Page 6 of The Hitman
With a heavy exhale, I sit back, carefully measuring how much to tell her.
“My sister was involved in a car accident, and she’s currently on life support.”
“Oh.” I tense when she reaches forward to touch my hand. Her palm is like silk against my roughened skin. “You must both be hurting a great deal.”
Hurting? The word doesn’t scratch the surface of the torment I feel. What I feltthe night I got the call that her chances of surviving surgery were bleak at best.
I was almost certain we were going to lose her, but Isa’s a fighter. Precisely where Leo gets his tenacity, for better or worse.
I clear my throat before removing my hand from Callie’s. “Your application stood out amongst dozens of others because you’re a teacher. Perfect, really, given our situation, but I’m curious why you would retire at your age?”
Her attention rests on the black ballpoint pen lying on top of the contract. “I was forced to retire.”
I frown, unsure how I could’ve missed that detail. “I don’t understand.”
“I was let go for inappropriate behavior with a student,” she says frankly.
My pulse ticks up several notches.
Callie doesn’t fit the typical predator profile, but when it comes to my nephew, if there’s any chance she could be a threat to him, I’ll end her where she sits.
“Were they correct?”
“He crashed on my couch one night after his alcoholic father beat the shit out of him, and I bought him some clothes, made him dinner, and put a roof over his head for a couple of weeks. Outside of that, we had little to no communication.” She holds my gaze. The sweet, teasing side of her is now consumed with barely restrained anger. “To answer your question, no. I would never cross that line. Notever.”
I consider her for a moment. “You knew there was a chance you’d lose your job. Why would you risk helping him?”
“There’s nothing risky about caring for those in need, Mr. Knight.” Spine straightening with confidence, she adds, “If you’re wondering if I regret it, I don’t.”
Losing her job over a single student might look irresponsible to some, but to me, it’s valiant. The exact qualifications I’m looking for in a person I want caring for Leo.
“All right, then.” I tip my chin at the contract, noting how she visibly relaxes. “Take a look over the marked sections. Once you’ve signed and dated them, I can show you to your room.”
“Room,” she says, blinking at me, confused. “As in, you expect me tolivehere?”
“Yes.”
“But I hardly know you. That’s… I’m sorry, but that’s—no.”
My cheek twitches. “That’s no?”
She rubs her temples, shaking her head. “Living with a strange man and the child I’m looking after is a little, well, strange, don’t you think?”
“I believe the application mentioned ‘non-traditional’ routines,” I remind her. “But I can assure you, there’s nothing to fear. You’ll have your own wing on the opposite side of the house. We have maids who keep up with house chores and laundry, so you don’t have to worry about that. Anything else you might need, just ask and I’ll see that it’s done.”
I zero in on the lip she’s nibbling with a set of pretty, straight teeth.
“It’s crucial that you’re with Leo at all times, Miss Finley. If this is where we part ways, then I’ll be sad to see you go, but respect your decision all the same.”
After a tense beat of silence, she exhales a rushed breath. “Okay?”
“You sound like you’re not sure you believe yourself.”
Her huffed laughter tightens my chest. She’s unnervingly adorable.
“Well, I should say no,” she says, and my heart trips a beat. “I mean, you could be a creep, a control freak, a… I don’t know, panty sniffer?”
I tsk, amused by her. “And I should be offended.”
