Page 93 of Nanny I Want to Mate

I trembled with unrelentless fear and placed a heavy hand on his chest. “Charles. I …” Sheer black fright swept through me, clouding my vision, swallowing up my words. My gaze dropped to the ground as I visibly shook. “I’m not here for a friendly visit.”

Both hands framed my shoulders, and Charles ducked to get in my line of sight. Tense lines of anxiety formed on his features.

Icy fear twisted around my heart, and my face crumpled.

I swallowed hard. “He’s found me. Paul has found me.”

Chapter 37

Charles

Becky paced the room while I stayed utterly still.

How the hell did he find her? What does this guy do for a living that he had the means to come find her?

I’d tried to search for this guy, and I’d hired the private investigator, but without knowing a lot about him, and with so many searches of Paul Clark coming up, there was no way to pinpoint whether I had the right guy.

“Where’s the note?” I shot out.

She plucked a three-by-three-inch yellow Post-it Note out of her purse.

My body tensed when I read the words. I had the sudden urge to punch something. Crushing it in my hand wasn’t enough. This man had to be found.

“I need you to find him.” She ran both hands through her hair and pulled at the ends. She shook her head back and forth. “Ignore everything I said before. All of it. Find him.” Her voice trembled. “Put a restraining order on him. I don’t care. Keep him away from the girls, from you, from your life here. Once I know you’re all safe, I’ll go.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” I said, my voice firm.

When she dropped her face into her hands, I went to her and brought her into me, needing to comfort her and feel her—alive, heart beating, in my arms—as much as she needed comfort from me. I hated that she was feeling this way. Hated that I was helpless to do anything about it.

“You’re shaking.” I rested my chin against the top of her head and tightened my arms around her, whispering into her hair, “He’s never going to hurt you again.”

“I don’t care about me,” she said softly, her voice cracking with heartbreak. “It’s the girls I’m worried about. He’ll use me working for you as leverage. He knows you have money. What I need to do is leave. I need to go and stay far away from—”

I didn’t let her get the next words out because I pulled back and gripped her chin to force her to look at me. “You’re not going anywhere.” My voice was strong with conviction. “Especially because you’re scared. I swear to you, I will never let anything happen to you or my girls. I swear it.”

Her face crumpled. “You don’t know what this guy is capable of.”

I read the fear and anxiety in the span of green staring up at me, and it gutted me. I tilted her chin further up. “Do you know who I am?” I said with a sly smirk, trying to break the sullen look in her eye. “Do you know what I’m capable of?”

“Charles …” She wasn’t convinced.

I cupped her face, brushing my thumb tenderly down her cheek. “I’m Superman, don’t you know? I can lead a whole company even though the world is falling apart around me.” Wasn’t it the truth though? I’d still had to show a brave face when Natalie died, showing up to work every day. “Above that, I’m a man raising two girls. Girls who have turned out pretty all right by my definition.”

“They’re great.” A small smile surfaced, and I took it as an opportunity to kiss her.

“They’re more than great. They’re perfect.”

She blew out one shallow breath. “I’m scared.”

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded.

“Then, trust me when I say, I will protect you and my girls till the very end.”

She let out a long sigh and buried her head into my chest.

I rubbed a hand along her back. “First things first. I need more information on Paul and anything you have on him, so we can identify him and track him down.”

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