His Nanny Mate By Eve Above Story
Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Chapter 96: A Proposition

Moana

As I watched Edrick and Kelly walk away together, I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Not only that,but she was wearing the exact same dress as I was! Even Verona did a double take when she sawKelly walk up to us.

When they were gone, Verona quickly came over to me and took my hand.

“Don’t worry about it, dear,” she said gently, giving my hand a squeeze. “Kelly… Well, she’s not a badgirl, really, but she’s always had a bit of an infatuation with Edrick. She’ll get bored eventually and stoppestering you.”

“It’s alright,” I replied with a smile, even though I couldn’t help but feel bad. “It’s just a dress.”

Verona gave me a sad look. I felt as though I would cry and ruin my makeup if I kept standing here, so Iquickly excused myself under the guise of performing my job duties as a nanny and went to look forElla. After several minutes of walking around and weaving my way through the growing crowd, I finallyspotted Ella over by the snack bar with her friends. As children often do, they were stuffing their cheekswith sweets.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat as I came up to Ella, folding my arms across my chest and looking down ather. The other kids saw me and quickly ran away, but she slowly turned to face me and gave me asheepish smile, her cheeks round with cream puff pastries. “You’ll spoil your appetite, young lady,” Isaid, stifling a laugh at the little girl’s chipmunk-like appearance.

She chewed for a minute, then finally swallowed with a big gulp. “Sorry,” she muttered, staring down atthe floor. “I was hungry.”

“Well, at least get a plate and sit down when you eat,” I said gently, taking her hand as I began to leadher away from the snacks. “It’s not very polite to eat like that.”

I led Ella back to Verona, who was still waiting by her table as she talked to a servant, seemingly givingorders judging from the way that she pointed and gestured at various tables. The servant noddedunderstandingly before scurrying off. Verona let out a sigh, then finally noticed Ella coming and a widesmile spread across her face. Ella ran up to her, grinning from ear to ear as her grandmother showeredher with kisses.

I hadn’t even fully caught up yet when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. At first, I thought it wasEdrick needing something from me — but when I turned around, I felt myself go pale as a sheet when Isaw that it wasn’t in fact Edrick, but was instead his father, Michael. He was staring down at me with aterse smile spread across his face, but his eyes were cold and stern.

“Care for a dance?” he said, holding out his hand.

“I— Um—” I stuttered, my heart practically pounding out of my chest as a million thoughts racedthrough my mind. Why was Michael Morgan asking me to dance if not to confront me about thepregnancy? Even if it wasn’t about the pregnancy, it certainly had something to do with my relationshipwith his son. I was sure of it.

“Well, is that a yes or a no?” he asked. “Come along. I like this song. I’d like to dance before it ends.”

Before I could resist, Michael’s hand dug into my shoulder and he guided me somewhat roughly over tothe dance floor. He then turned to face me and took one of my hands in his, then put his other hand onmy waist. I could feel my own hands trembling as I placed my free hand on his shoulder.

“U-Um, thank you,” I managed to squeak out, forcing a tense smile as we began to dance to the music.Michael was a stern leader, and I almost felt as though I was being thrown around a bit as we danced.“This is a lovely song.”

“Mhm.”

For a few moments, we danced in silence. He smelled like an almost sickly combination of whiskey,cigar smoke, and cologne. It made me want to gag, and started to trigger my morning sickness, but Isomehow managed to keep my cool in front of him.

“I suppose I’ll cut right to the chase,” he finally said after a couple of minutes, a tense smile still spreadacross his face while his eyes scanned the crowd around us, doing anything but looking at me. “Howmuch will it cost to make you go away?”

I stopped in my tracks, but Michael hardly seemed to notice and kept pulling me along as we danced,nearly causing me to stumble. I didn’t know what to say; what did he mean? Why was he doing this?Why now, especially, right in the middle of a huge party?

“Uh… Pardon me?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat.

Michael scoffed. “I know you’re pregnant with my son’s child,” he said, lowering his voice. The way thatthe smile stayed plastered on his face, as though we were just having a casual conversation, made mesick. If I reacted, not only would it make a scene in front of so many people — many of whom werelooking at us, wondering why Michael Morgan was dancing with a human — but it would also appearas though I was acting erratically if he appeared so calm and cordial. No one could see the way that hisfingers dug into my skin.

It was now, for the first time in the past couple of days, that Mina suddenly began to appear. I quicklypushed her down, knowing that she would try to encourage me to do something rash, and I was afraidthat Michael would do something to my baby.

“I— I’m not looking for money,” I said, my voice shaking. “I don’t want anything.”

Michael let out a wry chuckle. He dipped me with a bit of force, then pulled me back up, making myhead spin. To everyone else, it just looked like an elaborate dance, but to me it was a deliberate act ofviolence. “I won’t have my family name sullied by yet another illegitimate child,” he said. “Ella is badenough as it is; to add not only another child, but a human child at that…” He tsked. “I won’t have it.Name your price, and leave my family alone.”

“I’m not trying to sully your family’s name,” I replied. Mina wouldn’t be quelled, and I felt her angerbubbling up inside of me.

“Tell him,” she growled. “Tell him you’re a werewolf. That’ll shut him up.”

I shook my head slightly, ignoring her. “I only met your son because he offered me a job.” That was alie, to an extent, but I didn’t care; I would say anything to get away from Michael now before he hurt mybaby.

“A job?” he laughed. “What about the expensive clothes, hm? The penthouse? The fancy dinners andprofessional stylists? Were those part of the job description?”

The lump in my throat grew bigger. I didn’t have an answer for that; of course those things weren’t partof the job description, but I also insisted every step of the way that Edrick didn’t need to spoil me likethat. It was his decision to do those things, not mine. I only got pregnant by accident.

Before I could answer, however, the song finally came to an end. Much to my surprise, Michael steppedback and bowed.

“Curtsy,” he snarled.

My eyes widened. “What?”

Michael glanced up, glaring at me. “Curtsy, you whore.”

I wanted to scream, but I did as he said and curtsied to end our dance. The people around us, entirelyoblivious to the situation, clapped enthusiastically.

Michael stood, straightening his jacket. As the crowd filled in once more, the smile on his face fadedand was replaced with a distinct look of disgust.

“I’ll give you until the end of the night to decide,” he said. “Take the money, or don’t. Either way… Iwon’t allow you to continue seeing my son.”