Chapter 12 #2
Jameson’s jaw worked up and down before he responded. “Time allows for adaptation. And we’ve all had time. I realize this is hard for you. If you need someone to help you teach Franny until you’re ready—”
The panic screeched to a halt as his words hit me straight in the chest. “I don’t need help with teaching.” There was a difference between doing my job and not being comfortable with what he did, with adapting to a new environment.
Franny was thriving because I treated her like a child rather than an adult all the time.
She trusted me. Yesterday she’d had her father, not just stuffy Mr. Knight, at the clubhouse.
I saw how the light glittered in her eyes, how her smile reached higher than it normally did.
“I’m good at what I do, and your daughter trusts me. ”
Was he trying to dispose of me now after holding me here against my will? And after I cared for his daughter in a way that others weren’t? Nobody else saw her. They weren’t paying attention to how reserved she’d become.
He narrowed his eyes. “I wasn’t insulting your work ethic or skill, Mia.”
I tried to pull away, but he held me there. “I. Don’t. Need. Help.” Maybe I was stubborn, but I found myself holding firm on this. I’d put Franny’s needs first. Always.
Could he say that about someone else he’d bring in?
“Okay,” he said slowly, “but if you need more time to acclimate. Her psychiatrist—”
“Valerie?” That woman definitely wouldn’t put Franny’s needs before Jameson’s or her own. Was he kidding me? “The woman at the country club yesterday?”
“She knows Franny. And maybe a little time and patience with this change would help, Ms. Darling.” I was starting to realize he used my formal title when he pushed me professionally, when he wanted his way and thought he could get it with a stern hand.
I lifted my chin so that we were just a breath away from one another, his thumb still rubbing away whatever was left on my hand. “If that’s the case, why did you already let Valerie leave? And why on earth would you bring someone back who didn’t work in the first place?”
He tilted his head as if considering, “How do you know?”
“Franny told me,” I blurted out.
He hummed, his voice vibrating between both of us.
“I’m guessing she was fine with all this as well? Is she a part of it?” I glanced at the blood washing away in the sink.
He pulled my hand from the water and grabbed a napkin from a dispenser on the wall. He wiped droplets from me instead of letting me do it myself. “I had her step away from full-time nannying because she wanted more than what was available to her.”
He evaded the real reason, and I found myself digging in deeper. “Wanted more from her job, from whatever group you’re in, or from you?”
He threw the napkin past me, where there must have been a garbage can, and looked down at me for a moment. I swear his mouth curled a tiny bit on one side, like I was amusing him. “You can’t help but ask questions, can you?”
“I think at this point it’s best to get as much of the whole picture as possible.” I took a deep breath, my words echoing through the room. Why did I need knowledge about my elusive boss when really I just needed to keep this position long enough to get paid and live through it?
Because I wanted it.
Because I thought about him constantly, couldn’t take my mind off him or what was happening in his office. With Valerie and without her.
Still, Jameson contemplated how much he wanted to tell me. His arm was still around my waist, and mindlessly, he rubbed my back. The man was obviously comfortable around women—from the way he held me to the way he’d handled my anxiety to even how he maintained my eye contact.
He wasn’t what I was used to. So confident that he could command the room, control emotions of everybody in it.
“Valerie needed a clear line of what our relationship was and what it wasn’t. She’s here now only to provide therapy to Franny and to visit. She was relieved of any further duties unless—”
“I can do my job by myself.” My words were final and almost rabid. I was protective now, ready to pounce if he insinuated I couldn’t. “Unless you want Valerie here for your own …” I looked away, stopping myself.
“My own what?”
“Never mind.” I shook my head.
He leaned in though, and I felt his breath on my cheek. “Does it help your whole picture to know who I am and am not sleeping with, Mia?”
I jerked back and caught his stare. “Of course not. I don’t care about your personal life. I agreed to stay here for my protection and for a salary. To be an employee.”
“Yet, you’re asking about my sex life. Are you not?”
“You’re accusing me of that when you’re holding my waist right up against you, Jameson? Not very professional,” I pointed out.
The smile that whipped across his face was fast. I’d never been on the receiving end of it like that.
Franny normally was the one who got his genuine smiles.
Taking it in and reveling in its brilliance wasn’t something I had time for.
I was sparring with the man, for God’s sake, but I wanted a picture of it, a framed painted portrait to remember it by.
“Do you think I care about professionalism, Ms. Darling?”
“You must, to some extent, with the secrets you keep. Why sneak around risking Franny’s safety and not tell the police that someone is after you if you’re not doing anything wrong?”
“Because I know I can control and take care of what the police can’t.” He leaned in and whispered, “I don’t keep secrets because I want them hidden, I keep them because people can’t handle knowing them. Can you?”
I looked him up and down. Had it been three weeks ago at the academy, I would have laughed nervously and backed down. I would have skittered around the question and acted like I didn’t hear it. I’d been taught to not ruffle feathers and to be thankful for everything I got.
Maybe the push was small and maybe my voice shook when I answered, but I still quietly answered, “Yes.”
“You want the whole picture—tell me what you think could possibly be worse than a motorcycle club.”
“The mob. Part of the Armanelli Family.” They’d been infamous for years. Most of Chicago knew of them, and they were revered nationwide.
“Try again,” he told me, and my breath caught.
The murmurs when I was young had been around. People had conspiracy theories about everything and everyone.
Still, saying the name felt silly when it probably wasn’t true.
“A Diamond?”
He didn’t answer yes or no, but he stepped back, letting his hands drop to his sides. The silence spoke volumes, and a tiny ringing started in my ears, like a siren or an alarm. It echoed over and over around me and sank into my skin, my veins, my bones.
“No.” I shook my head once. “That’s impossible. The Diamonds are of myths and legends.”
“Or citizens of Paradise Grove.”
“Everyone here?” My voice came out a squeak.
“No. We don’t share that privilege with everyone, but most are eager to be a part of it if they know.”
“Why?”
“Adamantem infractum manet. You and I both know what that means.” A diamond remains unbroken.
The saying that meant they were indestructible, all powerful.
Most of the nation had heard the statement.
People knew of the secret society and how much power it held, knew of the saying.
I nodded as he dragged a finger over my collarbone. “You’re trembling.”
I gulped and looked away, not sure I could respond without my voice shaking too, but I had to try. “I’m digesting the information.”
“You finally fear me, darling Mia? Have I cracked that resolve all of a sudden?”
“All of a sudden?”
“You’ve held your own this long. Nothing should change now. A secret society can’t possibly be worse than what you were imagining I was part of.”
I wasn’t sure about that. “What’s your role? Do you lead it?”
“I’m a Knight, Mia. And my father used to hold most of the power.”
“And so now you do.” He didn’t have to say another word. “What happened to your father, Jameson?” His eyes held mine. “And your wife?” I didn’t miss how they hardened at that question.
“I think you’ve asked enough questions for the day.” He locked down his secrets so fast, like he couldn’t trust a single soul, like those barriers were permanently in place, keeping everyone out.
“Have I?” I blurted out. There was no use fearing him now. I was too far in. And didn’t I deserve the answers when I’d been made to stay here?
“My wife never showed to pick Franny up from school, and later she was found dead. I won’t have the same happen to Franny … or to you.”
I pieced together what must have happened, how he had to tell Franny that her mom was never coming home.
And my heart broke for not only the man who lost his wife and his partner but also the daughter who lost her mother. “Jameson, it must have been hard for you and Franny to—”
“Franny only thinks her mom left. We don’t discuss anything else. You won’t either.” He stood there stiff with authority, so disconnected that I wondered if it was a defense mechanism.
“You know you could just ask me to rather than demand it,” I pointed out.
He clenched his jaw down like there was a struggle, a struggle to trust me, to see me as an ally when it came to his daughter and his life rather than an obstacle. “I could, but then there would be the risk that—”
“That I respect you rather than fear you, Mr. Knight?”
His brows slammed down in agitation.
“I’m here for the best interest of Franny. You know that by now. So, work with me and try to trust me.”
“Trust is a weakness.”
“Do you think that with your friends? With Archer? With Hades and—”
“They’re different.”
“Your wife would have wanted—”