Chapter 3He Chose The Nanny Now He Begs

I walked in to find Sophie curled up on Jenna’s lap.

“Auntie Jenna, when are you going to marry my daddy?” she asked, her voice full of childish sincerity.

Jenna bit her lip, feigning demureness. “Oh, Sophie. Do you really want me to be your new mommy that much?”

Sophie nodded furiously. “Uh-huh! Daddy already promised he’s going to divorce that old woman. As soon as they’re divorced, he’s going to marry you!”

Jenna cast a shy, hopeful glance at Mark, who was watching from the other end of the sofa. “Is that what Daddy wants, too?”

Mark’s expression was unreadable, a smug, ambiguous smile playing on his lips. He neither confirmed nor denied it.

Sophie scrambled off Jenna’s lap and started tugging on his arm. “Daddy, say something! All you have to do is say yes, and Auntie Jenna will be my new mommy forever!”

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, his eyes landed on me, standing frozen in the doorway. The color drained from his face. He shot up from the couch as if he’d been electrocuted.

“Audrey,” he stammered. “You’re home.”

A cold smile touched my lips. “Looks like I’m interrupting something.”

He started to make an excuse, but Sophie charged at me, her tiny fists balling up and punching my thigh. “You bad woman! Don’t you bully my daddy!”

The pure hatred in her eyes was a physical blow. I felt my heart crack.

Just then, Jenna rose gracefully from the sofa. “Audrey, you’re misunderstanding,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “I just feel so bad that Sophie feels neglected by her own mother. I was only trying to give her a little extra love… I never thought you’d take it this way. You’re so suspicious and… and irresponsible. No wonder Sophie doesn’t like you.”

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat. “You can drop the act,” I said, my voice like ice. “The day I fell, you didn’t call an ambulance. That was negligence. Now you’re actively trying to turn my daughter against me. You are a nanny, Jenna. And when you cross a line this egregious, you get fired.”

Not only fired. I could have her blacklisted across the city. My father was the majority shareholder in the agency chain that had placed her.

But Jenna didn’t flinch. She pulled Sophie into a defiant hug. “Mark hired me to take care of Sophie, and she will always be my first priority,” she said, her chin held high. “I may just be a nanny, but you can’t intimidate me. If you want to fire me, fine. But I feel sorry for Sophie, knowing she’ll have no one to look after her.”

A single, perfect tear rolled down her cheek. She made a show of turning to leave.

“NO!” Sophie shrieked, launching herself at me, kicking and punching. “You evil woman, you can’t make Auntie Jenna leave! You should be the one to leave! I only want Auntie Jenna!”

Mark finally spoke, his tone dripping with disapproval. “Audrey, I hired her. Don’t you think you should have consulted me before firing her?”

A laugh, sharp and brittle, escaped my lips. “I pay for her. Why on earth would I need your permission?” He was carrying on an emotional affair with our nanny and now he had the audacity to lecture me.

I pulled out my phone, brought up the screen-recorded video of their texts, and shoved it in his face. “Did you really think I didn’t know, Mark?” I said, my voice dangerously low. “The only reason I didn’t expose you sooner was to spare you some dignity in front of our daughter. But you just had to push it.” I paused, letting the weight of my next words sink in. “Since you’re so unhappy with my decisions, how about this: we get a divorce. Then you can do whatever you want with your precious little nanny. How does that sound?”

Mark’s face went pale. He was silent.

Jenna looked at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Mark? Are you really going to let her send me away? I promised Sophie I’d take her to see the kittens.”

Sophie’s wails intensified. “I don’t want Auntie Jenna to go! Bad mommy! I hate you!”

Mark shot a look at Jenna, then scooped Sophie up without another word and walked out the front door.

After Jenna left, a fragile peace settled over the house. I told myself it had all been her influence. With her gone, Sophie would eventually come back to me. Mark, for his part, blocked Jenna’s number in front of me and swore it would never happen again. My trust in him was nonexistent, but for Sophie’s sake, I decided to give him one last chance.

It was a mistake. One night, I woke up around 2 a.m. and he wasn’t in bed. I found him on the balcony, his back to me, whispering into his phone.