His Nanny Mate By Eve Above Story

Chapter 22: Family Ties
Moana

“Ahem.”

Ethan and I jerked our heads up from the portfolio of his childhood drawings, our train of conversation now broken, to see none other than Edrick standing in the doorway — and he didn’t look happy.

“Oh, hello,” I said, feeling a bit nervous under the billionaire’s strangely disapproving stare. “Ethan was just showing me some of his work.”

Without a word, Edrick slowly walked into the studio. His shoes clicked loudly on the concrete floor, echoing through the room’s tall ceilings. For several long moments, the Alpha billionaire slowly circled the studio and looked at all of the art with his hands in his pants pockets. I noticed that he wasn’t looking around with wonder, like I had when Ethan first turned on the light, but rather with an almost disgusted look on his face. He almost seemed repulsed by the art, which was surprising considering the fact that he had plenty of expensive artwork hanging in both his mansion in the mountains and his city penthouse.

Finally, Edrick turned to face me and slowly walked up to where Ethan and I stood, stopping in front of me. He hardly paid any mind to Ethan, as though his brother wasn’t even there.

“Ella is looking for you,” he said to me in a deep, irritated voice. “You should be with her.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, feeling even more nervous as the Alpha billionaire towered over me, looking down at me with an aggravated look on his handsome face. “I thought she was with her grandmother.”

“She is,” Edrick said. His gaze finally slid over to Ethan. There was something dark about the way he looked at his own brother, as if he didn’t trust him. Meanwhile, Ethan only looked back at Edrick with an almost amused sparkle in his eyes, as if he had been experiencing this behavior from his brother for a long time already.

“Hello to you too, big brother,” Ethan said.

air of discomfort, and it involuntarily made me take a step backwards. “I’ll go back to Ella, now,” I said, heading nervously for the door.

lingered on each other for a moment before I glanced over at Edrick, who seemed to look

with you,”

time,” Ethan called after us as we walked out of Ethan’s studio. Edrick closed the door behind us, and the last thing I saw before the door closed was Ethan’s face. He was smiling, almost knowingly, as if he could tell that there was something more

door shut, Edrick angrily took my arm and pulled me down the hallway. He was being a bit rough with me and his hard grip burned my bare arm, so

problem?” I asked, feeling my hands curl into fists at my sides.

moments, then back up at me. “You shouldn’t be so trusting of him. He’s not

“He’s your brother–”

not

stern tone, and the way his face flashed with anger as he said those words. We stood there silently in the dark corridor for a few moments. The ceiling, I was now realizing, was made of patterned glass, which allowed the moonlight to shine down onto the marble tiles and cast designs on our faces. It made Edrick look both incredibly handsome and incredibly frightening at the same

he turned on his heel and headed toward the

you to leave my

We briskly descended the stairs back to the main floor, then passed through

the time we entered, while the guests milled about and sipped their drinks. I felt my face flush hot as I crossed the room right next to Edrick, wondering if he noticed that his family friends and cousins were staring at us together. If he did notice, he didn’t

Her smiling eyes flickered over to me, as well as Ella’s, who was sitting

father, Michael, merely shot me an indifferent stare before pushing himself up out of his chair

out her hand as Michael and Edrick walked over to the bar. “Grandma gave me a present.” On Ella’s wrist was a delicate silver bracelet with a

very pretty,”

charm bracelet,” Verona chimed in. “As Ella

she stood at a table nearby, champagne glass in hand. “Verona loves to spoil Ella,” she said. Her face was the perfect picture of sweetness,

granddaughter, after all,” Verona replied,

her mouth to speak, but Edrick suddenly returned. He had a sour look on his face as he stood

her head and twirling a bit of hair around

partially because it seemed he didn’t want to answer, but also partially because the orchestra began to play again. I immediately recognized the song as one of my favorite classical pieces: