Page 14 of The Billionaire and the Nanny

“What did she say?” I asked.

“He threatened to hurt her baby if she didn’t tell him where I was, Leo. I don’t think she’s safe in her house.”

I was going to feed that motherfucker to the sharks if he so much as hurt a hair on that little child.

“We’ll get them out immediately. Give me the address,” I ordered.

Tia shared her friend’s address and I texted it to Marcus before I called him.

“Hey, I’ve sent you a location. I need you to pick up Tia’s friend and her child before fucking Monani gets to them. Yeah, he’s been threatening her. Set them up in a hotel downtown and make sure they have someone with them 24/7.”

I thanked my brother and ended the call.

“Your friend is going to be fine. Marcus is on his way to pick her up,” I said. “You can wait here until he calls back to confirm she’s safe.”

She nodded and agreed to wait. I studied her as she paced the room intermittently. She hadn’t changed much in three years. If anything, her hair was longer. As she paced, she reached up to pull her thick curls up into a loose knot on the top of her headthat wobbled when she walked. It tempted me to tug at the knot just to see if I could make her hair come tumbling down her shoulders.

The knot on her skimpy robe came loose as she walked and she was too preoccupied to realise it. As she passed me, I grabbed her elbow and pulled her to a standstill. Then, I turned her to face me and pulled the lapels of her robe closer.

“What are you doing? Oh…” her words trailed off she understood what I was doing.

Her face flushed when she looked up at me, and her pupils dilated as my knuckles brushed against her breasts when I tied her belt and knotted it loosely. Tia’s lips parted and I bit back a groan when she ran her tongue lightly over her upper lips.

“Thank you,” she said hoarsely.

A pulse beat rapidly in the hollow of her neck, and I was tempted to trace it with my tongue. Tia’s eyes drooped shut as my head dipped towards hers, but my phone rang just then, destroying the moment.

I answered without taking my eyes off Tia. She looked pale and worried.

“Marcus, tell me you got her away safely.”

“Barely,” he replied.

My brother sounded grim. I put the phone on speaker so Tia could hear as well.

“What happened?”

“Someone blew out the lights on her front porch in a drive-by shooting when I was helping her pack,” he said furiously. “When I got there, it took me some time to convince her I wasn’t working for Monani, and that delayed us a bit. Before we could head out, I saw headlights approaching through the window and made her duck behind the couch just in time.”

“Are you guys okay?” asked Tia.

“Is that Tia?” asked Marcus.

“Uh-huh.”

“Nice to finally meet you. We’re doing fine, thank you for asking. They aimed only at the porch lights, not inside the house. I think they just wanted to scare your friend, who doesn’t seem to scare very easily, to be honest. The woman wanted to go after them with a tire iron. I had to hold her down until she calmed down,” he said, sounding exhausted.

Tia snorted in response.

“That’s Celine for you. Where is she?”

“She’s just putting the baby to bed. We had to make a detour to Celine’s parents’ place to pick up Rose, but now we’re all at the hotel safely. You can speak to her tomorrow,” he replied.

“Thank you, Marcus,” said Tia gratefully.

“Anything for you, sweetheart. Now, don’t let my brother bully you. Give him hell, kitten,” said Marcus, with a laugh.

I ended the call before he could embarrass me further.

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