"Seems more like you cheated on your wife and couldn't get enough, so you kept her underwear tucked against your chest to sniff whenever you felt like it."
The words were so blunt the entire table went silent. Every guest turned to stare at him.
Samuel's face went scarlet, but he kept talking, fighting to save himself.
"Nonsense! You're one of the maternity nannies in my household!"
"From the very first day you wouldn't stop making eyes at me. When I ignored you, you got bolder!"
"Last night I wasn't paying attention for one moment—you pushed my door open, crawled under the covers, and threw yourself at me!"
"If I hadn't threatened to call my wife in from right outside that door and have you fired on the spot, you never would have stopped!"
His words made Effie's brow crease.
Since the birth, the professional nanny team had advised her and Samuel to sleep in separate rooms.
Last night she'd gotten up thirsty for water, and passing his door, she had heard something.
Her sharp gaze landed on me.
Effie was starting to believe him, and Samuel saw it—so he put on a show and kept smearing me.
"I saw you were a woman out here earning a living as a maternity nanny—not easy work—so I did you a favor and kept quiet."
"But I never imagined you could be this vicious. You couldn't seduce me, so now you frame me instead? What a poisonous woman."
"Effie, Mr. Walker, there is no way our daughter can be left in the hands of a woman like this. She needs to be fired immediately!"
His words hit Effie right in her weakest spot.
That newborn girl was the most precious thing in Effie's world. She turned to her father at once.
"Dad, a nanny this vicious—who knows what she's already done to the baby."
"Bring Brutus out. Let him drag the truth out of her!"
Eric nodded. A second later, an enormous iron cage was wheeled to the center of the banquet hall.
The black cloth was pulled away. Inside, a mastiff the height of a grown man locked its eyes on me and let out a low, eager growl.
The bodyguards unlocked the cage and moved toward me, ready to shove me inside.
The memory of being torn apart by that same beast flashed before my eyes, and I spoke immediately.
"That underwear reeks of breast milk—I'm not even nursing. It's not mine!"
Samuel's face went dark on the spot. He lunged for the underwear in a panic, clearly about to hurl it into the swimming pool nearby.