Page 141 of The Plan

“Come on, Jackson, it was a fucking joke.” I smooth Isabelle's hair and tell her not to cry.

“Jokes are meant to be funny. Give me my kid.” He reaches for her, but I turn from him and hold her closer to me.

“No.” I can’t believe he really made her fucking cry.

“Why do you always have to make me the bad guy?” He crosses his arms as he shakes his head.

“I have to keep up my fun Uncle Rep.” Isa picks her head up from my shoulder, and I wipe her tears.

“You’re not babysitting her ever again.”

I ignore him and kiss Isa’s cheek. “You’re not going to time-out, and you can use your iPad all you want.”

“But Daddy—”

“Your dad’s a little bitch.” She laughs, and when I look over at Jackson, he’s shaking his head at us, but it’s obvious he’s holding back a smile. I know deep down he finds this funny, and if it was anyone else’s four-year-old, he would have been laughing.

“You're teaching my daughter not to respect me.” I look up at the ceiling as I roll my eyes.

“Oh my God.” I look over at him and, with all seriousness, say, “She respects you a whole lot. She didn’t even want to do this, so I bribed her. Stop making your kid cry.” I hand Isa to him, and he kisses her forehead.

They come inside to grab her bag, and when Isa asks if we’re having another sleepover, I almost tell her yes, but Jackson says they can’t since she was cursing.Asshole.

“Am I going to be in time-out?”

“No,” I say before Jackson does. I’m “kidnapping” her from school for a week straight if he puts her in time-out for this.

“We’ll talk in the car.”

She lays her head on his shoulder, and he goes to walk off but flips me off first.

“Call me if he puts you in time-out, princess!” She gives me a thumbs-up and then wipes her cheek again.

When I get in bed, my phone starts ringing. It’s a Facetime call from Vid, and I quickly answer. “Hello?”

She’s still in the living room but is lying down with a blanket. “Hey.”

I hear singing in the back, and I think she’s watching another movie. “Are you watching Rapunzel? Again?” I watch her lower the volume and get a bit more comfortable on the couch.

“Yeah, I kind of needed it.” She lets out a small sigh. I know it’s her comfort movie, and I’m starting to think she’s having a hard time being alone in her own place. She didn’t want to talk about the break-in earlier, but it’s understandably still affecting her.

“Are you okay?”

She nods her head with a small smile, but it looks forced. “I’m fine.” She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself, and I realize she is when she wipes a tear.

“Vidia.” I rise from the bed. “I’m going to pick you up, okay?”

“No, I’m fine, Sire.” She sits up, and I reluctantly sit on the edge of the bed. She closes her eyes like she’s trying to calm her breathing. I wait for her to say something, but a few minutes pass, and she doesn’t.

“Talk to me, my love.” My voice comes out soft, and she looks at me on the screen.

“My—” She looks up to the ceiling and blinks away her tears. This is fucking breaking me, and I just want to be with her.

“My neighbor knocked on my door to introduce himself, but he knocked really hard, and when I went to check the peephole,I obviously didn’t recognize him, so—” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. The loud knocking scared her, and she didn’t recognize the man, so now she’s unsettled.

“Nothing's going to happen, Vidia.” She shakes her head, but I go on. “You’re safe there.”

“You don’t know that, Sire.” She shakes her head again with her eyes closed. “Youdon’t know.”

---