Page 89 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

His hands curled against his desk, nostrils flaring as he glared at me. “It is if I say it is. I get to decide who she’s allowed to be around. That includes family, friends, and staff.”

Staff.

Yep, that was me. I swallowed the sick taste on the back of my tongue.

“And I won’t have people questioning my decisions in my own house!” he growled.

I released a heavy breath. “Does that mean I’m fired?”

Some of the fight went out of him at that, his hands flattening against the desk. I knew he was in defensive mode, but some rational part of him had obviously realized that firing me would make his life and Kenna’s a hell of a lot more difficult, especially since he’d just pissed off her other two childcare options.

“No, I still need your help with Kenna,” he admitted. “But I am going to insist on my rules being followed without question.”

I nodded, defeat ringing through me. I knew this had probably been a lost cause when I’d walked in here, but hearing him speak just reinforced the distance between us now—the line he’d drawn in the sand with me very firmly placed on the other side. He’d hunkered down to protect what mattered to him, and I didn’t make the list.

So what the hell was I doing here?

If I was really just an employee, that should mean showing up when my shift started and leaving when it ended. Living here made it too easy for the boundaries to blur. I’d gotten overly invested in these two people, and for my own peace of mind, I needed some space. I could continue being Kenna’s nanny for a little while longer while he sorted childcare, but I needed to start treating this as a job and nothing more, which meant separating myself from the family and the drama.

“Do you have an issue with that?” Alistair asked.

I blinked at him.

“Following my rules?” he reiterated.

I sucked my teeth. “No,” I said. “But from now on, I think it’s best that I have some space from Dunhope while I continue nannying for you. Tomorrow, I’ll show up to work my shift, but…I’m not going to stay here any longer.”

I’m not going to stay with you.

I stared at him hard, studying every microexpression, but he either had the world’s best poker face…or he genuinely didn’t care. All I got was a sharp nod. “Make sure you’re here by eight.”

I turned on my heel instead of responding, feeling like the world might drop out from under me as I all but ran back to the guest room. I started grabbing clothes at random, stuffing them into my duffle bag without really seeing what I was doing as tears blurred my vision.

Emily had told me not to fall for this man. Not to cling to a person or a place where I’d never find home, but I’d gone and done it anyway.

And look where that had left me.

Lost and alone.

Because this was truly the end of us, wasn’t it?

I blinked away the tears and picked up my phone, dialing Locke. He answered on the first ring. “Madison?”

“When I first got to town, you promised to find me a place to stay if I felt like I couldn’t stay with Alistair anymore.” I sucked in a shaky breath. “Does that promise still hold?”

“Of course,” he said. “We’ve got room for you at the inn.”

27

ALISTAIR

For the next week, Kenna remained out of sorts with me, Madison avoided ever being in the same room with me, and Locke and Weston weren’t even speaking to me. Given all of that, I’d actually believed that things couldn’t get worse…but now I had this.

I stared down in horror at the news alert that had just flashed across my phone: Destination developer in hot water after investors sound the alarm.

I’d only just spoken to Brian about my investment a week ago. Christ, my business investments were just about the only thing in my life that hadn’t gone to shit. But now with this…I was going to be the laughingstock of the whole industry. I started reading the American Business Times article, my heart racing.

Travel tech entrepreneur Brian Marsh, once celebrated for the rapid growth of his ambitious travel platform Destination, is facing mounting scrutiny after leaked documents revealed that the company has laundered millions of dollars for various illegitimate entities through a network of shell companies. According to multiple sources, Marsh is now under investigation after investors claimed they were misled…