“What? Why?” She hit the mute button on the remote, and the room fell silent.
“Because I’m leaving. I’m moving out.”
“What? Why?” she said again, putting the remote on the table as she stood.
“I can’t go into that right now. I’m going to go pack. When you talk to Roman tomorrow, tell him I’ve left and won’t be back.He’ll understand.” I turned to head to my room, but Monica was following after me.
“Sasha, tell me what’s going on. What did he do?” she asked, coming to a stop in the doorway.
I grabbed a bag from under my bed, and I stood, refusing to look at her as I got busy packing. I couldn’t tell her the truth. “He didn’t do anything. It’s just time.”
“Did you forget that you have a contract to honor?”
I shook my head. “Something tells me that he won’t force me to uphold it.” I turned to head to the bathroom, but she stepped in front of me, cutting me off.
“What did he do, Sasha?”
“Why do you keep asking me that?”
“Because I know this isn’t right. You’ve been here longer than any other nanny. You’ve outlasted them all. You wouldn’t be coming home in the middle of the night to quit your job if something hadn’t happened. So, tell me what happened and I’ll fix it. I don’t want to lose you, and I know Sophia doesn’t want to lose you either.”
“There’s no fixing this. This isn’t about the money or wanting more time off. It goes deeper than that.”
“You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you?”
My brows instantly knotted.
“What? No.” My voice hitched.
“You don’t have to lie to me, Sasha. I’m not stupid. I saw the way he looked at you from the very start. And I noticed a while back when you started looking at him the same way.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve worked with Roman for many years now. I know him in ways many don’t. I figured you two got together when he stopped all the excessive overtime and started spending so much time at home. And I’ve noticed the differences between you two this past week. He’s suddenly back to working long hours and not coming home. You’re here, butyou’re distant, distracted. And now you come home in a rush to move out. If I had to guess, you two started hooking up. Things were great, but then something happened. He went back to his old ways, and you’re ready to leave. Am I close?”
I hated how close she was. “Nothing happened. Things were great, and then they weren’t. No warning. Nothing.”
She nodded. “Something happened. He realized he was happy, and that scared him because he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be happy.”
Instead of going to the bathroom like I was planning, I collapsed onto the bed, sitting on the edge. “What do I do now?”
She shrugged. “Give him some time to come around.”
“I was trying to, but tonight, I caught him with someone else.”
Her brows twitched.
“I-I went into his office. I saw he had an invitation to a charity event. I found him at a country club. When I got there, he was dancing with a woman. He told me to leave, and then I saw him get into the elevator with her, as if they were going up to their room. He kissed her.” Just thinking about it caused a pain to slice through my chest. I sucked in a sharp, gasping breath as tears prickled my eyes.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe him. For a smart guy, he can be really fucking stupid sometimes.”
I shrugged my shoulders as I stared at the floor. “It is what it is. I’m over it. H-He showed me exactly who he was when I wouldn’t believe him.”
“You know that whoever you saw him with, she doesn’t mean anything to him, right?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I looked at her. “It doesn’t matter if he loves her or if he’s only fucking her. He’s with her. He kissed her. And he’s probably fucking her right now. That can’t be undone. I need to go.” I stood and went back to my packing.
Monica seemed to creep closer and closer to the door until she was gone completely. I didn’t go looking for her. I just gathered my things and made my way toward the front door. Passing by the living room, I found her back on the couch, only she wasn’t watching TV; she was tapping on the screen of her phone.
I stopped and leaned against the corner. “I’m taking off. Here’s the keys.” I held them out.
She stood and walked closer until I could drop the keys into her palm.
