I dressed in a pair of slim fitting blue jeans and a pretty pink sweater for my night out with Melly. Then, sitting on my bed, I Facetimed April.

“Whoa! You look amazing. What happened to the sackcloth and ashes strategy?”

“The fishwife is not around,” I explained, before I told her about what I heard Mrs. King say to her son.

"Wow!” she breathed. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“To be honest, she sounds like a true psychopath. You know, divide and rule. I know you want to help, but maybe the King family is not your problem. There are all kinds of bad situations going on in the world right now.”

“I know, but I’m not stuck right in the middle of them.” I couldn’t get my mind off the King family members. Zackary’s innocent vulnerability … his father’s terrible and needless isolation, and his mother’s cruel deception. All of it saddened me and made me feel helpless.

“How are things with your ward’s father?"

"Why would you ask me that?" I shot back guiltily.

April looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Er … because you spoke about his voice. Have you had any more interactions with him?"

"Weren't you the one ready to screw my head off for even making such a statement?”

"Well after what you've told me about his wife and their marriage, that doesn’t stand anymore."

"It still does in my book," I said, “and moreover I haven’t got to see him properly yet.”

"I know the burns are probably a serious situation, but the mask makes him sound so … appealing. Does he wear it all the time?”

I felt myself blushing. “The mask covers half of his face."

“Why are you blushing?”

“I kind of saw him in the mirror.”

“What? When were you planning on telling me that? Come on … what does he look like?”

“He’s … he’s … he’s beautiful, April.”

She frowned. “Hang on. You just lost me. He’s got such bad scars he has to wear a mask ...”

“Yes, he is badly scarred, but somehow they make him special. Oh, I know I’m not making any sense. I don’t understand it myself, but they make him … do you know what I mean?”

“No, but tell me more.”

“He has great abs too.”

Her eyes popped open. “You've seen his abs?”

I nodded. “I had to take his breakfast tray to his room. He was shirtless."

"You’re Zackary’s nanny. What on earth are you doing carrying breakfast trays to his room?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

I sighed. “All right. The girl who was supposed to take it was not around and I volunteered okay?”

“You volunteered?”

“Uh … huh.”

She grinned. “So how much did you actually see?”

"Just an outline,” I said quickly. “The details were cast in shadows.”

“Damn, I should pay a visit one of these days to your castle. I'm dying to have a glimpse. You know it's men like this that know exactly what they’re doing. They're all dark and broody and then they pounce and rip your clothes to pieces ...” She wiped invisible sweat off her brow. “God damn it's been a while since my husband did that. I’ll have to rectify the situation as soon as I push this baby out.”

I laughed. One of these days I will tell her what I really feel for Brett King.

“Just to make things clear do you have any plans on getting it on with Mr. Gazillionaire?”

I gave her a dry look. “What the hell is wrong with you? Is this actually coming from your mouth?”

"He's more or less divor—” she said.

"Actually, he's not." I felt the amusement and hilarity of the last few minutes drain away. The truth was no matter how it looked from the outside the arrangement they had set up worked for them and I was the outsider.