“Something wrong?” He wouldn’t call if there wasn’t.
“Today we had a PI sniffing around the club.”
“PI?”
“Private investigator. Asking all sorts of questions about Cadence.” He lets out a breath. “Should I tell Zane?”
Cadence is a girl with no family and a very checkered past. Why would an investigator be asking questions about her? “She was clean, right? No drugs and no debts?”
“Not that we could find.”
“And we’re sure there was no family?” We carefully pick the girls who join The Hunt for this specific reason. We don’t want anyone looking for them.
“Sure,” he answers. “Her mother died last year from an overdose. She was the last living blood relative.”
“Pay the investigator a visit. See if he’ll talk. No force this time, offer him a carrot, not the stick. I need to know who is asking the questions.”
“Done.”
I hang up the phone. I am so close to wrapping up a long-standing problem. I don’t need another one knocking at my door. I’m going to have to deal with whoever is causing problems and trying to track down Cadence.
CHAPTER SIX
Ava
I swipemy hands down my leggings, hoping that I made the right clothing choices. Most nannies dress for getting down on the floor and playing with children, but Dimitri’s home is not most places. And he is not most men.
A fact of which I’ve become intimately aware. My stomach turns as I enter the lobby of his building.
The doorman doesn’t ask me any questions this time. Instead, without a single word, but with a friendly smile, he moves to the elevator, opening the door.
As I go to step in, he holds out his hand, a key dangling from his fingers. I open mine, palm up, the cool key dropping into my hand as I close my fingers.
“In case you enter the building and I’m attending another resident,” he says with a nod. “It only works on this elevator and only you, me, Trent, and Mr. Ivanov have a key.”
I’m honestly surprised Dimitri already trusts me with a key. I haveno idea who Trent is, but I’m sure I’ll meet him soon enough if he’s one of the few key-holders.
The tiniest bit of guilt slides through me at the level of faith Dimitri has shown. But I stiffen my spine and nod back to the doorman before stepping into the elevator. I heft my duffle bag higher on my shoulder, determined to look like I belong. I don’t really travel, so I’ve never bothered with nice luggage, but right about now, I wish I’d bought something newer than this old beat-up duffle I carried from one shitty foster home to the next through high school.
I blow out a breath, trying to dispel the nerves that are making my muscles tense.
Seeing Dimitri today feels like so many layers of strange, I don’t even know where to start.
I had phone sex with the leader of the Las Vegas Bratva, and then took a position in his house as his nanny so that I can track my lost friend.
Jesus, that’s messed up.
Even worse, I’m going to have to control both my attraction and my panic while in his company, all while hiding my real reason for being there.
Easy peasy.
At least Anna is the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen. That part will actually be easy. And maybe my panic will be a natural wall to place between us.
The elevator slides open as I try to paste a smile on my face.
Dimitri must hear the doors, because he appears a moment later, devastating in a crisp white dress shirt and slacks.
The smile slides right off my face, my jaw falling open as I stare.