4. Brakkus
Brakkus
Iwatched the security feed of her Subaru stop at the gate, and I buzzed her in before she rolled down her window.
Five minutes later, she was parked beside my G-Wagon.
I minimized the security feed and started down the hall and out the front door.
She had the back hatch of her car open when I walked out, her hand gripping one of two massive suitcases.
“Mr. Drakkar,” she said, stepping back and looking up at me.
I could smell her fear in the air. Brielle was afraid of me when she first arrived too.
At the time, I thought it was because I was a seven-foot-tall green orc warrior.
But no. It was because she was here to sell photos of my son to the tabloids.
“Call me Brakkus,” I grumbled, going for her suitcases. “No need to be formal.”
I pulled them out and started toward the front door. The hatch to the Subaru clicked closed behind me. Her footsteps tapped lightly on the flagstones as she tried to catch up. I elbowed the auto-open feature near the intercom, and the door swung open.
“You can call me Hannah,” she said brightly, hustling along by my side.
I grunted and started down the hall toward the private wing. Otto was with Lola in the kitchen. He’d had a bad night, and I was at my wits’ end. The last thing I wanted was another stranger in my house but bringing her on was unavoidable.
We passed the short hall that led to my private suite, past the other guest rooms, past the nursery, and stopped at the open door to her room.
“This is you,” I said, stepping into the space.
It was a fairly large guest room, with clean white walls, the same wood floors as the rest of the house, a cowhide rug in front of a small fireplace, and a queen-sized bed with a Mission-style headboard and a white comforter.
There was a photograph of a longhorn over the bed, and the windows looked out at the view of the valley.
Nadia redecorated the house after she moved in.
Before that, the place had been a giant bachelor pad, full of M.A.U.L. memorabilia and empty rooms.
“Bathroom’s through there,” I said, pointing to the closed door.
“It’s lovely,” she said, picking up one of the suitcases.
“I should be very comfortable here.” She set the suitcase on the bed.
Something about her tone and the scent of her honey oatmeal skin lotion made the backs of my eyes itch.
I twitched and grimaced. Was she already attempting to seduce the lonely widower?
I stared at her for a moment, trying to assess her intentions. She did smell good, and this was a nice room. It had obviously been decorated by someone with taste. With money… I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to show me her true colors.
“I’ll just get unpacked, and then I can start. Otto is where right now?”
“He’s in the kitchen,” I said, my shoulders relaxing.
I let out a low humph and left the room, closing the door behind me. Gritting my teeth, I went back to my study and opened the security feeds on my computer. There weren’t any cameras in the guest rooms or bathrooms, obviously. I’m not a monster. I mean, I am a monster but not that kind of monster.
I watched the feed from the hall, waiting for her to come out of her room.
Nothing happened for about half an hour, and then the door opened.
I watched her glide down the hallway, walking like a woman on a mission.
There was something powerfully elegant about how she moved.
It must have been all those years as a nurse.
My nose twitched. She couldn’t possibly know I was watching her.
What was her angle? I flipped over the feed to the next camera and watched her walk into the kitchen.
She greeted Lola on the way in. Lola was trying to feed Otto.
No one had had any luck. After a brief greeting and exchange, Hannah sat beside Otto at the table and Lola left the room.
I watched her every move for the rest of the day. Hannah had every detail of his routine and health history from her packet from the agency, so she already knew what was expected.
She had Otto with her in the kitchen the next morning and was speaking to him in low tones when I walked in to get my coffee.
When I passed her, I noticed that Otto was eating the scrambled eggs she’d offered him.
Without spitting up. Without refusing. I stopped mid-stride and watched, my eyes bugging out of my head like a bat.
She looked up, her smile too bright for so early in the morning.
“How was your night?” I said, hustling over to the coffee pot. I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and filled it.
“He was up once. But I’ve been helping him with his tusk pain, and I think it’s really helped his appetite.”
I took a sip of coffee, turning to her. Brielle hadn’t solved Otto’s withdrawal issues. Of course, she was only here for the grift and didn’t have a fraction of Hannah’s qualifications.
That didn’t mean I trusted this new girl. I was already picking up that there was something off about her. She smelled way too damn good. And I was going to get to the bottom of her game.
“That’s good,” I said, trying not to get my hopes up.
He’d been to the orc healer back in Breakstone, my home enclave, and she’d given him a clean bill of health two months ago.
She’d told me Otto’s withdrawal was normal after losing his mother.
But the not eating thing had started after Brielle left.
I’d half assumed it had to do with her scheming.
“His tusk is coming in,” she said, scooping up another spoonful of eggs. “I have a technique that’s worked on other tusked toddlers I’ve worked with. We’re still finding exactly the right combination.”
“Huh…” I took another sip of coffee, feeling foolish. This lady really knew her stuff. How had I missed that my own son was getting his tusks when my own tusks were one of the main things I was known for?
“You seem to have things under control,” I said, crossing the room. I leaned down and kissed the top of my son’s head, feeling more than a little bit ashamed of my ignorance. “I’ll leave you to it.”
I escaped the kitchen and went back to my study with my coffee, telling myself I was going to get to work. Instead, I spent the rest of the day watching Hannah care for Otto through the security cameras.
After they finished breakfast, she took him to the bathroom to wash up.
I tracked her down the hall and into the nursery, but the feeds stopped short outside the nursery bathroom door.
I grimaced. She could be doing anything in there.
Twenty minutes later, she came out with Otto dressed in fresh clothes.
She placed him on the rug in the nursery and sat down beside him. Otto sat there staring at her while she encouraged him to help her build with blocks. She was talking to him, handing him blocks, and showing him how to place them.
My phone buzzed with a text from Trey, but I ignored it.
All of my attention was on my son’s nanny.
Then she took her own phone out. My eyes widened as I leaned in and focused on the screen.
She was going to start taking pictures of him.
I knew it. Word must have gotten out among the scumbag scammers.
I was ready to charge down the hall and bust through the door.
But she just tapped her screen, read a text, and then put it back in her pocket.
I sighed and sat back in my chair. My phone rang, and I expected it to be another attempt from Trey.
Instead, the caller ID said Monster-In-Law.
Nadia’s mother Orsala would not leave me alone since Nadia’s passing.
She called at least once a day to tell me I was a horrible father, husband, and a disgrace to orc kind.
According to her, Nadia’s death was all my fault.
She wouldn’t have been in that car during a snowstorm if I hadn’t been injured during a M.A.U.L.
fight in Chicago. Their pleasant family visit had been shattered by the call from my corner man.
I was in the hospital having emergency surgery.
Nadia had left the Old Quarter enclave that night, headed to the airport. She never made it.
I double-clicked my phone and sent the call to voicemail. I didn’t need any more guilt today. Words came up on the screen. “We only want what’s best for Nadia’s son.” I turned the screen off. I’d heard it a million times before.
I tried to work, only half spying on Hannah after that. I caught Trey coming through the front door on the security camera in the late afternoon. Trey had a run of the house and could come and go as he pleased. He opened the door to my study before I got up to greet him.
He dropped into the chair across from my desk and eyed me. “You haven’t responded to any of my emails or texts all day. There’s paperwork you need to sign for the Costco order. It can’t wait.”
I waved my hand. Costco could wait when it came to protecting my son. Trey stared at me, scratching his chin.
He was in his orc form, slightly slimmer and more refined than me, The Brute, but still big and green and mean-looking.
He’d become indispensable to me since Nadia’s death.
He’d been my assistant for five years before that, but lately he’d taken on a lot more of the real burden of running the Brute Squad.
“What’s up with you, Brakkus? You aren’t yourself lately.”
“I had to hire another nanny. You know what happened with the last one.”
“You’d be better off with an orc watching Otto,” he said, opening his satchel.
“You know how hard it is to find a qualified orc nanny willing to live outside an enclave?”
“I’m sure you could have lured someone away from their post. You are Brakkus ‘The Brute’ Drakkar.”
“Believe me, I tried.”
Trey shuffled through the papers in his satchel and dropped them onto the desk. “Well, hopefully this new one will work.”
I clicked on my mouse and studied the security feed, ignoring the papers. Hannah had taken Otto out onto the patio. I squinted at the screen. She was getting awfully close to the pool.
“Brakkus… What are you doing? I need these signed by five.”
“I’m watching the nanny.”
“You’re what?”
“This is how I discovered the last one’s scam.”
“Boss…”
I turned to look at him, giving him my best Brute glare. He put his hands up in surrender. “Look, I get that you’re wary, but you can’t ignore the business to spend all your time spying on the nanny.”
I grumbled and shut off the feed, making a point of opening my pen and signing the papers as aggressively as possible. Trey twisted his lips, giving me a skeptical expression.
I thrust the papers at him, feeling like a dick. He was probably right. Hannah was highly qualified with impeccable references. She was the top-rated caregiver at her agency. Brielle had faked everything.
But… there was something off about this new girl, and I was going to get to the bottom of it.