Page 58 of The Bratva King

I think about Gabby. She’s soft-spoken, but she’s strong. She doesn’t take my shit.

“Maybe she killed her ex,” I suggest.

“And you moved her into your house. Better sleep with one eye open.”

“I can handle one woman.”

“I’m sure that’s what her ex thought, too.”

15

Gabby

I sit in the small living room off the foyer. I’m judging. I don’t mean to, but I am. The woman is in her mid-forties, wearing no makeup, and with her hair pulled back into an aggressively tight bun. She’s not ugly, but there’s zero warmth.

I hold my notepad and list of questions, feeling like a fraud.

Her name is Diane. She has twelve years of experience. She’s worked with children with sensory processing challenges. She has CPR certification, a clean background check, and references from three families in Summerlin.

She costs forty-two dollars an hour.

I write it down on my notepad, so I have something to do with my hand.

Forty-two dollars. Per hour. For a forty-hour week, that’s more than sixteen hundred dollars. Per week.

I smile and ask her about her approach to routine.

I feel terrible wasting her time, but Nikolai set this up. I don’t want him to think I’m ungrateful.

I thank her and tell her I’ll be in touch.

I won’t be in touch.

The second nanny arrives, and I repeat the process. This one is a hard no. She’s young and gorgeous. And for some silly reason, that bothers me. I have zero reason to be jealous. Nikolai and I are nothing. He works in a casino surrounded by gorgeous women.

She’s cheaper, but still way out of my budget. I understand why Nikolai thought a nanny service was the best option. In a perfect world, it would be. But he doesn’t understand that I don’t live in his world. Sitters like Carla are what I can afford.

I have another interview in an hour. I don’t want to keep going through the motions.

I look out the window.

Outside, through the glass, I see Galina moving across the back garden. Luke is two steps ahead of her, his dinosaur backpack on even though we’re not going anywhere. He does that. He wears it around the house sometimes because it has his things in it. Being in a new place, he likes having his things close. It helps him manage his world.

He stops at the edge of the pool area. The gate is closed. I checked it three times this morning before the first nanny arrived. There’s a latch on it, but my mom brain spins a million scenarios about how it could come unlatched.

Galina stops beside him. They stand there together, looking at the water. I watch Luke point at something in the pool. His head has that tilt to it that means he’s thinking hard.

She says something to him, and Luke looks at her. He’s listening to her. I have the briefest thought and then feel a little bad. Maybe Galina understands how to talk to Luke because she works for Nikolai. He has some of the same traits Luke does. I’ve noticed them. He’s quiet. Observant. Intelligent.

It gives me hope for my son. Nikolai has built an empire. His differences didn’t hold him back in any way. If anything, they work for him. They helped make him successful. Maybe he could teach Luke how to use those differences instead of fighting them. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that for my son.

I watch Galina walk the perimeter of the pool with him. I hope she’s telling him to stay out. He needs swim lessons. We’ve never lived anywhere with a pool. He cannot swim, and now, he’s living in a house with a pool. Even with the gate locked, the gate is only as reliable as the last person who closed it.

I finish my last interview and go to find Galina and Luke. I've loved having this extra time with him that I never had before.

Nikolai comes home at nine, earlier than I expected. He’d been out late the night before, and I’d assumed tonight would be the same. So, I put Luke to bed and snuck downstairs for a snack, thinking I had the kitchen to myself.

I’m caught red-handed by the man of the house.