His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 197

#Chapter 197: Straight From the Heart

Moana

We headed upstairs after the police officer dropped us off. When we arrived, Selina and the maids were sitting on the couch and immediately jumped up when they heard us coming.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Selina cried, rushing toward me and pulling me into her arms. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, then put my finger over my lips and pointed at Ella, who was still sleeping on Edrick’s shoulder. Selina nodded and wiped her tears away. Edrick took Ella back to her room without a word, leaving me alone with Selina and the maids.

“Moana, what happened?” Amy asked, keeping her voice low. “We were worried sick.”

“I’ll explain everything tomorrow,” I said. “But we’re okay. We’re safe.”

This didn’t seem to fully satisfy the maids. Lily opened her mouth to ask me more questions, but Selina hushed her and sent them both off to her room. Selina left, too, but not before giving me another tight hug that took me just as much by surprise as the first one. As she hugged me, I couldn’t help but relax a bit into her arms, feeling comforted by the old housekeeper’s touch. When we pulled away, there were tears in both of our eyes. Selina looked like she was about to say something, but she seemed to decide against it and instead simply patted my hand gently before leaving.

A few minutes later, Edrick returned to the living room. He looked exhausted, and his clothes were torn and filthy. Mine were just as dirty, no doubt from being dragged at some point while I was unconscious.

Neither of us spoke as we cleaned ourselves off and changed into clean pajamas. We climbed into bed and laid there motionless in the darkness for a long time, but I knew that neither of us would be able to sleep — and I couldn’t keep my story in any longer. I felt as though it was best to get it out now, before it was too late.

“I ran away,” I admitted, feeling a lump form in my throat as I stared up at the ceiling. “This is all my fault. For weeks, I’ve been talking to Olivia; she convinced me that you were going to take my baby from me, and that you’re just using me to get another Alpha heir. I found out that you were putting those drops in my coffee, and then I decided to run away with Ella.”

Edrick was silent for a long time. The entire time I felt as though my heart would burst out of my chest, wondering what he was going to say. I wondered if he would yell at me or kick me out. Was it possible to denounce a mate?

But he didn’t do any of those things. In fact, he did quite the opposite.