Isabella

My eyes slowly opened the next morning and my vision blurred for a moment. When everything cleared, I realized I was staring at a pair of black tailored pants that were attached to two legs. My gaze drifted upward, stopping on the hands clasping a gun at the man’s waist and then farther up the dark red button-down shirt. When I reached the man’s face, I groaned and buried my face in the pillow.

“You disappear for three fucking years and can’t even call me when you decide to show up again?” He scowled. “I looked everywhere for you.”

“I was going to call you today, Daddy. I just got in last night.”

“What you should have done, was follow the plan three years ago. But no, you have to run off like a scared little girl. I didn’t raise you to shirk your responsibilities.”

“Fuck off, Casper,” Torch said with a growl behind me. His arm tightened around my waist.

I guess I could be glad that at least I was covered by the sheet. The last thing I wanted was for my daddy to see me naked in bed with a man, even if he had signed me over to that man. I lifted my head out of the pillow and stared up at the man who had taken care of me all my life. To anyone else, Casper VanHorne was a badass killer who got the job done. But for me? He was the man who had protected me, loved me, and made sure I had everything I ever needed. And while most people wouldn’t be able to detect it, I saw the hint of hurt in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” I said softly. “I know you were worried about me, but I’m fine. I just needed a little time. I’m not running anymore.”

He grunted and turned but paused at the door. “Get dressed. I’ll take you out for breakfast.”

His booted steps echoed down the hall and then clomped down the stairs. I knew it was his way of showing that he’d really left. No way my dad would ever walk that heavy unless it was on purpose. The man could sneak up on anyone. As he’d proven this morning.

“Fuck me,” Torch muttered. “Either I’m getting too old for this shit, or the man’s a fucking ghost.”

I smiled a little. I think Torch had proven last night just how very not old he was, taking me not once but twice. Weren’t men his age supposed to need a blue pill or something? He didn’t seem to have that issue, and I wasn’t complaining. The man had a body to die for. Not even the guys I knew who were my age looked as hot as he did. He was just so… big… everywhere. And I did mean everywhere. Not that I had a lot of cocks to compare him to, but I had passed some nude beaches in Europe, and I might have peeked.

Tossing back the covers, I got out of bed, stretching as I stood up. I ached, but in the best of ways. Torch groaned behind me, and I glanced at him over my shoulder. His gaze was glued to my ass. Since he was forming a tent under the sheets, I was going to assume he liked what he saw. And he definitely didn’t need any little blue pills. Everything in that department seemed to be working just fine.

All I had to wear were the same clothes I’d arrived in last night. I wrinkled my nose in disgust at the thought of putting them back on. Wearing dirty clothes made me feel gross. But as much as I hated putting on yesterday’s panties, there was no way I was wearing those tight ass jeans without any. Talk about chafing in weird places. I was sore enough without digging my jeans out of my crotch all day.

I’d just shimmied into my jeans and put on my bra when I felt hands land on my hips. I leaned back against Torch’s chest, and he brushed a kiss against the top of my head. Turning in his arms, I looped my arms around his neck and gave him a good morning kiss. His hard cock pressed against me, and already I was growing damp. I wanted him, but now wasn’t the time. I knew that, but it didn’t stop me from rubbing against him a little.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish right now, baby,” he murmured against my lips. “Your daddy is waiting downstairs.”

I sighed and pulled away, then finished putting my clothes and shoes on. Torch slapped my ass as I walked past him and out the door. Dad hadn’t invited him along for breakfast, so I knew he wasn’t going with me. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I found my daddy leaning against the wall by the door, his gun now tucked away, and his arms folded across his chest. Casper VanHorne was an imposing man, and I knew he scared the shit out of a lot of people. But to me, he was just Daddy, and always would be.

“Ready?” he asked, pushing away from the wall.

“You could have at least waited to show up until after my clothes were delivered. I’m having to wear the same thing I wore all day yesterday. You know how much I hate that.” I’d leave off the fact that I’d gotten incredibly wet yesterday when Torch had kissed me.

“Guess we’re going shopping after breakfast.”

“I don’t need new clothes, Daddy. The ones coming in the mail will be just fine.”

He snorted. “Since when does the mail ever run on time? You’ll be lucky if they arrive tomorrow. You should at least let me get a few basics for you.”

“Fine,” I agreed, knowing it was pointless to argue with him.

When we stepped out of the house, I saw my father’s black Lincoln Navigator, and even better, Boris was with him. I flew down the stairs and flung myself into Boris’ arms. He laughed and held me tight. I hadn’t seen him since my dad had dropped me back off at school after leaving here three years ago. He’d always been like an uncle to me.

“We’ve missed you, girl,” he said with his Russian accent. “Your dad was a right mess when you disappeared.”

“Until I realized she’d done it on purpose,” her dad said. “Then I was fucking pissed.”

I winced. “I didn’t mean to worry you, Daddy.”

“I should have just left your ass here with Torch the day he inked you. At least then you wouldn’t have been able to run, and I’d have known you were safe the last three years.”

Boris opened the door, and I slid into the backseat, followed by my dad. The SUV pulled forward and when we reached the gates to the Dixie Reapers’ compound, a Prospect opened them up and let us through. Dad didn’t say a word the entire trip into town, stayed quiet as we got out at the local pancake place, and only spoke long enough to order his meal when the waitress came over. The silence was worse than him yelling at me.

Our food arrived, and still he hadn’t said a word. The tense jaw told me that he was holding onto his temper, but barely. He’d never hurt me, not physically, but when Casper VanHorne was mad at you, you knew it. And it sucked. There was no worse feeling in the world than knowing I’d disappointed my daddy. I managed to eat most of my food before pushing the plate away. He ate his slowly, as if savoring every bite, but I knew better. He just wanted to make me squirm.

“I said I was sorry, Daddy.”

His gaze flicked up to mine before he went back to eating.

With a sigh, I settled against the back of the booth and waited.

When he was finished with his meal, he wiped his mouth and placed his hands on the table, palms pressed to the Formica. He stared at me for long moments before sighing and looking out the window.

“I want to be angry with you, but I can’t,” he said. “I was asking too much of you. You always seemed so grown-up that I thought you could handle being Torch’s old lady. I should have known I was pushing you into something you didn’t want, even if you hadn’t said as much. I know he’s too old for you, but I knew he could protect you. We can have the ink removed and find another way. You’ll always be in danger.”

“I don’t want to leave Torch,” I said. “I ran because I was scared. Not because I didn’t want him, but because I wanted him too much. The way I felt frightened me, and maybe I worried a little that I was trading one iron-tight grip for another. You’ve watched over my every move for as long as I can remember, and I knew he’d be the same way. Or at least, I thought he would be. I just wanted a taste of freedom. I wanted some time to grow up.”

“Fine.” His eyes narrowed, and I had a feeling I hadn’t heard the end of it. “But if he ever does something that makes you uncomfortable, if you decide this life isn’t for you, I’m only a phone call away.”

I smiled a little. “I don’t think he’d let me go quite that easy.”

“Certainly didn’t waste any time in claiming you,” my dad muttered.

Was that what this was about? He’d thought Torch wouldn’t touch me, even though he’d given me to the man? It wasn’t like my dad to go back on a deal. Or was something else going on? I had the sinking suspicion that my dad was hiding something, and it couldn’t be good.

“He kept his word, you know? He wasn’t with anyone the entire time I was gone.”

“I know,” my dad said.

My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean ‘I know’?”

“Got eyes and ears on the inside. That’s all you need to know. And it’s best if Torch doesn’t figure that out.”

I snorted. If Torch knew where I’d been but my dad didn’t, his eyes and ears weren’t doing him too much good. “After you mysteriously showed up this morning, you don’t think he’s going to find that a little odd? Whoever you have planted, they’ll be discovered soon enough.”

He shrugged.

“Daddy, I know you mean well, but the last thing I want is for the two of you to end up fighting. I can’t choose between you, and I shouldn’t have to. Why can’t you work together to keep me safe?”

“You’re right. We should work together.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “There’s some stuff going on, Isabella. Stuff I can’t talk to you about. But if you’re not with me, I want you to stay close to Torch. These men… they won’t hesitate to use you to get to me. And it won’t be pretty. Last time was a cakewalk compared to what these guys will do.”

His words chilled me, and I was wishing that he’d let Torch come with us. I had no doubt that my daddy would try to protect me, but weren’t two badasses better than one? He paid for our food and escorted me back to the Navigator, then instructed Boris to take us to the mall. Boris always stayed with the car. I’d once asked my daddy about it, and he’d said it was too easy to plant a bomb. I’d only been about twelve at the time, and that was when I realized that my dad had a lot of enemies, and all the over-the-top security was there for a good reason.

At the mall, Daddy scanned the parking lot before letting me out of the Navigator, and then quickly walked me into the mall. I knew it was a no-gun zone, but he didn’t seem to care. He never went anywhere without at least one strapped to him somewhere. And if men were after him, and possibly after me, I hoped he was armed to the teeth and ready to take the assholes down.

Once we were inside, I went straight to Victoria’s Secret. If my dad was going to pay for new clothes, I might as well get something pretty to wear for Torch. Casper VanHorne would never dare step foot in such a place, not with his daughter, so he guarded the entrance of the shop. I picked out a handful of bras with matching panties, each of them lacy and feminine. I browsed their sleepwear. As much as I wanted to wear something super sexy for Torch, I knew the clingy scraps of satin would irritate me at night, so I chose a few pairs of boy shorts with matching tanks. While the lady at the register rang everything up, I went and got my dad’s credit card from him.

The woman smiled at me as she stuck the sexy scraps into a bag. “That man of yours must take good care of you.”

I snickered. “That’s my dad out there. And trust me, he doesn’t want to know what I’m buying in here. The first time I had to buy a bra, you’d think he was facing a firing squad. He’s always waited outside and just handed over his card.”

She eyed my dad again, a gleam of interest in her eyes. “Is he single?”

“Uh, probably. But he’s defective. He hasn’t had a serious relationship since my mom died. Trust me when I say you can do much better.”

She sighed. “Isn’t that the way it always goes?”

I gave her a small smile, signed the receipt, and grabbed my bags. When I stepped out of the store, I handed the card back to my dad and started leading the way to the next place on my list. He’d said he wanted to buy me a few necessities, but as the bags piled up, he never uttered a word of complaint. Shoes, purses, makeup and perfume, clothes… He carried it all with ease and never so much as flinched at the totals.

I took pity on him around lunchtime. Not to mention I was now starving. Shopping always made me work up an appetite. As we neared the SUV, the rear hatch popped open and lifted. Daddy was loading my things into the back of his SUV when a pop pop pop filled the air.

I started to ask if someone was shooting off fireworks, when my dad hit me hard, taking me to the ground. Gravel from the parking lot bit into my palms, and I smacked my head on the bumper of the Navigator. I saw stars for a moment, but they were quickly replaced with a pounding in my head. Boris rounded the car, and before I knew it, he was firing at a car burning rubber through the parking lot. As the engine got louder, I knew they were coming closer. My dad practically threw me into the back of the SUV with my bags and slammed the door shut.

Bullets pinged off the glass and slammed into the car, but I knew if they weren’t armor penetrating, they weren’t getting through. My dad spared no expense when it came to his vehicles. More gunfire rent the air and I worried that my dad and Boris would be killed. Would those assholes come for me next? If my dad and Boris fell, there would be no one to protect me. Torch didn’t have any idea where I was right now, and I had no way to contact him.

Oh, I didn’t think the men firing at us would kill me, but there were worse fates for a woman. I could be passed around as their whore or sold to the highest bidder, or both. Bile rose in my throat as everything grew quiet. I peeked through the tinted glass and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw my dad and Boris were still standing and the other car was disappearing at the other end of the parking lot. Dad was holding his arm, though, with blood seeping between his fingers, so I knew he’d been hit.

I climbed over the back of the seat and plopped down onto the leather. I was shaking so bad my teeth rattled. Dad got in beside me, and Boris opened the driver’s-side door. Neither spoke a word as the Navigator backed up and hit the road at speeds faster than I was comfortable with. Boris didn’t stop for red lights, and he didn’t slow down for crosswalks. He was a man on a mission. If the cops had been called, I doubted they could catch up to us. The tires squealed as he pulled into the driveway of the Dixie Reaper’s compound, and the Prospect manning the gate barely got it open before Boris was pulling through. Torch stood on the clubhouse porch, his arms folded over his massive chest.

The moment my dad got out and Torch saw the blood, he leaped off the top step and came running. The back door jerked open on my side, and he pulled me into his arms, his hands running over every inch of me. I could see the panicked look in his eyes and knew he was worried that I’d been hurt too.

“I’m fine,” I assured him.

He stared at me, and his fingers gently touched my forehead. I winced and he growled. Okay, so maybe I had been hurt, but I hadn’t been shot. That was what mattered, right? I wasn’t bleeding everywhere, and I hadn’t been taken. Those were big positives for me right now.

“It happened when they started shooting at us. Daddy took me to the ground and I banged my head on the Navigator on the way down. I’m fine, really. It probably looks worse than it feels.”

“Call Doc,” Torch called out to the men gathering on the porch. “Tell him it’s a priority.”

“Dad got shot,” I told him.

Torch narrowed his eyes at me, anger burning in their depths. “I have eyes. You think I give a fuck about him? You could have been killed. Let the bastard bleed for a while.”

My dad snorted as he rounded the vehicle, but all it took was one look at my face, and he narrowed his eyes. “Let Doc treat her first. I can wait.”

“I think we need to talk,” Torch said, glaring at my dad.

My dad nodded and headed into the clubhouse. Torch swung me up into his arms and carried me inside. He didn’t stop until he reached a room down the back hall that had his name on the door. He shoved it open with the toe of his boot, then strode inside and eased me down onto the bed. I didn’t have any idea why he had a room here if he had a house so close by, but something told me I probably didn’t want to know the answer, so I didn’t ask. I had no doubt he’d been far from a saint before I came into his life, and this bed had probably seen more action than I was comfortable with.

His fingers traced the curve of my cheek, and he sank onto the chair that was next to the bed. He stared at me as if I might disappear at any moment. I didn’t think I would be leaving the compound again anytime soon, unless I was heavily guarded. So much for having a bit of freedom. Whatever shit my dad was mixed up in now had just landed on our doorstep. I wondered if Torch knew what he was signing up for when he agreed to claim me. It was one thing to give your protection to someone in theory, but now that he saw just how much trouble I could be in, I wondered if he regretted it.

“I’m grounded, aren’t I?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah, baby. I’m not letting you out of my fucking sight unless you have at least four of my guys watching you. You could have died today. What if that bullet had hit you instead? As high up on your dad’s arm as that shot is, it would have gone through your head.”

I reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze. I didn’t fool myself into thinking the man loved me, but he obviously felt responsible for me. He was worried for my safety. “I’m okay, Connor. Dad protected me. The minute he heard the shots he took me to the ground, and when the car got closer he tossed me into the back of the SUV. It’s bulletproof, so I was safe.”

“Where did the attack happen?” he asked.

“At the mall. We’d just finished shopping and were coming out with my bags. Dad had put some of them into the back, and before we could get into the SUV, that other car opened fire. I didn’t realize what the sound was at first, but Daddy knew right away.”

“The fucking mall?” he asked. “Fuck. I thought you were going to breakfast.”

“We did. Then Daddy said he’d buy me some new things in case my boxes didn’t arrive today. I wanted to call you when everything happened, but I didn’t have a way to do that. Even if I’d had a phone with me, I don’t know your number. I ditched my burner phone when I came here. I’d planned to get a new one after I was settled.”

“I’ll get someone to pick up a phone for you today, and I’ll make sure you have my number programmed in, as well as my VP’s and Enforcer’s numbers.”

Talk of his VP triggered a memory from the day I first met Torch. “That day… when you inked me. There was a woman here. She said she was with the VP.”

He nodded. “That’s Ridley. They have a kid who is three now, and they have another on the way. Hell, I’m surprised they haven’t had one a year. Venom can’t keep his hands off her.”

I smiled. “Maybe I can spend some time with Ridley, once things settle down a little. I wouldn’t want to bring trouble to her door.”

“They live here at the compound. You can visit anytime you want.”

A man stepped into the room, his ginger hair streaked with white. The lines around his eyes and mouth suggested he smiled often. He was wearing the same type of cut that Torch had on, and I saw “Doc” stitched on it. I noticed the black bag clutched in his hand and wondered if he really was a doctor.

Torch stood. “She banged her head on the back of Casper’s SUV.”

“I saw him at the bar with blood running down his arm, but he sent me back here first,” the man said. He turned his blue eyes my way. “And you must be Isabella. I’m Doc.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I murmured.

He sat on the edge of the bed and rummaged in his bag. He pulled out a penlight and checked my eyes. He listened to my heart and ran his fingers along my forehead. When he was finished with his exam, he gave me a kind smile, then stood and faced Torch.

“She seems fine. She’s probably going to have a headache. I don’t see signs of a concussion, but you know what to watch for. Give her some Tylenol if the pain gets to be too much for her to handle. I don’t want to give her anything stronger unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Doc said.

“You’d better go patch up her daddy. Feel free to put the stitches in without numbing his arm first,” Torch said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s mean.”

“He put you in danger. It’s obvious there’s someone after him, and he took you away from here without enough protection. He and that man of his got lucky. Damn lucky. If that had ended any other way, if you’d have been taken, I’d have rained down hell. And Casper knows it too.”

I sighed and closed my eyes. I couldn’t be angry with him, not when he was just worried about me. I felt Torch’s lips brush my cheek, and then his booted steps left the room. The door closed behind him, and I took that as my cue to stay put. I had no doubt he wanted to talk to my dad, and he probably didn’t want me anywhere near that conversation. Hell, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was going on. Maybe the less I knew the better.

I’d stayed safe for three years. Within hours of my dad coming back into my life, I‘d ended up injured. I had a feeling it was going to be a long few days, or weeks. However long it took for them to take care of business. I just hoped they did it fast. I didn’t really want to venture beyond the fence before it was safe, but being trapped at the compound was going to get old fast, even if I did get to see Ridley again. She’d been sweet to me, and I hoped we could be friends.

My head began pounding, and I curled onto my side. I vaguely remembered something about staying awake when you’d had a head injury, but sleep was pulling me under fast. The last conscious thought I had was that the bed smelled like Torch.