Cluck!
The moment the nanny picked the phone, she greeted the caller and asked for an identity.
"Miss Emilia, the handler of Noah and Grace. We have met in the hospital." The service woman introduced calmly.
Immediately after given the name, the nanny turned around and gave Noah the most bone-chilling glare he had ever seen in his life.
'Oh no...'
Noah figured out that it was the service woman from the very get go, knowing that their house telephone almost never received calls.
"I am calling for a routine check up." Miss Emilia spoke, "We have been informed by the schools that the Maxwell kids have been missing for a while now...Mind explaining that?"
"Is...Is that so?" The nanny's face went pale at the sound of that.
She didn't think that the schools were in contract with the child service department of the Maxwell Family.
At the start, she believed that Noah must have contacted Miss Emilia somehow, but now that doubt was removed from her mind or at least lessened significantly.
Unbeknownst to her, Miss Emilia had indeed called the principles a few minutes ago and was informed about the kids' sudden absence.
Although she wasn't completely convinced about Noah's story due to her biased take on the nanny's first impression and her personal experience with the Maxwell kids, she was still clever enough to use the schools as her reason for contact.
"I am so sorry! I was meaning to call you, but I felt ashamed of the situation." The nanny brought out her crocodile tears as she spoke with aggravated tone, "Those kids are really out of order ever since their father died...They keep cursing me, calling me names, throw food at me, and even hit me, knowing that I am just their nanny."
"They even refuse to go to school anymore, forcing me to call their principles personally and covering for their absence." The nanny sniffled like a wounded deer, "I really regret accepting this deal and would rather give up on the property if it meant getting those monsters out of my life."
Neither Noah nor Grace heard any of this as she had walked with the telephone far from them and spoke as softly as possible.
If they did, it would be impossible to guess their expression really.
"Is that so? I'm so sorry to hear that." Miss Emilia soften her tone, "The Maxwell's kids can be a pain in the ass. I had my fair share of clearing after their mess."
This time, Miss Emilia wasn't taking Noah's side by trying to comfort the nanny. She truly believed in her story because she had dealt with the Maxwell kids for years now.
As the sons and daughters of business empire leaders, they were more than a handful and made her life hell in her previous job as a personal PR worker for anything related to them.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe whole reason she changed to this job was because of her inability to tolerate their crap any longer...Especially young Felix, who was always causing trouble, forcing her to keep clearing up his mess.
So, even though Noah and Grace were orphaned and weren't really as rich and powerful as other Maxwell kids, she was still biased against them.
That's why she was irritated in the hospital.
Abuse, missing classes, favor from the father?
Miss Emilia didn't care about any of this, believing that it was more likely that the brats were being entitled and going out of order based on her previous experience.
It was wrong and shitty judgement...She didn't even pause to consider why Noah requested her to take them to the foster homes.
When someone was heavily biased, words over the phone from an eight years old kid would would be taken as a mere breeze over the sea.
It is what it is.
"I will see what I can do to get those brats out of your hands." Miss Emilia promised.
"Thank you, thank you so much for taking care of me." The nanny sighed with an indifferent expression, "But, I doubt that's proper after all...Their father trusted in my capablities to take care of his children, knowing that they can be a handful...He is really a kind soul and treated me nicely, I don't want to disappoint him."
There was absolutely no way the nanny was going to let Noah and Grace out of her sight.
She would lose the property, her share of the Will, and most importantly, Noah's scars would expose her lies.
"Are you confident?" Miss Emilia replied.
"Yeah, they are just hurt children and simply needed to vent their anger. I don't mind if it's on me as long as they can grow up to be a better version of themselves."
The nanny almost vomited at her own words. Yet, Miss Emilia ate them like a fool.
"You're such a kind soul. Those little brats don't deserve you." Miss Emilia sighed, "Make sure to keep them away from the phone at least, it would end up poorly if they ended up trying to be playful with the police next time."
"Huh? What does that suppose to mean?" The nanny's expression turned cold all of a sudden, but her voice was that of utter bewilderment.
"Don't worry about it. Just stay strong and keep up the hard work." Miss Emilia had no time to explain as her schedule was truly too busy.
Although Miss Emilia didn't say much, the nanny was able to figure out that Noah must have contacted Miss Emilia from the context.
"Goodbye."
The moment the nanny hung up, her expression drastically changed to that of anger and resentment.
'He dares do that to me, he actually dares!'
She walked back to the kitchen, not caring about putting on her kind facade anymore.
When Noah saw her devilish eyes, his blood went cold immediately, making him realize that his attempt to escape was busted.
'How? Why? Why? Why did she tell her?'
For the life of him, Noah couldn't understand why did Miss Emilia expose them like this.
He was merely eight years old but even him understood that she should have acted upon his rescue call immediately by sending down her own people here or even police.
If he knew that Miss Emilia would be this uncaring and unbothered by their crisis, he would have called 911 instead.
'Why didn't she listen to me?'
Noah kept repeating this question in his mind over and over while backing away from the nanny.
"I'm really disappointed, Noah. I thought we had a deal. I don't touch you, and you forget about what happened." The nanny spoke with a suppressed furious tone, "How can I trust you anymore?"
Sure it seemed like Noah had made a dumb mistake by not accepting her deal.
Live in harmony? Trust each other?
Noah might be a kid, but he wasn't a fool to believe her bullsh*t.
He knew that she was a lost cause and another beating was bound to fall on him or his sister eventually.
If one man breaking up with her had caused her to snap that badly, he knew that it was bound to repeat itself if she got attached again.
He refused to live in that false sense of safety for even another day, don't even mention years.
"Don't make this harder than it should...Come here and accept your punishment." The nanny reached the kitchen counter and picked up a big metal soup spoon.
"No...No..Brother." Grace started shaking and holding Noah's clothes, too scared to move a muscle.
"Don't worry...I am here." Noah comforted his sister even though he was also scared from the nanny.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHe wanted to run badly, but he couldn't do so with his little sister quivering in fear.
'It's now or never...It's now or never.' Noah repeated while tightening his hand around a small better knife in his hoodie pocket.
The moment Noah figured out the identity of the caller to be Miss Emilia, he picked the knife off the kitchen counter and hid it in his pocket just in case.
At that moment, he truly believed that it was highly unlikely for anything bad to happen, trusting in Miss Emilia's judgement.
Alas, he had no idea that Miss Emilia absolutely abhorred the Maxwell kids from the get go and was biased against him before he even made the call.
"I admit I made a mistake, so leave Grace out of this." Noah requested, "Let her go upstairs, and I will accept my punishment."
"Is that so."
The nanny narrowed her cold eyes at Grace, wanting nothing more but to teach her a lesson as well...She knew that Noah wouldn't truly fear her unless she put her hands on his sister.
'After breaking him, she will be next.' The nanny decided in her mind coldly, but her words were opposite to her thought process.
"Get her out of my sight."
Noah sighed in relief after she agreed.
"No! I don't want to leav..."
"Grace!"
Before Grace could throw a tantrum, Noah removed her hands from his clothes and stared at her in the eyes with a hardened expression.
This was the first time he toughened his stance with his little sister, making her unable to react.
"Please, do this for me. Trust me, nothing bad will happen to me." Noah placed his forehead against hers as he whispered, "Please, go upstairs and lock your room."
"Brother...Sob, Sob." Grace wanted to stay with him badly, but she also didn't want to disobey him. So, she decided to trust him and do as he said.
After Grace left, both Noah and the nanny waited until they heard the noise of the door getting closed shut.
"Come here, I would rather not dirty the kitchen."
Noah toughened his already tensed muscles and walked towards her with his blue eyes filled with nothing but hatred.
"Boy, you have the audacity to give me that look after betraying my trust?" The nanny eyed him frigidly.
"You have the audacity to say such crap after betraying my father's trust and ours." Noah tightened his hand on the knife in his pocket and cursed with his teeth gritting, "Just hit me already, you miserable psycho!"