Chapter 255

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” I call back through the door.

Now that I know who she is, I can see some of Steven’s features in his mother’s face, as well as their behavior. Mrs. Hayes seems demure and quiet. Though she is raising her voice to speak with me through the door, that does not seem as if it’s the norm for her.

“You are a smart girl, and I know you care about my sons,” Mrs. Hayes says. “It is because of that care that I approach you like this. I’m hoping, together, that we will be able to devise a plan to stop this fighting between my sons and their father before things rise out of hand. I don’t want to see anyone hurt.”

On the surface, that is a justifiable desire. And certainly one that a mother should feel.

But I don’t know anything about this woman. The brothers so rarely mention their mom. Honestly, I began to suspect she was dead. Obviously she is very much alive, for her to be here in front of me now.

“We can talk through the door,” I say.

“It’s unsafe for me here,” she says, and her voice trembles slightly. “You know enough about my husband to understand why I shouldn’t be seen here.”

Alpha King Hayes acted like a vicious asshole to the woman he’d had an affair with. I could only imagine the hardships he regularly inflicts on his actual wife.

Mrs. Hayes does appear to be alone. There’s no one else in the hallway. And she seems sincere.

Surely the mother would want the best for her sons, and be against her cheating husband. Maybe we could find common ground.

I look her over, as much as I can see through the peephole. She’s wearing expensive-looking clothing, a long dress and a wrap, but they seem to cover an overly-thin, frail looking woman.

If things go sideways, I’m fairly confident I can take her in a fight.

With all these things considered, I slowly open unlock the door and pull it open.

When I see her without the barrier, she is even smaller and frailer looking in person. Forget me taking her in a fight, she looks like a light breeze might knock her over.

I double check down the hallway but she is indeed alone. Seeing that I open the door more fully, enough for her to slip inside. Once she does, I close the door behind her. I lock it.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Mrs. Hayes says. Her smile is soft and sweet. Despite her frail appearance and her overly pricey clothing, she kind of reminds me of my mom in that moment.

I relax a little, thinking that. Though not enough that I’ll take my eyes off her.

She glances around my penthouse. She startles slightly at the state of my living room. I can understand that. Most of the furniture is still pushed up against the walls. I direct her into the kitchen instead and invite her to sit on one of the stools near the island. I circle around to stand on the other side.

I feel better when I’m the one closer to my knives.

I don’t not trust her. But I’m not taking chances.

She continues looking around with that same shocked expression she had in the living room. It strikes me as odd. The kitchen is decent and I cleaned up. There’s no dirty dishes in the sink. I even mopped up yesterday so the floors are clean.

“Such a… quaint living space,” she says, and this time her smile seems strained somewhat.

I force myself to have patience. I’ve spent enough time around these hoity-toity types now that I know she’s just not used to anything but the finest mansions. I could tell her that this living space is godly for a student on campus, and that her sons picked it out for me, but I doubt she’d believe either of those facts.

“I can make some coffee? Or some tea?” I ask.

“Oh. Tea, please. What kind do you have?”

I tell her my list. Albeit it’s a shorter list, but I think I have a nice variety. Yet the more I talk, the more her nose wrinkles up.

“I’m afraid to ask what kind of coffee you have.”

I feel like, whatever was on sale at the grocery store, is the wrong answer here, so I just let it drop. “How about water?”

“Water is wonderful,” Mrs. Hayes says, smiling again.

I reach for a glass and then turn my back to her to fill it up at the tap. When I turn back around to face her, her smile has vanished. I place the glass of water in front of her, but she looks at it as if I’d just offered her a vat of toxic sludge.

Do rich people only drink bottled water? She was going to be disappointed then.

When Mrs. Hayes looks at me again, her smile returns. I notice she doesn’t make a single move toward the water, not even an inch.

“You know, Chloe,” Mrs. Hayes says. “I’ve heard so much about you from my sons.”

That surprises me right out of the gate. The brothers talk about me? That doesn’t seem likely, but then I don’t really know their relationship to their mother.

“But sometimes they withhold certain details,” she says, laughing a little.

Okay, yeah. That sounds more like them.

“I’m just so curious how you view your relationship,” she says, and then looks at me expectantly.

“Oh. I was just the Nanny,” I say, unsure how much the brothers would want me to admit to their mom. I’m certainly not about to regale her with our sexual exploits. Though I don’t seem the harm in admitting, “I think we’re something like friends.”

“Something like?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I reply. Even if I was being entirely forthcoming with the facts and details, I still wouldn’t know how to properly describe my relationship with her sons. Sometimes it feels like we aren’t even friends. Other times, I’m half-certain I might be in love with them.

I feel confused on the best of days. There’s really no hope of making anyone else understand.

Mrs. Hayes looks at me like she can see right through me. Sometimes the brothers give me the same look. Usually when they do it, however, I feel some kind of comfort. The joy of being seen.

Right now, I just feel unnerved. Whatever Mrs. Hayes sees when she looks at me makes her lips purse together and her right eyebrow twitch.

“Well,” Mrs. Hayes says. “No matter. We have much more important things to discuss.”

Thank the Gods for this change of subject. “I agree. Do you have any ideas on how we might fight a compromise to end all this fighting? I really don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”

“Neither do I,” Mrs. Hayes agrees.

This responses eases some of the tension that had been growing in me since she looked through me. As long as we both have that common goal, perhaps this meeting won’t be a total loss.

“Though,” Mrs. Hayes begins, and my blood immediately runs cold. All good feelings vanish in an instant. “I will do whatever necessary to keep my position. You understand.”

“Your… position?”

“Alpha King’s wife. Luna of the Kingdom. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I’ve put up with an infinite amount of hardships. And I won’t let anyone take that away from me, not even my own sons.”

I stilled. So much for the frail, caring mother I had secretly envisioned her to be. The true Mrs. Hayes might be slight, but she was as bold and big-headed as anyone.

“So, Chloe. Won’t you help convince my wayward sons to fall back in line? We wouldn’t want to see them hurt, would we?”