Sold to the Don as a Sacrifice, Claimed by His Baby as MamaChapter 1

The Ashford family put out a hundred grand for someone to look after their baby.

I thought God finally threw me a bone.

Then I walked in and found out every nanny before me was dead.

I wasn't the replacement.

I was the next sacrifice.

A dagger's at my chest and I'm about to die when this whiny little voice explodes inside my head.

【Ugh, why are they killing her? She's not even supposed to die for like sixty more years!】

I grab onto that like it's my last breath on earth.

I snatch up the baby's pudgy little hand and start rubbing it, sweet as I can manage with a blade at my heart.

"Oh wise and powerful little one. You clearly know everything. Any chance you could peek at my love life? Maybe my future?"

His tiny mouth scrunches up.

【Fine, I looked. You're gonna marry some crazy powerful guy. Stupid rich. Runs this whole city. And you'll have a genius kid. The dad's last name is...】

He stops.

His eyes go wide, locked on something behind me.

I turn.

A man is walking toward us across the courtyard. Black suit. Cold face. The kind of guy who makes the whole room shut up just by showing up.

My heart is pounding so hard I can barely think. I push my luck.

"And the son? Who's the son?"

The baby squeezes his eyes shut. Like he's in actual pain.

Then his little mouth opens, soft and helpless:

"...Mama."

A dagger is pressed against my chest, and I finally get it.

The Ashford family didn't pay a hundred grand for a nanny.

They paid for a body.

Mine.

An hour ago I walked into the Ashford Estate looking for a job.

Mrs. Kovac didn't ask if I knew anything about babies. She asked if I had family.

When I told her my parents were dead and I didn't know a single person in this city, she pulled out a contract on the spot. A hundred thousand dollars.

Six nannies before me, all dead. Nobody else would take the gig.

But I had nothing. No money, no roof, no one. So I signed.

The second I walked through the gates, they grabbed me.

Tied my hands behind my back. Dragged me down to the chapel beneath the estate.

Kovac ripped my contract in half right in front of my face.

She was smiling the whole time.

"An orphan with nobody," she said. "No one's even gonna report you missing."

"Once you're gone, the whole city's gonna believe it. The kid's cursed. Everyone who gets close to him dies."

So the money was never a paycheck.

It was bait.

I keep my face blank.

Behind my back, I slide the silver pin out of my sleeve and start sawing at the rope.

Slow. Quiet. So nobody sees.

I don't know if I'm getting out of here.

But I am not kneeling here waiting to die.

Father Voss stands over me in black robes, silver dagger already drawn.

He reads something in Latin. Loud and dramatic, playing it up for the men along the wall.

Then he lifts the blade over my heart.

"This woman's soul is pure light," he announces. "She gives herself as a vessel to draw the shadow of death from the child."

He tightens his grip.

And drives it down.

【STOP!】

A voice. Tiny and furious. It rips through my head like a fire alarm.

【She's got like sixty years left! You kill her now, do you know how bad that's gonna screw me?! I'm trying to earn my way back upstairs and you morons are tanking my score!】

Everything in me freezes.

Who the hell is that?

I whip my head around.

Voss is still coming at me. Kovac is grinning. The altar boys don't even flinch.

Nobody heard it.

【Hello?! Stop looking around! I'm RIGHT HERE!】

My eyes snap to the bassinet beside the altar.

A baby. Six months old, maybe. Pink cheeks. Big dark eyes.

His mouth isn't moving. Not a sound.

But he's staring dead at me.

Every hair on my body stands up.

I've lost my mind. I'm hearing a baby talk inside my head.

The baby kicks both legs like he's throwing a fit.

【Are you SERIOUS right now?!】

【Your pin's almost through the rope! MOVE or you're gonna get stabbed! Come ON, lady!】

My heart slams.

How does he know about the pin? It's behind my back. There's no way he can see it from that bassinet.

I stare at him.

He stares right back.

Chubby little face all scrunched up, looking at me like I'm the dumbest person he's ever met.

【I'm Azrael, okay?! Angel of Death! I know when people are about to die and right now that's YOU! So MOVE!】

This is real.

This is actually happening.

I can hear this baby's thoughts.

And he says he's the Angel of Death.