Page 42 of Nanny for My Billionaire

I cast him a look as we settle into the front seats, Kevin gets into the back with the boys, and Sara and Megan get into Megan’s car. The king-cab truck is great, but once the baby arrives, I think we might need to invest in a minivan or SUV.

Although the snow is a couple of inches deep, the roads are mostly salted and plowed so there’s no advisory to use chains, and we are easily able to get to the monument park, where they’ve got a mini light display. Many of the houses and businesses in the area are sporting lights as well, so there’s plenty of ‘pretty’ for the little ones to gape over.

“Miss Mom, look at that one!” exclaims Evan as he rushes closer to a fancy snowman sculpture made out of some sort of white resin that is literally porcupined by a bunch of tiny white lights.

“Yeah, that’s a really great snowman, isn’t it?” I agree, grinning at his enthusiasm. Vitto has arrived, and he rushes over to hug Megan and greet the rest of us.

“I like the reindeer,” Ethan tells him. “He’s got a shiny red nose.”

“Yeah, that’s Rudolph,” Vitto tells him.

“I know,” says Ethan, hands on his hips. “I’m not stupid!”

“No, just ornery,” I add, rolling my eyes at him. “There’s no reason to be mean to someone who’s just trying to help. Saying you’re not stupid is not how we speak, Ethan. I know you’re excited, but that’s not a nice thing to say.”

Suddenly, we all hear a loud pop. The slightly amused smirk on Vitto’s face morphs into a rush of adrenaline as Kevin drops to the ground.

“Everyone get down!” Vitto shouts as he tears open his coat and pulls out a gun. I grab the boys and drop, falling into the snow beside Kevin, instinctively protecting the boys with my body, wishing I could also protect our baby.

“Kevin, are you okay?”

“I’m shot,” he groans, and there’s a little blood on his lip.

He wipes at it. “God, I hope that’s just from biting my tongue.”

I grimace. “Yeah, me too.”

“What the hell is going on?” Sara wants to know. She and Megan have fallen in the snow directly behind the Rudolph sculpture. “Is someone actually shooting at us? Everyone surround the twins! Who the hell is shooting at us? Vitto? What the hell?”

We all watch Vitto tear up snow as he runs like the wind up behind the guy with the gun and tackles him before he can get off another shot. He has even produced a pair of handcuffs from somewhere, making me think he is either official or just really kinky. I give myself a mental slap upside the head and tell myself to shut up.

By this point I realize that Adam has disappeared. My awareness of that directly coincides with my realization that he has just driven the truck right into the park and braked right next to us. I spring up and open the back door, quickly lifting the boys inside the crew cab.

“Stay down on the floor,” I instruct them. “We don’t know if we’re safe yet. Don’t even try to look out any windows.”

I look across the street, where I see the handcuffed guy on his feet now, trying to kick Vitto, who is struggling to get up from the slippery ground. From right behind him, I see none other than Gena jumping out from behind a tree and wrapping several lengths of Christmas lighting cord around the shooter’s neck and giving it a tug.

“You miserable puke, Mario!” she squeals. “I told you to stay away from my kids. And what the hell are you doing bringing a gun if all you were going to do was ‘bring them in to keep me in line’? You’re a waste of space, and I wish I’d never met you.”

Adam and I look at each other. Both our mouths are hanging open. When we look again Gena has helped Vitto to his feet, and the pair of them leave Mario lying there all trussed up as they come back over to check on all of us.

“Gena? What the hell is going on?” Adam demands.

“That bastard Mario was threatening to kidnap our boys and he’s been using it to control me,” she says, her tone a cross between pouty and pissed. “I just knew that was where he was going after we had another fight. I told him months ago that we were over, but he doesn’t seem to get the memo.”

Vitto is checking on Kevin, and he stands up wearing a grave expression. “We need to get him to the hospital right now. He’s losing a lot of blood.”

“Let’s get him into my car,” Megan suggests. “It’s faster than waiting for an ambulance.”

“Miss Mom, is Kevin going to be all right?” Evan asks me as he pokes his head out the window. He spots Gena and shouts angrily, “What isshedoing here? We don’t want her back!”

“Don’t worry, kiddo, she’s not back,” I tell him. “But she helped Vitto with that bad guy.”

“Kids, it’s all right,” Adam adds. “You don’t have to have anything to do with your mother again unless you want to.”

“Make her go!” Ethan insists angrily. “We belong to Miss Mom now!”

Evan creeps shyly up to look out the window. “Well, but maybe she could come to Christmas, Ethan? Maybe she could tell us why she’s been gone so long.”

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