My phone buzzes. Amara:You did good. Really good.
I type back:Doesn’t feel like it.
Three dots. Then:That’s how you know it was the right call.
I set the phone down and do the breathing thing Ben and I practice. One, two, three. Smell the cocoa. Blow the steam.
My hands are still shaking.
The video’s gone. Ben is safe downstairs with Rosa.
And Marco is... placated.
Even if I should have told him first before acting.
It’s true that I wanted to protect theinfluencer, strange as that might sound. But I guess a part of me also wanted to prove my worth to him. To show him I can take care of Ben, too, in times of crisis.
It’s too bad the crisis is partially my fault.
Should have taken the parent’s phone away.
30
Jess
The three days passed relatively quickly. I spent them homeschooling Ben in the library, reorganizing the mudroom for the third time, and perfecting my “polite coworker” smile whenever Marco and I crossed paths in the hallway.
When you’re both trying so hard to maintain boundaries that you’ve basically become strangers who occasionally discuss pasta shapes.
The night rota worked exactly as planned. Which is to say it worked because Ben never actually spiraled. She slept like a tiny starfish champion every single night. So Marco took first shift, I took second, and we tag-teamed without ever actually occupying the same room at the same time.
Very professional.
Very controlled.
Very much like two people pretending they haven’t ever had mind-blowing sex.
Nailed it.
Rosa kept us fed. Niamh managed the householdlogistics. Luis and Filepe maintained perimeter security, justifying their high salaries.
By day three, the paparazzi had thinned to nothing. Jag’s dawn sweep came back clean. And Elena’s temporary live-in addendum expired right on schedule that evening.
Which brings me to now.
I’m standing in my own apartment for the first time in seventy-two hours and the silence is deafening.
When you finally get your space back and realize maybe you didn’t actually want it.
My phone buzzes on the counter. Marco.You settled in okay?
I stare at the text for way too long before typing back.Yeah. All good. Quiet.
Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.Ben keeps asking when you’re coming back.
My chest does that annoying squeeze thing. The one I’ve been pretending doesn’t happen every time I think about leaving them alone in that townhouse.
Tomorrow morning, of course,I reply.Regular schedule.
