Billionaire Bear's Nanny - Alicia Banks Page 0,19

in trouble and he needed my help. Turns out he borrowed a very huge amount of money from Slade and had no way of paying it back.”

“If that is why he is after you, then I can easily repay all your debt,” Rio said.

“No, it won’t help me anymore,” Pearl said. “Slade isn’t like regular loan sharks. He has a time limit in which he expects to be repaid, after which he even refuses to accept the money. The person must serve the agreed-upon punishment. My father had entered a similar deal where Slade gave him a time limit and said that if he didn’t repay him by that time, he has to agree to sacrifice something important to him. When my father called me, the time limit was already up. I rushed back home with the money and tried to convince Slade to take the money even though the time-limit was already gone. When I got there, I found out the real reason my father had asked me to return.”

“What was that?” Rio asked.

“The sacrifice that my father offered if he didn’t pay on time-” Pearl whispered, “-was me.”

Chapter 15

“What?” Rio said, unable to believe what he was hearing.

“My father agreed to give me to Slade,” Pearl said, looking up. “As his slave. Slade threatened to kill my father if I didn’t comply and then he kept me his prisoner for months. I don’t want to talk about what that man did to me during that time, but it was truly horrible. I eventually managed to escape and went into hiding along with my father. I have been moving from one place to another for a while now.”

“And Slade is after you because he wants you back,” Rio said, his voice sounding calmer than he felt.

Pearl didn’t reply, looking into the distance with a lost expression on her face. Rio’s heart sunk with emotion he didn’t understand, and he reached over to grab her hand.

“Pearl, I am very sorry about what happened to you,” he said, looking into her eyes. “I am even more sorry that I accused and insulted you. I have temper issues, which I am working on, and I am afraid I lost my temper with you.”

“But why?” Pearl said, looking confused.

“That's -” Rio started to say but then he stopped himself.

What was he supposed to say? That he felt jealous of seeing her with another man? What reason did he have to be jealous? There was nothing between them after all.

“Laura was having a nightmare again,” Pearl said, changing the topic. “When you were out looking for Slade, she woke up and started screaming.”

“The therapist informed me that she might relapse,” Rio said, looking at Laura. “After all, the trauma is too fresh for her to recover from it too easily.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Pearl said, hesitating. “What happened?”

“My sister was murdered by her own husband in a fit of rage and anger,” Rio said, looking into her eyes. “Laura witnessed the entire event when it happened. She was hiding under the bed, and she saw her father stab her mother multiple times and then run away from the scene. When I finally rescued her, she was in so much shock she couldn’t speak or move. I had to take her to therapy and counseling, but I think I ended it too soon. She seemed to get better, so I stopped, but it would be wise to resume it again, I think.”

“I am sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t know.”

“She was the most beautiful, loving, and caring sister anyone could have,” Rio whispered. “She was so happy to be married to the man she loved. I was against the marriage because I didn’t think the man deserved her. She was stubborn and eventually I relented. I think she didn’t want to admit that she had made the wrong decision, which is why she never told me about the problems and fights they were having. I feel guilty about it every single day. I wish I was kinder to her. Maybe if I had acted like her brother instead of her clan leader, she would have shared her problems with me, and I could have stopped all this from happening.”

He felt her hand grab his and he looked up. She softly squeezed it, giving him a soft and warm smile.

“I am sure she loved you a lot, and she just didn’t want to disappoint you,” Pearl said.

Rio shook his head and got up, walking over