Insider

Chapter 2

He was sitting in the kitchen waiting for her; they started eating as soon as she sat. He asked her many questions; some she could quickly answer, others she had to think of plausible lies. Bea told him her parents brought her there around a year ago and left her. She said she wasn't from there and couldn't figure out how to get back home. She told him she tried going to the police, but all they could do was call CPS, and she refused to go into foster care. Then he dropped the bomb on her, "I want you to live here with me. Do you think that might be something you are interested in?"

Of course, so far. But she was still wary: "Maybe. What would I have to do?"

He looked confused at first, and then anger went all over his face. "I promise no one will touch you that way as long as you are in my house. You are under my protection, Princess, and a Knight always protects their Princess."

Bea gulped her eggs down and nodded, "Okay, I'll stay."

Her life was great. By the time she was 10, Mr. Knight encouraged her to call him Dad, and he discovered that she had a photographic memory. Bea tried really hard in school, but everything they taught her she already knew, so she got bored a lot. He pulled her out of school and started homeschooling her. He said that as long as she did the main curriculum, she could study anything else that she wanted. 

He asked her if he could adopt her, and she agreed. Bea wanted to be his real daughter; she loved him. He saved her from the streets and showed her nothing but kindness. He told her that he'd get the paperwork done and that she could keep her name. Part of her was sad; she wanted to be a Knight, too. But she would never tell him that. If he wanted her to keep her name, there was a reason.  

When Bea was 11, he introduced her to martial arts, and she loved it. It made her feel powerful.

When she was 12, he started self-defense training. Bea woke up in the middle of the night and went to his office. Her blanket and pillow were there; they hadn't left since that first night. But her father wasn't there. She went to his room and could sleep in there, but he wasn't there either. She went to the kitchen; maybe he was getting a drink. She saw that there was a light on in the back garage.

She had only been in there once; he wanted to take the convertible out. Bea walked towards the garage; maybe he was working on the car. She did not expect to see what she saw when she opened the door.

Her father was wearing a white tank top and his pants; blood was all over him. A man was tied to a chair, and he looked like he was being tortured. Her Dad hit him again, and then his sidekick Callum gasped, and his eyes went wide. Her Dad spun around and looked at her, "Princess, what are you doing in here?"

"I had a nightmare, and you weren't in your office." Bea was tearing up because she was scared. She'd never seen her father like this before.

"I'm so sorry. Let me get cleaned up, and I'll be right there." He walked into the bathroom that was in the garage. Bea always thought it was strange that there was a bathroom there, but if this is what he gets into, it makes sense. He was back out in 5 minutes, completely free of blood and in new clothes. "Callum, please get the information we need." Then he turned to her, "Come on, Princess, let's go read you a story."

This was one of her favorite things that her father did with her. They walked into her room, and he walked over to the bookshelf, "Which one?"

"Goblet of Fire, start at the bath scene."

He chuckled, "I'm going to stop letting you pick; we've read this one dozens of times." But of course he'd still let her pick, he always does. Bea got under the covers and curled up against him. He read until she was asleep. The following day, he signed her up for weapons training. By the time she was 15, she was a trained assassin. She could speak several languages, She was trained in so many weapons it was ridiculous and she could kill a man with just her hands.

She was set to take over the company once she turned 18. But when she was 17, she experienced something that made her unsure she would survive. Callum walked into her room and asked her to meet him in her Dad's office. Bea was confused, but she followed behind him. "I don't even know how to say this, so I'm just going to spit it out. Your father is dead, murdered."

Bea stood up and yelled, "This isn't funny, Callum."

"Princess, I wish I was joking. But I wanted to ask if you wanted to help me get revenge."

What a stupid question; of course, she did. He was her father, her savior. "What do you need me to do?"

He smiled and pulled out a file, dropping it right in front of her. "You've been training for this your entire life. I need you to infiltrate this rival gang and take them down from the inside. The youngest is still in school and most likely will be the easiest to manipulate. So Princess, how do you feel about going back to public school?"

She didn't want to return to public school but would do anything for her father. "I'll do whatever needs to be done."

He clapped his hands together, "I'll run the Kingdom while you are away, and once we take them down, you will no longer be a Princess; you'll be our Queen. You'll be the CEO of the company, and you'll own this entire city." He started going through the file cabinet and pulling out more documents, "Thank God there's no association with you and your father. I'm sure they'll do a background check."