For two whole hours, I sat in front of myputer like a fucking psychopath watching Den interact with the kids. It warmed my heart that she was naturally good with King and Evie. They could be a handful when they wanted to. I had pulled most of my hair out over the few weeks of them being here, and I still hadn’t gotten the least bit in order. I had no idea where to even start with children that small. What little I did know came from Sicily.

    The kids seemed to really like Den which was a plus. Den didn’t have kids of her own, but I could tell she would be a great mother. Part of me started to imagine how she would look raising our children, but I quickly shook it off. It didn’t matter how much I thought I wanted her. What did I fucking know?

    Obviously, my judgment had been offtely. Like a fool, I ignored countless red gs and allowed Brendan to funnel money out of my ounts for longer than I care to admit. I was notorious about not keeping a close eye on my money. That’s what I was paying his ass to do. Now I regretted not keeping him on a tighter leash. The seven figures he’d relieved me of reminded me of just how big of a mistake I had made in trusting him.

    It was after seven and I had been stowed away in my office all day like I was afraid toe out. I wasn’t scared to face Den or the kids. It was just something about her eyes and the way she wasn’t afraid to stand up to me even in the face of imminent danger that made me want to get inside her head.

    I wanted to know more about her. I needed to know what led her to the gentleman’s club. I needed to know how to put the smile she wore the nights I visited the club back on her face. I mean, aside from leaving my house because she wasn’t going anywhere until Brendan materialized.

    I spent the entire day in my office, and I hadn’t done a damn thing aside from watch Den and order shit for her and the kids. I needed them to be asfortable as possible at my house because there was no telling how long any of them would be here. I hadn’t heard anything from the social worker and honestly, I felt like King and Evie were better off with me than even with Ang since her arrest is what threw them into this situation in the first ce.

    I needed Den to like it here too. It didn’t matter that she was here against her will. Den was my baby. I wasn’t about to let her bepletely miserable here. I wanted her to befortable. If it were up to me, she would even want to be here. I didn’t have that privilege right now though and that was cool.

    I needed to know for sure that she had no idea her boyfriend was stealing from me. I wanted to trust her, but I couldn’t let myself be blinded to reality. No one in the world could have convinced me that Monique would have turned her back on me at my weakest point, but she did. Waking up in the hospital to my sister shaking her head and exining that my fiancée was gone for good gave me a rude awakening.

    If the very woman I built my empire for could shit on me the way Monique did, what should I expect from a woman who hated the ground I walked on in the first ce? I gave Monique everything she could ever want or ask for, and as soon as it was her turn to repay my dedication, she decided that it was too hard.

    When I was lying in a hospital bed waiting to have my leg amputated after barely surviving the wreck that crushed it, she left. When I couldn’t walk, she walked out on me. There was no reason for me to believe that the tall, ebony beauty in the next room wasn’t as vile as thest woman I was stupid enough to fall for.

    I poured myself a double shot of bourbon and took it to the head before finally standing from my desk and leaving my cave for the day. The living room was eerily quiet. For the past few weeks, Sicily had been stayingte every day to try to get the kids to bed. No matter what we did or how many sses of milk and water we gave them, they weren’t sleeping. Evie cried until thete hours of the night and what little sleep King got was interrupted by nightmares. I was a natural problem solver, so it crushed me that I couldn’t figure out how to help them.

    I crept through the living room at a snail’s pace because it was so quiet that I wasn’t sure where the children were. Miguel had left hours ago, and Sicily had the day off. I had to give her a break after all thete shifts she pulled. I eased over to the room where the kids were sleeping. I’d gotten separate rooms set up for them, but they quickly shut that down, letting me know that they shared a room.

    I also had to get night lights since neither of them let me turn the light off in the room for fear that something would creep in and get them when they weren’t looking. They slept with the lights on for the first two nights that they were here before Sicily suggested I get a night light. I couldn’t even remember thest time I saw a night light before one came in the mail for me to install.

    Before I could make it to the bedroom door, I could hear Den’s buttery voice floating through the air as she told the kids a bedtime story. It must have been made up, because it didn’t sound familiar. Then again, when was thest time I had heard a bedtime story?

    All I could say for sure was that the kids were quiet. In fact, they had been rtively quiet all day. If I were actually paying her, I would have given her a bonus just for bringing the volume around here down a few octaves. My head had been pounding for a whole damn month. I pushed off of the door and walked back over into the living room to wait for Den toe out of their room. I didn’t have to wait long before she came wandering out looking around anxiously.

    “You’re good with them,” I stated as soon as her eyesnded on me.

    “They’re sweet kids,” she said with a soft smile.

    “Let me take you upstairs. I’m sure you’ve had a long day,” I said, standing from my position on the arm of the couch.

    “Why do I have to go up there? Let me go home. I swear I’lle back every day and help you with them if that’s what you want.”

    “What I want is for you to get your ass upstairs. You think because you had a good day with my niece and nephew, I forgot why I brought you here in the first ce?” I quizzed.

    “This is crazy. You know that right?”

    “Let’s go, princess,” I said, taking her by her bicep and ushering her to the stairs.

    Without another word of protest, she trudged ahead of me up the stairs. We didn’t speak again until we made it to the top.

    “This is so evil, and you know it. You know I had nothing to do with Brendan taking your money.” She rationalized.

    “I don’t know shit. All I know is he’s missing, and you were in his house. Apparently, he wasing back for you. When he does, we can settle this whole thing.”

    “Fuck you. I hope he keeps running forever with your fucking money since that seems to be the only damn thing you care about. I was in your house all day long with those beautiful children and you didn’t even bother to peek your head in and check on them,” she fussed.

    “Good night, Ms. Den,” I said, turning and heading back to the stairs.

    “Why are you so evil?” she asked just as I closed the door behind me.

    In three seconds, the door would automatically lock from the outside. As soon as I heard the lock click, I missed Den already. The subtle way her big round eyes seemed to get closer together after she asked a question was embedded in my mind. Rushing downstairs, I went straight to my office and grabbed my phone off the desk before turning off the lights and shutting down shop for the day.

    I’d ignored my calls and texts for most of the day so I could watch my baby interact with the kids without any interruptions. She was captivating. Now I had to return one of the six missed calls from Four. Even Howell, one of the mercenaries looking for Brendan, had called me while I was busy watching the Den show.

    “Yeah,” I said as soon as Four answered the phone.

    “That nigga is in the wind. You hear me!” He bellowed.

    “Hmph, don’t I know it. He has about three million of my dors to run with. What is Howell saying?”

    “The same shit. He must be spending cash because none of his known aliases are showing up in the system.”

    “He’ll make a mistake. In the meantime, I can stall the board out. I moved funds from my own ounts to rece the money that was missing. The investors are quiet for now. The other side of the business is where we might have a problem. Niggas are going to want to see those reports and know what the hell happened. They are more like me. They are not going to want that money back. There’s blood on it.”

    “And blood they will get,” Four confirmed.

    I chuckled bitterly. “I love it when you talk like that.”

    “You already know what time it is.”

    “Let everyone know I want to handle this one myself.”

    “I’ll put the word out. I can’t believe that nigga pulled this shit.” Four huffed.

    “I said that at first, but then again, I can believe it. Any time somebody untrustworthy gets around too much money they start moving funny. They can’t resist the temptation of pinching off a little taste while no one is looking. Add that with that nigga’s gambling problem and it’s a recipe for disaster. I would be surprised if that bitch ass nigga was somewhere broke as hell with his head buried in the sand.”

    Fourughed at my statement. “You already know. I was going to tell you I found out that he owes some people a lot of money. He took out a loan to open that club that he hasn’t made good on, and he racked up about a six-figure gambling debt with the folks that own Cashville.”

    I sighed. “He’s spiraling again. I don’t know how I missed the signs.”

    “He’s crafty as fuck. You know that. Anyway, how is it going in your parts?”

    “I meant to tell you I finally got a nanny for the kids, for now anyway,” I replied.

    “Aw shit, I know you’re d about that.”

    “I don’t think nobody is happier than Sicily. I gave her the day off in the middle of the week.”

    “You better hope and pray shees back because she’s the only housekeeper that you’ve been able to keep for over a month,” he joked.

    “She’s been here for years, bro. Stop tripping.”

    “Yeah, after the first ten quit on their first day,” he reminded me.

    “Everybody ain’t able. Ain’t that what you say?” I asked him.

    “You ain’t lying. Everybody ain’t able to put up with your shit.”

    “I agree it takes a special breed. That’s why I had to give her the day off. I’ve been paying her extra to help with the kids because I know that shit ain’t nowhere in her job description. She’s been a soldier though.”

    “Yeah, she stands ten toes down for your evil, ck ass.”

    “You’re the second person to call me evil today, bro. I’m about to take that shit to heart in a minute,” I said,ughing because we both knew I didn’t give a damn.

    “Who said it? One of the kids?” he quizzed, stillughing.

    I scoffed. “Nah, bro, the nanny.”

    “You know you gotta be nice to her, Steel. You need her ass.”

    “It’s Brendan’s girl,” I confessed.

    “What?” he snapped.

    “Yeah, when I went to his house looking for him, she was there. I took her. If he wants her, he cane get her.”

    Shaking his head, he looked at me like I was speaking a foreignnguage. “I should have known you would do something crazy as hell.”

    “You call getting coteral crazy?” I asked him.

    “I call kidnapping someone who probably doesn’t know where he is any better than we do crazy. It’s the girl, right? The one you wanted.”

    “What the hell does that matter?” I snapped.

    “You and I both know why it matters. Do you still want her?”

    “Is her name money? Does she have my money? Does she know where I can find it? These are the real questions.”

    “Yeah right, nigga. Be careful,” he advised.

    “You just keep your ear to the street and make sure when you know something I’m the first person to hear it.”

    “I got you.”

    “Put some money on it. I need this resolved like yesterday,” I told him.

    “Already on it.”

    “Let me know.”

    I ended the call and tossed my phone on the bed as I headed into the bathroom. After a quick shower, I stepped out, dried myself off, and wrapped a towel around my waist before falling into bed. I couldn’t stop myself from picking my phone up and going to the monitoring icon.

    Rolling over on my side, I pressed the button on the tablet at my bedside that dimmed the lights in my bedroom before sliding in ce under the covers. I held my breath as the application loaded, releasing it when the living room came into view.

    Once I was semifortable, I put one hand behind my head and bnced the phone in the other. My breathing hitched when my baby strolled out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head and an oversized T-shirt covering the top half of her body.

    When she released her hair from the towel I let out an audible sigh. I had no idea what kind of hold this woman had on me, but I didn’t want to be free. I watched her like a TV series that was about to end on a cliffhanger as she divided her hair in sections and braided it down. I rested the phone on the pillows next to me so I could watch her without my arm getting tired.

    Sleeplessly I watched as she braided her hair down, missing the wild coils of her hair, but also loving having more ess to her gorgeous face. Then something happened that thawed every one of the ice caps around my heart. She started singing.

    The sweet, soothing way she serenaded me made my chest tight. I sat up in bed desperate to get closer to her but thought better of it. She was already terrified that I would force myself on her. Me showing up in the middle of the night while she was half dressed would only make it worse.

    I didn’t want to take anything she wasn’t willing to give me aside from her freedom and that was temporary. Even that was an issue since I still wanted her to be mine. I needed her to want to be here. If only I knew I could trust her. Lying back on my pillow I closed my eyes and listened to her sing as I drifted off to sleep.