were still taking the pill. I also knew you would keep taking them even if I refused. I had to think of a plan, and my plan involved swapping your pills for new ones.”
“What are they?” I ask, feeling my shock turn to anger.
“Oh, nothing harmful. In fact, they’re vitamins to help the baby before he was even conceived.”
“You bastard!” I growl.
He grips my chin hard. “Don’t you even dare get angry with me. You’re already in my bad books. Now that you’re having my baby, I can start to forgive you, but don’t for a second think you’re completely off the hook for what you’ve done. You still have the fact that the baby could be Porter’s hanging around your head. In fact, I’ve changed my mind about taking the baby away if it’s his. You promised Amber a baby. If it’s his, you’re going to give it to her.”
“You wouldn’t,” I protest.
“You already know I would. You thought you were being clever pretending to be a surrogate for Amber. Who will have the last laugh now?”
“But then it’ll be my baby and not yours. I’ll be pregnant by another man.”
Growling, he pushes me away from him. “Once that baby’s away from your womb, you’ll no longer be its mother as far as I’m concerned. And once you’re safe to get pregnant again, then you will be. You’re going to have my baby, Scarlet. You promised me.”
“And won’t you let me forget it?”
Pointing his finger at me, he growls, “You brought this on yourself. If you hadn’t fucked around with your sister’s own husband, none of this would be an issue. You would at least know the father of your own baby, you little slut.”
“Fuck you!”
“That’s what you are, Scarlet. Nothing but a fucking whore who’s opened her legs to anyone who has batted his eyelids her way. You need me in your life to tow the fucking line. You may be twenty-six, but you’re acting like a fucking pubescent kid. In fact, you used to behave much better than this as a child, and that’s saying something.”
“You’re nothing but a manipulative bastard.”
“Yeah? And you’re nothing but a lying, scheming, whoring little bitch. That all stops. Now.” He pauses a moment before saying, “Actually, forget me letting you out for now. I’m too fucking angry with you. I was fucking euphoric until you opened your big mouth and spoilt it all. Now, you can stay down here until you apologise to me for fucking up my high.”
With that, he storms off, leaving me reeling and still in shock. When I hear the door close, I rush towards the test again, picking it up. Maybe I’m just seeing things.
Taking in those two pink lines again, I realise that—unfortunately—I’m not. Getting angry again, I throw it across the room before sitting on the bed with my head in my hands.
Pregnant.
I’m fucking pregnant.
How on earth did that happen? It’s only been a month of endless fucking, but it’s obviously been enough. By process of elimination, I already know who the father is.
As I wonder over this, I consider my options. I would have an abortion, but I think even Richard himself knows how much that abortion affected me afterwards.
Shit, this is the worst news ever. No matter what, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place regarding this baby.
It’s only that notion that makes me realise that this baby actually exists. Placing my hand there, I confuse myself at how loving I’m already being. I can’t be a mother. I’d be a terrible mother.
Realising this, I cringe. Never in my lifetime did I think I would end up being a mother. What’s worse is knowing that my baby has been fathered by the man who abused me since my early teens—the man who purposefully got me pregnant when I was only sixteen years old. Since I took that baby away from him, I guess he feels I owe him now.
Fuck that shit.
I sit there for ages, stewing over all this and more. I don’t know how long I’m lost in my own thoughts when I hear the door unlocking and see Richard appear, looking a lot calmer than he did when he left ages ago.
When he spots me just sitting on the bed, likely looking just as lost as I feel, he crooks his finger at me, smiling. I don’t move, though, which earns me a glare from him and an even sterner crook of his finger.
Relenting, I get up, walking towards him—not knowing what’s about to happen. To my surprise, he wraps his arms around me, inhaling my scent as he does. “No matter what the outcome, I’ll look after you. You may not think it, but I’ve always been there for you. Always made sure you’ve been safe and looked after. This time is no different.”
I don’t know what it is about this man, but whenever he talks, I both love and loathe him with a passion.
“Are you going to let me out now?” I ask with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
Richard pulls away, scrutinising me with his eyes. “Are you going to behave?”
“Dad, I’m not a little girl anymore.” I want to add that he’s a pervert, but I keep my mouth shut.
“Then stop behaving like one, and I’ll treat you like an adult.”
Closing the distance between us, I start to rub his already erect cock. He only needs to be near me, and he gets hard. “I hate you,” I whisper a mere inch away from his lips. I feel his cock getting even harder as I rub up and down his shaft. I feel his hot breath against my mouth, and it makes my pussy clench. For some reason, he hasn’t touched me since the hotel.
He still doesn’t touch me, making my frustration levels peak. I decide to stick my tongue out, slowly licking around his mouth. I know he doesn’t mean to, but a slight moan escapes his lips.
“Saying you hate me is one of the reasons why you’re here. So … juvenile,” he says, straining as I carry on rubbing. For some reason he doesn’t stop me, but he’s also not taking this further either. I can see it all over his face. He’s in blissful agony as I rub along his shaft, but he won’t move.
“Touch me,” I finally urge, getting tired of his games.
Out of nowhere, his hand grabs hold of my wrist. The same wrist that has been rubbing along his hard cock. “That’s enough,” he growls. “We have no time for this. It’s Sunday, and we have to be at your mother’s in less than an hour.”
That certainly feels like a douse of ice cold water over my head.
“So, you’re not letting me go because you want to, but because you have to.”
Pulling at my wrist, I collide against his solid chest. As we’re near close to kissing again, his eyes trail down to my lips before meeting my eyes again. He’s got that intense, I-want-to-fuck-you glare again. The one that always gets me wet.
“If I could, I would keep you down here forever. You’re mine now. No one else can touch you ever again.”
I roll my eyes. “How boring.”
He squeezes my wrist until it hurts, but I daren’t show him my pain. He’s had too much of that. “Don’t fucking test me, Scarlet. I only have so much patience.”
“I’ll take that as a no to a quick fuck before we leave then?”
I see the frustration on his face before he pushes me away. “You’re a fucking handful,” he growls turning to walk towards the door.
“Maybe you should spank me. Isn’t that what fathers do to insubordinate children?”
He looks back at my smirk. Shaking his head, he says, “We’ve got no time for this shit. Get yourself ready.”
He disappears, leaving the door open, and I offer him a salute before finally grabbing my things and searching out my freedom.
I make haste, running up the stairs with my stuff, placing it all in Richard’s bedroom. A room I will no doubt see a lot of no doubt.
“As much as I love seeing your shit with mine, you’ll have to stick most of it in one of the guest bedrooms where you’re supposed to be. If your mother or Amber come over and see all your stuff with mine, they’ll—”
“What?” I ask, interrupting him. “Put two and two together and come up with us fucking? They’d be right.”
Richard grips the door rim until his knuckles turn white. “We’ll address this later. Get ready and be downstairs in twenty.” He disappears again, leaving me smiling. I don’t know what it is about him lately that makes me want to push him. When I suggested that he spank me for being naughty, I was deadly serious.
Turning my attention to the shower, I get ready, deciding to go for a nice figure-hugging red dress that I know will make Richard go crazy with lust.
Just the thought makes my princess parts tingle.