Semua Bab I Hired My Favorite Stripper to Be My Nanny: Bab 111 - Bab 120

Maya’s POVThe ice cream shop was too bright.Sunlight poured in through the wide glass windows, bouncing off white tables and pastel-colored chairs, turning everything cheerful and soft in a way that made my skin crawl. Children’s laughter rang out in sharp bursts, spoons clinking against ceramic bowls, the bell above the door chiming every few seconds as people came and went. It smelled like sugar and vanilla and waffle cones, a smell that once meant comfort, now sitting heavy in my stomach.I chose a small table near the window so I could see outside.So I could see him coming.My phone lay face-up beside my untouched cup of ice cream, the screen dark. I had checked the time so many times that the numbers were burned into my mind. Every minute stretched longer than the last, my nerves pulled tight like a wire about to snap. I clasped my hands together on my lap, interlacing my fingers, I pressed it hard enough to leave marks.Carlo is calmer than Rico, I told myself. Carlo listens

Gabriella’s POVI arrived at Luca’s house just after dusk, when the sky was bruised purple and the hedges along the driveway cast long, crooked shadows. The gates opened smoothly, obediently, as if the house still recognized me. That thought pleased me more than it should have.I adjusted my coat and glanced down at the bags looped over my wrists. I had been thorough, painfully so. Toys children that are Nico’s age would like, clothes in the right sizes, books with glossy covers and loud colors. I even included a drone, though I hated the thing. Children liked noise and buttons. I liked strategy.The front door opened before I could ring the bell.Nico stood there.He had grown taller. His hair was neater than I remembered, styled in a way that made him look older and sharper. Luca’s influence, no doubt. For a moment, I was caught off guard by the stab of something unfamiliar, was it nostalgia? Or annoyance?“Nico,” I said brightly, bending slightly so my smile would meet his eyes. “L

Maya’s POVThe world tilted. It felt like the ground beneath my feet had shifted without warning, like I’d stepped onto something unstable and it had given way. I staggered backward, my heel catching against the edge of the rug, breath leaving my lungs in a sharp, humiliating gasp.The photograph was still raised between us.Gabriella watched me with something like satisfaction, her lips curving slowly, deliberately, as if she were savoring every second of my silence.“I asked you a question,” she said. Her voice was calm. “Does Luca know?”My mouth opened to speak but nothing came out.My tongue felt too thick and my throat felt dry. My chest burned with the effort of breathing, each inhale was shallow, I panicked.I shook my head not because I meant to answer, but because my balance was still off, because everything inside me felt wrong.Gabriella noticed.Of course she did.Her smile widened. “He doesn’t,” she said softly, almost kindly. “Does he?”I swallowed. Hard.“No,” I whis

Maya’s POVBy morning, the decision no longer trembled.It sat in my chest like a stone heavy, I knew the only right thing for me to do.Tanya’s voice echoed in my head from the night before, firm in a way only someone who loved you could be. ‘You can’t keep letting them corner you like this. You need to leave before they take more from you.’I had argued, of course. I always did. I told her about Nico. About Luca. About how leaving didn’t feel like escape, it felt like tearing something out of my own body.But even as I spoke, my hands had been moving.The letter had come easier than I expected. I poured out my heart, letting them know they meant a lot to me. I wrapped it neatly, When I finished, I folded it once, slid it into an envelope, and placed it in the drawer beside my bed.Like a loaded gun.I hadn’t opened the drawer since.Now, standing in the pale light of morning, I resisted the urge to check again. To reread it. To convince myself I meant it.I showered quickly, scrubbi

Gabriella’s POVBy the time the car pulled up in front of Luca’s office building, my patience was already threadbare.The glass façade reflected the sky back at me, it looked clean, pristine and untouchable. Just like everything Luca surrounded himself with. His office was the kind of place where people smiled politely and whispered behind their hands, where secrets were hidden under tailored suits and polished shoes.I stepped out, my heels clicking sharply against the pavement, each sound to me was a small declaration of intent. I wasn’t here to smile or to be reasonable. I was here because I had been humiliated, sidelined, quietly replaced and I refused to swallow it.Inside, the lobby smelled faintly of coffee and expensive cologne. A few heads turned as I walked past the reception desk without stopping.“Ms. Gabriella?” the receptionist called uncertainly.I didn’t slow down.The elevator ride was mercifully short, though it gave me just enough time to replay everything in my hea