CHAPTER 98: PINKY PROMISE!
NIKOLAI’S POV:
I quietly watch Lily as she fell asleep in my arms. I didn’t mean to bring up the topic about her father but I couldn’t help it. Why she didn’t mention me to her dad was her decision and she knows best.
I sighed and carefully left the bed, tucking her properly and leaving the room.
I went downstairs for a glass of water to cool down my already growing hunger and I saw that little brat playing by herself. I stopped in my tracks and looked at her for a few seconds.
She was really tiny in my eyes and to think Lily said I was jealous of this little girl?! Ha!
‘I could easily crush this one. She isn’t a competition’, I said in my head.
I walked past her but she made a comment that pulled me back.
“I’m not scared of you”, She uttered.
“What?”, I responded.
“My mom might be scared of you but I’m not!”, She repeated and I scoffed.
I walked back to her, wondering why she was here alone.
I was angry at first when I saw her in my house, playing and being noisy. I can remember almost walking up to the mother of the child and squeezing her throat, but… Lily was present.
I hate when I set simple rules and my servants don’t abide to them.
“So your mommy is scared of me?”, I asked and she nodded in all manner of seriousness, I continued, “isn’t that delightful!”.
“I use to overhear her telling my Nana that you are the worse boss ever… a-and that she is frightened by your presence”, The little girl explained and I smirked.
“She did?!”, I got closer to her to hear.
“Yes. But you are not scary at all. You just yell a lot and you don’t smile with your eyes”.
Now I see why Lily was drawn to this kid, she really is something.
“I don’t smile with my eyes?”, I asked with a furrowed brow.
“Yup! Like now, your smile is fake”, She pointed out and I was surprised.
“How old are you again?”, I asked.
“I’m 6!”, She replied, with her focus on the doll she had in her hand.
“You are too smart for your age”, I acknowledged.
“Thank you! My Nana always say that, but now she’s in the hospital and no one to take care of her”, She responded with a sad pout.
“Why is that? What of your grandpa or father?”, I creased my brows, finally sitting on the floor with her.
She has this power of getting me invested, unknowingly.
“My grandpa is in heaven and my dad… umm I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before”, She said without a care in the world.
“Why?”, I inquired.
“Mommy don’t want to tell me. But I always hear her and Nana discussing about him”.
“What do they say?”.
“That… that he is a bad person and an abusive person, but I don’t know what abusive mean. Is it a bad word?”, She asked.
“Yes. So don’t say it again”, I responded and she nodded.
“Shhh, don’t tell my mommy okay?!”, she whispered, putting her finger on her lips, telling me to keep it a secret.
I smiled genuinely at how innocent she was.
It seems like her mother left her marriage because her husband was abusive.
‘Bastard’, I said in my head.
How can someone let go of such a good girl?
I sighed and patted her head but she immediately left my touch.
“Hey!”, She exclaimed and I was surprised.
“Why? Don’t you like your hair being touched?”, I was so confused.
‘Don’t little kids like their head being pat?’, I asked myself.
“I do, but not by you! You’re a bad person, just like my daddy”, She declared with a grunt.
“No, I’m not”.
“Yes, you are! You yelled at me and my mommy today!”, She said, folding her arms and making a ‘hmmp’ sound.
I was so amused by her expression that I laughed out loud. She was just too cute
“See, now your smile reached your eyes”, She said with a wide smile and a small giggle. I quiet down but the smile was still on my lips.
“Hey. I’m sorry I yell at you and your mom. I won’t do that again”, I sincerely apologized to the 6 year old.
“You promise?”.
“Yes”.
“And you wouldn’t overwork my mommy so she can come take care of my Nana?”, She insisted.
I chuckled and nodded, making a note to myself to give her mother an off day or week.
“I promise”, I replied.
“Pinky swear?”, She said, bringing up her little finger to my face and I furrowed my brows, I was confused.
“What’s that?”, I asked and she gasped.
“You’ve never done a pinky swear before?!!”, She was in shock like she just found out I haven’t ‘walked’ before.
“I haven’t”.
Sincerely, I haven’t.
“Let me show you”, She took my smallest finger and twisted hers with mine, touching her thumb with mine and beamed.
“There! Pinky promise”, She said and giggled, I chuckled and ruffled her hair.
I was so immersed in our little chat that I forgot about the glass of water I came downstairs for.
“Gabby! You better not be playing with any sharp obje– Oh my goodness!! Master Nikolai!!”, The girl’s mother shivered as soon as she saw me seated with her daughter.
“Am I that scary?”, I murmured.
“Yep!”, Gabby replied.
“Ah, I-I’m so sorry for the m-mess! GABBY GET UP RIGHT NOW!”, She scolded through gritted teeth.
I quickly stood up and cleared my throat.
“No need to stop her from playing, she was here before I was. Let her be”, I declared and walked away.
The maid had shock written in bold letters on her face.
“Another thing…”, I paused and turned to her, “Take a day off or a week… no no, take 2 or 3 weeks. Just until your mom gets better”, I said.
“Wha-what?! Sir–“, She tried to say but I had already walked away.
This was so unlike me but I felt the need to.
I completely forgot about the water and headed upstairs when my phone rang and it was an unknown number.
‘Could it be Roman and his baseless tricks?’, I asked myself. I decided to ignore the call, but it came in again.
“Hello?”, I said in my intimidating voice.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore an elder call?”, I heard the caller say and I creased my brows.
“Who is this?”, I wasn’t one to be intimidated, rather, I do the intimidating.
“Come to the hospital now and do not come with my daughter. I need to speak to you alone”, The caller responded and then I knew who it was.
Lily’s father, the detective.
Before I could respond, he ended the call.
‘How did he know about me and Lily?’, I asked myself. Maybe that officer told him about seeing Lily with me at the hospital.
I went back to the room and quietly got dressed and headed out while Lily was still sleeping. Why he wanted to meet me alone was surprising.
I got to the hospital in no time and straight to his ward. Those officers at the door looked at me with the same level of shock as before.
I walked past them and opened the door. Joe Williams was seated on the bed, taking his pill and a nurse was holding a cup of water. He took two more gulps before excusing the nurse.
“Entering without knocking? Very Nikolai Vladimir-like”, He commented once the nurse had left.
“I can see you’re doing better”, I responded and walked around the room. The detective chuckled and wince a bit in pain, trying to lay back down. I didn’t move to help him.
“A little bird informed me a strange man was with my daughter when she came visiting me today… Said it was non other than The Nikolai Vladimir”, He explained.
“Little bird, as in that grown-ass-gossip-hungry officer… what’s that his name”, I snapped my fingers, trying to remember his name, “Aha! Gary. It that him?”, I sassed.
Mr Joe immediately dropped the lingering smile on his face and got serious.
“Let’s cut to the chase. Was it you who kidnapped my daughter?”, He asked in all manner of seriousness.
This would be the first time I would be seeing this side of him. Protective and possessive of Lily.
‘Too bad but I’m the only one who can be possessive of Lily’, I said to myself.
We both stared at each other, no one intimidated by the other and no one breaking the stare.