Chapter 16 Nadir #3
I rush around the table, grabbing her before she marches any further away. I spin her around, and frown. Her jaw is tense, her lips screwed up tight, but her eyes tell a different story. Like she’s on the verge of tears.
“Jess,” I say softly, coaxing her back to the table.
She scoffs, more of her features transforming into anger. “Maureen has been loyal to you for years, and you’re not even fighting to get her back. Wow. You’re even more selfish than I thought.”
“Don’t waste time chasing something if it’s not worth your weight in gold. Only do that if something is priceless, and can’t be replaced.”
My father told me a lot of nonsense, but this one always stuck.
I search Jess’s face, trying to work out why she cares so much. As she stated, I’ve known Maureen longer. Why’s she getting upset?
“Sit down and finish your lasagna.”
“Is that another order?” She waggles her eyebrows. “Brilliant. I’m still in the middle of completing your last one.”
“Staying inside is for your own good, Jess. He could’ve taken you earlier today.”
“Can’t imagine how detrimental that would be to the business.” She rolls her eyes.
I return to the table to finish eating my lasagna. It’s Maureen’s specialty. On second thought, maybe I should send out a search party. Nobody makes a beef ragu like her. She feels the same as I do about grass-fed beef. I commend her for that.
Jess slides back into her chair, doing so against her own will. It’s the lasagna. It tastes too good to leave.
I catch the three empty milk cups in the corner of my eye and stop chewing. “Can I make a suggestion?”
“I don’t care how good the new housemaid is. She isn’t Maureen.” Jess picks up her fork and cuts. “Besides, I’ve raised my kids alone for five years and I’m pretty good at it. I don’t want anyone else raising them.”
“I wasn’t talking about a new housemaid,” I say, “although you appear to have strong opinions on childcare.”
“I’ll always have strong opinions when it comes to childcare,” she says.
“It’s important, but a lot of rich parents don’t seem to think so when it comes to their own kids.
They throw their children onto me and think it’s okay because they’re paying me.
It’s not okay. The poor kids don’t even know who their parents are. ”
“Interesting,” I say. “What made you want to nanny?”
Jess stops chewing. “I…um…I guess I wanted to be around families. Proper ones.”
“Proper ones?”
“I was the outcast in all of mine. I was in foster care,” she adds. “Many different homes. I can’t remember my real parents. They left not long after I was born.”
She stares at her plate instead of me as she wracks her brain for answers.
“In a way, I always related to some of the kids when their parents left for work. It’s terrible, I know, but seeing the parents toss them aside for something more important made me feel…
less alone.” She drags her eyes up to me.
“You ever felt like that before? Lonely? It must be isolating being at the top. I mean, we’re so high up you can’t even see people. ”
“If you look closely you can,” I reply. “But they’re no bigger than ants.”
I continue watching Jess. It makes sense why she wants to be there for her kids. She never had that support herself.
Annoyingly, everything she’s saying is contradicting my next suggestion. But it might be the only way to ensure their safety.
“I think it might be best to send the children away to summer camp.”
Jess’s eyes flare wide, but this is the reaction I expected.
“Hear me out.” I lean forward. “It’s not too late to sign them up. I’ll pay for everything.”
“Oh, jeez. I’d be forever indebted.” Jess rolls her eyes and looks away. “Are you serious right now? Taro and his team of criminals are closing in and you’re suggesting I send my kids away? Shouldn’t that be a reason to keep them closer?”
“It’s precautionary,” I say. “I would hate for Taro to find out about them. It’s a high possibility, after everything you told me about him. The stalking. The blackmail. Sounds to me like he was adamant on getting back together with you, Jess.”
“Does that make you jealous?” she sneers.
Jealous of someone half my size who’s trying to leech off me?
Never.
“It makes me concerned,” I reply. “He won’t be happy to hear you’ve moved on and had three kids with another man. If he were to get hold of them—”
“They’ll reach the same fate as Maureen. Got it.”
“He won’t hold back if he catches you or your children. And I can’t protect everyone, Jess.”
“Right,” she says. “But you’ll always protect yourself.”
I clench my jaw.
“That explains why you’re not saving Maureen. The sky’s the limit when it comes to money, until another person is involved.”
Little does she know how much I’m spending on guards for her and her children.
I wipe the back of my neck, tension and sweat accumulating there. “The children will be safer away from the city. Tensions are running extremely high between us and the Kozhikovs. I would hate for anything to happen to them.”
“Would you?” Jess hitches a brow, like she doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. “All I’m hearing is that you don’t want to be forced to kill my children—or me—if it ever came down to that.”
“They need to be away from here. I won’t get into an argument with you about this.”
“And what if the kids are yours? Does that change your opinion on anything?”
Those words did not just come out of her mouth.