She crossed her arms. “I don’t trust them to cuddle him.”
I paused to read her, though, and I saw that she was using it as an excuse. More than anyone else, she seemed most aware of how I’d become the odd man out. Just the uncle. The cousin. The babysitter if need be.
And for that reason, I appreciated that she was giving me an easy out.
So, I was here. Hungover but dutiful to tend to Mellow’s cries for food. The yellow cat trailed me everywhere with the majority of the house staff taking time off since Luka and Gabby were gone. Even Allan, my father’s personal assistant, was off on vacation for the first time in forever.
“Yeah, yeah.” I scowled at the small kitten as I dried off. Even though I wasn’t dry yet, he wove between my legs, rubbing against me and collecting water.
I never thought I’d see the day when my father would want a pet in his house, but that was the effect Gabby had on him.
“I still don’t see why the fucking guards couldn’t watch you,” I told the cat as I walked downstairs.
It was unnecessary for me to “house sit” or “cat sit” when the mansion was still under supervision. As the main Dubinin residence, one handed down through generations, this place would never be empty.
But it felt like it was now.
No one passed me on the stairs. Nobody greeted me in the kitchen.
I made coffee for myself first, shivering and regretting that I hadn’t pulled on a shirt when I grabbed my sweatpants. Mellow protested my delay all the while.
“Hold on,” I growled, taking my black coffee toward the rear porch way back at the other end of the house. That was where Gabby kept Mellow’s food. The litter box was in the mud room back here so baby Andre, who was crawling everywhere, wouldn’t discover it and put anything in his mouth.
Under Gabby’s insistence, the kitten should be fed then offered a chance to “frolic” in the garden for at least a little while. It didn’t matter that it was late autumn. Winter would be here soon, and I bet she’d stick with this dumb schedule.
I plopped food in the bowl and straightened to sip my coffee.
Mellow sat there, staring up at me like I was doing it all wrong.
“Eat,” I ordered.
He meowed then padded to the glass door and pawed at it.
“Whatever.” I opened the door and watched the small cat stride out. Because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find an exact replica of this yellowish cat, I stuck around and watched that the animal didn’t escape. If this thing disappeared, I’d have to pretend like nothing was amiss with a substitute.
“Don’t run off?—”
I stopped short as someone stepped out from a corner of the stone wall where the fountains were already turned off for the season.
Appearing so unexpectedly like this, out of the blue, Sadie hurried toward me like a fucking ghost.
She could’ve been the recipient of my order not to run off. Not the cat.
My heart thundered too fast, but my brain didn’t get the oxygen to click into gear and process what was happening.
This was reality.
Not another dream. Not another nightmare or fantasy or anything created in my mind.
This was real.
Shewas real. And she was really here, sneaking into the garden at my father’s house and now striding toward me like she meant business.
“Sa—”
What thefuck?
I caught myself from saying her name because any audio recording would be something else to pin her here. Cameras were still on, anchored all over the place. Even though the house had a smaller staff at the moment, guards were still patrolling.
