Page 54 of Her Big Bad Wolf

“You know you can’t tell anyone about me, right?”

She scoffed. “Mary already knows you, and who else am I going to tell? Everyone I spend my day with is under the age of five.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that.

“I’m serious, Vanessa. I do not exist.”

“Sure. You’re just a figment of my imagination.”

“That would be for the best.”

“Best for who? Me? Those kids?”

“Yes,” I told her stubbornly.

She rolled her eyes at me.

“When I say I don’t exist, I mean it. There is no evidence of me having ever existed.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. There’s a birth certificate somewhere out, social security card, taxes, banking. There is always documentation of a person existing.”

“But not me. I made sure of that a long time ago.”

“That’s ridiculous, Isaac. You’re right here. You exist.”

“I don’t. And I’d like to keep it that way.”

She seemed irritated with me and that bothered me, but I had to stand firm on this. In the long run it would be better for her to just walk away now anyway.

But she didn’t storm out the way I expected her to.

Instead, she went downstairs and dragged those kids up one at a time to ensure they got properly cleaned. There were some protests, but in the end the three of them were washed and no longer smelling foul.

It was amazing how much better the house smelled when she was done.

“School tomorrow,” she told them. “I’m not joking, and I better not find you skipping classes. I will be checking.”

“But Ms. Vanessa, we don’t need school. We were fine on our own,” Noah said. “I can take care of my brothers.”

“That may be true, but how are you going to provide for them? You can’t just steal your way through life, Noah. That is not acceptable.”

“Amen to that,” I chimed in.

“No one is going to hire a child.”

“I will. But first you have to work off the cost of the stuff you stole from me,” I surprised all of us by saying.

“Really?” Noah asked.

“Yes. But only if you stay in school, at least for now.”

“For now?” Vanessa protested.

“For now,” I repeated.

She scowled at me. It was almost comical. Clearly my little mate was not used to giving such an expression. It really didn’t suit her, but I she was clearly displeased with me for speaking out.

Was it bad that I wanted to piss her off further just to watch her reaction?