Page 35 of Albel

“Let’s go get your bottle,” Daddy says.

“No,” I whine. “Just a couple more minutes like this and then we can. Please?”

Daddy chuckles. “Okay, Little Pet, but only for a couple of minutes. I don’t want you losing any weight from not eating.”

With my head on his chest, I snuggle into him and let out a sigh of contentment. This almost feels like nothing is wrong in the world.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

My whole body stiffens as I pull back and look at Daddy.

“Who’s that?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” he mutters. “Stay here while I go check.”

FIFTEEN

Daddy sets me down on the couch before I can say anything and walks toward the door. I hold my breath the whole time, not knowing what to expect.

“Daddy,” I whimper.

He looks back and gives me a reassuring smile. “Everything is going to be okay. Just stay on the couch for Daddy.”

I grip the edge of the couch, tilting forward as I wait and watch Daddy. Who’s behind the door?

“Who’s there?” Daddy calls out.

“It’s Galar.” A voice comes through the door.

Daddy’s shoulders drop, but mine don’t. Why is he coming here unannounced? Normally, Daddy lets me know whenever someone is coming over so I can be prepared.

He opens the door, and Galar fills the entrance, looking around before his eyes settle on me. An apologetic look flashes across his face. “Sorry, Ella. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Daddy shuts the door and walks over to me, picking me up and placing me on his lap. “We weren’t expecting you. Can we help you with anything?”

Galar sits in front of us and rubs the back of his neck. “I thought about messaging you before I made my way here, but I didn’t want either of you to worry. Now I see I should have, because I just made everything worse. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Daddy brushes it off. “Is there any news?”

“Yes. I wanted to come and tell you that we have found the guy who has been messing with your power and trying to break in. It’s your customer, so Ella was right in feeling something was off with him. We have given him a warning and told him he’s going to be watched for a while,” Galar explains. “What we didn’t tell him is we have someone secretly watching him. When we questioned why he was trying to break in and messing with you, he gave phony excuses and stuck with them. Since we don’t know what he wants, we can’t just lock him up, so I have someone following him at all times.”

My shoulders slowly drop, and my body falls into Daddy’s at Galar’s words.

“Thank you for doing all of that. If there is anything that I can help with, let me know,” Daddy replies, wrapping his arms around my body, caging me in.

But I don’t mind. It makes me feel safe… extremely safe.

“That’s all for now, but I’ll contact you if there is anything else,” Galar says as he stands up. “Sorry this is happening. Hopefully he messes up, and we can put him behind bars, but until then we can only watch him and have him on camera.”

“We understand. Thank you for taking this seriously.”

I tilt my head back and look up at Daddy, a soft smile on my face. Maybe now we can finally relax.

“I’ll see myself out, and again, sorry for not messaging in advance,” Galar says, his voice fading away.

Daddy looks down at me. “What are you looking at?”

“You,” I whisper.