Page 17 of Bully Wolf's Nanny
“Anyway,” she said, perhaps a touch too brightly, “you said this was the flagship location? Seems a bit out of the way. How much demand can there be in a town this size for grand pianos?”
If Nicolas registered her rather clumsy attempt to change the subject, he was at least polite enough not to draw attention to it.
“When the goods in question are genuine luxury, you’d be surprised how far people are willing to travel. Besides, we get plenty of rich guests with far too much money going spare staying in nearby Iron Ridge Retreats. There’s a grand piano in every lobby, and those sorts of people like to pretend they’re tasteful enough to appreciate them. Boosts our orders rather nicely.”
“Those sorts of people?” Daisy asked, risking a small laugh. “Wouldn’t you count as one of those sorts of people, Mr. Billionaire?”
The corner of his mouth tugged upwards. “The difference being, I actually have taste.”
As they wandered from shop to shop, stopping every time Thea saw some shiny bauble or Nicolas decided to buy yet another shirt with far too many zeros on the price tag, Daisy couldn’t help but reflect on the man in front of her.
She couldn’t deny that she had spent a good majority of the past few hours on edge, waiting for the switch to flip, waiting for the cruel unfeeling monster she had known all those years ago to reappear. To insult her, degrade her, to tear his way through her feeble defenses and attack the very core of her being.
And he could. He had all the necessary weapons to go straight for the kill.
But he hadn’t. He’d been…well, perhaps not kind, but definitely…amenable.
Not cruel.
She gave up trying to stop him from buying Thea everything she wanted, her heart warming to see her little girl so happy. She had done her absolute best over the years to providefor Thea, to make sure she was never left wanting, but there was only so much she could do. There were corners she had had to cut. Things that she would have said yes to in a heartbeat if she wasn’t paralyzed by fear over rent payments or bills or credit card debt.
It was far too generous of Nicolas to spend so much on a little girl he’d only just met. Daisy supposed that it was only because he was quite so hideously wealthy. It was nothing to him.
Her throat became thick as she remembered the last time she had seen him. It had been quite possibly the worst day of her life. And yet despite that, she had known, deep in her bones, that he would go on to do great things.
And so he had. He had only been two years into his course at Caltech when he had founded Nero Incorporated, the modern tech solution to online banking. He was a billionaire by the time he was twenty-three. She’d gotten rather drunk one evening and spent a painful few hours poring over Forbes articles and editorials in the Financial Times. And then the next morning, she had picked herself back up again, tied back her hair, and taken her daughter to daycare.
But now here she was. Back in Silvermist. Back with…with him.
Nicolas was wrapping up a phone call, his brow furrowing slightly as he hung up and tucked the mobile back in his pocket.
“That was Felix. Pack leadership is meeting this evening. You should come.”
Her throat turned dry, her spine prickled. “Um…what?”
He cast a critical eye over her outfit. “You can swear loyalty and fidelity. Get it out of the way. In the meantime,”he handed her a shiny black card, “go buy yourself some new clothes. Some makeup, too. I won’t hear the end of it if Felix thinks I’m not looking after you.”
Daisy was too dumbfounded with shock and sudden nausea as she accepted the card with shaking hands. Even as her heart tripped over itself slightly at his words.
Looking after her.
She shook her head.
Professionally. He meant professionally.
There was nothing more to it.
Chapter 6 - Nicolas
Daisy’s hands had not stopped shaking since they left the house. It was beginning to set Nicolas’s teeth on edge.
Sure, he remembered what it was like when they were young. The pack operated very differently in those days. Strength was rewarded, and perceived weakness was punished. He knew that better than anyone. But things were different now. Felix had made things different. They all had.
Daisy had nothing to fear.
Though given her history with the pack, he also wasn’t sure he could blame her. But still, he had no words to say, nothing that he could think of to even try and make a difference.
She would see. She would meet them all, see how things were run these days, and she would know that they were all different people. Better people. The pack was strong but just, powerful but protective. And whether she liked it or not, Daisy would receive that protection.
