Page 18 of Nanny for the Bossy Billionaire

She starts to walk past me but I stop her by grabbing her upper arm, gripping it tightly. I’m shocked when my hand wraps almost all the way around it. The soft feel of her skin in my grip almost deflates my resolve.

Almost.

I look down at her, staring into her eyes.

“Care to explain why your friend, Jamie Lane, soundsexactlylike Mrs. Roberts, who was on your reference list?”

“What?” She pulls her arm out of my grasp and takes a step back. She offers a stilted laugh in a poor attempt to feign ignorance.

“Yes. Your friend and your supposed former boss are one and the same person. Explain yourself.”

She waves me off. “That’s crazy. They aren’t the same person. You must be confused.”

I take a step closer to her, forcing her to back up slightly and look up at me again.

She swallows, hard.

I’m glad to see that I’m unnerving her.

“Naomi, my memory is almost perfect. The person I spoke to this afternoon is the same person I spoke to when I called your references, and the same person who said she was your former boss. I never forget a face or a voice. I need you to explain what’s going on here. If you want, we can get law enforcement involved.”

Her chin starts to quiver.

She glances around the room for a long moment, then finally says, “Fine! I’ll tell you the truth.”

“I’m listening.”

She covers her eyes with her hand and stumbles away from me. “Before I tell you anything, please know that my intentions were those of a desperate person. I didn’t mean any harm.”

She lowers her hand and looks at me expectantly, but I do nothing different with my face.

So she continues, “It’s true, I lied.”

“You lied about what exactly?”

“Well…I hate to say it. But basically, everything.”

I am frozen.

“So everything on your résumé was a lie.”

“Yes.”

“And everything you said in your interview was a lie as well?”

“Yes.”

I take a deep breath.

“Do the Cesar and Roberts families even exist?”

She shakes her head. “Made them up.”

“You’ve never been a full-time nanny in your life, have you?”

She shakes her head again.

“Did you even at least grow up babysitting neighborhood kids like you claimed?”

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