The Nanny's Secret Contract

CHAPTER TWO- RULES OF THE BILLIONAIRE

Nathan Douglas’s sharp words created enough silence to cut through bones.

“ Keep your lane. Do your job as a nanny. Nothing more,” he had said, with a clipped voice, final.

For a short while, Emelia couldn't breathe. Her hands felt frail from the warmth of Lily's little hands around her shoulder. The little girl's confidence had been intuitive, almost hopeless- and now her father's authority threatened to seize it away.

She gulped down hard, her throat dry. Emelia, you need this job. Don't destroy it on the first day.

“Yes sir,” she mumbled, constraining her voice not to c***k.

An abrupt nod, Nathan gave, his stare hard to read, towards his study he turned and strode. The noise of his shoes against the shiny marble reverberated in the cavernous hallway. The man walked as if he carried the heaviness of the entire mansion on his shoulders, which perhaps he did.

Lily tweaked at Emilia’s sleeve, her lower lip jiggling.

“Did I do anything wrong?” She asked in the tiniest of voices.

Emilia's chest constricted. She bent down until she was eye level with the little girl, brushing a blonde strand of hair from her face.

“No my darling. Everything you did was perfect. Sometimes adults just…have too many rules and regulations.”

The little girl's eyes-so like her father's, but subtle, sadder - searched Emelia's face for reassurance.

“ You won't leave me, right?”

Emelia's heart fissured. “No, I won't leave you.”

But as she held on to the gaze of the little girl, her own thoughts yelled for questions. What type of father gives rules about hugs? What kind of a father builds fences so high that even his daughter can't reach?

Later that evening, after Lily had been persuaded into bed with a bedtime story, Emelia remained in the nursery. She flattened the little girl's blanket, pleated her stuffed bunny closer to her side, and sat observing her sleep.

Her chest bulged with a softness she hadn't expected.

Don't get devoted, she cautioned herself. You can't afford it.

And yet, she was already.

A faint squeak broke her thoughts. Emelia turned and saw that against the doorframe was Nathan leaning on it. His tie loosened, his shirt sleeves were rolled to his forearms, and command radiated all over him. His attention wasn't on Emelia- but was rather fixed on his daughter.

For the briefest glimmer of a second, Emelia saw something red in his eyes. Not control. Not power. Agony.

But the moment he noticed Emelia watching him, his countenance hardened back into stone.

“You shouldn't remain after hours,” he said bluntly. “ The contract with the agency was limpid. This is not a…nostalgia position.”

Emelia's lips separated in objection, but she quickly swallowed back the words. Don't argue. You need this job.

Still, something within her revolted.

“With all due respect, Mr. Douglas,” she said gently, “ children don't understand contracts. They understand affection.”

His face tightened. For a heartbeat, the air between them frizzled with tension. His stare swept over her - evaluating, assessing, almost as if she had crossed the line.

“I would advise you not to confuse your role here, Miss Emelia,” he said, with a dangerously low tone.

He turned to leave, but Emelia couldn't hold herself back.

“Is this what you are?” she exclaimed.

“Confuse your role of being a father with being her guard?”

The words crept out before she could control them. Her pulse thundered. Oh God, Emelia, why can't you ever mind your business?

Slowly, Nathan stopped in his tracks. Turned back facing her. His eyes, storm-dark and unexplainably, locked in hers.

For a second, she was sure she had just signed her own termination letter.

But instead of sacking her, he moved two steps closer. His presence was vague, high-powered, magnetic, hauling her breath from her lungs.

“You don't know me.” He said, with a gritty voice sharpened with steel. “You don't know the hazards of getting too close.”

Her heart was pulverised, a weird mix of fear, coupled with an unusual feeling which she refused to name.

“Then make me understand,” she muttered, amazed at herself and the sudden confidence that developed within her.

The silence extended between them, amid the tension that cropped. Nathan's eyes twitched down to her face- scarcely, hastily- before he tore his look away from her. With a sudden breath, he quickly moved back, holding back his anger.

“Goodnight, Miss Emelia,” he said, disappearing abruptly down the hallway.

Emelia returned to the little girl's nursery and sank into a chair, her whole body trembling.

What was that for? Asking herself

She was supposed to be terrified, but no, instead there was a rhythm she was running through her veins. Inquisitive. Bold. Attraction.

And underneath them athere ll, was rather a disturbing thought:

Most likely, Nathan Douglas wasn't as mean as the world thought he was.

Meanwhile, back at his study, Nathan served himself a glass of red wine and sat facing the moon, which reflected into the darkness, Emilia's words replaying all over his head. Could she be right after all? He pondered deeply on those words.

It kept ringing. Children don't understand contracts; they understand affection.

The manner she challenged him should have irritated him. Enough to make him call the agency that hired her for him, and request an immediate replacement. That could have been the smartest move- and safest.

And yet, instead of having a strong feeling of displeasure, he felt…guilty.

Because when Emelia James looked straight into his eyes during their last conversation, he had seen something he hadn't seen in a long while: a woman who wasn't scared to confront him despite his authority. Who saw through his directives, his defence.

And worst of all she was right.

Nathan, in deep thought, was analysing all that transpired with a grip tightened around the glass he was holding. He cannot be allowed. He can't allow her to break the barrier he had set.

But even though he had advised himself to maintain the distance, the memory of her fiery eyes, the gentleness in her voice, the free affection she showed Lily, all betrayed his mind.

He reminded himself, the warmth he had since forgotten how to render.

The next morning, Emelia woke up with a decision. She had pledged to Lily that she would stay with her, and she would abide by it. She would tolerate Nathan’s excesses, rules, and what have you, no matter what it took.

But when she stepped into the kitchen, she was surprised to meet Nathan, already there, leaning against the counter with a cup of black coffee in his hands. His eyes met hers, unreadable.

“Good morning, Miss Emily,” he said, his tone cool, but respectful.

He observed her for some time, as if looking for some mistakes in her composure. Then, to her surprise, he gave a hidden smile with the corner of his mouth, almost disappearing, before he quickly covered it.

“Today is a piano lesson for Lily. I expect you'll prepare her on time,” he said, sliding back into order.

Emelia nodded. “Of course, I sure will.”

But as she proceeded to prepare Lily's breakfast, she noticed Nathan's stare lasted on her from across the room he was in, which was opposite the kitchen. He smartly looked away, when she turned, but the feeling continued to exist, a gentle tension- glittering in the air.

Emelia, now beginning to realise that the initial warning he gave to her wasn't about his little daughter Lily.

It was rather about himself.

Later that evening, Emelia discovered a brown sealed envelope hidden secretly in one of Lily's storybooks while she was rearranging them back into the shelves at the nursery- looking more like a legal document with the term

“Confidential - custody agreement.”

Her hands are shaking as she realizes: Nathan Douglas isn't just hiding behind the walls in his castle.

He is hiding secrets that could jeopardize his entire empire.

She was short of words. Custody?

As her hands continued to tremble. She traced the edges of the brown envelope. Every intuition yelled that she shouldn't open the envelope, that it wasn't meant for her to read. But her mind raced with questions competing with the silence she couldn't contain. Custody agreements were meant for parents- or guardians- fighting over rights. How did it find its way into the little girl's bedtime story?

She glanced at Lily, who was sleeping peacefully, unaware of the secrets buried underneath her pillow every night. Instantaneously, Emelia's heart repeatedly asked for reasons she couldn't answer.

Nathan Douglas wasn't just a man of stern warnings and walls, it goes far beyond that, she thought deeply.

He was a man with a lot of hidden secrets, which his own daughter shared part of unknowingly.

Despite not being sure what the envelope contained but it weighed heavily in her hands, which suddenly came with a dangerous realization:

It wasn't only about Nathan's heart.

He was protecting someone…something which she is yet to find out.

And if Emelia wasn't careful, she would deep herself into a battle far bigger than she'd ever imagined.

Her chest was heavy and beating faster.

For a long while, she just gazed, her pulse reverberating in her ears. Pokenosing she thought. It wasn't her business. Her job was to take care of Lily, and not to pry into the privacy of her boss- her terrifying, difficult-to-understand boss.

And yet she thought…

Emelia became anxious with her fingers trembling. Custody meant disagreement.

Custody meant someone out there was eager to take Lily away from Nathan. Was Nathan in dispute with someone over the custody of his little girl? Then of all places, why hide it in the little girl's story book?

Her pitiful gaze flicked to the deeply asleep innocent girl. Hugging her stuffed bear tightly, her innocence was all wrapped in her duvet. Does she know? Does she even know the silent wars that surrounded her?

Emelia’s throat stiffened. She deserves affection. She deserves love and tranquility.

Her thumb remained poised near the wax seal of the brown envelope. One tear of the wax-sealed envelope and she'd have all her questions answered.

Then-

The wooden floorboard squeaked.

Cold shivers ran through her blood. Emelia raised her head up, her pulse beating so fast, as she heard faint footsteps in the hallway.

Intentional, heavy. Could it be Nathan's?

Panicky, she nudged the envelope beneath the duvet just as the door handle clanked.

Her breath paused.

The footsteps she heard disappeared. The door still remained closed.

Only after a long while did she bravely release the breath that was trapped in her lungs. With trembled hands, she hauled the envelope free again, her hands trembled.

Clinging to it as if it might disappear.

But her comfort only lasted a heartbeat.

Because as she spied down at the envelope once more, she observed something she hadn't before. The back corner of the wax seal looked normal- but slightly smeared, as if it had been unsealed before- and then resealed again.

A sudden cold shiver ran through her spine. Definitely someone else has seen and read this.

As her fingers pressed against the envelope with a high determination to know what was written in it. She was breaching the agreement- intuitively she knew it.

Before she could control her mind, she pulled it eager to read what was written in it.

It was a letter.

Boldly written in capital letters. In just seven words.

She won't remain with you forever, Nathan.

The room suddenly became hot for Emelia despite the cold air conditioner in the nursery. She gasped for air.

Her stomach grumbled upon realization that the battle Nathan was dragging with the unknown person wasn't just legal but- personal. Somebody somewhere was desperately fighting over Lily with threats attached to it.

Her mind answers so many questions all at the same time. Could it be his ex-wife? A business partner? Or a one-time mistress, who knew his secrets. Who could it be?