Aegis Group Dangerous Ladies

Chapter 2: Haley

HALEY GRIFFIN PULLED THE adjoining door between the condos closed. It was silent on this side of the wall, for which Haley was grateful. Ivana was asleep and their chef was out for a little while which meant Haley would get forty-five minutes of peace to freak the f**k out.

She set the tray down on the kitchen bar, grabbed her own bowl of mac and cheese, then walked in a daze to her room. It was the smallest of the three. Not that she minded. She'd always lived ready to pack up and go.

"Jesus," she muttered to herself and nudged the bedroom door shut.

She set the food on the nightstand that sat between her bed and the lone armchair. The way her stomach was bubbling, she didn't want to eat yet. Instead, she picked up the squirt bottle and turned her attention on the shelf of plants.

Family dinner.

Zasha had figured out a way to rope her into it finally. She'd been trying for over a year now to get Haley to squeeze herself into something like this, but Haley had balked at every suggestion. She didn't quite know if Zasha was simply trying to spend time with the people she loved the most, or if the kid had ulterior motives.

Konstantin was her boss. A fact she'd struggled to remember when she'd taken this contract. She was forever grateful that they'd moved into this condo with the ingenious adjoining door that kept their lives neatly separated.

It also helped hide the fact that Nanny Ivana was no longer able to actually be Zasha's nanny. Ivana was too old for the job, but Haley wasn't about to tell Konstantin that. She couldn't decide if she thought he'd keep taking care of Ivana or simply fire her. The man could be a warm, doting father one moment and completely ruthless the next.

Haley picked up her phone from the charger and skimmed her most recent text message: Hey Baby Girl, going to the farmer's market with your mom so I won't be around during lunch. Have a good day. Love you.

"Damn," she muttered.

Right about now she'd like to hear her father's voice. She couldn't tell him about what was going on here, but just chatting made her feel more grounded.

Haley let the phone drop to her lap.

She remembered the day Zain had given her this assignment. It was one of the first things he'd done as the new guy in charge of the Seattle offices. Zain and Merida, the office manager and Navy vet, had sat Haley down to talk over the particulars. While the offer was sweetened with bonuses suggested by Konstantin, they'd also warned her that it would be a demanding job from a security perspective.

Konstantin Titov was the son of a Russian oligarch and former KGB boogeyman. All Haley had known at the time was that Konstantin worked with the government and invested in businesses as well as running his own small empire that included two waste removal companies, a small investment firm, half a fishery, and God only knew what else. Haley was fairly certain Konstantin bought and sold companies like most people did shoes.

It was the danger element that had appealed to Haley in the beginning. She'd imagined keeping the little girl at arm's length, never interacting with the family, all while doing her job. She'd never thought that her life would become intertwined with theirs. It might not be so bad if Ivana were well enough to actually do her job, but she wasn't. Which meant Haley cooked breakfasts, cleaned, did homework with Zasha and took care of her when she was sick.

This wasn't a healthy environment. Not for her or Zasha. Haley could see that now. She felt it every day when she looked at Zasha and had that proud parent surge of emotion.

Zasha was not Haley's daughter. They weren't family. Haley was an employee.

It was a hard line to remember.

And that was before she thought about Konstantin.

She didn't want to call him beautiful. It was hard to look at him and not be affected. There was just a raw, masculine appeal to the man. Throw in that dangerous vibe with the slightly unkept hair and...

Yeah. She had a thing for her boss, which was highly inconvenient.

Haley stared at her phone while her insides twisted up.

Her first reaction was to text the other girls. There weren't a lot of women employed by Aegis Group. Security was a hard field. It wasn't something many women gravitated to. Which was why Haley and the others all thought it was important to stay in contact.

The chat had begun as a sort of loose affiliation of individuals. And over the last five years, they'd become the best of friends who rarely saw each other. Lately everyone had been on Haley's case since she brought up potentially leaving.

She had to talk about this with someone, so she tapped out a message and hit send.

Haley: Kiddo finally said what she wanted for her birthday.

Merida: ?

Jennifer: A pony?

Jennifer: Love them when they're little. When they get to be 21 they're assholes.

Merida: You have a pony?

Merida: They live to be that old?

Jennifer: Where the f**k would I keep a pony?

Jennifer: I'm talking about little girls.

Jennifer: I'm about to open a can of whoop ass on this girl.

Merida: Deep breaths. She's a client.

Jennifer: Not for long if she keeps this s**t up.

Haley chuckled at the exchange. Jennifer had a tough job watching an heiress whose only job was to party. And Jennifer wasn't a party person.

Haley: She's 10 and she wants a movie night.

Merida: That's cute.

Jennifer: I'd do crimes for a movie night at home.

Ivy: What's the catch?

Haley: She wants to have the movie night with me and her dad.

Merida. Oooooooooooooo

Ivy: Knew it.

Jennifer: I'd still do a crime. Your boss is hot.

Merida: Yeah, idk about that. That's very family like.

Haley: I know.

She sighed and let the phone drop in her lap. The girls would chime in for the next day. She'd respond. They'd go in circles and ultimately end up back in the same place. She didn't have to watch it happen in real time.

If she didn't like Zasha, this would be easy. She'd quit. But the fact was, Haley loved Zasha. She'd never wanted kids. The whole idea never clicked with her. But then she'd met Zasha and fell in love with another man's kid, which made for a messy emotional situation.

She was attracted to her boss, and could not act on that. She loved her charge, but she wasn't Zasha's mother.

Slowly but surely Haley had begun moving to this point.

There was no way she could stay on. Sometime soon, after she'd figured out who took Konstantin's pictures and they'd weathered Zasha's birthday celebration, Haley would leave.

Her throat tightened at the idea of not being there to help Zasha pick out clothes or redo her room like they'd been talking about.

All little girls eventually moved on to big girl things. Maybe Haley was just one of those things that needed to be left behind. Then why did the idea of leaving hurt so much?