Page 35 of My Big Fat Daddy Issues

Before I reach the door, my phone buzzes in my jeans. It’s a ringtone that I haven’t heard in over a year.

A low groan rips from my throat, my muscles in my neck cramping. I don’t even need to look at the caller ID to know whatever she has to say is going to give me a fucking headache.

“This can’t be good,” I say, reaching into my back pocket.

I draw out the phone and see the image of my ex-wife screaming on the screen. It’s the only photo I kept of her.

“What?” I bark into the device, leaning against the wall outside my office door. My admin assistant’s desk is empty.

“Hallie left school!” Abigail screams into the phone.

“What do you want?” I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Don’t you care?” my ex-wife screeches. “She’s your daughter too!”

“Oh,nowshe’s my daughter? You’re the one that cut her off from me. Told her to never contact me. you have any idea how much I missed her? I fucking raised her!”

My vitriol boils over. It’s almost as strong as the taste of Hallie’s cunt still lingering on my lips.

“I—I was just mad,” her mother stutters, and I can’t stop myself from rolling my eyes as I bite back the string of curse words I want to release.

Instead, I let her dump on me for the next minute. She tells me all the bullshit that she’s been going through, how Hallie left school and she needs help. Then, the whole point of the call finally reveals itself.

“I need some money. Like twenty-grand. For Hallie. She’s at the house, but she needs help Jackson. Help that’s going to cost a lot of money and she can’t have any contact with anyone for at least ninety days. Just, I need that money—”

I consider the hundred ways I could shut this down. I could tell her what a bitch she is or that I know for a fucking fact Hallie isn’t at her house. I decide that it’ll upset her more if I just hit the red button on the screen of my phone. Then, after I end the call, I block the bitch.

She won’t be bothering me or Hallie ever again. I’ll make sure of that.

I’m shaking my head, trying to get rid of the shitty feelings that that woman always inspires in me when my admin assistant comes around the corner. She seems surprised to see me, but smiles anyway.

“Oh, Mr. Warner, you’re out of your meeting early. Hallie’s here, she’s in your office waiting I didn’t think you’d mind, I know how much she means to you, I was so pleased to see her—”

I turn and tear through the door of my office without a word. I lock it behind me, the click echoing in the room.

“Hallie?” I scan the clean, black and chrome space that serves as a testament to my position here as the security company’s founder.

“Hi Daddy,” Hallie sing-songs as she comes out from my private bathroom.

She’s wearing one of my white shirts and a denim skirt. God, she’s fucking adorable.

“Baby, what are you doing here?” I growl, crossing the room and cradling her cheek in my palm. “How did you get here?”

She shrugs, her lips twisting to the side. Shyly, she admits, “I found some cash in the nightstand and I booked an uber from your laptop. I missed you. I felt like—”

Her eyes drop, lips rubbing together. I know her well enough to read her signals.

“What’s wrong, baby?” I don’t like the sadness in her eyes. I furrow my brow as I urge her gaze back up to me.

“I felt like you might be hiding me. Like, will we always have to hide what we are? Is that why you told me to stay at home?”

I scoff before saying, “No baby, I told you to stay home because I’ve been fucking you unconscious for a good forty-hours and you need rest. And, I needed to straighten out some things here so I could take some time off.”

“Really?” she exclaims, excitement sparkling in her eyes.

“Yes, baby,” I smirk, kissing her forehead. “Really.”

“Then, will you take me out?” she says with a soft giggle. “I’ve missed you so much. But, it’s more than… you know what we’ve been doing at home. I miss the old us. The stuff we did. The places you took me.”