“Oh, so your dad is back?” I tried to sound casual as I helped her hop up onto the kitchen island. I started pulling ingredients out of the fridge.
“I don’t know. Iris will come to my room if Papa wants to see me.”
“Why? Can’t you go and see your daddy without Iris?” I turned to see her frowning.
“Papa gets angry if I go to his room without his permission. He doesn’t really go in there, he usually works from his office. Because he’s with important men.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging her little shoulders.
“Don’t worry. After breakfast, we’ll go out and find something fun to do.” I gave her a wink as her eyes widened in excitement.
“Yeah! But there are men… We can’t go out when they’re here. Iris won’t let us. She’ll tell Papa.”
I placed the vegetables I had just retrieved from the fridge on the table and put my hands on her shoulders. “Then we’ll sneak out without telling anyone. Iris won’t have any idea that we’ve gone out, so Daddy won’t know anything.”
Her eyes lit up just thinking about going out. Thea wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, and I couldn’t just leave her home alone. I was used to being able to come and go as I pleased, but once I’d gotten here, I was stuck in the house with her. The only solution was to sneak Thea out with me. We’d gone to the local mall once, and now that we’d tasted freedom, we were tired of staying home all the time.
“How are we gonna sneak out?” Thea asked as I cracked eggs over the pan. “There’s men everywhere.”
I winked at her. “Don’t worry, Thea. I know a thing or two about sneaking out. We’ll be able to get out of here without anyone knowing.”
Thea looked a little skeptical, but I could tell she was also intrigued.
I started mixing ingredients while Thea got herself a glass of orange juice from the automatic juicer. Damn, these rich people really did have everything.
“So, where are we gonna go?” Thea asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Well, we could go to the park,” I offered, but Thea scrunched up her nose. I had to laugh at that. She was right. The park did sound boring.
I pulled plates out of the cupboard and laid them out on the counter. “We could go to the amusement park.”
By now, I knew where I was. We were in Cornwall, with at least three amusement parks within driving distance.
“What’s that?” asked Thea, cocking her head to one side.
I looked over at her, incredulous. How could she not know what an amusement park was? Was her father really that strict?
I had to shiver at the thought. I hated strictness.
But for some reason, I still felt intrigued by the man.
“Flower, the eggs,” Thea said, pulling me back to reality. I looked down at the pan.
“Shoot,” I yelped, sliding the omelet, which was starting to steam, onto Thea’s plate.
I brought it over and set it down in front of her.
“All right, eat up,” I said, ruffling her hair. “And then our great escape begins.”
By the time we were dressed and ready to go, I had to admit Thea had been right to be skeptical about our chances.
It was easy enough for me to snag the car keys from the kitchen drawer. But getting out was another thing.
These new men in the house were blocking every single exit.
I even tried bringing us out via the pool deck, but found two men in crisp black suits glaring at us from the gate.
“Darn it,” I mumbled as Thea and I made our way out to the side porch, only to find a severe-looking woman guarding that exit.
To keep the guards from being suspicious, I had to make it look like we were just searching for a good place to do arts and crafts.
Thea leaned against the wall while I tapped my chin thoughtfully. Where wouldn’t there be any guards?
Then it came to me. A devilish smile crossed my face, although I felt my nerves rising.
“You know where we haven’t tried yet?”
“Where?” asked Thea curiously.
“Your papa’s bedroom. I’ll bet it has its own porch or something.”
Thea’s face went white, and she shook her head very fast. “No porch,” she said.
“No? Okay, a window will do,” I said excitedly. “Like you said, he’s always in his office, so he won’t be in there.”
Thea didn’t look convinced.
This was crazy. A little girl shouldn’t be scared of her father. Sure, it was a little risky to sneak out through my boss’s room, but I’d been hired to keep Thea safe and happy. And standing up to her stuffy old father definitely came under that heading.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of her father’s bedroom. Iris had shown it to me on my first day and warned me that it was nearly as restricted as his private wing.
When we reached the huge oak door, my heart started to pound in my chest.
Thea looked nervous too. But I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Stepping into his grand bedroom, I had to let out a big breath.
It was empty. The door to the bathroom was ajar, but the whole room was silent, and the bed was made, meaning the cleaners had already been in.
He wasn’t here.
Fixing my gaze on the huge window across the room, a smile lit up my face.
The room was at ground level, and the window was ajar, revealing the flowing front lawn beyond it, with the road visible in the distance. And not a guard in sight.
“Come on,” I whispered, pulling Thea after me. We were going to make it.
I lifted Thea up and out of the window, setting her carefully down in the grass.
“Hurry, Flower,” she whispered, still nervous. “Before Papa sees.”
I laughed, placing one foot on the window sill. “Oh, come on, baby. Your papa will never know.”
But before I could climb out, a gruff voice boomed across the room behind me.
Slowly, I turned, feeling my heart rising into my throat.
And when I saw the man glaring at me from across the bedroom, my mouth went dry.
He was shirtless, with a towel wrapped around his middle. It couldn’t be plainer that he’d just gotten out of the shower. His firm wall of tanned abs drew my eye.
But not as much as his face.
It was the same face I’d seen splashed across magazines and TikToks for the last decade.
Dark hair. Piercing blue eyes.
This couldn’t be happening.
I had just been caught trying to sneak out of the house by the infamous Theodore Jefferson.
