Chapter 257

My question meets with silence on the other end of the phone.

“Beau?” I say again. My heart hammers against my ribcage. Surely someone they trust is watching Mia right now.

As Beau’s silence drags on, I’m beginning to suspect that might not be the case, and my stomach feels very much like it’s going to fall straight through the floor.

“Beau,” I say a third time. If I could, I’d jump straight into the phone and shake him, demanding an answer.

The third repeat of his name seems to wake him from whatever stupor my previous question had placed him in.

“We’re rushing back to the Pyramid right now.”

“Is that where Mia is? Who’s watching her? Beau?”

“We’re handling this, Nanny.”

“Beau! So help me, I am coming with you. I will run to the Pyramid if I have to.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“I’ll see for myself that Mia is okay!”

“Stay right where you are,” he says. More often than not, his voice carries a playful lilt. Right now, it sounds as Neil’s does when giving orders – stern and direct. “Do not move until I get there.”

“But, Beau –”

“Do as I say, please!” Beau shouts.

I start to pace. What am I supposed to do until he arrives? How can I just stay here when Mia could be in danger?

“You have ten minutes to get here,” I say. “Then I’m leaving without you.”

“Stay. Put,” Beau says, enunciating each word slowly and specifically. Then the line goes dead.

I set a timer for ten minutes on my phone, then I continue pacing. Back and forth across the wide expanse of my living room. I’m furious at Mrs. Hayes. How dare she bring so much terror into our lives?

I stoke that fury, that rage. Without it, I would feel fear instead. Even now, the horror of what could be happening is threaten to take over my mind. No, I hold the anger closer. It will protect me. It will keep me safe until what’s done is done and I have time to handle myself.

Beau shows up with five minutes on my timer. It was the longest five minutes of my life.

When he arrives, he pounds on the door. “Chloe! Chloe, let’s go!”

I throw open the door. Beau’s in a rumpled tuxedo, racing between my door and the elevator, keeping the elevator doors open and ready.

I just barely remember to lock my front door, then I rush after him down the hallway and into the elevator. He smashes the button for level 1 again and again, even after the door closes.

He’s pushing the button so hard, he’s going to break it. The last thing we need is to be stuck in an elevator, so I grab his hand to stop him. He could fight my hold, but he doesn’t. He lets me pull open his fingers and slide mine against his until we’re holding hands.

We stand just like that, hand in hand, otherwise totally still, until the elevator doors open and we’re on the first floor. We bolt forward at once, rushing through the doors and out into the night. Beau’s motorcycle is parked right up near the door on the sidewalk.

He tosses me a helmet and we both pile on. The wheels skid on the concrete as he tears forward. I hold on for dear life as he slides out onto the road, cutting off traffic. A car honks, but Beau just accelerates.

We zigzag through traffic, dodging and sliding around the cars. Beau is driving like a bat out of hell, and frankly, he needs to hurry the fuck up. Mia’s life could hang in the balance. Screw absolutely everyone and everything else.

Beau turns down the driveway. He bypasses the garage to pull his motorcycle straight up the slope of the entryway. He pulls through a crowd of people, who dive to get out of the way. Protestors? Many of them are carrying signs, but who the hell has time to deal with them right now?

Beau parks at the bottom of the stairs.

I jump from the motorcycle before it’s even finished moving. I rush up the stairs with my helmet still on. Inside, I toss the helmet onto the couch as I run to Mia’s room. Familiar footsteps are following mine. Beau is right behind me.

In the nursery, Archer is holding Mia. At first glance, she seems perfectly healthy and unharmed. The breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding escapes me in a rush so quickly, I feel like I might just topple over. Only Beau’s hand on the center of my back keeps me centered.

“This isn’t going to work out,” Neil says to a young woman I don’t recognize. She’s wearing a gray uniform with her hair up in a bun. She seems utterly confused.

“Did I do something wrong, sir?” she asks.

The new nanny. Must be. No way they just hired some rando off the street! What were they thinking?

She looked hurt and puzzled, but that could be an act. What kind of background information do they know about this person? Did she come with references? Could those references be bought?

After meeting Mrs. Hayes and hearing everything she had to say, I don’t trust anyone. Maybe I’m paranoid, I don’t care. Mia is too precious not to be more fully protected.

It’s possible, I realized, once my heartrate started to slow to normal levels, that Mrs. Hayes had weaved doubt into my mind simply for the sake of rattling me. It would be like her, the conniving vicious snake.

I can’t believe I ever opened my door to such a woman. What the hell was I thinking? I thought she could be a victim? That bitch was pulling the strings!

“Beau. Please see this woman out,” Neil says, gesturing to the nanny. Well, the ex-nanny now.

Beau nods. The woman still seems confused, no one has answered her questions. But she must know better than to think her words and arguments will gain her any traction here. She turns toward the door and walks out of it. Beau stays in her shadow.

When she is gone, Neil steps closer to me. He looks me up and down. Steven quickly follows him, as does Archer. It seems all the brothers want to look me over, as if making sure I’m unharmed.

“Did she try anything?” Neil asks, undoubtedly referring to his mother.

“No,” I say. With the way they are all scrutinizing me, I feel like a bug under a microscope. Do none of them really think I could physically handle myself against an older, mature woman? She’s a frail slip of a thing, not some bodybuilder. “She just talked.”

Neil sighs. Steven nods, and Archer steps back.

“Good,” Archer says.

I don’t understand and I’m tired of holding it in. “I think I could handle her in a fight.” I’m ready to defend myself against any arguments. How weak do they think I am?

“You are lucky it didn’t come to that,” Neil says.

“Neil,” I start.

“She carries a gun, Chloe,” Steven says.

Okay, I can see more now why they would be worried. But my healing ability is cranking up. “Getting shot would hurt but it wouldn’t kill me.”

“It would if she used silver bullets,” Archer says flatly.

I… oh.

I look to Steven for confirmation, but it’s Neil who answers.

“If our mother wanted you dead, Chloe, you would be dead.”