me some mercy and kindness.”
Rio didn’t even look at the man who was groveling at his feet. He gazed at the ceiling, barely paying attention to his surroundings. Even though Rio was kind, he ruled his clan with an iron fist. Any transgression was severely punished, and everyone was dealt with in a just manner.
“I hate cowardice,” Rio said as his face was red with anger.
“You ran away from a fight and abandoned your fellow soldiers to fight alone. Tie him up and take him to the dungeons. Throw him in the pit and maybe we will check up on him in a few days.”
“No!” the man shouted, trembling in pure horror. “Not the pit! Please, have mercy!”
The pit was truly a terror-inducing place that was designed by Rio’s great grandfather. Located in the secluded warehouse that functioned as the dungeons, it was exactly how it sounded. A deep, narrow, and dark pit, that had been dug into the earth. Prisoners were thrown there as a punishment and then boarded up. They stayed there until Rio deemed that they had been punished enough or until they went insane with fear and loneliness.
“Let him out in a few days,” he muttered to his guard, who instantly nodded in affirmation.
Rio got up from his seat and walked over to the large window of his extremely lavish office. As a billionaire and the owner of one of the largest companies in the country, he had made sure his office had the most perfect view of the city.
“Sir, you have your interviews scheduled to start within five minutes. All the candidates are already here and waiting,” his secretary, Jones, said. “The agency asked me to inform you that these are the last group of nannies that they have available.”
“Really?” Rio asked with an amused smile on his face. “I have rejected so many that they have actually run out nannies?”
Jones, who was perfectly attuned to every single habit of Rio’s, did not respond.
Rio sighed. His hunt for a nanny had been going for quite some time and yet he failed to find anyone. Despite the number of highly trained candidates that he had seen, not a single one seemed like the kind of woman who was perfect for bringing up Laura. According to him, they might be experts at changing nappies, but he wanted someone who could raise Laura to be a strong independent girl, rather than some weak-minded, obedient girl.
“Alright,” he said after a pause. “Send them in. Let’s see what we got.”
Rio interviewed nannies for two hours. Time that he could have spent making more money had been wasted on hearing women boast about their skills at rearing babies. If only he could have passed this onto one of his employees, but he wanted to make sure that Laura was in safe hands.
“I am fluent in French, German, and Spanish. I have raised many young girls to be sophisticated young girls who have then gone on to be a part of the high society,” the candidate boasted, and Rio had to suppress an urge to sigh.
“Alright, thank you,” he said. “We will get back to you if you have gotten the job.”
The woman got off the chair, her head held high, before walking out of the room, and Jones entered.
“The next candidate is the last one, sir,” Jones said.
Rio sighed, closing his eyes and leaning against his chair. “Send her in. Let’s get this over with.” Jones nodded and walked out of the room.
Rio heard Jones walking away to call the candidate, and a second later he heard the door open.
“May I come in, sir?” A sweet voice entered his ears.
The very first thing that he noticed was the smell that wafted into his room. There was something about the subtle fruity smell that made his heartbeat increase. He opened his eyes, and he was instantly fascinated by the woman that stood in front of him.
She wore her hair short and in a pixie cut, which went perfectly with her thin face and bright blue eyes. She was thin and looked malnourished. Rio could spot a tattoo under the long-sleeved shirt that she wore, and he suppressed the urge to smile.
The clothes she wore were slightly tattered, a fact that she had tried to hide by clumsily sewing it. Despite it all, Rio was instantly attracted to the girl that stood in front of him.
Until now, every single candidate had been elegant and sophisticated. She was the first one he had seen