Chapter Five_Mummy doesn't know

Elena.

He followed the track of my fingers before he pulled his eyes to meet mine.

"How is Jaden like? I hope he isn't any trouble?"

I almost snapped the end of my finger off with the knife I was currently using to cut the spring onions for the omelette. One whole week, he made me stay in a room with the kids, hidden from the rest of the house and the world, because I dared to check out a room while he had visitors at the estate.

"No," I said simply. Quietly. I did not want to seem like someone who was rude to their employer.

"Right."

I knew he wasn't dumb. Not by a long shot. Those pictures and videos of him I saw on YouTube and tiktok were enough evidence to know he wasn't socially awkward as well.

He was just rude.

I found it sad that he had to keep all this a secret. He kept Jaden hidden from the world like they would snatch him away if they ever found out about him, and he had to go through such lengths to get someone who needed money desperately as his nanny.

"Though I reckon he needs to go out sometimes. Fresh air and a fresh view."

He hummed and tapped his hand on the table, taking a sip from the cup of coffee he made me brew from him when he finally opened the door and allowed us out. "He has lived here all his life. He knows nothing about the life outside and does not need a fresh view."

I poured the whisked eggs on the butter. The smell of the eggs frying was something I needed. A way to remember where I came from.

"What I say doesn't really matter, I'm just telling you what you need to know."

"If you know it doesn't, then why say it at all?" He asked, agreeing with me.

A whole week spent in a room seemed to sharpen my tongue and sharpen my wits. I tried my best not to cower when he talked to me.

"Well then," I placed the eggs on the plates I had on the counter, "Sorry for overstepping."

I wasn't going to participate in an antagonising discussion with a man who wasn't ready to listen to my reasons and would lock me in a room without an escape place when he wanted.

The frown on my lips wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Not as I placed Jaden's plate on the table or as I walked away with Charlotte and mine so we could eat peacefully in the room that had originally been made for us.

He didn't call me back. And I made sure I didn't turn around.

Mr Halloway wasn't in the kitchen by the time Charlotte and I were done eating. And neither was Jaden.

Someone else was in the kitchen, though. The dude who held a knife to my back and almost strangled me completely.

The dude Ari seemed to be obsessed with.

I rarely saw him after that day. It wasn't that hard to do when one was locked in a room for a week, but I could have sworn I heard his voice whenever Ari brought food to us.

The frown on his lips turned into a full-on smirk when his eyes met mine. Charlotte was asleep in the room, the poor thing had been bored out of her mind when Jaden didn't show up after breakfast.

"I had no idea one of you was here, I'll leave now," I placed the plates into the dishwasher as fast as I could, anything to get out of this place.

He was standing in front of me in the blink of an eye. He smirked, making me step backwards as he took another step forward, eyes dropping to my chest and then back to my face.

From my calculations, he wasn't that much older than me.

"I never knew I would be honoured to be in your presence again. Not with all the lengths Sebastian used to hide you and your child."

Uncomfortable shivers ran through my body, bile rising in my throat, "Stay away from my daughter."

"I will. I have no intention of harming someone close to my nephew's age."

So he was Sebastian's brother.

Sebastian never mentioned anything about his family during interviews.

He lifted his hand to me, and I shifted away instinctively before he could touch the skin on my face or even the strands of hair that had fallen into my face.

"I am quite interested in the woman that agreed to lose a year and six months from her life just to be a nanny," He said, "Perhaps some secret lover is trying to harm you."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him and his absurd thinking. He was trying to bait me. I scoffed, shaking my head as I tried to walk around him so I could get away.

He caught me by my wrist and hauled me back. He had me pinned against his chest before he lowered his lips dangerously close to my ears.

"Sebastian is away, and so is Ari. No one would save you if I decide to have a little fun with you," He turned my rigid body to face him, his hand softly caressing my arm, "Don't try to piss me off, Elena."

"Stay away from me....."

His rough, unwanted hands silenced me as they traced their way up my shoulders. He cupped my neck while his eyes searched my face for some sort of retort. Anything really so he could have a reason to do whatever he wanted to do.

"So pretty and defiant," He muttered, nudging his knees between my legs to force them open. He moved his palm up my side, stopping when it was an inch underneath my breast.

"Do you know what happens to girls....."

"Get the fuck away from her Ryan," The familiar voice of Mr Halloway filled the kitchen, enveloping me in a case of warmth.

I shoved his chest away from me but failed to move the bastard away from me. He grinned and pushed himself even closer so I could feel his excitement against me. And then he moved away from me, turning to face Mr Halloway and a tiny Jaden that ate his ice cream while watching.

He didn't say anything to Mr Halloway, just waved some sort of salute, and then disappeared out of the house. I tried to hide my face by pretending to remove imaginary crumbs from my shirt.

"Thank you," I said finally, raising my eyes only to be crushed under Mr Halloway's dark scowl. It was filled with so much anger. It made me wonder why he was so mad at me when I did absolutely nothing to him.

Instead of cowering under his gaze or backing down, I lowered myself so I could stand at the same level with Jaden.

"How are you?" I asked him, yet my eyes were on his father.

Mr Halloway broke eye contact from me first, turning around so all I could see would be his muscular back.

"Jaden," He called for his son, who gave me an apologetic smile before he ran after his dad.

*****

"You can wear the blue shirt and black pants, Lottie or the red romper," I said, alternating pressing each shirt to her body just so I could see which one looked better.

"I think the romper would look much better on you."

Charlotte stood by my side, watching me while trying her best not to touch any of the clothes that were on the bed. On the other hand, Jaden sat on one of the chairs close to the window, watching us get ready.

He wasn't a picky child. A simple t-shirt and pants were okay for him.

"I want the shirt. I want to match with Jaden," Charlotte grumbled, like some sort of nepo baby that she wasn't.

"I gathered," I replied, not even looking up from the other sets of clothes I had on the bed.

I thought this was a job I could do without any inkling of a break for an entire year and six months. I thought the dad would never be around, much less have someone that was such a douchebag like Ryan be in the estate.

I couldn't breathe. The thought that he would one day have his way made me sick to the stomach.

A pair of pants landed in front of me, "Did you hear what I said?"

I turned to Jaden, "What did you say, Jaden?"

"Do you think we would be able to pull this off?"

How on earth would I tell the six years old that I had no idea if we would ever be able to pull off sneaking into his father's workroom so we can find the secret way out of the estate.

"Mummy doesn't know."