Even Brooke was shocked at what she saw.
“Enough!” I roared.
Everyone stopped and my kids turned and looked at me.
“Daddy! You're home!” Sydney said.
“Upstairs. Now,” I said.
“But why?” Daniel asked.
“Look around you,” I said. “And then tell me yourself.”
The nanny looked absolutely relieved that I was there. She gathered her things up quickly and rushed past me, like she didn’t even want to be bothered with getting paid. I managed to catch her arm and I handed her a wad of cash from my wallet, then thanked her for her time.
She couldn’t scramble down the steps fast enough.
Sydney’s lip was trembling and Daniel was already crying. I walked slowly through the house, surveying the damage. There was a broken vase and the television was cockeyed on its stand. A pillow had been ripped and the feathers were fucking everywhere. I clenched my fists at my sides, feeling my rage boiling over at the situation.
“Come on, kids. Let’s get you upstairs,” Brooke said.
“But we want Daddy,” Sydney said.
“Then you should have thought about that before you destroyed the house,” she said.
“We just wanted him to come home,” Daniel said.
But I didn’t hear Brooke respond to that statement.
I slumped against the wall as they made their way upstairs. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm my anger. My head was spinning, the house was a disaster and there was no way in hell the nanny service would ever come back to help me with the kids if I needed it.
Pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes, my shoulders slumped. I could hear the sniffles of my children above my head as Brooke tucked them in. I was at a loss. Still digesting what Brooke had told me and still trying to process the disaster the house was in.
It would take me all night to clean this shit up.
CHAPTER 16
BROOKE
I headed straight for my room after tucking the kids in. I knew they wanted their father around, and I knew they missed him and were angry that we left without them. But that didn’t give them an excuse to tear up the house and I made sure they understood that. I kissed their foreheads before making my way down the stairs, and I could already hear Kevin trying to clean up the mess.
He was stomping around and cursing under his breath, but I’d had enough excitement for the night.
I slipped out of my clothes and grabbed my robe, just as there was a knock on my door. I closed the fabric and tied a knot around my waist, my eyes glancing over at my laptop. I was hoping to get some writing done tonight. The tension alone had me fraught with ideas on where to take my characters. But the knock came again and something told me to answer it.
So I did.
“Come on in.”
“Hey there,” Kevin said.
“How’s the house? Still standing?”
“Barely,” he said.
“The kids really did a number on it.”
“They’ve never acted out like this before,” he said. “And yes, I heard you in the cab. They had a reason to be upset, but that doesn’t excuse what they did here.”