Page 59 of Bully Wolf's Nanny
“Then do it. Discharge them. We’re going home.”
He didn’t wait for permission to scoop Gracie out of her cot, cradling her close to him, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair. The doctor flapped around him, the noises closer to resembling some sort of squawking bird than a man.
“Give me that, you bumbling idiot,” Francesca hissed, plucking the paper out of the doctor’s hands, “what is it, test results?”
“Well, yes, as I was trying to say, we ran a few tests because the nature of the—"
Nicolas didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence. He strode out of the room, hand protectively holding the back of his daughter’s head as she fussed against his shoulder. He heard Daisy ushering Thea to follow, and the sharp clack of Francesca’s heels against the bleached linoleum floor. Part of him wanted to turn, to tuck Daisy into his other side, Thea too. To hold his family close and not let anything get between them ever again.
But instead, he clenched his jaw and carried on walking. It was his wolf that wanted those things right now, and with the recent danger to his daughter, he didn’t trust himself not to lose his temper entirely if one more fucking person decided it would be a good idea to test him.
There would be time for reconciliation once they were safely home and rested.
Reconciliation, and the sweet savagery of justice.
He couldn’t help the wicked sneer on his face as he remembered the voicemail he’d received not three hours earlier. One that held the answer to all his problems.
“Nicolas, it’s Rick. Your instincts, as always, were impeccable. There’s a loophole if we can prove she was lyingabout the relationship. You may want to ask that security team of yours to look into it.”
Chapter 19 - Daisy
The lights were on when they reached Nicolas’s house, warm and inviting.
Daisy only felt hollow when she looked over the golden light spilling from the windows. Inside, one way or another, she would have to face a reckoning.
Nicolas had been silent the entire car journey back. His scent was almost acrid with anger, pure rage diluting every bone and sinew in his body, eyes glinting like shards of ice in the headlights of passing cars. Some part of her had wanted to speak up, to comfort him, to apologize over and over and over, but she hadn’t. Her wolf urged her not to. Because at that moment, Nicolas was nothing more than a furious alpha with unfinished business of some kind or other, and Daisy did not want to spur his wrath further.
So she sat in the back, silently soothing her daughter, watching over Gracie as she slept silent in the car seat.
Francesca hadn’t said anything, either. She was in some sort of huff, refusing to take her eyes off the window, arms crossed tightly against her chest. Daisy had no idea what the two had discussed when they went outside, but she knew it couldn’t have been pleasant.
Maybe Francesca didn’t just want her fired. Maybe she had also suggested the police get involved. It would make sense. Francesca hated her, and believed that through her incompetence she had caused Gracie’s allergic reaction. A mother’s rage was a fearsome thing indeed.
Perhaps that was why Nicolas was so angry with her. She couldn’t think of any other reason why he would look over her with such burning intensity, and then turn away from her,refusing to meet her eye. He had trusted her with his daughter, and she had failed.
The shame burned thick and rotten in the back of her throat.
She was so certain she had checked the fruit mix she had used. She always checked. But maybe there was something she had missed, some disclaimer, some warning about cross-contamination on the packaging. As she had sat waiting in that little room for Francesca and Nicolas to return, all she could do was turn the memory over and over and over again in her mind until she scarcely recognized the details.
Bowls of blueberries turned to strawberries, raspberry conserve to strawberry, apple juice to strawberry. Strawberries, strawberries,strawberries.
It had to have been her. Somehow, some way, she had accidentally included the fruit in the preserve, and both of her precious girls had suffered because of it. There was no other explanation.
Unless…
No. No, she didn’t even let herself finish the thought. Francesca was many things, it was true. Vain, selfish, vapid, mean. But she wasn’t cruel. Not like that. Gracie was a baby, and no mother would ever do anything to intentionally hurt her baby.
So the only possible explanation was that she had made a mistake. That this was her fault.
Francesca didn’t hang around as they got out of the car. Fingernails biting into the leather of her handbag, she stalked inside and climbed the stairs like some sort of vengeful wraith,not even bothering to look back. Somewhere deep in the house, a door slammed.
Daisy swallowed, still lingering at the entrance, hand clutching Thea’s.
Nicolas looked back, a single eyebrow raised. “Aren’t you coming inside?”
Her feet trembled as she walked forward, betraying her true feelings. “Nicolas… I…”
“You should get Thea to bed,” he interrupted. “I’ll put Gracie to sleep. They’ve both had a long day. We all have.”
