Page 22 of The Nanny and the Don
“Who said it? One of the kids?” he quizzed, still laughing.
I scoffed. “Nah, bro, the nanny.”
“You know you gotta be nice to her, Steel. You need her ass.”
“It’s Brendan’s girl,” I confessed.
“What?” he snapped.
“Yeah, when I went to his house looking for him, she was there. I took her. If he wants her, he can come get her.”
Shaking his head, he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. “I should have known you would do something crazy as hell.”
“You call getting collateral crazy?” I asked him.
“I call kidnapping someone who probably doesn’t know where he is any better than we do crazy. It’s the girl, right? The one you wanted.”
“What the hell does that matter?” I snapped.
“You and I both know why it matters. Do you still want her?”
“Is her name money? Does she have my money? Does she know where I can find it? These are the real questions.”
“Yeah right, nigga. Be careful,” he advised.
“You just keep your ear to the street and make sure when you know something I’m the first person to hear it.”
“I got you.”
“Put some money on it. I need this resolved like yesterday,” I told him.
“Already on it.”
“Let me know.”
I ended the call and tossed my phone on the bed as I headed into the bathroom. After a quick shower, I stepped out, dried myself off, and wrapped a towel around my waist before falling into bed. I couldn’t stop myself from picking my phone up and going to the monitoring icon.
Rolling over on my side, I pressed the button on the tablet at my bedside that dimmed the lights in my bedroom before sliding in place under the covers. I held my breath as the application loaded, releasing it when the living room came into view.
Once I was semi comfortable, I put one hand behind my head and balanced the phone in the other. My breathing hitched when my baby strolled out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head and an oversized T-shirt covering the top half of her body.
When she released her hair from the towel I let out an audible sigh. I had no idea what kind of hold this woman had on me, but I didn’t want to be free. I watched her like a TV series that was about to end on a cliffhanger as she divided her hair in sections and braided it down. I rested the phone on the pillows next to me so I could watch her without my arm getting tired.
Sleeplessly I watched as she braided her hair down, missing the wild coils of her hair, but also loving having more access to her gorgeous face. Then something happened that thawed every one of the ice caps around my heart. She started singing.
The sweet, soothing way she serenaded me made my chest tight. I sat up in bed desperate to get closer to her but thought better of it. She was already terrified that I would force myself on her. Me showing up in the middle of the night while she was half dressed would only make it worse.
I didn’t want to take anything she wasn’t willing to give me aside from her freedom and that was temporary. Even that was an issue since I still wanted her to be mine. I needed her to want to be here. If only I knew I could trust her. Lying back on my pillow I closed my eyes and listened to her sing as I drifted off to sleep.
Eight
Devlan
Rolling over on my back, I stared up at the ceiling. It was amazing how soundly I’d slept as a captive in a rich man’s house. He was as cold with the children as he was with me so thankfully, I didn’t have to see him much yesterday. I was still working out the logistics of this place and where exactly I was, so I planned to talk to Miguel more today. There had to be a way for me to get out of here.
My heart sank when I recalled that he wouldn’t be here. I shook my head as I crawled out of the huge bed and found another overpriced outfit to wear. I wanted to take the kids outside so I went with the most casual thing I could find. I wasn’t even sure if I was allowed to go outside. Maybe Mr. Gray would come with us, not that I wanted his company.
I grabbed the silk shorts and matching shirt with the familiar logo all over them, shaking my head at how someone could afford to spend my rent money on a single item of clothing. I could only imagine a life where I didn’t have to worry myself to death every minute of the day about rent and bills. I guess rightnow the most important thing on my mind was living through this hostage situation.
