Page 7 of Daddy’s Oath (The Daddy Guard #2)

Chapter Seven

Daddy walked toward Lana, his bare torso jagged with muscle.

He had that look in his eyes. The one she loved. The look that told her she was in for it.

Daddy was going to make her feel good. He had things planned for her. And it was going to be delicious.

But something wasn’t right here. There was a sound that didn’t belong. A foreign force that felt… heavy. Daddy’s presence was usually comforting. Soothing. Protective.

There was something scary here. And it was pulling her out of her magical fantasy.

Lana’s eyes snapped open. She sat up with a start. Looking around her room frantically, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

She’d been dreaming. That certainly wasn’t abnormal. Fantasies of Daddy were quite common.

What was abnormal, though, was the way that dream had made her feel. Usually she woke up happy—albeit with a sense of longing—after dreaming of Daddy. This dream had been scary, though. In fact, she had sweat beading on her forehead. Her heart was racing, too.

No, that was no ordinary dream of Daddy.

She remembered the noise that had forced her awake. Had that been part of the dream? The mind could do some crazy things.

Drawing a deep breath, she held it for a moment and listened. All seemed quiet.

Slowly exhaling, she closed her eyes and listened harder. She tried to read the space.

Something was definitely off.

Sliding slowly and silently from the bed, Lana crept toward the door. Was someone in the living room? Should she just call the police now?

But what if it was all her imagination? That would be embarrassing. Besides, the cops wouldn’t just come because she had a strange dream and thought things “felt weird”.

This was Los Angeles. The police were busy! They didn’t have time for random, silly calls.

No, Lana would have to check things out herself.

Her eyes darted frantically around the room, looking for anything she could use as a makeshift weapon. Her nerves were drawn so tight that it was hard to even focus. She had to force her brain to take stock of what her eyes saw.

There wasn’t anything. No potential weapons. Throwing her stuffies at the burglars wouldn’t accomplish much.

But there was something in her closet, she remembered.

She padded softly to it, opened the sliding door, and reached around until her hands pushed through the hanging clothes and bumped against something long, skinny, and hard leaning against the back wall.

A ski pole.

The studio had paid for her division to go skiing in Nevada last year as a thank you for all their hard work. They’d produced a string of blockbusters that grossed over a billion dollars and had been cool enough to give out those travel bonuses.

That had been Lana’s one and only time on the slopes. She liked it, though, so she bought her own gear, hoping to go back soon.

Now, she was glad she had it. It wasn’t a perfect weapon, but it was better than nothing.

Way better than nothing. Because a strange scraping sound reached her ears again, and she was more convinced than ever that someone was breaking in.

If her hunch was correct, they weren’t inside yet. But she didn’t have long. It sounded as if they were trying to corrupt the lock on her front door.

Crap! What do I do?

Now wasn’t the time to be quiet, she decided. She ran to the door, looked through the peephole, and saw two men in the hallway. The view was limited, so she couldn’t make out what they were doing, but they were clearly messing around her door!

She ran back to her nightstand, grabbed her phone, and called 9-1-1.

The dispatcher answered after two rings. Lana frantically spit out her address and what was going on.

“Ma’am, please stay on the line. Remain calm. Do you have a weapon?”

Lana gripped the phone tightly. “Not really. Just a… ski pole.”

“Help is on the way. We have officers en route. They’re not far.”

There was a banging on the door. For a moment, Lana thought the men were knocking. That was good, right? Someone trying to break in wouldn’t announce their presence like that. Perhaps they thought they were at a friend’s apartment or something. Maybe they were drunk and just had the wrong door.

But then she realized they weren’t knocking at all. It was the sound of someone trying to separate the door from the lock.

Crap! Crap! Crap!

They would most likely be inside at any moment!

Lana’s brain spun furiously as she considered her options.

Going out the front door wouldn’t work. Even if she tried to just ram her way past the guys, the odds were slim she could get away from them. She didn’t have much strength. And there were two of them.

Terrible odds.

She had the ski pole, and that might even things up a bit. But what if they just dodged her blows? They might grab it and yank it away and then use it on her!

That left holing up inside until the cops got there. Remembering she was still on the phone with the 9-1-1 dispatcher, she said, “Are they almost here?”

“Yes, ma’am. Only a couple minutes out.”

“I’m not sure I have a couple of minutes.”

The sound of wood splintering reinforced that fear.

“They’re almost inside!” she cried.

She kept the call connected but placed the phone on her small kitchen table as she hurried past. Going to her sliding patio doors, she unlocked them and stepped out into the night. The fire escape was on the balcony of the next apartment over.

Normally, that brought Lana a sense of comfort. She didn’t want anyone having direct access to her unit. Any random person could just climb up there. But now she wished she had the escape route.

Maybe she could still use it…

It would be a little risky, but the next balcony wasn’t too far, she decided as she studied the scene to her left. In fact, the two balconies were maybe separated by three feet. Four at the max. She could jump that.

Right?

She couldn’t believe she was even thinking about that. This was just like one of the movies she’d worked on. Stuff like this wasn’t supposed to happen in real life.

This was all too real, though, she realized, as a cool night wind swept her hair back.

She was truly standing on her balcony, considering a desperate escape.

A crash reached her ears. She couldn’t see what was going on, but she didn’t need to.

The guys had broken through the door. They were in her apartment now.

“Okay. I’ve got to do this,” she whispered as she dropped the ski pole. It wasn’t much use to her now. Running was a better option than fighting.

Climbing onto the rail, she made the mistake of looking down. Vertigo flooded over her, feeling like a tidal wave about to sweep her away. Lana gritted her teeth and fought through it. A moment later, the world stabilized.

She figured the men probably went into her bedroom first, just to the right of the front door.

That bought her a little time. But it was a tiny space.

It wouldn’t take them long to check under the bed and inside the closet.

A few seconds to determine she wasn’t in there.

Which meant they’d arrive in the kitchen and living room quickly.

From there, they could easily see her on the balcony.

It was time to act.

Drawing a deep breath, she continued to rise until her bare feet were on the rails. The iron felt cold beneath her. She stayed in a crouch. Standing up was risky and she wouldn’t do it until she was ready to jump.

The men’s voices reached her ears. They were getting closer.

It was time.

With a terrified yelp, Lana leapt off her balcony.

And prayed she’d reach the other. Because if not, it was a long way down.