My chest tightens when I hear that. I feel a flicker of hope inside.
“If Callie’s mother hadn’t run off, things would be different right now,” I grit, so damn resentful of that woman. “I’ll never forgive Gabby for abandoning her daughter when the little girl needed her most.”
“Remember, I know where she is,” my brother tells me. “We could go get her. Drag her back here. Force her to be a mother to her child.”
I shake my head. My chest fills with a bitterness as black as tar. “It’s too late. I don’t want Gabby anymore.”
A face flashes across my mind. The face of a woman I’d much rather instead. A woman who’s kind and playful and sweet. A woman I know I could never have.
The face of the nanny.
I push the thought away. I make another futile attempt to convince myself that I’ve got this, I can handle it all on my own, I don’t want Jessa. I’d prefer to be alone instead.
18 Jessa
Baby Di lets out a little snort in her sleep then she smiles, rolls over and flings a stubby arm over her head. I titter soundlessly as I peer at my adorable niece over the edge of her crib.
I’m hiding out at my sister’s McMansion today. Alexia and Cannon needed a night to themselves so I volunteered to watch their little girl.
I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with my niece. Lexi has only been working part-time at her bridal shop since giving birth. Her employees handle the majority of the shop’s day-to-day activities so that my sister can spend most of her time at home with Di.
On days when Lexi does have to go in to work, Di usually goes to the daycare centre that Cannon recently opened up for children of the staff at the Kingston Realties building. Yes—my brother-in-law opened a whole entire daycare centre just so his daughter could have other kids to play with.
That’s some rich people shit.
Quietly backing through the door, I leave the infant to sleep. Now that the little angel is down for the night, I have a bit of free time for myself.
I brought my laptop along with me with the intention of doing some more job-hunting if I got a minute to spare tonight. As much as I love Callie, I no longer feel it’s reasonable that I continue working for her father. I need to find a new job. Preferably before the man fires me and leaves me homeless.
I should be submitting online resumes to every child-focused job within the county. So why I’m curled up here on this cozy wingback chair in the living room, eating sour gummy worms and digging through rabbit hole after rabbit hole, researching the crimes that put Eli in prison is beyond me. Blatant curiosity and pounds of sugar keep me going. There’s no stopping me now.
Over the past few months, I’ve gone through mountains of research. Every public file I’ve been able to dig up. The warrant details. Eli’s initial statements. Witness statements from former employees of Kingston Realty Holdings. Court case transcripts. Eli’s eventual guilty plea.
Something just doesn’t add up.
Why would Eli take the risk? Why would he compromise the good life he had going for him? He had everything to lose. His family. His reputation. His standing in the community. It doesn’t make sense that he would risk it all for a few thousand dollars here and there when he had ‘Kingston-level’ money in the bank. I mean—they’re the richest family in town. By far.
I pull up a photo of a smiling, waif-like blonde. Long moments pass as I stare at her again.
Gabriella Grant-Kingston.
Somehow, I feel like she might be the key. I just know that she’s at the core of the troubles that landed Eli in jail. But I don’t get the opportunity to fully explore that line of suspicion because, without warning, the front door blasts open. Lexi stumbles into the house with her husband hot on her trail, both of them laughing and groping each other like they’re fresh off their honeymoon.
I’d know my sister’s tipsy-face anywhere. Her eyes are glassy, her mascara is smudged and her thick dark hair is an entire situation. Cannon’s appearance isn’t much better. His wrinkled shirt is untucked and there’s lipstick on his collar. I’m willing to bet they just finished having sex somewhere completely inappropriate.
Lexi’s shoulders jut up to her ears when she glances over my way. “Is the baby sleeping?” she mouths as she steps out of her heels and makes a big show of tiptoeing into the foyer.
I nod. She turns around and exaggeratedly presses her fingers to her lips, playfully demanding that Cannon be quiet, too.
The two of them shuffle over to where I’m sitting. Cannon drops into a loveseat and hooks an arm around Lexi’s thigh, causing her to tumble into his lap. She tries to give him a stern look but the two of them end up stifling laughter.
If they weren’t so cute, they’d be annoying as hell.
“Was she good while we were gone?” Alexia asks.
I can’t help the half-smile that comes up on my face at the mention of my niece. “She was an angel. As always.”
Lexi grins while she shrugs out of her coat and tosses it over the arm of a chair. Then, she relaxes back into her husband’s arms. “So, what are you working on?” She juts her chin at my computer.
The question jolts me back to the reality that I’ve been snooping around on my boss. Again. “Nothing.” I snap my laptop shut. I probably look guilty, though.
Lexi furrows her brows. “I don’t know what’s up with you but you’ve been acting weird for months now.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, forcing my voice to sound casual. I cross my left leg over my right. Then swap, right over left. I fold my arms across my chest, then opt
