The Billionaire's Nanny

Chapter 9

After losing my way only two times, I finally ended up at the door Mia described to be Lucas' office. Only a matter of time before I would be able to know my way around here without getting lost. I took a deep breath, and gave myself a few seconds to clear my head, then knocked on one of the large double doors. I expected that he would be here since I took a damn long time to find it. 

His deep voice boomed from inside, "Come in." 

Well, here goes nothing, I thought as I pushed the door open. 

As I walked in, my eyes quickly took in the surrounding. Like every other room I had been to in this house, it was large, with a desk covered in stacks of folders, and a laptop. The walls were decorated with charts of the chemical elements and behind the desk, a scribbled whiteboard hung on two poles. 

On the left side of the room, there sat a work table, different from the desk, holding up another pile of notebooks, a pair of goggles and unused gloves, a cup of coffee, and another laptop. 

None of these though were as attractive as the man leaning on the desk. His hair looked more tousled than it looked a while ago when he was with the kids. He must have run his hand through it a few times. A few wrinkled lines formed on his forehead, and his shoulders were rigid, if I didn't know better, I would say he was tensed. 

He smiled nervously as I walked into the room, I didn't bother returning the smile, there was no need to pretend we liked each other. But you still have fantasies about him, a small annoying voice in my head reminded me. Even though that was true, it did not mean I had to like him. 

"Hi Chris," he managed to look up, but still avoided my eyes. 

"Hi," I said in a clipped tone. I was not going to give him even the slightest chance to be rude to me again. 

"Thanks for coming back." 

"I only came back for the kids," and the 100 grand you paid me for the job. 

A flash of disappointment crossed his features, but he quickly covered it up with a fake smile. "Well, thank you for coming back for them." 

I nodded in reply. 

"Please have a seat, there are a few things we have to discuss." he gestured to the chair next to him. The distance between him and the chair was merely a few inches—not enough—. 

"No thanks, I'll stand." I crossed my hand across my chest as I spoke. 

"Okay," he said, nodding at the same time. 

"Would you like something to drink?" he asked, moving to the minibar at the corner. 

I could not understand why he was still feigning concern and pretending to be nice. It was starting to piss me off. 

"Can you cut it out already," I snapped

"Excuse me?" he stopped and turned to face me back.

"Can you stop pretending to be nice to me? You don't have to pretend to like me, just because I accepted the job. There's no one here so you can cut it out and go back to being the asshole you are," 

"You think I'm pretending?" he almost sounded hurt.

"I don't care, just get on with whatever you called me here for."

He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and just nodded. His expression changed, and I could not tell whether it was angry or hurt, I didn't care either.

He walked back to his desk and took his seat, then took out a folder from the stacks piled. He dropped it on the desk with a loud thud and continued sorting through the other folders. "That's an NDA," he said in a cold voice without looking up from his desk. "go through it and sign it by morning, I need it before I leave tomorrow."

I walked closer to the desk and picked up the folder. 

"My sister conducted the first interview with you, but there are still a few things I need to know about you before you start officially," he said in a gruff voice, as he ran his finger across the file I now recognized as my resume.

It was a bit weird that he wanted to interview me after paying half of the salary already, but if he didn't mind, I had no reason to. "Everything you need to know is provided in my resume." 

"I'll decide that," he retorted, giving me a sharp look. 

"Okay sir," I bit back. 

"Do you smoke, or take any recreational drugs?" He c****d one brow up. 

"No to both." 

He just nodded with a quick 'hmm' and continued flipping through. "Any history with the law, I should know?" 

That was a loud no, after spending that one night with that creepy old lady in the same cell, I had vowed to stay out of trouble that would lead to going to jail. I had had many scary nights throughout my life, but that night topped it all, and I never wanted to experience it again. "No." 

"Good." he looked bored as he flipped through the resume, and finally, he dropped it on the desk and made his way back to where I stood. "The kids seem top like you a lot, and I can tell you like them too," he said as he leaned on the desk, "but your resume says you have never done a job like this before. So tell me, why do you want this job?" 

That was a no brainer, I could think of many reasons I wanted the job already, "You said it yourself, I like the kids, I think they are adorable and I want to be their nanny, and the kids like me too. Also, the pay is super amazing." I answered honestly.

"I know you like them, but I don't think that is enough reason," he said matter of factly. "Mia must have explained to you what the nature of this job is, the kids need someone stable in their lives, after all, they have been through, and sometimes they will take out their pain and worries on you as their nanny, so how can I be sure it will not be too overwhelming for you and you will not just walk out of their life before the one year is over?"  

I thought of a million reasons and more on why I could handle anything this job throws at me, but none of them made as much sense as the one hammering in my head. The reason that hurts me the most. The reason I am where I am today, the reason I even met my best friend. 

"Because I know the pain of having your parents turn their back on you and abandon you to the world." The images of the last time I saw my father as he left me at the foster care flashed in my mind, and I felt the bile rising in my throat. "And I know how hard and cruel life can be without the guidance of your parents." 

Lucas looked a bit caught off guard by my comment, but he did not say anything, and I took it as my cue to go on. 

"And I know that right now what they need at this age is a stable figure to give them all the love and emotional support they can get, and I am more than willing to give that to them because I know what it feels like to not have any of that." I was an expert at holding back my tears, but this topic always managed to bring tears to my eyes. I was surprised to see that my voice was still steady even after I finished speaking. I could feel the tears dancing along with my lids, and all I had to to get them pouring was blink once. 

But I had promised myself to never let the world see my tears, I was not going to break that promise. Especially not in front of this asshole. 

Lucas was still leaning on the table, arms now folded as he watched me carefully. After a few long silent moments, he finally spoke. 

"Good," he said simply, "I hope you can keep to your word." he straightened and walked back to the chair.  

"Does that mean I have the job?" I asked. 

He sighed as he relaxed back in the rolling chair. "Yes, it means you have the job. You will start tomorrow," 

"Okay," I said, not bothering to hide my excitement. 

"You still have a few forms to fill out, and a few health checks to go through, they will be ready by Monday. But before then, please sign the NDA by tomorrow. Do you drive?" he asked as he brought out a piece of paper. 

"I know how to, but I do not have a car." 

"I'll introduce you to Bernard, the driver tomorrow, he'll take you wherever you need to go with the kids. Also, no matter what happens, never take the kids on the subway." 

Such indifference toward a simple means of transportation, I thought. But that was not my business, they were his kids, and he had the right to decide what he wanted for them. I nodded and said, "okay," at the same time. 

"You will start unofficially tomorrow, Sundays are your days off, and on Monday, you will start officially by getting them ready for school." 

I wanted to tell him that I had already started unofficially today. "Deal," was what came out instead. 

"Yeah, deal. I think we're done here Christine, You may leave." 

"I'll see you in the morning," I said and pivoted toward the door. 

"Christine?" he called as I opened the door to leave. I stopped and turned to face him, "Please don't make me regret this." 

I mentally rolled my eyes and smiled weakly at him, "I won't." 

*** *** ***  

I rolled and turned in my bed, unable to sleep. Maybe it was the excitement of having this new job, or maybe it was because of the new environment, or maybe it was because I was just not used to going to bed so early. 

After my meeting with Lucas, I had a little chat with Mia before heading to my room. I finished reading through the NDA, and I was hoping to sleep immediately, giving how comforting the bed was compared to my rusty five-year-old bed. I could not help but wonder how it managed to survive Baron's men. But even as I lay in this really comfortable king-sized bed in this nice room, sleep could not find me, or I could not find sleep, or whatever it was they said. 

I thought of calling Celine, but she had to be up early for work, it would not be nice to disturb her with my sleeping problems this late. I checked the time on my phone, it was not even midnight yet.  

"Ughhh," I cried. It was still so early, I had to find something to do if I wanted to get through this night. I looked through my phone and picked out a game to play. But that could only indulge my attention for a few minutes. 

Finally, I found a movie on my phone to keep me busy. I dropped my phone on the bed and went downstairs to get a few snacks and some water. 

But as I approached the kitchen, I heard Mia and Lucas talking. From where I stood, I could see Lucas on the island stool, holding a glass of scotch. 

"You can't keep doing this every time something reminds you of her," Mia's voice came from the other side, I could only see her hand reaching out to take the drink away from Lucas. 

It looked like a private conversation, and I had no interest in finding out any of their family secrets. I would just have to enjoy my movie without a snack tonight. I took a few steps back ready to sneak back to my room, but Lucas's words stopped me dead in my tracks. 

"It's not just something reminding me Mia. How am I supposed to forget her when Chris is a f*****g carbon copy of her?" 

"I'm Chris," I thought. Now I had a reason to listen. 

"I can't even look at her for one minute without thinking of Sarah," Lucas said and gulped his drink in one swig. 

Who was Sarah, and why did he look so pained thinking about her? Also, why did I remind him of her? I had never seen him look this vulnerable and sad. He always looked so imposing that it was hard to imagine anything that would hurt him so much.

I tiptoed to the side and blended perfectly into the darkness. From where I stood now, I could see Mia too and hear them better.

"Lucas, I think you have had enough to drink. This is not the place to talk about this. I'll come to your office tomorrow, we'll talk then." Mia gripped the glass and forced it out of his hand. 

"Why can we not just find someone else," he said, like a child complaining about eating vegetables.  

"No Lucas," Mia said firmly, "we talked about this. I've never seen the kids accept anyone the way they accepted Chris. And I can see that she wants to be their nanny. I'm sorry that she shares such resemblance with Sarah, but I have to put the kids first." 

She turned around the island to where Lucas sat and wrapped her hand around him. "I know you're hurt, but think about how hurt the kids would be to have another person walk out of their life again, just when they are finally coming out of their shells."

He was quiet for a moment, as Mia held him close. "You're right," he finally said as he pulled away. "The kids will always come first. I'll get over it." 

"I'm so proud of you for understanding," she used her hand to support him as he stood up, "now let's get you to bed." 

He looked a bit tipsy, and I knew they would take longer to get to his room. Slowly, I walked back to the shadows and tiptoed up the stairs.  

As I lay back in my bed, my head swarmed with a million questions, like who was this Sarah? Why she was so important? And what role she had to play in their lives? I shut my eyes, thinking about the conversation I had just heard, and after a few minutes of thinking, my mind finally drifted to sleep.