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“Sure,” I reply. It’s not true. I’d been following in my father’s footsteps before I could realize that what I was doing was a crime. It occurs to me that my childhood may have been pretty unorthodox. Mom skipped town when I was barely a toddler, and Pops stepped in as caregiver.
He did his best.
I turn back to the job at hand. “Keep practicing, kiddo, and you’ll be unstoppable,” I encourage, watching him work diligently. He raises his head and grins up at me.
“You’re the best nanny ever,” he beams, his excitement contagious. “What are we going to do next?”
“You’ll find out when you’re done with the rope,” I reply. “But trust me, you’ll love it.”
As we continue our unconventional lesson, I can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt. Teaching Nikolai these skills is odd, but there’s no denying the bond we’ve formed. It’s a bond that scares me a little because I know I’ll have to leave before long. Then what?
You move on, Scarlett, that’s what.
The kid’s got a father.
He’ll be fine.
“I think I’m done,” Niko says, holding the sheets up.
“That looks pretty good.” I examine his handiwork. It’s actually not half bad. I check the knots, testing the strength of them. “Yip, I think this will do.”
“Okaaaay.” His tone is cautious. It’s pretty clear he’s not used to changes in his routine here.
“Now watch me,” I tell him, glancing around the room. There’s a heavy armoire beside the window. This one is the only room that doesn’t have bars on its windows, so it suits me perfectly. “First, we tie this here,” I tell him, looping one end of the room around the sturdy leg of the armoire. “Then you check beneath the window to make sure it’s all clear.” I shove the window open and we both peer outside.
“We’re going down there?” His eyes are huge.
“Just me today, kiddo.” I wink at him as I swing my leg over the ledge. “Now watch closely, okay? You have to get a good grip, and then you loop the rope around one leg, like so…” I nod down at where I’ve hooked myself securely.
“Why do you do that?” he asks.
“So you don’t plummet to your death,” I say beneath my breath.
“What?”
“So you don’t fall, Niko,” I say more clearly. “Okay, now what you do is slide a little bit at a time. The knots give you grip.”
“Cool!” he says eagerly.
“Remember, quick and quiet,” I tell him as I disappear through the window. I slide a couple of feet down and look up at him. He’s staring at me in amazement, and suddenly I feel like Wonder Woman. I slip down another foot, dangling between the first and second floors.
“What is going on here?” a deep voice snaps sharply.
Shit!
Busted!
“Scarlett!” Anton’s voice cuts through the air. “What the hell are you doing down there?”
“Um…hanging,” I call back, which is true because right now I’m just dangling in the air.
I look up and find myself staring into his face. I can feel my cheeks flush, but I force myself to look away. It’s only been a few of days since our little incident in the hallway, but there’s no way I can simply forget it, even though he’s clearly made of tougher stuff.
Because he’s a bastard, I remind myself.
“Get back in here,” he snaps. “You’re not in a circus.”
“Alright, take a chill pill,” I mutter, hauling myself back up. My arms burn. I’m out of practice. As I clamber back over the window ledge, he runs an eye over me, then reaches a hand out to pull me in. Reluctantly, I take it. Warm and strong, it makes my skin burn. But if he has any other questions about what I was doing out there, he keeps them to himself. He turns to his son, instead.
