Page 9 of Nanny for the Bratva Daddies

“Okay. My phone battery is so low, though, and I?—”

The line goes dead.

“Why the fuck aren’t you with Naomi?” I snap the moment silence falls. Daniil’s brow shoots up.

“The fuck? I didn’t know I was supposed to be.”

He falls into step beside me without prompting, and we hurry toward the entrance foyer together.

“You weren’t supposed to let her out of your sight. She came to me asking to leave and now she’s in the middle of fucking nowhere after running some poor fucker over!”

“What?” The raspiness in Daniil’s voice deepens slightly. “I saw her, sure, but she told me to watch Dariya and that she would be back. She didn’t say anything about leaving the estate.”

“I only gave her permission if you were going with her.”

“Is she hurt? Is she alright?”

“I don’t know.” Grabbing my coat from the rack, I glance at one of the nearest guards and he falls into step beside us. “She just called. Honestly, fucking lucky that she decided to call me and not the cops. Last thing we need are pigs sniffing around. Where’s Dariya?”

“She’s eating in the playroom with a tutor, don’t worry I didn’t leave her unattended,” Daniil says, pulling the front door open. He winces immediately as a bitter wind slaps through the doorway.

“Like you did Naomi?”

“Boss, I didn’t know. Since when has she ever wanted to vanish at night anyway?”

“That’s not the point!” I catch myself before my budding worry at Naomi and whatever’s happened ends up ejected onto the wrong person. Why she would ignore my order about leaving with a guard is another mystery I’ll have to solve after we find her.

“Did she say what happened?” Daniil yells over the snow while we sprint for the nearest jeep. I remain silent until we’re safely inside the vehicle, and as I turn it on at the touch of a button, several other jeeps light up around me, filled with guards.

I never go anywhere alone; even if I tried to, Daniil would ensure that didn’t happen.

“Only that she ran someone over,” I explain. “Her battery was low and she sounded slurred.”

“You think she has a concussion?”

“Fuck knows. I’m more concerned about who the fuck she ran over out here.”

Daniil snorts, as if the lack of truth in my words is painfully evident. He’s always had an uncanny ability to see right through me, but my concern for the situation is purely about the trespasser in my territory.

Even as I tell myself that lie, deep down, I know it’s not true.

Naomi doesn’t leave my thoughts for a second as I race out of the gate, and Daniil sets up a GPS trace on the missing jeep.

“Naomi!” Snow crunches heavily under my boots as I leap from my vehicle. The frozen grasp of the air wraps around me but it barely breaches my focus when I spot Naomi kneeling in the snow. The fact that she hasn’t moved sends worry skittering across my chest.

The snow is thick and while the wind has died down slightly, there’s still enough disturbance in the air to remove tire tracks from the ground. Naomi’s jeep is off to the side of the road with one skewed window wiper fluttering back and forth, and the headlights bask her and her victim in a sharp yellow glow.

“Naomi!” I call her name again, sprinting up to her with Daniil at my back. My men secure the road without a word while one positions himself near the fallen man and aims a rifle at his head. Can’t be too careful, not in this line of work.

My hands close around her frozen shoulders and her trembling becomes clear immediately. As I sink down into the snow beside her, cold and damp soaking into my slacks, she turns her beautiful face toward me, and my heart stutters in my chest.

Blood trickles sluggishly from a wound on the side of her head and crimson stains her lower lip. Snow and frozen tears cling to her dark lashes making her green eyes stand out like two glittering gemstones.

“Naomi.” My voice is softer as I cup her face with one leather-clad gloved hand. The touch finally rouses her and she blinks rapidly, then she surges into me with both hands clutching at my coat for dear life.

“You have to help him,” she croaks out. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. He’s alive; he just needs help. I’m sorry.”

She repeats it like a mantra as I slide one arm around her middle, grip her ribcage, and pull her slowly up from her kneeling position. The man doesn’t stir but I barely spare him a glance. My entire focus is on Naomi as her eyes dart back and forth between mine and her ruby-red lips map out the same apology over and over.

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