29

"What happened?" Ross asked, picking the girl up.

Victoria squirmed in his arms, not really wanting to talk about that, even if that was a question for Williams. She just wanted to go alredy.

Ross rubbed circles in her back, his warm hand making her feel better already, but she still wanted to get out of there.

"You... you may want to take her with someone else, because you won't like this"

"Speak, Alistair" he impatiently demanded.

"Tom Brown tried to take Vicky with him and his friends, and insulted her. He almost hit her, too, but I appeared"

Ross' body tensed up and Vicky didn't like that. She whimpered because she knew that meant he would leave her now, but he needed to go "talk" to that Brown again, and make sure his family would be ruined from that night on.

Not only had they been messing with the Caruso and trying to uselessly make allies against them, but they had also made her cry.

If he wouldn't have been holding her right then, Ross would had definitely taken his gun out alredy. But he composed himself.

Jeff came right behind them, agitatedly speaking.

"You've found h- what's going on?"

"I need you to take her home, tell Jake to come here so that he can help me here"

"What are you talking about?" Jeff frowned.

Ross didn't answer, instead, he looked at the startled girl on his arms and softly said to her,

"I'll be quick, baby. I just remembered I have to make business with someone else, yeah?"

"Stay here, I don't want you to go" Victoria said, hiding further into the space between his neck and shoulder. He bounced her a little while watching Jeff grab his phone, so that he could tell Jake and Marcus about it.

"I'll go right behind you. The sooner you let me go, the sooner I'll be with you, yeah? Daddy has to go for a moment, princess"

"Stay" she softly demanded again, feeling her eyes watering alredy "please"

Ross let out a sigh. It was true that he wanted to chop off Brown's hand himself, to make sure he wouldn't touch her little girl again. But he also knew Vicky wouldn't let him leave without making a fuss, because she really wanted him then.

Plus, in Jake and Jeff's hands, he was sure Brown's weren't ever going to disrespect their family ever again.

"Jeff, then-"

"Yes. Leave it to us"

He nodded and signaled Williams to follow them, to which he didn't say a word.

Alistair just watched Victoria and Ross' interaction from behind, thinking that he had never seen his best friend like that, genuinely nice to a woman. The past few weeks, though, opposed to what he could had expected, Ross was even working better than before, planning and executing good strategies and stuff.

"Are you better now, bubs?" Ross asked her.

"Uh-huh. Wanna go home"

"Alright, it's okay now. We're going home so that we can put you to sleep, hm?"

The loud music and the cigarette and alcohol smell was starting to give Victoria a headache, so she squirmed and whined and he didn't say a word, he just kept walking until they reached the car, Marcus waiting inside alredy.

"I'm going on my car, I'll meet you there" Williams said.

Ross nodded and entered the car with the girl on his arms, who seemed to calm down as soon as the driver closed the door. Ross kept rubbing circles on her back as Marcus gave her an empathic look.

...

"Babygirl, come on. It's time to sleep" Ross sighed for the fifth time. Victoria wouldn't pay him attention and just kept fussing the entire time he tried to get her to take a bath, although he surprisingly could, earning a few whines.

Right now, she was on some simply pajamas and socks, and was waiting for him to untangle her hair. It was pretty late alredy so Ross just wanted her to cooperate.

"Princess, if I don't punish you right now it's because of what happened there, but I'm reaching my limit" he explained, making Vicky look at him in the eyes. "So be a good girl and let Daddy comb your hair so that you can go to sleep. Are we clear?"

"Yes" she huffed.

"..."

"Yes, daddy"

He softly grabbed Victoria's hair and started untangling it, while she kept fidgeting with her fingers on her lap. Ross' touch always made her calm, so she wasn't that fussy at the moment.

"What has you so worked up, hm? You're always a good girl"

"I... I don't know"

"Baby, I know that you might be upset over that man and Williams right now, but you're still different from usual. What's wrong?"

Ross wasn't sure she was still in her headspace anymore, although maybe she was older than usual, but it didn't matter. He kept combing her hair even if he was done, waiting for her to answer.

"I... have I ever told you about my father?"

He frowned, not liking where that was going.

"I don't think so, why baby?"

Victoria sighed and looked down, trying to find the right words as that was something she had never spoken to anyone before.

"Well, uh, my father left us when I was too young, maybe around two or three years old. I can't remember his face, but I do remember his constant yelling and... how he used to treat my mother" she started, feeling relaxed at his actions. "I also remember seeing bottles of alcohol and stuff, and my mother didn't like any of that, because she would always complain and yell back at him"

"So is that why you didn't like that place?" Ross sofly spoke, feeling his blood boil at those words.

"Uh-huh. My father was violent. I'm not really sure he ever laid a hand on my mom, but I'm sure he would always swear and yell, and disrespect us. When he left... I think that's when my mother started treating me like that. So that's also why I can't blame her..."

Ross stopped and made Victoria look at him again, her innocent eyes fixated in his. He wasn't sure what to tell her, because he wasn't the right person in those situations. But he understood the feeling pretty well.

Except, he had his brothers to face any matter. She had always been by herself.

"No, Vicky. Your mother had no excuse to treat you like that. She's your mother and she's supposed to take care of you, and as far as I know, Elizabeth has only made it hard for you"

Victoria nodded and looked away, not really wanting to talk about her mother right then. She wiped a few tears off her face and kept talking.

"The thing is, I can't remember my father's face, but I know he was a piece of sh- trash. So that's why I kind of froze after tonight. I'm sorry I've been annoying in little space, I-"

"Shh, it's alright. I understand, and thank you for sharing that with me" he spoke while putting a few strands of hair behind her ear. "By the way, do you at least remember your father's name?"

"No, my mother had never told me anything about it, although she often tells me it was my fault that he left" she said, murmuring the last part for herself.

"Okay. There's no need to worry about that anymore, yeah?" Ross said as he picked her up and laid her on bed. He didn't know if Victoria was little anymore, but he still handed her Daisy and she gladly took it. "None of that is your fault, princess. And I'm going to make sure no one hurts you again"

"Daddy?"

"Hm?"

"Sleep here with me, please" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I... alright, I'll stay here until you fall asleep"

And with that, Victoria dozed off in a few minutes. Anyway, Ross couldn't help but process everything she had told him minutes before. He definitely had to ask Williams and Marcus to do some research on her.