Chapter 17
I ended up getting out of the office nearly forty-five minutes late, but even though I tried warning Lainey that I got held up numerous times, I never heard back from her, and it had me all the more anxious to get home.
Didn’t matter that my team was watching the partner from our Donut...they couldn’t stop calls from being made if a Wrecker somehow found out we’d been behind it all. And even though my name wasn’t tied to my apartment’s contract, nothing would prevent the mafia from finding out where I lived.
But just as I hit the button for the elevator in my building, the night manager came hurrying over to me.
“Mr. Briggs, I was just calling you.”
Apprehension trudged through my veins as I watched him close in on where I waited. “What happened?”
He gestured to the elevator as it arrived. “A woman came not two minutes ago—a social worker. Said I couldn’t warn you she was coming up and that I had to let her up.”
My hand curled into a fist at the news because the last thing I wanted after the long day was to deal with Kaia’s social worker. Glancing at the waiting car, I asked, “You’re sure she was a social worker?”
Surprise flitted across his face before he hastily nodded. “Y-yes, sir. She showed me her identification.”
I nodded as I stepped onto the elevator and shoved my keycard into the slot. But once the doors were shut and the car began ascending, I felt a dark calm slip over me as I reached for my gun.
Just this morning, I wouldn’t have thought twice about a surprise visit from Kaia’s social worker. And nearly every part of me was sure that’s all this was—a visit from a woman who was convinced I couldn’t take care of my niece. But the small part that needed to worry about mafia retaliations couldn’t stop thinking about the time an underboss had just appeared in a living room I hadn’t even owned. Or that we’d just messed with an assassin’s brother and that Lainey was, once again, not answering her phone.
But as soon as I stepped off the elevator, the familiar tones of Lainey and the social worker had my nerves and suspicions settling as I holstered my gun and forced myself to walk normally until I met where they were sitting on the couches.
The bare couches.
I quickly scanned my living room, noting all of Lainey’s décor I’d been forcing myself to live with was gone. But with only a glance at where Lainey was studiously studying the coffee table, I tore my attention to the social worker as she stood.
“Mr. Briggs,” she began as she held out a hand for me to shake. “Good to see you again.”
“Ma’am,” I muttered. “Sorry I’m late.”
She made a face that was as analytical as it was judgmental. “But you didn’t know I was coming, now did you?”
“I’m still late getting home.”
One of those disapproving sounds she liked to make rose in her throat as her head slanted. “That happen often?”
I held her stare for a moment longer before asking, “You met Miss Pearson?”
“I did,” she said brightly and turned toward Lainey. “We just got past introductions, and she was telling me Kaia’s crawling now. Did you know that, Mr. Briggs?”
“I did.”
Something like doubt crossed her face as she sank into the seat again. “Why don’t you sit and tell me how things are going from your perspective, Mr. Briggs?”
I moved, but only to put Lainey in my line of sight as I told the woman about the changes in Kaia—attributing it all to Lainey and her research. All the while, Lainey remained unnervingly still and silent with Kaia in her arms, while the social worker made those irritating hums as she tapped on the tablet that seemed to be attached to her.
Once I finished, she said, “So, in your words, you’re unable to care for Kaia without Miss Pearson’s help,” without ever looking up.
Frustration bubbled up on a low laugh as I stared at the woman. “I never said anything remotely close to that,” I mumbled darkly. “Kaia and I got through the weekend without her just fine. I’m saying Miss Pearson is an integral employee.”
The social worker glanced up long enough to challenge, “Is that what you said?”
“Is there a reason you don’t want this to work out for Kaia?” I shot back.
“I’m gonna go,” Lainey whispered, but I pleaded, “Don’t,” before she could stand.
My entire focus shifted to Lainey when her head bowed and shoulders sagged. The movements were small—so small. But after being still for so long, they seemed drastic and had my body restlessly twitching as I looked at her like this .
Somehow, she seemed worse than when she’d arrived this morning, and I’d been expecting something so different after seeing her effortless joy and excitement in that video.
“We have things to go over,” I finally told her before returning my attention to the social worker. “Again, why don’t you want this to work out for Kaia?”
Her gaze darted between Lainey and me a few times before she sighed. “I’m on Kaia’s side, Mr. Briggs; I do want things to work out for her. I just don’t think you’re what’s best for her,” she said bluntly. “You’re a single, thirty-one-year-old man who lives in a penthouse apartment and owns a company with a demanding schedule. On top of that, I very clearly heard you when you said, ‘I can’t take her. I don’t want kids.’” She lifted her hands and gave me a meaningful look. “How many other red flags would you like me to list? Because I have quite a few.”
“So, because he’s a successful man who’s built something not many can claim to, you wanna use that against him?” Lainey asked, her voice so much more withdrawn than I’d yet to hear it. She visibly swallowed but didn’t take her stare off the coffee table as she continued. “There are many parents who have extremely demanding schedules, single or not. They do it to provide for their families, and many of them need childcare because of it.
“As for what he said,” she went on with a subtle tilt of her head, “I think anyone would agree he was allowed that thought. But what you’re forgetting is Mr. Briggs still immediately stepped up without anyone asking him to. And even though I’m helping during the day and for now , he’s actively putting in the work the rest of the time and for always .”
I stared at her in amazement and tried not to linger on the for now part as I reminded myself of every reason why I couldn’t kiss her, starting with this disturbingly passive version of Lainey.
The social worker stood with a sigh and headed for the kitchen, immediately opening and inspecting the drawers and cupboards the way she had last week as she said, “Walk me through a day with Kaia.”
As soon as the social worker left twenty minutes later, I turned and stilled when I found Lainey directly behind me. Kaia was hitched on one of her hips, and her bag was hanging from her other arm.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she whispered as she looked just past me.
“We have things to discuss,” I reminded her.
“That’s right,” Lainey began, almost as if she’d forgotten she wanted to talk to me . “Now that Kaia’s crawling, you need to move the gun that’s strapped under the table. Now, unless something’s wrong with Kaia, or you finally decide to fire me, I’d rather not speak to you.”
Surprise slammed into me at the unexpected words that held more pain than contempt, and I automatically reached for my niece when Lainey held her out to me. But just as she started walking, I gently grasped her forearm, stopping her from passing me.
“What’s going on?”
“Please let go.”
I loosened my hold so my fingers were barely touching her skin and said, “You need to help me out here, Lainey. You won’t look at me, even though I’m not the one who left those marks on you. You aren’t answering my calls or texts, so I’d have to check my cameras to know you and Kaia are okay. And you keep changing up my apartment on me.”
She stared straight ahead for so long I nearly started turning her toward me just as she tilted her head my way and looked at me for the first time tonight, giving me the full force of the pain and embarrassment in those stormy eyes.
“Just trying to help,” she said, the words soft and strained. A brief, saddened smile pulled at her mouth. “I can’t do a whole lot about the way I look, Mr. Briggs, but I’ll do what I can to ensure your blood pressure doesn’t spike each day.”
“What—” My stomach bottomed out as my conversation with Rush came flooding back. The truth I’d twisted in a vain attempt to get him off my back about the girl in front of me.
“Nearly every time I’ve seen her, my blood pressure has spiked because of what she’s done to mess up my apartment that day. She’s unpredictable. Even the way Lainey looks is the definition of chaotic.”
“Lainey—Lainey, no,” I managed to say when she pulled away from me, then hurried to slip around her so I was blocking the button for the elevator. “Wait. Just give me a minute to explain.”
“There really isn’t a need,” she assured me as Kaia started whimpering. “She already ate. She needs a bath and to get ready for bed.”
“Lainey, we need to talk.”
“I already told you what we can talk about, Mr. Briggs,” she said gently but firmly. When I started trying to explain myself anyway, she set her jaw. “Let me leave now, or I won’t come back.”
I reluctantly reached behind me for the button and felt something inside me cleave when tears gathered in her eyes. “You don’t understand.”
And how was I supposed to explain? I couldn’t want her. I didn’t even know how she’d heard about my conversation with Rush.
“I understood just fine,” she said as she focused on the closed doors behind me. “It’s you I don’t understand, and I’m not sure I want to anymore.”
Her glassy eyes shifted to Kaia when she let out a cry but quickly returned to the elevator. “You should get her ready for bed. Besides, I don’t need the way she gets on an elevator to be added to the list of things about me that frustrates you.”
“ Lainey —”
The wounded, pleading look she shot my way had the rest of my words lodging in my throat just as the elevator arrived.
And even though every part of me was demanding I stop her and try to find some way to explain, I simply stood there as she left.
Shifting my niece closer to my chest when she let out another exhausted cry, I muttered, “I know, Kaia...I know.”