His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 185

#Chapter 185: The Cab Driver

Moana

Ella took my outstretched hand. As I helped her get up, she rubbed her eyes sleepily and looked up at me with more confusion written across her face.

“You’re taking me to meet my real mommy?” she murmured. “What do you mean? My mommy is dead.”

“Ella…” I crouched down to her level and held her by both shoulders, looking at her intensely. “I’ll explain later, okay? For now, I just need you to trust me. Do you trust me?”

Ella stared at me for a few moments, looking skeptical, before she finally nodded and didn’t ask any more questions. I helped her get dressed quickly, then put her shoes on and grabbed both of our bags. Opening the door just a crack, I checked once more to make sure that the apartment was still quiet. It seemed as though everyone was asleep. Of course, there was still a chance that Edrick was awake, so we would have to move quickly. I took Ella’s hand and quickly led her across the living room and over to the foyer.

Since the elevator would ding and make noise, I decided to take us downstairs through the fire exit stairs. I quietly opened the fire exit door next to the elevator and brought Ella into the dimly lit concrete stairwell with me.

“Moana,” she said, pausing at the top of the stairs, “why are we going down this way? I never go down this way, and it’s scary in here.”

“I know, love,” I said gently, still holding her hand. “But I’m right here with you. See?” I walked down the first couple of steps and then turned to look back up at her. She stared at me, still with that skeptical look on her face, before she shakily took the first step.

It took us longer than I would have liked, but eventually we made it down to the bottom floor. I couldn’t walk us through the lobby where people would see us — although I was certain that someone would eventually see us on the cameras later, and I hoped that we would be long gone by then — so I took us instead through the back door that led to the alleyway.

Once again, Ella paused reluctantly and looked up at me with confusion. But she didn’t ask anything this time, and bit her lip and followed me instead.

Someday, I knew that I would have to explain everything to her. I hoped that she would understand and not resent me for everything that was happening that night, but I wasn’t sure. All I knew for sure was that this was for the best; even if she hated me when she got older and never wanted to see me again, I could at least rest easy knowing that I had gotten her away from a dangerous living situation.

I led Ella down the dark alleyway, checking over my shoulder the entire time, before we eventually came out onto the street behind the penthouse.

And, just as Olivia said there would be, there was a cab waiting for us a little ways down the street.

“Come on, Ella,” I said quietly. She seemed to hesitate again, but freedom was so close, and so I picked her up and rushed down the street with her in one arm, my bag in my other hand, and Ella’s new school backpack slung over my shoulder.

“Moana, I’m scared,” Ella whimpered as we ran closer to the waiting cab.

As she spoke, I felt tears poking at the backs of my eyes. Involuntarily, I froze for a moment and took one last look up at the penthouse.

Inside, Edrick was likely laying in bed and trying to sleep, completely oblivious to the fact that I was running away and stealing his daughter. The longer I looked up at the penthouse, imagining the lonely Alpha billionaire tossing and turning, the more I remembered how it felt to sleep in his arms. How it felt to wake up with him and feel the warm sun shining in through his open window. How it felt to see his smiling face when I finished the school day with Ella.