Daddy's Little Girl

A Dangerous Warning

“No comment,” Dante murmured as he pushed pass the group of reporters who were desperate to find out just a tidbit of information about the lawsuit. Dante let out a long sigh as he closed his office door behind him. It was only the second week of the trial but he was already exhausted, so he could only imagine how Victoria felt. He hadn’t spent any time with her since the trial started; he hadn’t realized how low key they would have to be with the press constantly in their faces.

Dante’s cell phone rang and his answered it as soon as he saw Victoria’s name.

“Hey babe, what’s up?” he asked as he plopped down into his chair.

“Nothing much, I was wondering if you could come pick me up? My car is kind of out of commission.”

“What do you mean, what’s wrong with it?”

“I sorta got into an accident,”

“What!” he yelled as he shot straight out of his seat and headed for the door. “Are you alright? Where are you?”

“I’m fine, just a few bumps and bruises. I’m at Mount Sinai,”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he said already starting up his car.

****

Victoria chewed at her bottom lip as she tried to scratch at the itch on her wrist but the soft cast was in the way. She shook her head as she thought about how she rammed into the car in front of her on the highway. No matter how hard she tried to decelerate the car would not slow down fast enough to avoid the collision, she was  grateful that the accident wasn’t any worse. She gave up on scratching the itch and began typing out an email to Lori.

“Vic are you alright?” Owen asked as he ran up to her. Victoria didn’t hide the fact that she was surprised to see him.

“Owen what are you doing here?”

“The hospital called me; I’m still listed as your next of kin. Are you okay?” he asked as he held her wrapped up hand in his.

“I’m fine,” she said pulling away from him.

Owen let out a sigh of relief as he touched her face, careful to avoid the bruise underneath her eye.

“I was scared shitless when the hospital called me. I know things aren’t great between us, but I still care a lot about you Victoria.”

“I told you I’m fine, there’s no need to get sentimental.” She said as she pushed his hand away from her face as Dante rushed into the room. Owen and Dante stared down each other before Owen spoke.

“What are you doing here?”

“I called him,” Victoria said rolling her eyes.

“Why?” he demanded to know.

“To take me home, if you must know, we live in the same neighborhood.” She said as she stood up.

“I’ll take you home,” Owen said holding onto her.

“It’s fine, go home I’m sure Tina is waiting for you.” She said grabbing her purse before grabbing Dante’s hand.

Owen watched Victoria and Dante walk away and didn’t like the way Victoria held on to him. He made a mental note to talk to Dante and let him know that he was playing with fire.

****

“Ow!” Victoria yelled as she nursed her throbbing wrist. “You did that on purpose,” she whined as Dante finished propping her up on the sofa in her living room.

“I did not I told you not to move.” He said shaking his head. “I really think you should have stayed at the hospital overnight.”

“I’m fine,” she said placing an ice pack on her bruised shoulder. “I’m more concerned about my baby,”

“What exactly happened?” Dante asked as he sat next to her and propped up her leg on his lap.

“I don’t know everything was fine until I got onto the highway. Traffic was beginning to slow down and when I tried to decelerate the car wouldn’t slow down. Next thing I know, bam, I hit the car in front of me, the car behind me rammed me in the back and the rest is history.”

“Nothing should have been wrong with your breaks; I just changed your brake pads a month ago.”

“I know,” she said sipping on her cup of tea.

“Where is the car now?”

“Some auto shop, I have the card in my bag. Will you go pick up my baby and see if she can be salvaged?” she asked giving him a pretty pout.

“First thing tomorrow morning, right now I want to make sure you’re alright.” He said as he rubbed her legs.

“I keep telling you I’m fine.” She said swatting his hands away from her legs. “Keep that up and I’ll have my way with you, bruised wrist and all.”

Dante laughed as he pushed her legs off of his lap and stood up.

“Ooooow,” she cried holding onto her shoulder.

“I’m going to see what’s edible in your fridge.” He said walking into the kitchen.

“I think there’s some chicken breast in the freezer.”

Dante pulled open the freezer and saw the package of chicken breast and nothing else but a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream. When he pulled open the refrigerator door it was just as bad as the freezer. There was a container of Chinese take out, two eggs and two bottles of wine. Dante shook his head as he tried to figure out what to make with the scraps he had been given.

****

Victoria’s stomach grumbled as she flicked through the channels trying to find something to watch.

“All these damn channels and nothing to watch,” she complained as she stopped on a kids channel as her cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hello darling how are you feeling?” Jeffery cooed making Victoria feel sick to her stomach.

“What do you want?”

“I just wanted to see if Owen gave you the message.”

“What message?”

“Oh I guess he didn’t. I heard about your accident today, how are you feeling darling? I would hate for something to happen to you, not when I’m having so much fun watching you bury yourself alive in court.”

“Goodbye Jeffery,”

“I’m just expressing my concern, it’s not every day one has break failure on a highway, you should be more careful darling. I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning.”

The line went dead, and Victoria felt like she had been doused with cold water. No one outside from the policemen who made the accident report and Dante knew the details about the accident.

 He’s trying to kill me.