Holding Aisling down while pulling open a diaper proves to be more challenging in reality than it did for the mom on YouTube, but I work at it, finally getting it spread out. Seconds later, I have her out of her bikini bottom and am ready to unleash the devastation that is the poop diaper. I take a deep breath and almost gag until I manage to get it out from under her and roll it up. I grab for the wipes, my eyes now watering from the intensity of the stench. My fingers can’t work fast enough to pull out wipe after wipe, some of them getting jammed in the stupid container.
Oh my God, I would so much rather impale someone with a hot fire poker than do this…
Dante chuckles behind me as I finally finish wiping every bit of the poop away. I glance next to the baby and bite down on my lower lip. That’s a pile of dirty wipes. The mom in the
I scream at her in my mind.
“Lemme help you out,” he says, coming up behind me and reaching for the pile of wipes. He stuffs them into a Ziploc, along with the diaper, and tosses it all into a trash can.
All while he’s pressed against my back.
And it’s making my fingers tremble as I try to fasten this clean diaper.
I squeeze my eyes shut. This is not ideal at all.
My evident incompetence with babies, my insatiable appetite for
I’m here to do a job…one with a very murky objective which I hope will become more clear very quickly, but a job nonetheless.
“Trust fund babies would never have done that,” he murmurs against my ear. My spine stiffens, heat radiating throughout my body as it did when I was plastered against him last night, and again at the Bellagio only hours earlier.
“Dante?” Heaven calls out. “Are you guys in here?”
“Yep,” he replies, reaching over me to tickle Aisling’s belly before giving me a long, hard lust-filled look.
Oh, yeah.
I caught that.
Not like he was looking to hide it.
The corners of his lips curl upward.
Oh, no. He definitely wanted his message to be received.
And I got it loud and clear.
I suck in a breath as he heads out of the nursery and scoop up the baby who no longer smells like sewage. She blows her own version of a raspberry and despite myself, I smile.
She’s pretty freaking adorable. I shouldn’t let my deep-seated hatred of her family touch her.
None of this is her fault.
Just like the hell Maks and I experienced after our parents’ death wasn’t our fault.
The kids are always the victims.
I wrap my arms around her tight. “I know it doesn’t look like you’re a victim, but trust me, you are. And your parents are selfish assholes for saddling you with that reality,” I whisper into her ear. She giggles and grabs hold of my hoop earring.
“Whoa!” I say, peeling her tiny hand off of it. “You’re going to pull it right off! Such a strong little girl!” I say in a sing-song voice.
Shit, now I sound just like the rest of them.
“Oh, Anya!” Heaven says, breezing into the nursery. “I was worried when you disappeared from the pool, but I knew Dante was with you, and he…well, he’s good to have around in case of a crisis.” She winks at me.
Yes, in the case of a crisis where a group of insurgents tried to overtake the pool deck. It would be good to have a professional assassin on my side.
But she doesn’t elaborate and I don’t ask the question.
No need to, since I already have the answer.
At least to one question.
She takes Aisling and ushers me into the living room where Matteo and Dante are standing against the windows. Dante eyes me like he’s a starving man and I’m a slab of raw meat.
Matteo, on the other hand, just eyes me with that curious-slash-suspicious gaze. I’d seen it just before he pulled Heaven away from uttering the job offer that was on the tip of her tongue.
I grit my teeth. He doesn’t look to be on board the Anya Welcome Wagon.
Shoot. How the hell am I going to get what Uncle Boris needs if I don’t get this job? I mean, am I going to have to seduce Dante to get back up here if they go in a different direction?
Actually…
That sounds pretty damn good to me, and I feel my nipples pebble under my dress as the thought percolates…everything I’d have to do in the name of family loyalty…all of the salacious sacrifices I’d have to make…
Argh! I flash a tight smile at them all, ignoring my inner battle.
This is for Maks, not for me!
How can I even think these things, knowing what I do about these people?
A tiny voice reminds me that I still don’t have the full story, but it doesn’t matter. I’m convinced that I am surrounded by evil…a worse evil, at the very least.
Okay, well, whatever happens, I will figure out my next steps. I cannot be stopped. I will do what Uncle Boris couldn’t and avenge my brother’s death.
Somehow.
“Anya,” Heaven says, a big smile spreading across her pink cheeks. “We’d like to offer you the job, if you are interested. Matteo and I talked it over, made a few more calls, and we think you’d be a perfect fit for us!”
I gasp. “Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I would love to!”