Chapter 2 - Nathan Opens the West Wing
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You have no idea what I’ve dealt with.”
Nathan looked past her toward the dark hallway.
“No. I don’t.”
Then he did something Vanessa did not expect.
He stopped arguing.
He called the family physician.
Then the estate manager.
Then the chef.
The chef did not answer.
Neither nanny answered.
Nathan returned to the girls.
He wrapped each child in a blanket and called for medical help.
Vanessa followed him.
“This is humiliating.”
Emma flinched at her voice.
Nathan saw it.
That reaction frightened him more than the moldy bread.
He asked Vanessa to remain downstairs while the children were examined.
She refused.
Nathan’s attorney, who lived nearby, arrived with an independent
security supervisor and helped separate the adults without turning the
house into a spectacle.
The girls were dehydrated, underfed, and cold.
Their immediate condition was treatable.
But when the doctor gently asked when they had last eaten a proper meal,
Grace whispered:
“Before Miss Rosa went away.”
Nathan looked up.
“Who is Miss Rosa?”
Emma answered.
“Our nanny.”
Nathan’s stomach dropped.
May you like
He had been paying two nannies every month.
Vanessa had told him both were still working.
