Page 143 of Stolen Kiss

“Look, I’m sure there’s been some misunderstanding. Can you please just check it again?”

“No matter how many times I check it, the answer will still be the same.” When I opened my mouth to reply, she held up her hand to silence me, as if I were a disobedient dog. “Honestly, do you know how many desperate women come in here each week hoping to meet their future ‘bankroll’? I don’t know how you got the child’s name, but Mr. Pierce is already spoken for.”

I straightened my shoulders at that. “He is, huh?”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Yes.”

By the look on her face, I wondered if she meant by her. Was this why she was giving me such a hard time? She had her sights set on Jensen?

Either way, I had enough of this. I didn’t want to stand around arguing with her, and we were catching the attention of the security men. It wouldn’t take some words from her before they physically escorted me out of the building, and how embarrassing would that be?

My eyes burned, but I quickly blinked it away. I would be damned if I showed her any emotions.

“Let me just make a quick phone call to Elodie’s father. I’m sure he can vouch for me and have all this cleared up right away.”

Distantly, I heard the door to the hallway where the man before had entered. I didn’t pay much attention. My entire focus was not to lose control of my anger on this woman.

“Right. I’m sure you will. Look, we can’t make any authorizations over the phone like this. Only the parents, guardian, or authorized personnel of the children can pick them up. You are none of those. Now please, go home before I have security escort you out.”

I didn’t know why her words affected me so badly. But I felt anger working its way up my spine and red blurring my vision.

“I am Elodie’s mother!” I yelled. Fuck. I was her mother. “Now let me see my daughter.”

“You heard her,” a cold voice said off to my side. The woman and I both turned to Jensen standing by the door, with Elodie in his arms.

He wasn’t looking at me, but at the woman who, at this point, had transformed her features into smiles and softness. I frowned at her. This didn’t help to abate my anger.

The only thing keeping me silent was the way Jensen was looking at her. I didn’t know how long he had been standing there with Elodie, but it must have been long enough for him to assess the situation.

“I remember putting Emilia Adler’s name down on the authorized list. Why wasn’t she granted access right away?”

The woman’s mouth gaped open, and she blanched. “Mr. Pierce. I didn’t… I—”

He shook his head, silencing her. “You what? Forgot? It couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes ago when we spoke about it. Honestly, should they let someone with such a faulty memory run one of the top daycares in the world? I thought I was entrusting my daughter’s care to competent people.”

She stood. “I’m sorry, Mr. Pierce. It won’t happen again.”

He nodded. “It won’t. Because I won’t forget this insult.”

She shook, and I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her. “Please, Mr. Pierce. It was an honest mistake. I promise it won’t happen again.”

He ignored her. Instead, he walked over to me. The hard eyes that had been aimed at the woman were no more, and its place was softness I was beginning to realize was reserved just for me.

“Are you okay?” he asked me gently.

I nodded. I didn’t think I could say anything without losing it. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go.”

Again, I nodded. Jensen led us out of there, one arm wrapped around Elodie and the other arm around me.

We got to the parking lot, to the car with Jensen’s driver. I dug my heels in and he looked back at me.

“I drove here,” I said, pointing to my car.

“Give me your key,” he said. I did it without question. He handed the key to his driver and led me to his car.

“Tomas will follow us in your car,” he said.

“Okay,” I agree, though Tomas had already moved to my car. While Jensen put Elodie in her car seat, I moved to the other side and climbed into the back seat. I didn’t want to sit in the front and away from Elodie.

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