Page 2 of The Nanny

“Of course I saved you, kiddo. I would never let anything happen to you.” Ella tries to soothe her by rubbing her back in wide circles. “Your father feels the same way, I’m sure.”

Watching Ella hug Isla makes my chest tighten all over again. I love Isla so dearly that seeing Ella’s clear affection for her makes me feel as though the lines and boundaries of my emotions are all blurred. My love for Isla bleeds over to Ella for a few moments.

It feels… strange.

I have to shift my attention back to Isla.

“I am so glad you are okay.” I bend my head and brush my lips over the crown of Isla’s fiery red curls. “I love you.”

Ella lifts her head, looking behind me to Natasha. “What’s going to happen with your assistant?”

My back is still turned to Natasha and the tour guide, but I trust that he has her under control for now. I just need a few more seconds with Isla and Ella and I want to keep both of them as close to me as possible.

“She’s going to pay for what she did,” I promise.

Isla looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “Why did she push us? Why would she do that?”

Her tiny voice is trembling and that look — Jesus, that terrified, confused look — stabs me right through the heart.

“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I won’t let her hurt you.” I squeeze my eyes shut for a second as the fear and panic I’ve been feeling up until now starts to give way to pure, white-hot rage. “She won’t ever get a chance to do something like that again. She won’t hurt anyone from a prison cell, which is where she’s going.”

A shout from the tour guide interrupts the quiet, thankful moment I’m having with the girls, and I turn just in time to see Natasha slip from his grasp.

Oh, fuck no.

“Stay right here,” I say to Ella. “Call the police.”

I can hear my daughter shouting after me as I run after Natasha. “Don’t let her get away!”

Isla doesn’t need to worry. I’ll chase Natasha across the whole damn city, across the entire Italian peninsula if I have to. Shewillbe held accountable for what she did — for trying to murder my daughter and my… whatever Ella is to me.

Natasha is surprisingly spritely given the fact that she wears black leather pants. But remembering how close I came to losing my daughter and Ella gives me an extra burst of adrenaline that allows me to overtake my murderous assistant. I close in on her, pouncing.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” I shout. I make contact with her body and tackle her to the ground.

Natasha releases a throaty bellow as she lands with a thud. “Keir!”

She tries to wriggle free and her hand connects with my jaw, slapping me before I can completely pin her down. I’m so angry, so focused on getting some answers out of her that I barely even feel the sting from the hit.

I stare down into her face, breathing hard, my rage flowing freely. She looks back at me, wild-eyed, her loose brown curls jutting out in every direction.

“I trusted you, Natasha. I let you into my life and you tried to kill my daughter. A child, for God’s sake.”

There’s a manic gleam in her eyes as she stops struggling and smiles at me. “I did it for you, Keiran. For us.”

She isn’t making any sense, but I’m more troubled by her expression. Just as I have her pinned on the ground, she has me pinned with her intense gaze. As though we are connecting by being this close.

“What are you talking about?”

She gives a haughty laugh. “You and I belong together. You flirted with me. I knew that when the time was right, you would welcome me into your bed. And you would have… if it wasn’t forher.”

“What?”

Does she really believe the nonsense that’s coming out of her mouth? Did she really think I was going to be happy that she tried to push my daughter and Ella to their deaths?

“You’re out of your mind.” I shake my head in disbelief. “Ella was right about you. She was right to keep her distance, but I wouldn’t listen.”

“That meddling, annoying bitch.” Natasha practically spits the last word. “She came along and ruined everything. You and I could have been so happy.” Her voice is rising with each word until she’s yelling at me with her face just inches from mine. “I love you, Keiran—can’t you see? If you would just let me, I could be so much better for you than anyone else. We could be together and could be so happy if you didn’t have all these other people around trying to… todistractyou.”

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