Page 4 of The Payback

Eleanor and Bellatrix against the world.

My parents would occasionally babysit, but I tried not to rely on them too much. That’s not to say they aren’t good at it, but I’m a single mum, and I firmly believe my kid is my responsibility alone.

Handing her over to my best friend, no matter how much I trust her, leaves a sick feeling in my gut.

Rory manoeuvres the boat closer to the dock, and Viraj’s face lights up as he ties the ropes, ignoring me and focusing on Bella. In a shocking twist, V has been the one with the ticking biological clock lately. After all his hemming and hawing about them getting together, he was the first to bring up cementing their bond in new ways.

Once he was in, he wasallin.

“Is that my Bella girl?” he shouts.

Bella kicks her legs and waves her arms in response to V’s exuberance. Even though they’ve only spent time together over video chat since the last time we all got together, she is resolute that he is her favourite uncle and adores him.

“V! V! V!” she cries.

Viraj attaches the gangplank to the boat. I say boat, but it’s a damn yacht namedFloatable Ibecause Olivia sankUnsinkable II—I know, you can’t make this shit up—and bought Max a new one as an apology.

Before my feet are even on terra firma, Bella is out of my arms and being spun in a circle. V is rambling nonsense, telling her how beautiful and intelligent she is and how many dicks she’s going to kick because he’s going to teach her how to do that while she’s here. Never mind, she barely reaches his knees when standing at full height.

Lovely. Not that I’m opposed. I’ve done it a fair few times in my line of work. “Not cool, Uncle V,” I scold with a finger wag. He just smirks and turns his attention back to Bella. Their dynamic always makes me chuckle, and I hope Bella grows close with all of her uncles, not just Viraj.

The four of us cross the sand, and Viraj finally focuses on me. “Hey, Ellie. Ollie’s on her way down.”

“You’re never gonna stop calling us Ellie and Ollie, are you?”

“Why would I? It’s hilarious. Plus, it makes her cheeks go all pink, and you know I can’t resist that.” He grins.

“Smooth fool. Don’t make me drag the chair out again,” Olivia calls as she emerges from the treeline.What does a chair have to do with anything?

My best friend races towards me, kicking up sand in her wake, and tackles me to the ground. “God, I’ve missed you,” she says, kissing me square on the lips.

“Little Thief,” Zach drawls from behind her in his signature measured tone. “We talked about this. No more adding people to your harem.”

I roll my eyes. While I’m happy Olivia has found her little harem, I’m not about that life. I’d just be happy with one man I could lean on sometimes. As if my life as a single mum and overworked agent would even allow time for that.

“She’s already in my harem. In fact, she was here first, so fuck off.”

“Language,” Viraj scolds. He has one of Bella’s ears pressed to his chest and his hand covering the other. “Ollie, she’s like a sponge at this age! She’s gonna pick up all of your bad language.”

Yeah, and talking about kicking people in the dick qualifies asgoodlanguage?

“Mybad language,” she says with mock indignation. “You have the filthiest mouth I’ve ever heard, V-Card.”

“Not true,” says Max from behind Zach. “Pretty sure that one goes to Zach here.”

Olivia gets a dopey grin on her face, and I pretend to vomit, which, of course, makes her laugh like a loon. Love will do that to a person. Not that I’d know. There have been too many late nights at the office to allow for any decent dating time. But maybe one day?

“Come on.” She hops up and extends her hand to me. “Let’s go to the house. You can tell us everything we need to know.” I take her hand, and as she helps me up, she asks, “How long do we have you here?”

“My flight home is in three days. I can help ensure Bella gets over the jetlag and settles in okay with you guys. Thanks again for your help.”

Olivia grumbles, “The last time you asked me for help, I had to steal a diamond off a Russian.”

“Technically,” I say, “Max did the heavy lifting on that one.”

“Shut up. He’ll hear you. The last thing we need is that man’s ego getting any bigger.”

I chuckle because Max, the posh and proper Londoner, nephew of a lord, doesnotneed an ego boost. Unfortunately, I found out that he’s rocking a monster cock, and he’s already got enough swagger to have a limp.

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