by Lila Fox
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2020 Lila Fox
ISBN: 978-0-3695-0237-7
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Audrey Bobak
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
I want to dedicate this book to my family who puts up with my late nights and distracted and ADHD personality. I love you guys.
I’d also like to thank my readers. Being able to write full-time is a dream come true. My job is to entertain you and make you happy, and I hope I am doing that for you.
DADDY’S LITTLE ANGEL
Daddy’s Series, 4
Lila Fox
Copyright © 2020
Chapter One
Larkin and Brylee bounced excitedly in the back seat of the limo as it drove through the city toward the restaurant where they were having lunch with their daddies and a few of their friends.
Both girls promised to be extra good and act like young ladies, or it would be a while until the daddies would take them out for a nice dinner again. Their eyes widened when they pulled up. The place looked like an old mansion with its columns on the outside and the creamy colored stone.
“Now remember your promise, girls,” Darian reminded them.
Brylee squeezed Gage’s hand and smiled up at him. “I will be a good girl.”
Gage bent and kissed the top of her head. “You always are.”
Larkin looked toward her daddy from her seat in the car. “And I am, too, aren’t I, daddy?”
Darian grinned down at Larkin. “Yes, baby. Most of the time.” He chuckled when she gasped.
“When am I not a good girl?” she asked in a disgruntled tone.
“When you’re running when you’re not supposed to. When you should be in bed, but I have to find you. Or you’re making a mess in the kitchen. Or…”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I get it.”
Darian tapped the tip of her nose. “Good.”
He pulled her out of the car and followed Gage and Brylee into the restaurant. Darian raised his hand at the two men sitting at a table across the room.
“Sit here, girls,” Gage said and placed them next to each other with the men on either side of them. Gage shook Patrick’s and Noah’s hands and sat.
“It’s nice to see you again, girls.”
“Thank you, Patrick,” Larkin said.
“You both look beautiful today.”
Brylee grinned. “Thank you, Noah.”
“What can I get you to drink?”
Gage looked up at the waiter. “I’ll take a bourbon and soda, and the girls will have chocolate milk.”
“Da— Gage, may we have a Shirley Temple instead?” Brylee asked.
Gage looked over at Darian and got his nod of approval. “Scratch the milk and get us two Shirley Temples.”
“Yes, sir.”
Larkin draped a napkin over her lap and then giggled softly when Brylee did the same but a little more dramatically.
The girls listened to the men talk and quickly got bored, so they started playing the I See game.
“I see something green and yellow,” Larkin said.
Brylee looked around the restaurant and then grinned. “The man’s shirt by the window.”
“Yes.” Larkin giggled. “Now it’s your turn.”
“I see something … Eve.”
Larkin seemed confused and followed where Brylee was staring. “Oh, my gosh. That’s Eve.”
Brylee grabbed hold of Larkin’s hand. “Oh, no. Look at her, she seems so sad.”
Larkin blinked back her tears. “I miss her.”
“We haven’t seen her since high school,” Brylee commented.
“What happened to her beautiful hair?”
Brylee’s mouth turned down. “It looks like she tried to cut it herself.”
Larkin set her hand on Darian’s. “Dad— Darian, may we go say hello to a friend from high school?”
Darian looked around. “Where, baby?”
Larkin pointed to a small woman sitting alone at a table and staring out the window.
Darian nodded. “But come right back.”
The girls stood and walked toward the table.
“Eve,” Larkin said to get the girl’s attention.
Eve turned and stared up at them for a speechless moment and then blinked a few times.
“Larkin … Brylee, is that you?”
The girls grinned.
Eve stood and hugged the girls. “It’s been so long.”
“We tried to call you, but your dad always said you were too busy to talk,” Brylee murmured.
Eve’s smile fell from her face. “My dad doesn’t like me to have outside influences.”
“What does that mean?” Larkin asked.
Eve shrugged. “He doesn’t want me to have friends.”
“But why?” Brylee asked.
Eve looked down and bit her lip.
Brylee quickly glanced at Larkin and then back at Eve. “What happened to your hair?”
Eve self-consciously touched her head. “My dad cut it.”
Larkin gasped. “Why?”
“He said I was being too vain.”
Larkin and Brylee looked at each other, confused.
“Eve,” a stern voice said behind them, making them all jump.
“Father, these are two girls I knew from high school…”
Eve’s father sat and pulled his napkin into his lap. “Sit down, Eve.”
Eve plopped down in her chair and kept her gaze on her lap.
“Sir, would it be okay if we visited Eve?” Larkin asked.
The man scowled and shook his head. “Absolutely not. You need to go away and stay away.”
“But—” Brylee stopped suddenly when a hand landed on her shoulder.
“Is everything okay here, girls?”
“Yes,” Larkin said to Darian, who stood slightly behind them. “We just asked if Eve…”
“Sir, I don’t want your girls around my daughter. Could you please take them and keep them away from her?”
****
Darian stared at the older man. He’d never seen a more cold, rigid person in his life. He glanced down at the pretty young woman and felt his heart twist at the sorrow and despair on her face.
“These two ladies are very nice…” Darian started to say.
“I don’t care,” the man interrupted. “My daughter does not need to be around any outside influences.”
“I see. Okay, we’ll be on our way.”
Eve’s father dismissed them.
Darian grabbed both girls by the hand, pulled them back over to their table, and sat them back into their chairs.
Gage curled an arm around Brylee the moment he spied the tears running down her face.
“What happened?” Gage asked Darian as he tried to console Larkin.
“That man is horrible,” Brylee stated in a hushed tone and wiped her eyes with the napkin.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Eve’s father.”
“And you knew her from high school?” Darian asked the girls.
Larkin sniffed and glanced at the table Eve was at. “Yes. The three of us had a lot of classes together and we had a lot in common.”
“She just disappeared during o
ur last semester of high school. We tried calling, but her father always said she was busy. He was lying,” Brylee said.
“Why do you say that?” Patrick asked.
Larkin scowled. “She told us he didn’t want her to have any friends.”
“And he cut her hair because he said it made her vain,” Brylee added.
****
“Jesus,” Patrick murmured. He studied the pair by the window. The girl was Brylee and Larkin’s age, but she seemed younger because of her posture. He would say she looked shy, but he realized she was likely withdrawn to protect herself.
“Isn’t there anything we can do, daddy?” Larkin murmured to Darian as she set her head on his shoulder.
“Let us talk about it.”
“But we can help her?” Larkin asked, hopefully.
“We’ll see what we can do,” Darian promised.
“Why don’t you let me check into it?”
Everyone at the table turned to Patrick.
“I have a great private detective who can get me all the information on her.”
Darian nodded. “Sounds good.” He smoothed his hand down Larkin’s hair. “We’ll see what he comes up with and then make a plan.”
Both girls smiled and looked relieved.
“Are you ready to order?” the waiter interrupted.
Patrick kept glancing at Eve and her father. He could tell from where he was sitting that the man disliked everything. He watched him complain about something to the waiter a few times. The girl sat beside him, mute, and she would flinch when her father barked something at her.
Every minute that went by, Patrick got angrier and more determined to help the girl. The sooner, the better.
Chapter Two
A few days later, Patrick walked into Darian’s office with a file in his hands.
Darian looked up from his computer. “What have you got there?”
“The file on Eve. Larkin and Brylee’s friend. It’s fucked up.”
Darian sat back in his chair. “What do you mean?”
“He’s abusive. He did fucking cut her hair. It was after church where he’s a pastor, by the way. He saw her playing with her hair during the sermon. He pulled her into his office after most everyone left and cut it off.”
“Jesus,” Darian spat. “What the fuck is wrong with him?”
Patrick tossed the file onto Darian’s desk. “He’s always been like that from what I’ve found out. She’s been told her mother died in an accident, but the mother tried to run with Eve one night, and he caught her. He took Eve and told the woman if she ever came back, he’d kill them both.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s been in the next town over. She keeps trying to see her daughter, but she knows not to get close. That’s why the bastard took her out of school. He found out Eve’s mother was getting the school involved and was watching her daughter from a distance. She’s been saving up to take him to court, but from what the detective said, she didn’t hold out much hope since she worked two jobs, and he was a well-known pastor. Now, since she’s an adult, she’s tried to get to her but hasn’t been successful yet. The father keeps her under lock and key all the time.”
“Do you have any ideas?” Darian asked.
“I want to get her out of there. The bastard leaves the house on Tuesdays and Thursdays afternoon for a few hours. He goes to see a ‘lady friend.’”
“We might think about getting pictures of that. We might be able to use them later on.”
Patrick nodded. “Already on it.”
Darian sat back. “We can’t just go to the house and kidnap her.”
“I was thinking of taking the girls with me. She knows them, and I think they might be able to talk her into coming with us.”
“I agree. When do you want to do this?”
Patrick rubbed the back of his head. “Today is Saturday, I was thinking of Tuesday.”
“The sooner, the better,” Darian agreed.
“It will give me time to get a room set up for her. Would you mind having the girls come over and give me some ideas?”
“Not at all. I’ll call Gage, but we can stop over tonight.”
“Good.”
“Do you think she might be more comfortable at my place or Gage’s with one of the girls?”
“I thought about that, but that would be the first place her father would look.”
Darian nodded in agreement. “He won’t give up without one hell of a fight.”
“I know,” Patrick said and then grinned. “I can’t wait. I want to destroy that man’s world.”
“One look at that sweet woman, and I agree with you. He’s made her whole life hell. It’s time she’s happy and away from him.”
“Go over the file and see if you have any ideas. I’m going to get the room next to mine cleaned out and painted light pink.”
Darian grinned. “You can’t go wrong with that color. Every girl I know seems to like pink.”
Several hours later, Patrick opened the door to Gage and Darian and their girls. His breath whooshed out when both girls ran to him and squeezed the air from his lungs. He chuckled when they chanted, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“I’m glad this makes you happy, girls. Are you ready to help me make some decisions?”
“Yes,” they yelled.
Patrick showed them the room he was getting ready for Eve.
“I love the color,” Brylee said. “How did you get it to shimmer like that?”
Patrick shrugged. “It was the paint I picked.”
Larkin turned to Darian. “Daddy, I really…”
Darian shook his head. “We just changed the color in your playroom. It’s going to stay that way for a while.”
Larkin’s bottom lip pushed out into a pout.
Darian grinned and tapped her lip with a finger. “You’re adorable, and I love you, but it won’t work.”
Larkin’s shoulders slumped.
Brylee grabbed ahold of Larkin’s hand. “I think a bed would look great right here in front of the window.”
Larkin tilted her head to the side. “A white metal one or antique brass.”
“Yes!” Brylee laughed.
“She’ll need a dollhouse,” Larkin suggested.
“And books,” Brylee said as she moved around the room.
“I’ve got a few white bookcases coming tomorrow,” Patrick said as he stood back with his hands in his pockets and let the girls design the room.
He made a mental list of the things they were suggesting, planning to order everything that night and have it delivered the next day. He wasn’t worried about not getting the room done. Money could make about anything happen, and he had plenty of that.
Later that night, he lay in bed as the images the detective got for him raced through his mind. Even with her hair cut short, uneven, and choppy, she was still one of the cutest things he’d ever seen.
His new mission in life was to rid the girl of the shadows that darkened her beautiful blue eyes. He wanted to be the person who made her smile every day, made her feel safe, and look forward to the future.
He’d never even talked to the girl, but he was already half in love with her. As crazy as it sounded, he knew she was the one he’d been waiting for, and he would do whatever it took to get her away from that bastard of a father of hers and into his home.
Chapter Three
Eve watched her father drive away from her bedroom window. She raised her hand to her cheek and flinched at the tenderness.
Her body was riddled with bruises. Most of the time, her father would hit her in places her clothes covered, so no one knew what he did. But the night before, he’d lost his temper and smacked her hard in the face. It was nothing she did. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The light bruise would disappear or be very faded by Sunday service, the only time he let her out of the house most of the time, so her father wasn’t worried about people seeing it.
&
nbsp; She set her forehead against the cold windowpane and closed her eyes, praying for a miracle like she did every day for the last several years. It probably wouldn’t happen for people like her. Girls who were bad to the core, like her father liked to say. He also liked to call her devil’s spawn.
She felt a dark despair shroud her at the thought that this would be her life until the day she died. She had no chance at a family of her own because she had to take care of her father. He didn’t like strangers in the house, so that meant Eve did everything. She even had to shine his shoes and rub his feet when they ached. She shuddered at that thought. She’d rather be hit than have to touch his smelly gross feet.
Sometimes, when she was hurting, especially after one of the beatings, she’d pray for her father to die and then feel guilty. It also made her think her father was right, that she might have a bit of the devil in her to feel that way.
A small smile came to her mouth when she thought about her younger years when her mother was alive. She’d made everything bearable. Even though her father had always been a hard man, her mother had given her hope, love, and affection. Sometimes she missed her something awful and secretly wished she’d died in the car accident with her.
Her head jerked up at the knock on the front door. She hadn’t paid attention and hadn’t seen a car pull in. All she saw was the back end of a vehicle because the overhang hid the front end. Her father hadn’t said anything about a delivery, but she knew to check just in case.
She walked to the front door, peeked through the window on the side of the door, and frowned. Larkin and Brylee stood there, grinning at her. A large man stood behind her and gently smiled at her. Eve hastily unlocked the door and opened it.
“What are you doing here?”
Larkin stepped around her and into the house.
“Wait, Larkin. My father would be so angry if he knew you were in the house.”
Larkin looked at the man and waited.
The man stared at her for a moment before he slowly reached out and lightly touched the bruise on her face. She saw his eyes darken for a second and then he spoke.
