Chapter Twelve

**Izabella Corvino **

Pacing the unfamiliar room of the bar tender from the night before, Izabella found herself completely nervous. Since her father had passed, she’d been having difficulty making do in regular day-to-day living. She was quickly running out of the money; her father having only had a small savings. She graduated school two years ago, and her only experience so far had been volunteer work through the church. She hadn’t gone to collage because it was too expensive.

What had brought her here were her prayers. She had begged and pleaded for an answer to what she could do. How she could help and make a difference in this dark and cruel world. That was when she had found it. A documentary on a new organization that had been set up to help orphans in their time of need. It was less than a year old, and seemed to be doing okay, but the distribution of funds hadn’t seemed quite right. All their ledgers had to be posted with credentials for anyone to view, because of the way the organization had been created, but something was amiss. After she had read the article of the man who had rescued an orphan from a dangerous adopter, she couldn’t help but read more.

She had learned he was some sort of millionaire or billionaire, or something, but had found the boy on the streets after he’d escaped a sex trafficking ring. She had been so proud, and the story had moved her so completely, she couldn’t help but feel like she needed to engage. After all, that boy’s story was much like her own. Though her savior hadn’t ridden in with a white limousine and lots of money. He come in the form of a poor but happy pastor with white robes instead.

Izabella wanted to share her story with him. She wanted to learn as much as she could, and she wanted to help him realize what he could actually be doing with the money he was taking in. Not just putting funds toward the already funded programs that were lining the pockets of those who were involved, but be used to provide directly to the orphanages themselves. Budgets that could be siphoned out for clothes, food, sheets, and shoes. Things those poor children had but were always hand-me-downs and already half worn. Most of their food came from local food shelves that only provided what they could. She remembered, not that long ago, going to volunteer at a local orphanage, and finding they were drinking dehydrated milk, because it’s all they had. Her stomach turned at the mere thought.

While he sat here, in his castle of steel, those kids were still wanting. Did he even realize it? She didn’t think so. Not if the one interview he granted was right and true. He’d talked about their devastation, and admitted he had little insight into what the kids were really going through. But he’d found a devoted team that was ready to act, and not only had he started pouring money into the foundation, but he was taking in donations, and many people were willing to help. As a front-line worker there though, she knew little of the funds weren’t making their way to where they needed to be. There were adds and marketing for it everywhere, but the children still suffered. How many dollars needed to be thrown to such an organization before they started to see change? It seemed ludicrous to her.

That was when she had seen it. Other organizations he dabbled in. Hundreds of clubs, thousands of plots of land in real estate, and numerous other ventures listed under his name. He even owned a travel agency! He got rich off the pleasures of people, and it wasn’t until he’d found a boy on the streets that he had started looking into ways to help. The problem she faced was that she had no backing and nothing more than her own stories to give. The organization had laughed at her and mocked her. They had chased her out of their offices and refused to listen to her. She didn’t know about this kind of thing, they said. She didn’t understand how it really worked.

What she did understand was that these people were not only driving new cars, but Mercedes and… well, other expensive cars. They were lining their pockets while the children still waited for that fresh gallon of milk to be provided at the morning table. God had told her she needed to tell them. To show them what really needed to be done. She had volunteered tirelessly, staying at the orphanages in exchange for work and ate the same food as the poor little angels that lived there. She had visited many in the area that he lived in! Just here, in the same sullen city, yet nothing had changed from when she herself was a little girl.

After learning he ran several bars, she started to visit them too. It wasn’t until last night that she got her first hopeful ray of sunshine. The bar tender, Tyler, had listened to everything she said. He’d been so attentive that customers had complained, and he’d sworn at them like a sailor on a ship. Just thinking of the words made her blush. Yet, he had seemed genuinely interested. He’d even made her a proposition.

Tyler had told her he knew the owner personally. He’d told her about the awful nanny that had been caring for his child beforehand, and how she had walked out on them. All because the father wasn’t swayed and seduced by her. After medicating the poor child so that he would sleep while she tried. It was disgusting. He’d even offered her a room for free for the night. She’d never stayed in such a grand apartment before, and she wondered what he was really trying to do. The place was desolate. Though it was clean, it felt as if no one had lived her for months, maybe years. There was no food, but there was no dust. He clearly took care of it, but she didn’t understand why he had an apartment like this if he wasn’t using it? Maybe he just preferred takeout every night? It didn’t matter. Not really.

Last night, she had a dream that things were going just as they should. And this morning she’d gotten an early call from Tyler asking if she would be willing to be the nanny his boss needed. Not for him, but for the child. No one deserved to be taken care of by those who had ulterior motives. She believed, without a doubt, his dad cared. He was just busy and with everything on his plate was having a hard time juggling it all. She knew from firsthand experience that children were hard. Yet, she loved them all with everything she had. But she had to convince a man, with enormous wealth and tons of influence to agree.

Tyler had told her to dazzle him at this morning’s meeting. But she knew better. She had to dazzle his child.

Looking up at the clock, she saw that it was only ten minutes before the meeting. She had donned her favorite blue dress and did her hair in a cute little braid that cascaded down over her shoulder. She was ready to meet them. Pushing her shoulders back and taking a deep breath, she started up the stairs to the penthouse.

She was scared. Terrified was probably a better word. But she would do this. It wasn’t about her or him. It was about the child. He needed someone to protect him against the world. Not some nasty woman who promenaded as nanny to get with the rich dad. She was doing it for all the children he could be helping, but wasn’t. She was doing this for her Lord and Savior. She was following her dreams as they guided her ever closer to this man and his child. It couldn’t all possibly be coincidence. If it was, it was a rather large and cumbersome one.

Izabella’s slow and steady footsteps brought her closer and closer to the door. Beyond that door was the man, at the head of the organization she had read about and fussed over for months. And there was a boy, still young, and frail, possibly waiting to be loved. She couldn’t imagine what it would have been like if her father left her with nannies that tried to seduce him.

Pushing her shoulders back, she inhaled deeply to calm her nerves, then knocked. This would be her moment. All or nothing. At least she couldn’t say she didn’t try.

To her surprise, Tyler opened the door. He smiled brightly, despite the late hour they had arrived back here, and a little black-haired cutie clung to his leg looking up at her with the most adorable blue eyes she’d ever seen. No wonder his dad saved him and adopted him right away. She thought to herself with a smile. “I know I’m a few minutes early, I hope it’s not a bother.”

“On the contrary, I’m so happy to see you. Do you know how to dislodge a stick from one’s ass?” Tyler asked, looking over his shoulder at something she couldn’t quite see.

“Ummm, no. I don’t.” She already felt too awkward and felt her cheeks heat up at the comment. “But I do like to read. I love math. And I love playing board games. There are even some videos games I like. Have you ever tried The Myth Maker? It’s my favorite and sooo much fun.” Her eyes turned down to look at the boy, and she didn’t regret it one bit.

His smile beamed up at her and he came out from behind Tyler’s leg, grabbing her hand. “You’re going to be lots of fun, I can tell!” With that, the child pulled her past Tyler, and down into the hall, not even waiting for her to take off her shoes. She tried though, pulling them off even while they were on the mission of finding the boy’s room and seeing what was inside. She felt bad that she was rushed through the house and couldn’t even be proper about it, but it wasn’t really her fault. How lonely was this boy that he latched on to someone who gave the slightest bit of interest?