"I'm coming with you!" Stevie said as Lindsey was grabbing his coat
"No your not, your going to go home"
"Lindsey she's my daughter too" Stevie sounded desperate
"She's obviously in trouble, and the last thing she is going to want his her deadbeat mother who left her when she wasn't even a year old turning up" Lindsey imededatly saw tears spring to Stevie's eyes
"Okay fine, I'll go home..." she was hoping Lindsey would change his mind but he didn't, they both left the house, before Lindsey shut his car door Stevie spoke
"I'm there if you need me" no reply came as he closed the door and drove away to where their daughter had told him she was
~
Lindsey pulled up to the address that he had been given, it was a block of apartments that looked grubby from the outside so he hated to think what the interior was like. Walking into the building he stopped outside the door number he had been given, he hesitated knocking after all he hadn't seen his daughter in over five years, he didn't know what state she would be in, he finally knocked and the door came flying open
"DADDY!" his daughter jumped straight into his arms and cried into his neck
"Daddy I'm so sorry, I am, please say your forgive me, please..." Lindsey began crying to and he couldn't speak for a moment, simply rejoicing in the fact he had his daughter back in his arms
"Shh...baby it's okay, I have you!" Anna squeezed Lindsey even tighter
"Let's go inside hmm?" Anna finally released him and she stepped back so he could see her, he hadn't actually seen her face, but he was shocked when he did
"Oh sweetheart, what happened?" He was questioning the dark bruise that was around her eye and the fading one covering her cheek
"Come inside?" She took his hand and led him in, she sat on the sofa and pulled him as close as he could get, resting her head on his chest she began to cry again
"I am so sorry! I never meant to put you through what I have" Lindsey stroked her hair softly to calm her down
"Honey stop apologising and tell me where you've been all these years...!"
"Okay...well you remember that party I went to that night?"
"How could I forget?" She squeezed him at his answer
"Well I was seeing this guy called James...he was bad news...anyway we were at this party and he told me he was in trouble with the cops and he wanted me to go away with him...I of course said no and he threatened me..."
"With what sweetie?"
"Please don't be mad at me daddy..."
"I couldn't be...carry on" he kissed the top of her head to reassure her
"Being with him had got me into the wrong crowd and I...I...I got involved with a lot of drugs..." she felt Lindsey's arms stiffen and then relax again, she knew he needed time to let it all sink in
"And he said if I didn't go with him, he would start by telling you everything and then he said he would bring me with him if he got sent down...I couldn't do that to you, I just couldn't I'm so sorry, I didn't want you to see me as the disappointment that I was...please forgive me I love you so much!" Once again she was crying into her fathers chest
"I forgive you sweetheart, I love you too, so much, your with me again thats all that matters to me honestly!" His words making her more emotional
"Did he do that to you?" He gestured to her face
"Yeah...he used to hit me all the time, and worse..."
"Worse?"
"You don't need to know what he used to force me to do, please don't make me tell you" that was all Lindsey needed to hear to know exactly what she meant, he couldn't stop his tears now, his little girl had been put through so much, her youth destroyed
"Where is James now?" Lindsey spoke after a good 10 minuets of them simply holding each other and crying for all the years they were apart
"He finally got arrested for a drugs bust! The brother of the guy he framed for the first time when we ran made sure he went away for his crimes this time" Lindsey breathed a sigh of relief that this animal was now far away from his daughter
"Can I come home with you tonight?" Anna asked almost cautious that he would say no
"Well I'm not leaving you here! I want you with me"
Lindsey waited for Anna to pack a bag and then he took her down to his car, they got in and drove to his house
"You still live here?" Anna spoke after a silent journey
"I couldn't move, just in case you came back and I had gone, I needed to stay" he squeezed her hand before they got out of the car and went inside
"Your room is still exactly the same, I couldn't bare change it" Lindsey took her things and placed them onto her bed, telling her that she needed to get some rest, he gave her one final tight hug before closing the door and getting himself a drink, he was so close to completely losing it
Two hours later he checked on Anna and was happy to see she was fast asleep, he closed the door again and returned to the living room, sitting on the chair and staring at the picture he had told Stevie to put down earlier, he didn't want Anna to see that picture of her mother so he placed it face down in the draw, sitting back down he let out a sob, he just couldn't keep it in any longer. He picked up the phone and dialed a number
"Hello?"
"Steph?"
"Linds?"
"Steph I need you..." he cried down the phone
I'm trying to be more regular with my updates now, I do hope your still enjoying this, thanks for reading and all the comments they help me a lot, thank you! Xo
