Chapter 2 - THREE LITTLE MONSTERSClaire changed into jeans and a dry sweater before beginning what she privately called reconnaissance.
She found the triplets hiding inside Luca’s bedroom.
The door slammed when she approached.
Claire knocked.
No answer.
She knocked again.
“Pizza delivery.”
Silence.
“I brought mushrooms and anchovies.”
“Gross!” Matteo shouted from inside.
“Excellent. So you are alive.”
She heard whispering.
Claire opened the door.
Three boys sat innocently on the carpet.
There was absolutely nothing innocent about them.
Luca was clearly the leader.
He sat in the middle, chin raised, challenging her without saying a word.
Nico was quieter. His attention constantly moved between Claire and his brothers, calculating.
Matteo appeared restless, emotional, impulsive.
Claire had seen the pattern before in families dealing with loss.
One child became controlling.
One became invisible.
One became chaos.
On Luca’s desk sat a framed photograph.
Dominic beside a beautiful dark-haired woman.
Three toddlers between them.
Claire glanced only once.
Luca noticed.
“Don’t touch that.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“All the other nannies did.”
“Then they shouldn’t have.”
That answer seemed to confuse him.
Claire sat cross-legged on the carpet.
“House meeting.”
“We don’t do house meetings,” Luca said.
“You do now.”
“You work for us.”
“No. Your father hired me.”
“Same thing.”
Claire laughed.
“You definitely have never paid taxes.”
Nico snorted.
Luca glared at him.
Claire held up three fingers.
“I have three rules. One: nobody gets hurt. Two: nobody destroys something that belongs to somebody else. Three: if you make a mess intentionally, you clean it.”
“What if we don’t?”
“Then we find out who gets tired first.”
Matteo grinned.
“You.”
“Maybe.”
Luca leaned forward.
“You’ll quit.”
“Maybe.”
“You all quit.”
There was something beneath the words.
Not triumph.
Certainty.
Claire looked at him more carefully.
“That bothers you?”
His expression snapped shut.
“No.”
“Good.”
She stood.
“Lunch in twenty minutes.”
“We want pizza.”
“Kitchen says chicken soup.”
“We’re not eating soup.”
“Then you’ll be extremely hungry while I eat soup.”
They stared at her.
Claire left.
At lunch, all three arrived.
Victory number one.
It lasted seven minutes.
Matteo “accidentally” knocked his glass of milk onto Claire.
She moved aside before most of it reached her.
“Nice try.”
Nico dropped a spoon repeatedly.
Claire ignored him.
Luca announced that the previous nanny allowed dessert before vegetables.
“Then I hope you sent her a Christmas card.”
By one o’clock they escalated.
They hid Claire’s shoes.
She wore slippers.
They replaced her shampoo with blue food coloring.
She smelled it before using it.
They programmed an electronic speaker to scream every time she entered the upstairs hall.
Claire unplugged it.
At three fifteen, she discovered all three standing at the edge of an indoor swimming pool.
“Don’t,” she said.
Luca smiled.
And jumped in fully clothed.
Nico followed.
Matteo hesitated.
Claire watched him.
He looked nervous.
“Do you swim well?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t look like you believe that.”
Luca surfaced.
“Chicken!”
Matteo jumped.
Three seconds later, Claire knew something was wrong.
Matteo surfaced once.
His face was panicked.
Then disappeared.
Claire ran.
She hit the water without removing her clothes.
Cold closed around her.
She reached Matteo, pulled him upward and brought him toward the edge.
Dominic appeared just as Claire lifted his coughing son onto the tile.
“What happened?”
His voice was terrifyingly calm.
Luca pointed at Claire.
“She pushed him.”
The room went still.
Claire turned toward Luca.
His face changed immediately.
He knew he had crossed a line.
Dominic’s gaze shifted to Claire.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Luca says—”
“I heard him.”
Claire stood, drenched again.
Dominic looked at Matteo.
“Tell me what happened.”
Matteo coughed.
“I jumped.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Why would your brother lie?”
Nobody answered.
Claire wrapped Matteo in a towel.
“Because he wants me gone.”
Dominic looked at his oldest son.
“Apologize.”
“No.”
“Luca.”
“No!”
His voice cracked.
“I said she pushed him!”
Claire studied him.
There it was again.
Fear masquerading as anger.
Dominic moved closer.
“Go to your room.”
Luca’s eyes suddenly filled.
“You always believe strangers!”
He ran.
The accusation hit Dominic harder than Claire expected.
Nico followed his brother.
Matteo remained wrapped in his towel.
Claire knelt.
“You okay?”
He nodded.
Then whispered, “Luca doesn’t like hospitals.”
“That wasn’t a hospital.”
“He thought Matteo would have to go,” Nico said from the doorway.
Claire turned.
Nico had returned.
“Why would that upset him?”
Nico stared at the floor.
“Mom went to the hospital.”
Dominic stiffened.
Nico continued.
“And she never came home.”
Suddenly the mansion felt very different.
Claire looked toward the staircase where Luca had disappeared.
Six nannies had seen three spoiled rich boys.
Claire was beginning to see something else.
Three terrified children had discovered a simple rule:
If you drove everyone away first, nobody could abandon you.
That evening Claire found Dominic alone in his office.
“You never told me how their mother died.”
His shoulders tightened.
“Cancer.”
“How long was she sick?”
“Fourteen months.”
“Did they understand?”
“They were four.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Dominic turned.
“What exactly are you suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting your sons aren’t trying to get rid of nannies because they hate them.”
His eyes narrowed.
“They’re trying to prove everybody leaves.”
Silence.
Claire continued.
“And you keep hiring replacements, which keeps giving them opportunities to prove themselves right.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“You’ve known my children less than twelve hours.”
“And you’ve lived with them four years.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she knew she had pushed too hard.
His expression went cold.
“Be careful, Miss Donovan.”
Claire didn’t move.
“I am being careful.”
A crash came from upstairs.
Then Nico screamed.
They both ran.
Smoke poured from Luca’s room.
Dominic shoved open the door.
A curtain was burning.
And Luca stood frozen beside it, staring at the flames.
Claire grabbed a fire extinguisher.
Seconds later the fire was out.
Dominic seized Luca by the shoulders.
“What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t!”
“You could have killed yourself!”
“I know!”
“You could have killed your brothers!”
“I KNOW!”
Dominic raised his voice.
“Then why?”
Luca burst into tears.
Not quiet tears.
Four years of rage exploded out of him.
“BECAUSE SHE’S GOING TO LEAVE ANYWAY!”
Everyone stopped.
Luca pointed at Claire.
“Tomorrow she gets her money and leaves! They always leave! Mom left! Everybody leaves!”
Dominic’s hands fell away.
Luca sank onto the floor.
Claire crouched several feet from him.
She didn’t touch him.
“I am leaving tomorrow.”
His crying slowed.
Dominic looked sharply at her.
Claire continued.
“That was the agreement.”
Luca glared through tears.
“See?”
“But leaving because a job ends isn’t the same as abandoning somebody.”
“To me it is.”
The words were barely audible.
Claire’s heart tightened.
“What if we make another agreement?”
He sniffed.
“What?”
“You stop trying to burn the house down.”
Matteo almost laughed.
“And?”
“And I promise I won’t disappear without saying goodbye.”
Luca looked at her suspiciously.
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
He stared at her for a long moment.
Then nodded.
It should have been the end of the crisis.
Instead, at eleven thirty that night, Claire passed Dominic’s office and heard voices through the half-open door.
A man she hadn’t met was speaking.
“You need to move the boys.”
Dominic answered, “No.”
“They know where you live.”
Claire stopped.
The stranger lowered his voice.
“The attack on the warehouse wasn’t business, Dominic.”
A pause.
“It was a message.”
May you like
Claire’s blood ran cold.
“The next one,” the man said, “could come through your children.”
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