Chapter 10

Nova

I was stunned into silence.

Aria had just referred to me as her mother. This couldn’t end well.

“Alpha Dominic, I would never even consider replacing your late wife,” I said quickly, whirling to face Dominic once more. “I hope you know this.”

Dominic’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t look at me right away. Instead, he looked at Aria with that strange, assessing gaze of his. “Aria, why did you say that?” he asked.

Oddly, his tone wasn’t accusatory. If anything, it seemed to me as if he were simply curious as to why Aria would refer to me as “Mommy.”

Aria looked a little bashful now, but she held her ground between us, as if her tiny form could stop Dominic from firing me.

“Because I feel like she’s my mom,” she said firmly, planting her hands on her hips—her teddy bear dangling to one side. “She teaches me what to do and what not to do.”

Dominic looked a little confused, and Aria went on, “Like earlier, I asked Miss Nova to get my rubber ducky from your bathroom because I knew you were in there and I wanted you to be alone together. I thought you might fall in love that way and she could be my real mommy.”

My face flushed at the reminder of that all-too-recent encounter. Even now, I could picture Dominic’s firm chest beneath his shirt, and I had to look away so my mouth didn’t water at the sight of his large biceps straining against his sleeves.

What had come over me? Maybe it had been too long since I’d been with a man—especially after the betrayal by Henry—and one glimpse at a man’s bare torso was enough to drive me mad.

That had to be it.

I wasn’t fantasizing about my boss in that way. I was just a little over my head, that’s all.

Dominic, for his part, just looked more disappointed in Aria now than anything. “So that was what happened?” he asked, glancing at me for a second. “You thought we would fall in love if you made up a situation like that?”

Aria nodded vehemently. “Yes! So you see, it was all my fault. Not Miss Nova’s fault. She even told me how bad it was after I did it and said that I should respect both of your feelings. She told me she wouldn’t fall in love with her boss. She wouldn’t do anything bad on purpose.”

I waited, silently bracing myself for Dominic to still blame me for everything. After all, I had been caught in his late wife’s memorial room.

But to my surprise, he simply scooped Aria up, holding her gently against his chest just as he had the other day. His face was expressionless, betraying nothing of his earlier anger—or anything else, for that matter.

“Well, then let’s see who the real bad guy is, shall we?” he asked.

I stared after him as he carried Aria out of the room, gesturing for me to follow.

Did he really just say the words “bad guy”? Like some kind of cartoon superhero?

A few minutes later, we found the twin maids sitting in the dimly lit kitchen around a small farm table. They had two steaming cups of tea between them, and while they weren’t talking, they were both grinning like two kittens that had gotten into the cream.

I bristled as I saw them together but held my head high. The twins shot to their feet, eyes darting nervously to me as Dominic strode up to them.

“The new nanny tells me you were bullying her,” Dominic said bluntly, with little emotion in his voice. “I came to hear your side of the story.”

Anna’s eyes widened. “Bullying her?” she scoffed. “What did she say we did?”

Jaw ticking, I held up my wrist to display the bracelet Lila had made for me. “This doesn’t ring a bell?”

“She said you threw her belongings into my wife’s memorial room and locked her inside. And yet you know fully well that that room is off-limits to everyone except me,” Dominic grunted.

Lilly shook her head. “But we didn’t—”

“You both know how important that room is,” Dominic went on, his voice dropping an octave. “Hazing a new member of the staff is bad enough, but to trample on my late wife’s memory like that…”

His eyes darkened, those little galaxies winking out one by one like suns being eaten by a black hole. The sight made me shudder. “I won’t stand for it,” he finished.

The twins looked utterly guilty. Anna just stared at the floor, her face pale. Meanwhile, Lilly’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish gasping for breath.

“We’re sorry, Alpha,” Anna finally whispered.

Lilly nodded quickly. “Yes, Sir. We’re very sorry. We’ll work extra hard tomorrow to make up for it.”

“No need. You’re both fired, effective immediately,” Dominic said coldly.

The maids gasped. I jerked my head toward Dominic, completely taken by surprise. I expected him to punish the maids for something like this, but to fire them entirely?

He really must have been the type to take his household rules seriously.

And he really must have missed his wife dearly.

“P-Please, Sir,” Lilly finally managed, clasping her hands together, “we need this job—we didn’t mean to—”

“I have very few rules in this house,” Dominic growled. “As maids here, you have spent three years living in the lap of luxury—given your own suites, virtually free rein of the mansion, generous benefits and time off, and a salary most people would dream of.”

“But—”

“Tonight, you have trod on my late wife’s memory over a petty squabble—you have broken the biggest rule I’ve put in place simply because you’re angry that a human has been hired here. I won’t allow you to remain living under my roof, benefiting from my bank account, with that kind of attitude.”

I, suddenly feeling bad, stepped forward. “Alpha Dominic, surely there must be another option.”

“No.” Dominic’s eyes didn’t even glance at me. “Lilly, Anna, you must pack your things and leave as soon as possible. You will receive severance pay at your new address.”

The maids were both sobbing openly by now, but there was no arguing with Dominic’s decision. They both hurried out of the room, their cries fading away until the kitchen was cast into silence.

I turned to Dominic, momentarily speechless.

“You didn’t have to fire them just for me,” I whispered.

Only then did Dominic look at me. “I didn’t do it for you,” he said coolly. “I have standards for my staff, and they failed them. You would also do well to take note of the sort of consequences that come from violating my household rules.”

I realized that he was serious and nodded. Even if it was harsh, he was being clear about his expectations and fair in his punishments. I still felt a little guilty over what happened with the maids, but I couldn’t entirely blame Dominic for the decision he’d made.

Before I could leave, however, Aria held up her hand.

“Daddy, I think since you were so mean to Miss Nova earlier, you should invite her out for dinner with us tomorrow.”

I stiffened, not expecting Dominic to accept. But to my surprise, when I looked at him, he did seem a little guilty after everything that had happened.

He glanced at me and nodded. “Very well. We’ll go out tomorrow evening.”