Scarlett's pov

When we get home, and go inside, I turn to Luke.

"Ask her." I sigh before running upstairs. I hear him sigh and walk into their bedroom and I close my eyes and wait for the yelling.

Luke's pov

"April?" I ask as I come into the room.

"What, Luke?"

"Do you know why Scarlett's misbehaving so much for you?"

She winces. "No. I wish. Like I said, I think it's because you spoil her too much." She rolls her eyes. I scoff a bit.

"I doubt that. She told me to ask you something. When we were driving. She told me that you screwed up, but wouldn't tell me what you did. She told me to ask you myself. And she told me not to leave. When I asked why I would leave she told me to ask you that too. What is she on about, April?" Her eyes widen.

"She's just making crap up, I'm sure." She says, blowing me off, waving a hand dismissively.

"Really?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh don't look at me like that." She glares.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm a little kid, caught lying."

"Well that's what you look like right now. What did you do?"

"I guess-" she sighs. "I think she's just mad at me because the other day I hit her." She admits.

"You hit her? What do you mean? Why?" I ask, worried.

"Well I- I slapped her. She was being a brat and I was in a bad mood and I slapped her. I shouldn't have, I know, but I did."

"Is that when she came to me crying? How hard did you hit her? She was sobbing april! What the hell?!"

"I don't know, hard, I guess." She sighs.

"You can't just fucking hit her! Do you know what she's been through?!" I yell, before realizing she doesn't, because I never told her.

"Well, I mean, she's had a tough life, I guess but-"

"No April, that dick, Daniel, he was molesting and abusing her! That's why he left!" I yell.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?!" She yells.

"Because she didn't fucking want me to! Because she didn't want you to worry!"

"You can't just keep stuff like that from me! She's my daughter!"

"Well you're not acting like a mother!"

"Regardless! I-"

"No! Not regardless! Do you ever think about anyone but yourself?!"

"Don't fucking ask me that Luke! You're the one who's keeping from me that my own daughter was abused!"

"Well you abused her too!"

"You spank her! That's just as bad!"

"No! It's fucking not! That's discipline! She doesn't hate me for spanking her! She hates you since you fucking slapped her!"

"She doesn't hate you because you fucking spoil her!"

"No I fucking don't! I'm nice to her! I show her that I love her! You don't! That's why she hates you!"

"I don't have time to pay my soul attention to her every second of the day like you!"

"You don't need to! Just hug her! Or yknow, you could start by NOT FUCKING HITTING HER!"

"FUCK YOU! GET OUT!"

I clench my jaw as I grab my phone off the counter and storm into the hall.

"Scarlett rose!" She immediately runs out of her room and almost into me.

"A-are you leaving?" She stutters, looking up at me with wide eyes.

"Cmon, you're coming with." She smiles and run downstairs ahead of me.

"LUKE YOURE NOT FUCKING TAKING MY DAUGHTER!" April screams as she storms down the stairs.

"FUCKING WATCH ME!" I yell before slamming the door behind me.

I get in the car next to Rose as I huff, putting the key in the ignition.

"Are you ok, daddy?" She asks gently.

"Yes, babygirl. I'm fine." I growl slightly.

"What did she say?"

"She told me what she did." Scarlett's eyes widen.

"That she-"

"Hit you. Yes baby. I'm sorry." I sigh, and she huffs as she leans back in her seat. I grip the steering wheel tightly as I think about it. How the hell could she do that? Who would slap their daughter?

"Are you mad?"

"Not at you, little one." I sigh as I clench my jaw. "But what your mom did was wrong. It wasn't your fault, though. Okay?" She nods.

"Where are we going, daddy?" She asks, and I sigh as I try to relax a bit. She reaches over and grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers and putting them in her lap. Her thumb rubs over my hand and I calm down almost instantly at her comforting touch.

"Wherever. You hungry?"

She hums and nods her head. "Let's go to Ihop." She smiles at me, and I chuckle.

"Sure, babe."

"Are we going back home tonight?"

"I don't know, babygirl. We'll see. Do you want to go home?"

"Not really." She sighs as she leans her head against the car window.

We get to IHOP and eat, then leave, driving around for a bit.

Suddenly my phone starts ringing. "Can you grab that?" I ask her. She nods and answers it.

"Hello?"

Scarlett's pov

"Hi baby." I frown. What the fuck?

"Who's this?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"It's Jeremy, baby." He chuckles. I pull the phone away and glance down at the contact. '❤️❤️❤️'. Fuck. This is moms phone.

"Uhm, this is Scarlett."

"Oh shit. Where's April?" Luke frowns as he looks at me.

"Who is it?" Luke mumbles. My eyes widen and I shake my head as he reaches toward it, but he grabs it from me anyway.

"Who is this?" He asks.

"Why are you looking for April?"

"Because I'm her boyfriend and I accidentally grabbed it instead of my phone. Who are you to her?"

"Wait- ugh." He growls as he pulls the phone away from his ear.

"Why the fuck is his contact a bunch of hearts?!" He growls, before glancing at my wide eyes.

"Is she fucking cheating on me?!"

"Daddy, calm down-"

"Did you know about this?!"

"Daddy please, just listen-"

"Answer me Scarlett! Did you know?!"

"Don't be mad at me daddy!" I beg, feeling tears touch my eyes at his yelling.

"So you did!" He growls as he pulls into a hotel parking lot.

He gets out of the car and I quickly get out and follow him.

"Daddy-"

"Hush. We'll talk when we get in our room." He growls. It sounds significantly meaner than usual and I cower slightly.

He gets a room and pays for tonight before going up to it, with me trailing behind him, trying to keep up.

"You're going to tell me everything, Scarlett Rose. Now." He growls as I sit on the bed and he stands in front of me.

"I don't know everything daddy-"

"Well you fucking knew! And you didn't tell me!"

"I couldn't tell you!"

"Why the hell not?!"

"Because!" I yell.

"Dammit Scarlett rose! Just tell me what you know!"

"I just saw his texts with her! I don't know who he is or anything!"

"Is that why she hit you? Because you saw?"

"No, because I said I'd tell!"

"You should have told, Scarlett!"

"But I thought you'd leave me! You would leave me because I'm just your girlfriends daughter!"

"Did I leave you? No!"

"You didn't have a choice! Daddy I'm sor-"

"Why the hell wouldn't you tell me? Fuck!" He cusses as he kicks the bed frame.

"I didn't want you to leave! Daddy please calm down!"

"I won't fucking calm down Scarlett!"

"Please! I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you! And I was going to-"

"Sure you were! Fucking helping your mom!"

"Does it look like I've been trying to help her?!"

"You've been keeping her secrets for her!"

"Because I was scared! Daddy I'm sorry!"

"That doesn't fucking fix that your moms cheating on me!"

"Please calm down, Luke!"

"Fuck you! Don't fucking tell me to calm down again, Scarlett rose!"

"Luke please just listen!"

"I won't fucking listen! Your probably lying for your mom anyway!"

"Fuck you!" I yell, getting stressed with all his screaming.

"EXCUSE ME?!"

"I'm sorry! Please just calm down!"

"DONT FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM DOWN SCARLETT ROSE!" He screams in my face.

I try not to cry as he yells so harshly at me.

"It's not my fault Luke! I'm sorry! It's not my fault!" I yell, trying to make him hear me.

"Fuck you!" He says. A few tears spill down my cheeks.

"Stop yelling at me!" I beg. " I didn't do anything wrong! Stop yelling! Why are you yelling?" I cry as I begin to sob.

"WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO, SCARLETT?! HIW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL ABOUT THIS?! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU THINK IM YELLING?!"

"DADDY STOP! YOURE SCARING ME!" I scream, beginning to cry harder as he yells in my face.

He stops immediately, and sighs. He crouches down in front of me as I bury my head in my hands and try to stop my tears. He winces as he looks at me.

"Please stop yelling." I mumble. There's silence for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry babygirl, I'm done yelling, ok?" He asks in a much gentler voice. "Come here babygirl. It's not your fault. Daddy didn't mean to be so mean." He says as he sits in the bed beside me and pulls me into his lap, letting me cling to him.

Luke's pov

I sigh as I rock her back and forth. "Daddy's here now princess. No more tears." I kiss her head as I rub her back and hold her tight to my chest. "I'm sorry for scaring you princess. Please stop crying."

What the fuck is wrong with me? Why am I yelling at her for this? No wonder she was so afraid to tell me.

"No more yelling." She begs as she buries her face in my neck.

"No more yelling, my sweet little babygirl. I'm sorry princess. Daddy is so sorry."

"I forgive you. I'm sorry for not telling you." I sigh and shake my head.

"No, I understand, little one. Especially after I reacted like that. Daddy's a big meanie, huh, Angel?" I ask, kissing her cheek. I know I'm treating her like a little girl but I like to, and she likes it, I think. And she deserves it, she never got a proper childhood.

"Mhmh." She nods into my neck.

"Let me see your pretty little face, babygirl." I mumble as I gently pull her out of my neck. She pulls back and I smile at her. I wipe the tears off her cheeks

"Are you ok, princess?" I ask gently, afraid if I yell at her or even speak too loudly again, she might just break into shattered pieces in my arms.

"Yes daddy."

"Good. I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's not your fault and I was just angry, and took it out on you." I sigh as I rub her cheek gently with my thumb. She looks down and sighs as she plays with the fingers on my other hand.

"You didn't think I was gonna hurt you, did you babygirl?" She smiles gently as she averts her eyes to mine again.

"No daddy. I knew you wouldn't." I sigh in relief. "I knew you'd stop when I said I was scared."

"I shouldn't have made you scared in the first place. I'm a horrible daddy." I sigh.

"No. A horrible daddy would have left me with my mom in the first place, and a horrible daddy wouldn't have stopped when I got scared. You're just a human. You made a mistake. Stop beating yourself up." She smiles at me as she kisses my cheek.

"I love you baby." I smile as I kiss her head.

"I love you too, daddy." She mumbles as she buries her head in my neck again.

"Are you tired, princess?" She nods and hums. I chuckle as I scoot back so I'm laying in the bed with her on my chest.