Chapter 4 - The Viper's Nest
Breakfast was a surreal affair. Jasmine sat at a long walnut table while a private chef served delicate plates of eggs benedict and fresh fruit. Harper talked continuously, showing Jasmine her drawings of butterflies and rabbits, while Jackson sat at the head of the table, silently sipping black coffee and reading legal documents on a tablet.
Despite his terrifying reputation, Jasmine noticed the subtle ways Jackson interacted with his daughter. Every time Harper reached for a juice glass, his hand moved instinctively to steady it. When she dropped her napkin, he caught it before it hit the floor without looking up from his files. He was a monster to the city, but to this little girl, he was a shield.
"Harper," Jackson said softly, his voice instantly commanding the child’s attention. "Go to the library with Mary. Miss Carter and I need to have a business discussion."
Harper pouted briefly but obeyed, kissing her father's cheek and waving goodbye to Jasmine before skipping out of the room with an elderly nanny.
The moment the doors closed, the atmosphere in the dining room turned suffocatingly heavy. Jackson set his tablet down, his gray eyes fixing on Jasmine like a hawk targeting prey.
"Let's be clear, Jasmine," Jackson began, leaning back in his chair. "You are a twenty-three-year-old orphan. Your mother died of cancer three years ago, leaving you with forty thousand dollars in medical debt. You work forty-eight hours a week at a failing diner, and your landlord is currently preparing an eviction notice because you are two months behind on your rent."
Jasmine felt a fierce heat rush to her cheeks, a toxic mixture of shame and anger. "Did you bring me here just to recite my miseries to me?"
"No," Jackson said calmly. "I brought you here to offer you an exit strategy. The ten thousand dollars in the envelope was for your kindness to my daughter. Consider it a bonus. Now, I want to hire you."
Jasmine blinked. "Hire me? For what? I'm a waitress."
"Harper’s mother was... unstable," Jackson said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, icy register. "She tried to use my daughter as leverage in a turf dispute with the Bratva six months ago. She is no longer in the country. Harper doesn't trust anyone. She has night terrors, she screams when it rains, and she runs away from her security details. Yesterday, she ran because she thought she saw her mother across the street."
He paused, his eyes searching Jasmine’s face. "But she trusted you instantly. She held your hand. I want you to become her personal companion and supervisor. You will live here, at the estate. I will liquidate your medical debt by noon, and your monthly salary will be five times what you make at that grease trap in the city."
Jasmine stared at him, stunned. It was an offer that would rewrite her entire life, saving her from the grinding gears of poverty. But she knew the law of the streets.
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"And what happens when your enemies find out that Harper has a new companion?" Jasmine asked quietly. "What happens when they shoot at the car I'm sitting in?"
Jackson’s expression turned lethal, a dark, terrifying smile touching his lips. "Then Dmitri will shoot back. And I will ensure their entire lineage ceases to exist."
