43. Babysitter
43
BABYSITTER
ANNA
I t had been hours since I last saw Caleb being pushed roughly into an interview room. The disgusting remarks about him and about me being a terrible mother were all a lie.
Kylie’s hand squeezed my shoulder as I hugged Alice on my lap. She had fallen asleep after the female officer questioned her. It was disgusting. I wanted to go home, give her a warm bath and cuddle her to sleep with her favorite dino soft toy.
It was all a lie. Caleb had never touched her or groomed her, and all the allegations were wrong.
“We need to find out who took those pictures,” Kyle said, his voice tired. He had just reached his home when authorities came over to my house to ask for Alice and brought us in. Felix was angry and said a bunch of curse words to Caleb before getting questioned.
I didn’t know what was happening anymore.
“They were all taken from my house,” I said, remembering the images cops had showed us. Picture of Caleb holding Alice up in his arms—but I was there. They had won the first place in a video game, and he had lifted her up for a few seconds before putting her down and asking me for a celebratory kiss. Another picture of them cuddling in the sofa, but it wasn’t weird, because Kyle and I were there the entire time, and even Valeria, our babysitter, had gushed how cute they looked and helped us with dinner. Third picture was Alice kissing Caleb on his cheek, and it was a sweet moment. She had braided his hair, clipped it with her pastel hair clips, and she told him he looked like a Prince Charming, so she kissed his cheek.
It wasn’t creepy like the cops made it out.
Alice was cooperative for her age, and I was so proud of my daughter for standing her ground and telling everyone that he was my boyfriend, and she wanted Caleb to be her cool daddy—her words, not mine. Cops had questioned me, and I felt dirty when they asked if he ever coerced me into his weird fetishes.
Caleb didn’t have any weird fetishes. He had a poster of me on his ceiling, and if someone else asked what his fetish was, he’d look at me and Kyle and tell them that his fetish was us.
“I can ask my grandma if she saw someone,” Kyle said, kissing my cheek and pulled away to make a call.
Overcast white light gave me a headache as cops kept walking around the hallway. I had seen a glimpse of him in a prison, but he looked stoic, and the cops hadn’t allowed us to talk. Cillian was angry, but he had left with Emma, promising me he’d make it right.
We both knew that Caleb would never do that.
Everyone believed him except my ex and the cops.
“Miss Anna,” the officer walked towards where I was sitting with Alice on my lap and said, “You can leave. Get some rest. We will reach out when we have more questions.”
“What about Caleb? Is he released?”
She pursed her lips and shook her head. “We still need to question your babysitters. Take care.”
Valeria and Jem would give their statements and hopefully everything would be resolved soon.
I sighed and gently woke up my daughter, taking her outside as Kyle ended his call and drove us home.
Why was all of this happening?
I wanted to go back to that morning and have Caleb back with us.
* * *
Unknown
I watched the tall prick drive her home and followed them. I drove close and checked the cameras placed around her house. It was dark and empty, making me scoff. I just needed to take care of Kyle, and then she’d know how wrong it was for her to date two men who were younger than her.
They were inexperienced. They couldn’t take care of her.
They couldn’t take care of Alice. Only I could.
My hands itched when I parked the car in the shadows and watched them talk and hug. Disgusting.
I shifted my eyes to my phone and watched her enter the home with Alice, closing the door and going upstairs. I didn’t have cameras upstairs, but I knew they were in Alice’s room, since the light was turned on.
After half an hour, that light was turned off, and a lamp in her room flickered on. I eyed the house next door and wondered if I should blow up his house or take pity on his grandma. She was a sweet old lady and went to church every Sunday, but she had allowed her grandson to date my Anna. He should have stayed single. But I knew he always had a crush on my Anna.
I scratched my head and called Valeria. She picked up in two rings, her voice annoying and breathy, “Y-yes?”
“Did you testify?” I asked, knowing she would take my side and lie to the cops about how creepy and weird Caleb had been with Alice.
Unfortunately, he was a good person and did none of the things I had anonymously tipped cops to with pictures. Thankfully, the reporters and journalists I had paid were co-operative to make up a weird story, but that rich bitch, Emma, ruined it all by suing them. I hoped they kept their mouth shut.
“Not yet,” she replied, her voice high. “But I know what I have to say… as long as you pay off my debt.”
“Once he gets a lifetime imprisonment, I will do it,” I lied, eyeing Anna’s room from my car. I wasn’t going to pay shit to her. I had already emptied my savings to pay off the prisoners to kill Timothy and the reporters. I needed to keep some money if I wanted to take care of Anna and Alice. She had lost her job because of me, and I wanted her to remain a sweet housewife for me. Cook and clean for me while I took care of finances.
“I’ll call you tomorrow after you testify. Keep the burner phone with you,” I reminded her, and ended the call.
It was time to look after her and be the shoulder she could lean on.
Caleb or Kyle wouldn’t come to save her.
I combed my hair back and straightened up my shirt before getting out of the car. I whistled, making my way towards the house and knocked on the front door.
I waited patiently, tapping my foot on the ground, and heard her footsteps coming downstairs. Seeing her worried face brought me excitement, and I wished I could tell her I did all the terrible things for the past few months just to get her back.
She might love me more if I tell her .
“Felix,” she said, covering her nightgown with a cardigan, but I could see the cleavage. We hadn’t had sex in the last few years of our marriage since she had taken her Pilates job seriously. I didn’t find her attractive, but after seeing her with Caleb and Kyle, I wanted her back. She was mine. She was my best friend, and I married her. “What happened? Why are you here?”
“I wanted to check up on you and Alice,” I said truthfully. “Make sure you two are okay after what happened.”
“We are fine,” she sighed, bags underneath her eyes.
“Let me come in.”
She didn’t even look at me and opened the door. I walked inside the house I had paid more than half the mortgage for and locked the door behind me.