Attempting to calm and focus my mind, I glance around the beautiful room and take in the décor once more.
The room is much bigger than my bedroom in New York. It looks like something a princess would sleep in, or some celeb with a taste for the exotic and exquisite. The high ceiling and archway to the left leading out to the balcony are what lends to the exotic of being in Brazil. The exquisite is in the little fixtures on the walls, around the room, and Rococo furnishing.
The queen-sized bed in the center has Egyptian cotton sheets with matching nightstands on either side.
It’s weird I haven’t slept in here yet. But I will tonight. Marcello told me Alejandro would be away, so I could sign off for the night after I finished with Mia.
I can’t deny the disappointment I felt for not seeing Alejandro, but in the same breath, maybe it’s the best for my sanity.
Getting close to him isn’t something that can be forced. Of course, I need to always have some plan in my mind, but to do this properly, it’s going to take time.
That means I can’t allow Red to scare me and throw me off my game.
I have three months. That’s what I need to bear in mind, and the best thing I can do is act natural and normal.
With that in mind, I shower and change into a loose nightshirt, then I braid my hair and read a magazine for an hour.
I should just turn in, but I decide to keep to my word by heading downstairs to check on Mia. It’s a good thing I did because she’s screaming the house down.
Her cries shun any worries I have of disobeying Estelle’s orders, and I enter her room.
The light is off, so I switch it on. The moment her eyes finds mine, she reaches for me, and it’s the cutest thing ever.
I move toward her and hold her, stroking her downy head until she calms.
“It’s okay, baby. I got you,” I soothe her.
I learned that she calms better when spoken to in English.
She lifts her head from my chest and starts babbling. I make out my name, but the rest is baby language. I always find it so fascinating how babies can say some words so clearly and string sentences together, but then they babble. Almost like a reminder that they’re miniature humans.
“I thought I told you that your duties were over for the day,” comes Estelle’s voice from the door.
I snap my gaze to hers, and she walks in like she’s a cop coming in to arrest me.
“Yes, you did tell me that, but I can’t just stand by and hear the baby crying and do nothing,” I argue.
She sets her hands on her hips. “I have over seventy years of experience of working with children. You’re new age techniques are no match for what I know.”
“They don’t need to be. I’m just doing what feels right.”
Mia buries her head in my chest.
“Give her to me.”
What do I do here? She’s being a fucking bully for no reason, and it’s because I’ve allowed her to.
If I don’t put my foot down, she’ll just keep doing it.
“No, I got her. You don’t have to take her from me.” I frown and she looks shocked at my reproach. “I’m on my time now, and what I do is entirely up to me.”
Her jaw tenses. “I’m sure if Alejandro were here, you would not be in here with the baby.” She gives me a knowing look. Like she knows I’ve been sleeping with Alejandro since I’ve been here.
I decide not to answer because anything I say will be the wrong thing. Everything I did today was wrong. This won’t be any different.
She storms off, and the door swings shut.
Between her rudeness and the tension of being here, I’m sure I’m going to go insane before I can do anything to save my father.