“What’s holding you back?”
I set my glass down carefully.
“Mr. Russo—”
“Dante.”
“Dante. I think we both know this isn’t just about being a nanny.”
His expression remained impassive.
“Explain.”
I hesitated, searching for the right words.
“You’re… the papers say you’re dangerous. That you’re involved in things that aren’t exactly legal.”
“Do you believe everything you read in the papers?”
“I believe you wouldn’t offer a complete stranger a job paying 3 times the market rate without expecting something in return.”
A smile curved his lips, but it did not reach his eyes.
“Perceptive.”
“So what is it? What do you really want from me?”
He took a step closer, close enough that I could smell his cologne, something expensive and subtle.
“I want exactly what I said. Someone to care for my son. Someone to be present in his life in a way I sometimes cannot be.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
He took another sip of his wine.
“My world is complicated, Ellie. I won’t pretend otherwise. But Marco’s world doesn’t have to be. He deserves normality, stability, someone who sees him for the child he is, not for who his father is.”
The raw honesty in his voice surprised me.
“You think I can provide that?”
“I know you can.”
His certainty was unnerving.
“I’ve watched you with him. You don’t see the Russo heir. You see a little boy who likes dinosaurs and needs his backpack to sleep.”
