The moment Mason heard her voice, his entire body stiffened. His fingers dug into Emily’s uniform with pure terror.
Emily felt it instantly. This wasn’t anger anymore. It was fear.
Alexander saw it too.
“Nobody touches them,” he commanded, his voice low and dangerous. The security guards froze in place.
Mrs. Evelyn pressed her lips into a thin line but said nothing more.
Emily, still hurting from the blow to her ribs, held the little boy gently—not too tight, not too loose. She rubbed slow circles on his back.
“I’m here,” she whispered into his curls. “I’m not leaving.”
Mason cried until exhaustion pulled him under, his small body going limp against her shoulder. Emily stayed right there on the wet floor, rocking him gently while the household staff watched in stunned silence.
That night, Alexander Blackwood made a decision.
Emily Carter would no longer be a housekeeper.
She would stay close to Mason as his personal attendant.
Mrs. Evelyn protested vehemently in the study later that evening. “The girl has no training, sir. She’s barely more than a child herself. Mason is dangerous.”
Alexander looked at her with ice in his eyes. “Eighteen trained professionals ran from him. She was the first one who didn’t call him a monster. She stays.”
Emily accepted the new role because the money would save Jamal’s life. But that wasn’t the only reason. When she carried Mason upstairs that night, she felt something deep in her soul.
That child wasn’t broken.
He was trapped.
