Page 3 of The Nanny and the Don

Three

S teel

Three days away from home would always be two too many.

I preferred the solace of my fortress to any five-star hotel or resort.

The saying was true: there was no place like home.

As beautiful and exciting as Japan was, I couldn’t wait to get home.

I think I was more excited to get home than I had been about signing my name on the dotted line at the close of the deal.

“Arigato,” I said, shaking Hinata Iko’s hand as I stood.

I could tell that our business relationship would be seamless.

His tech start-up had scaled to a multimillion-dollar corporation over the past decade.

When his file came across my desk, I was all too eager to start the merger with me taking a forty-nine percent stake, leaving him as the majority owner.

Since most of the details had already been hashed out prior to my arrival, we were able to come to an agreement two days ahead of schedule. That wasn’t an invitation for me to stay and enjoy the country. I was going the fuck home.

I grabbed my briefcase from the table, giving him a final nod before making my exit. I pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket to check my missed calls. Somebody had been blowing me up for the last hour or more.

Anybody who knew me, knew damn well I was out of the country on business.

I didn’t take personal calls when I was doing business.

Anything I couldn’t handle could be handled by my assistant or Four.

Seeing that Four was actually the one who had reached out to me had my brow scrunching together in confusion.

Once I was out of Hinata’s building, I immediately spotted the limo he’d sent to pick me up from the hotel.

The driver saw me coming out of the building and jumped out to open the back door for me.

After sliding in the backseat, I hit Four’s name to see why the hell he’d called me three times, knowing I was in a meeting.

“What’s good?” I asked as soon as he answered.

“It’s Angela, man.”

Hearing my sister’s name immediately made my heart sink.

I hadn’t seen her in close to ten years, and my heart was still in tatters due to her betrayal.

As much as I resented her, I didn’t want anything happening to her.

My sister was my first love and had caused me more heartache than any woman I had ever known, even our alcoholic, neglectful mother.

I groaned, mentally preparing myself for the worst. I found out the hard way that my sister was addicted to drugs after she stole from me to help finance her drug-dealing pimp of a boyfriend’s business.

I gave her any and everything she could have ever wanted.

I even built an entire apartment on the top floor of my house for her to live rent-free while also paying her out of the ass for being my assistant.

The woman who helped raise me repaid me by wiping my nose and choosing another man over me. Her betrayal made me cut her off indefinitely. That didn’t mean I didn’t care about her anymore. I just didn’t have shit for her.

“What happened?” I asked, preparing myself for the worst.

“She’s been blowing up the business line. Her and some dude got busted.”

“And what the fuck does she want me to do about it?”

“You need to talk to her yourself, man. Call the number I’m sending you within the next hour.”

“I’m not fucking calling her, man. I know damn well that’s not why you called me,” I fussed.

“It’s not her number, man. It’s the number she gave me. I looked it up, and it’s the Department of Family and Children’s Services.”

“What the hell do I need to call them for?”

“I don’t know, bro. Make the call,” he told me.

I ended the call before I said something I didn’t mean.

There was no reason for me to call Angela or Children’s services.

She’d made the bed, and now her ass had to lie in it.

As soon as I stuffed my phone back in my pocket, it rang again.

Four really pissed me off with his persistence sometimes.

I snatched my phone out of my pocket and swiped the screen so I could curse his dog-ass out and let him know what I said was final.

“Yeah!” I barked into the receiver.

“Steel, I know you hate me, but I need you,” Angela sobbed.

It was an ambush. It didn’t fucking matter. I wasn’t giving in to her manipulation.

“I’m not bailing you out, so why the fuck did you call me?” I asked my sister.

“I know you don’t want anything to do with me. This isn’t about me. It’s the kids.”

“Kids?”

Angela had kids. I hadn’t heard a peep from her in the past eight years at least. Of course, I knew life went on but damn. My sister had kids that I knew nothing about.

“Brother, please!”

“What the hell do you want me to do, Angie?” I quizzed.

“I need you to get my kids. They’re going to throw them in the system if no one comes to get them.”

“I didn’t even know you fucking had kids until two seconds ago. Now tell me again what the fuck you want me to do?” I asked her.

“I just need you to take them to keep them from going into foster care. I may never see them again if they take them,” she cried.

“Maybe that will be the wake-up call you need. I tried to save you, Angela. Do you remember that? Do you remember me doing everything in my power to make you happy? Do you recall how you shitted on me? Be grateful that you walked away with your life.”

“I know you hate me, Steel. I can’t blame you for that. You’re right. I’m probably getting what I deserve, but my babies don’t deserve to suffer because of my mistakes.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Angie. Even if I wasn’t out of the country, I don’t know shit about raising kids.”

“Think about it, please,” she said, right before the call disconnected.

That was fine with me. I was done talking. I was done rescuing her.

“Take me to the airport,” I told the driver. Since my business in Japan had concluded, I was taking my black ass home. Besides, I had to go get my wife.

The nagging feeling that my sisters’ kids were somewhere in the world, scared and possibly being mistreated, ate me alive as I walked a hole in my office floor.

“How was your flight?” Sicily, my housekeeper, asked as she stood in front of the open door.

“Exhausting, but we closed. I will probably have to go to Cuba next week. I’ll let you know.”

“I know you’re glad to be back home. I’m not going to be in your hair. Everything is in order,” she verified.

Sicily was the best. She understood I needed things to be a certain way at all times.

Sicily knew to make sure to have fresh linen on my bed, the refrigerators in both my office and bedroom needed to be fully stocked, and, as a tradition, I usually took a long soak and relaxed with a glass of bourbon and a cigar after returning home from an out-of-town business deal.

She was right on time, standing at my door, waiting with my drink when I returned from Japan this morning.

After a thirteen-hour flight, I needed to unwind, not to mention the disturbing call I’d gotten from my sister.

During my flight, I sent Four an email to let him know to call and see what I needed to do to get my sister’s kids. According to him, all I had to do was show up before close of business Monday to claim my status and willingness to act as a temporary guardian.

I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

I didn’t even know how many damn children Angela had.

All I knew was they didn’t deserve to be thrown to the wolves.

She and I had already experienced the horrors of growing up in the foster care system.

I didn’t want that for them or anyone else for that matter.

I shrugged out of my suit jacket as I continued through the house toward my bedroom. I didn’t want to stop moving because I knew that would give me time to talk myself out of what I was about to do. There was no way I could live with myself if I abandoned those innocent children.

My sister on the other hand could still kiss my ass.

I still had a hard time not putting a bullet between her boyfriend’s eyes.

So, the fact that he lived long enough to give her children was saying a lot.

On the other hand, I had been out of touch with Angela for so long that I wasn’t even sure if she still had the same man or not.

As much as I hated Rodney, I prayed that my sister didn’t throw away our relationship over a nigga that she wasn’t even with anymore. They deserved each other.

I dropped my jacket on the bed and removed my nine from the small of my back.

I didn’t take my gun off my jet when I traveled out of the country, but I didn’t like moving around without it otherwise.

It didn’t matter how far removed I was from the streets these days.

They were still in me. There were still people lurking and hoping to catch me slipping. Slipping was something I didn’t do.

After grabbing my wallet and making sure I had everything I needed, I headed back out.

I had a few hours before the office was set to close.

Apparently, the children had spent the night in a temporary location where I was set to meet a social worker to get them.

Nothing in the world made me nervous these days, but the idea of having children in my home put me on edge.

“Headed back out?” Sicily asked as I moved toward the front door.

Her voice brought me back to reality. I needed to make some kind of preparations for the kids. “Uh . . . yeah. Prepare two of the bedrooms down here. My sister’s children are coming to live here for a while.”

“Your sister?”

“Yes, Sicily,” I groaned, knowing there would be follow-up questions that I couldn’t answer even if I wanted to. She knew how I was about questions, so hopefully she would keep it brief. I was irritable enough as it was.

“I didn’t even know you had a sister, Mr. Gray. How many will there be? Is she coming with them?”