Page 35 of The Nanny and the Don
“That may be true.” I nodded as I walked over and picked up the pictures King had drawn over the past couple of days. I rifled through them and picked out the ones I wanted to show Mr. Gray. I didn’t say anything as I passed him a picture that was supposed to be him in a cape.
He tittered. “I guess now I have a cape.”
“Looks like it.” I smiled. “This one is the kids and their mom. This picture is the four of us,” I explained.
The other picture was of King, Evie, and their mom. Then there was another of the four of us.
“He’s pretty good for four years old,” Mr. Gray commented.
“He’s very good. I’m trying to encourage him to keep at it.”
“You’re great with them.”
“I would like for you to work on spending more time with them.”
“Devlan, I’m not good with kids. I don’t even know how long my sister is going to be in jail. I don’t want to get too attached to them only for them to be gone in a few weeks.”
“You can still be in their lives.”
“That’s out of the question. I know the kids don’t have anything to do with the history between me and their mom which is why I went to get them. That doesn’t mean I want her back in my life. I know you mean well, but let me handle my own family,” he ordered before storming away. I jumped when I heard the door to his office slam.
“If my mommy doesn’t come back, can you be my new mommy?” King asked as I tucked him in.
“Your mom is coming back. Until she does, I can be an extra mommy. How about that?”
“What is that?” he asked, scrunching up his nose curiously.
“That means that you have two mommies: me and Angela. I’m helping Angela until she can come back.”
“OK.” He nodded quickly and a bright smile split his face.
Since Evie was asleep, I read him a bedtime story. By the time I finished, he was fast asleep too. I kissed both of them on their chubby cheeks then headed for the living room. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Mr. Gray appeared to take me back to my quarters. When I walked out of their room, I headed to the kitchen. The sound of the front door slamming almost made me jump out of my skin.
“Mr. Gray, you almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Don’t call me that!” he spat.
“Why are you like this? Hm?” I asked, swallowing down the lump in my throat before continuing. “You walk around glaring at me like I’m an intruder. You are mean and cold and distant. Then you do something sweet, or you act just cordial enough to make me think you’re human. If you hate my existence so much, then why do you keep doing nice shit and confusing the hell out of me? I didn’t ask to be here. I don’t deserve any of this.”
“Have a drink with me,” he requested, catching me off guard.
He didn’t wait for me to respond as he strolled into his office and returned with a bottle of brown liquor and two glasses. When he walked over and sat down on the couch, I followed suit. I had no idea what was going on, but curiosity had me holding my breath and waiting for his next move.
Eleven
Steel
I wiped the blood from the blade of the knife on my shirt before turning to pick up my jacket off the chair behind me. For the past hour and a half, I had been beating the life out of Brendan’s best friend and making sure he didn’t leave out a single detail about what he knew.
Turns out that he knew a lot more than he was willing to confess a couple of hours ago, before I was summoned to the basement of our shared club. I hated being summoned. My men knew that. They also knew that I had temporary custody of my niece and nephew. So, the fact that I had been drug out of my house in the middle of the night had me livid.
“What do you want us to do with him, boss?” one of my men asked as I shrugged into my jacket.
“Do I look like I give a fuck? Bugs get this nigga out of my sight before y’all have two bodies to bury,” I demanded.
Brendan’s bitch ass was back on the radar after an overseas flight that took him from somewhere in South America to Rome. He was going on a world tour with my money. I justhoped that he was enjoying himself because if I had to fuel up my jets to go find him, they would never find his body. Once my team was done with Javier, he would never be found either. I didn’t have an ounce of remorse for the man who’d helped my enemy elude me for weeks by lending him access to his private plane. After wiping the knife free of my prints, I tossed it at his feet.
“The next time one of y’all muthafuckas call me and drag me away from my fucking family in the middle of the night, that nigga Brendan better be standing in front of you alive and well. Bring him the fuck to me!” I barked before proceeding to exit the building.
