Page 55 of Merciless Daddy

There it was again.

The reflex.

She could have left. She had wanted freedom most of her life, and she had stood inside an open lift with an unwatched route beneath her feet. Yet she had returned because a maid she met that morning might someday pay for the weakness.

I closed my hand around the fob.

“Thank you.”

She blinked.

“For telling me,” I said. “The codes change now. Staff credentials become time-limited. Two cameras on the landing, neither behind the cart line. Deliveries get an escort who does not leave the floor until the lift closes.”

“No punishment for the housekeeper.”

“No.”

“Or Lucia.”

“No.”

“Your guard will want somebody blamed.”

“He should blame himself. But he can blame me.”

Her gaze moved over my face. “You say that easily.”

“I don’t mind taking the blame. I’ve been taking the blame my whole life.”

I called the security room and gave the orders. The work began before I ended the call. No committee. No argument. New credentials, new camera angles, revised delivery procedure.

Yelena watched me.

“What?” I asked.

“You listened.”

“Well, I’m not going to ignore you when you’re right.”

“Most men generally ignore me.”

“I am not most men.”

“No,” she said. “You’re much taller.”

I stepped closer.

“It’s not the only way I’m bigger.”

Her eyes widened.

“You’re a clever girl, Yelena. You found the weakness. You tested it. You came back because somebody else might be hurt.” The words formed before I decided whether I should allow them. “Good girl.”

Her pupils widened.

Her breath caught so softly nobody farther than a foot away would have heard it.

I heard.