Page 23 of Love Me Not

“We will be fine,” she assured me.I nodded and turned to leave, but her voice stopped me.

“Lux.”

My name slipping from her lips had a shiver running up my spine, and I had to suppress it as I turned to her.

“I’m sorry,” she said.“For getting it wrong.For not being prepared and… for your loss.”

A sudden wave of grief hit me like a truck.It felt especially worse because it looked like she actually cared.

So I just nodded and walked out of the house.

Chapter7

Juliette

Bella was like any other eight-year-old.

She loved to play—with her toys and her food.Loved to get dirty and run around.She had a give-no-fucks attitude that I absolutely loved.Honestly, she was a really good kid.

But it was obvious that she was extremely lonely.

“One more time, then you have to change into something clean and take a water break, okay?”I said as she stood in front of me, panting.

Even through all of the playing, she still respected me as the one in charge, something that shocked me based on her earlier attitude toward me.Maybe it was less about her pushing the nannies away and more about how those nannies had treated her.

“I know I can make it.Just one last chance!”She took off running to the far side of the yard before I could say anything else.

I looked at the stopwatch on my phone.She was nowhere near the ten second mark, making the trip to the end and back in about thirty.Forty if she was tired.

I paused it, letting her catch up a bit before starting it again.

“You’re better than the others,” Gina, who I came to know as her personal chef, said from behind me.I looked up to see her holding some finger food and water with cucumbers in it.

“I’m not doing anything,” I replied, giving her a smile.“Just letting her play.”

“Maybe I should say that I think she likes you more.”She handed me a glass of water.It was cool, the condensation already wetting my skin.

“Thank you,” I said and took a sip of what was probably the most refreshing water I'd ever had.Rich people.

I still couldn't get over it.I had worked for some wealthier families, but no one this rich.I knew that the size of the property itself was a testament to how much money she had.Surrounding us were multimillion-dollar houses, but hers was nothing like them, which meant she had opted to build this thing from the ground up.

That made me wonder what she did to make this kind of money, so I decided to look her up when I got home.The file probably didn't have anything about her specifically, so I'd try Google and maybe LinkedIn.

A smile pulled at my lips as Bella made her way back toward us.I had yet to help her put her hair back in braids.so her hair still whipped around her as she ran.Her smile was so wide it looked like it might be making her cheeks hurt.

“Food!”

Gina laughed and lowered the tray so Bella could come in and grab two handfuls of snacks.

“Time?”she asked me, already shoving them into her mouth.

I picked up my phone and showed her.“Closer!Twenty-six!”

She let out an exaggerated moan and fell to the ground.A chuckle escaped my lips.She spread out in the grass, her fingers grasping the blades and her eyes locked on the sky.Her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath, and slowly she started to calm down.

“I have to say, I think you’re the best kid I’ve ever had the pleasure to nanny.”

She tore her eyes from the sky to send me a suspicious look.

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