Chapter Fourteen
***Autumn***
Wedroveintothe city to meet Stacy. She lived in the penthouse of a high rise in Manhattan. Almost two hours in the car and I’d run out of things to say to fill the blistering silence almost right away. Music didn’t seem to be Griffin’s driver’s thing, either, so we’d just ridden in silence. I was almost glad to be at Stacy’s; it’d been so bad.
When we stopped at the curb, a pleasant-looking younger man stepped up to the car and smiled in once Griffin rolled down his window. “Mr. Phoenix. I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Dave Millbrooks. I’ll be the supervisor of today’s visit.”
“I’ll be sending the kids’ nanny in, as well.”
Dave hesitated. “Well, I’m not sure—”
Griffin narrowed his eyes. “Is there a problem, Dave?”
“No, sir. The kids’ nanny would be a lovely addition.”
I gritted my teeth and turned to Griffin. “We’ll be back.”
He nodded and waited until Jones and Caroline were out of the car and standing with Dave to catch my hand and pull me closer. “Five hours. Not a moment more.”
I growled. “You owe me. Five hours with the woman who called me a whore the first time she met me is worth way more than you’re paying me, Griffin Phoenix.”
His eyes flashed for a second, but then he was back in control. “I’ll write you a check for your bonus tonight.”
I groaned and got out of the car. Adjusting my shirt, I resisted the urge to ask if I looked okay. It didn’t matter. Scrunching up my nose and sticking my tongue out at Griffin felt right so I did it. “I’m thinking a million should cover the pain and suffering.”
He actually laughed. The sound washed over me like cool water on a summer day. I wanted to stay and roll around in it, but Dave was checking his watch, and I got the feeling we were running late and that Stacy was going to tell me about it.
Hurrying over to the kids, I joined them in walking through the opulent lobby. We got in a special elevator, available only to the top floor occupants. Caroline took my hand as we went higher and higher, the tension in her little body growing.
I leaned down and wrapped my arms around her. “This is going to be a fun visit with your mom, sweetie. You and Jones can spend some time with her while I arrange the surprise for later, okay?”
She nodded but didn’t even try to crack a smile. I didn’t understand the change from the last time they’d seen Stacy. Both kids had been over the moon to see her at the Southampton house.
We reached the penthouse, and the door opened straight into Stacy’s home. I was immediately affronted with oversized portrait shots of Stacy. On every wall, she stared back at me. Several of the shots were nudes, and I was probably better acquainted with her body than I was my own by the time we walked into the living room.
Dave, seeing my face, cleared his throat and looked away. “Ms. Laray should be around here somewhere.”
Stacy came strolling from somewhere deeper in the apartment, her mouth firmly turned up in an oversized smile until she saw me. Her eyes were lightly glazed over as she scowled. “What are you doing here?”
I forced a smile. “I’m just with the kiddos. I go where they go these days.”
“We don’t need you here, nanny. You’re dismissed.” She turned her dark gaze on Jones and jeered. “Tell her, Jones. Tell her we don’t want her.”
Dave stepped in. “Ms. Laray, it’s not outside of Mr. Phoenix’s rights to have the kids’ nanny stay with them. If you’d be more comfortable in a more neutral setting, we could move somewhere else.”
“Fuck you. I’m not going anywhere. Let the bitch stay.” Sashaying over to Caroline in a floor-length nightgown, Stacy bent over and pinched her cheeks. “What do we care if the help sticks around? She’s barely a real person. We’ll just ignore her. Come on. Come with Mommy. Let’s get you out of this hideous outfit and into something acceptable.”
Jones trailed behind the two of them, only to have his mother turn to him and scowl before leaving him behind. He turned to glare at me, tears in his eyes. “This is all your fault.”
I looked over at Dave for help, wanting to do something, to save the kids from Stacy, but he just shook his head. She was their mother and that apparently gave her the freedom to torment her own kids if she felt like it.
Frustrated and feeling helpless, I pulled out my phone and did the only thing I could think of. I went to work pulling strings to make the surprise happen for the kids. I couldn’t save them from Stacy, but I could dull the damage she did, hopefully.
Stacy kept Caroline to herself, ignoring Jones for the rest of their visit. She laughed loudly and appeared outside of her room every so often, just to look at me and glare. She also scowled at Jones in between, a silent message to him that he should’ve agreed with her right away when she said I wasn’t wanted. That would teach him to not jump in and tell her what she wanted to hear faster next time.
I fumed and had to talk myself off the ledge time and time again. I had no power over Stacy. Anything I did would just make it worse for the kids. I just sat there, on Stacy’s couch that probably cost more than my mom’s house, and counted down the minutes until we could leave.
Those five hours stretched on and on until I wanted to cry. I’d watched Jones be shunned the entire time and saw Caroline come out of the room, finally, looking like an adult in makeup and clothes that were way too old for her. She also had been crying and wouldn’t look at me.
I glared at Dave while Stacy glared at me. How could he just allow the kids to be mistreated? Why didn’t he step in? What was the point of him being there if the kids still left their mom’s more damaged than they came?
Stacy didn’t bother telling any of us goodbye. She just looked at the four of us like we were dirt that had been tracked in and then went back to her room, slamming the door behind her. Jones was left with nothing but a cold shoulder from his mom, while Caroline had received all of her attention and didn’t seem to have fared any better.
“Okay. Well, let’s get back down to your dad.” Dave smiled like he’d done something great and led us back to the elevator.
There was even more of the dreaded silence as we descended from what I was sure was hell. Then, the kids were climbing in the car, and Griffin was there, but I was too angry. I shut the door and turned around to face Dave, who still looked like he was pretty happy with himself.
“What the fuck are you smiling about? Did you not see what just happened up there? Those little kids were just treated to mental warfare at the hands of their mother and you have the audacity to smile? What are you even there for?” I jerked my head in the direction of the kids and practically vibrated with fury. “You need to find another job, Dave. If you think that was a success, you need to get far away from children and their safety.”
Griffin was out of the car and standing at my side. “What’s going on?”
I looked up at him, at the stress on his face, and swallowed down everything I wanted to say. He didn’t have a choice in the visitations. Knowing what kind of hell they went through wasn’t going to help him in any way. “Nothing. I was just asking Dave about his job. I have a friend from the school who’s looking to change things up.”
Dave cleared his throat and backed away. “See you next time, Mr. Phoenix.”
Griffin stared after a fleeing Dave and then looked down at me. “I haven’t known you for long, but I recognize the look of a man being ripped apart by you. What happened?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped closer to him as people moved past us on the sidewalk. “Nothing.”
“Autumn. This isn’t something I’m going to let you do. Tell me.”
“I don’t like the way Stacy treats the kids. It’s messed up. And Dave just let it happen. Why the hell is he even there if he’s not going to make sure the kids are being treated well?” I shook my head and scrubbed my hands down my face. “I just… It’s not okay.”
He took my arm and leaned into me. “We’ll discuss it tonight. I want details.”
“It’ll be late. The surprise I set up for the kids? It’s happening as soon as we get back to Southampton.”
“Do I even want to know?”
I patted his shoulder. “Probably not.”
“I get the feeling that I’m going to be pissed off about this.”
“Probably so.”
“Fuck.”
I smiled at him as I opened the door and climbed into the truck. “All right, everyone. On to the surprise. And if you’re still too good for ice cream on the way, I’ll be eating solo.”