“Four.”
“Maya, let’s talk about this.”
“Three.”
“You’re being unreasonable.”
“Two.”
“You’ve left me no choice.” I lower the painting to the desk, then pick her up and toss her over my shoulder before she reaches one.
“Soren!” she screams. “Put me down this instant.”
“We both know I’m not going to leave without this painting, which means I need to lock you up until I can.” I stomp out of the office.
“Don’t you dare!” She throws her fists at my back like she’s trying to give me the Heimlich. “You won’t hurt me. I know you.”
It’s those words that get my heart racing without my consent. Shedidknow me. She was the only one who ever truly saw me. But that was a long time ago. I’m no longer trying to prove myself to her. I have a job to do, and that’s all that matters.
I put her on a wooden armchair in the dining room and lean over her. “You do not know me. Not then. Not now. Don’t be mistaken.”
Her eyes dart between mine, and I note with a pang of regret that they are lighter now. They used to be brown, but now there’s more green in those eyes that used to hold me captive. How else has she changed?
“You won’t get away with this,” she says, and for a moment I forgot what we were discussing.
“Honey, I already have.”
She looks down, realizing I’ve almost got one hand locked up with the zip tie I slipped from my bag. She reaches up with her free hand and pinches my nose.
Pain shoots through my skull, and I reel back. “What was that for?”
“You are still the biggest baby about your nose.”
“Because it hurts.”
“It’s just cartilage.”
“It’s a very important appendage,” I shoot back.
She kicks at me, but I block her, reaching for her other arm. I catch her wrist as she yanks it back and kicks my thigh. It’s enough to give me a dead leg and, worse, send me toppling on top of her. The chair can’t withstand our combined weight and momentum, and we tip.
I’m not sure what’s louder: the sound of the chair hitting the marble floor or her head hitting it. The chair snaps and cracks, crumbling around us, digging into my hip, but my eyes are on the woman beneath me. Eerily still.
An ear-splitting scream rips through the penthouse. “You killed my nanny!”
Chapter 6
Soren
Iglanceatthelittle girl. Arabella Hartwell here in the flesh and not on a tropical family vacation.
“She’s not dead,” I insist, delicately touching Maya’s neck to confirm. An immense relief hits me when her strong pulse meets my fingertips, along with a jolt of electricity.
I yank my hand away from the biggest distraction I’ve ever encountered on a job. She’s no less distracting this way. I’m terrified I’ve given her a brain bleed or some other irreversible damage. Plus, she looks beautiful asleep, her eyelashes fanning the top of her cheeks. From her long dark hair to her fuzzy socks with little pink bows on them. She’s completely changed yet utterly the same…
What am I thinking? She’s only asleep because Iknocked her out.I’ve never felt more like a criminal than I do right now.
“Oh good, ‘cause I can’t kill another nanny.” The girl tugs on her long blonde braid.
