The Liar's Wife (Adam Levine Dark Romance)

Chapter 6: Out of Goodbyes

Adam tilted back the bottle and took another long swig of red wine. It was his drink of choice these days, mainly out of convenience. This place hadn’t operated as a winery in about a decade, but the cellar full of slowly aging bottles had been an unexpected perk when he moved in. He had enough self-respect to drink out of a glass most nights, but he’d heard the nanny puttering around in the kitchen this evening and decided to steer clear.

Now here he was back in the library again, surrounded by his music. The scene of the crime, he thought to himself with a dark laugh. He took another pull of wine, trying to blot out the memory of the way he’d made his daughter cry here earlier that afternoon. He’d have to make it up to her tomorrow. Maybe he’d take the day off and take her out for a spin with him in the truck.

In spite of the bitter taste the whole incident left in his mouth, Adam couldn’t help recalling the sound of the nanny’s voice, singing at the piano earlier. He’d heard a hell of a lot of wannabe pop stars trying to cover Adele songs in his day, and he could count on one hand the ones who even came close to doing it justice. But that girl, that voice – like raw, dark amber honey with just the right amount of grit – it had to be the first time he’d ever heard an Adele cover sound better than the original.

He set the bottle back down and flicked “play” on his laptop screen, listening through his headphones to the demo track he’d been sent a few hours ago. It was Amber Carrington covering one of his old Maroon 5 songs, Out of Goodbyes. This was already the third version he’d been sent, and he could tell something was still off with it, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. Maybe he was too close to it. Maybe it needed some fresh ears.

He took the headphones off and ran his thumb idly around the rim of the wine bottle. It was poised midway to lips when he heard someone knock and then open the library door without waiting for a response. He looked back over his shoulder to see the nanny standing in the doorway.

Great, he thought to himself. Now she thinks I’m a lush. He sighed. He’d been intending to give her one more chance, but there was no point letting Adele get attached to another one if it clearly wasn’t going to work out. He had to admit, he was getting pretty damn efficient at driving away nannies at this point. This one hadn’t even been here 24 hours. He raised the bottle in his hand and saluted her with it. “Care for some wine?”

“I don’t drink,” she said quietly, wrinkling her nose.

“No, of course you don’t,” Adam replied. Was there anything about him that this girl wouldn’t disapprove of? Whatever, he thought. “OK then. Good talk,” he said. “I’m a little busy here.” He put the headphones back over his ears to dismiss her.

Jane stood in front of the open doorway, unsure what she should do next. She’d been going over it in her head all afternoon, trying to figure out the best way to smooth things over so she wouldn’t get fired. She knew she was on thin ice after the way he’d reacted to the dance routine she taught Adele earlier, but she’d hoped there might still be a way to salvage things. If she had to lose this job, that would be bad enough – but if he gave a bad reference to the nanny agency, she’d really be screwed. She knew she needed to apologize, but it would help if she understood what exactly she was apologizing for. “It’s not an appropriate song for a child,” was what he’d said before he’d stormed out. What a hypocrite, she couldn’t help thinking. He was the one teaching Adele weird creepy lullabies.

Whatever, she thought. He was just a jerk. She felt her temper start to flare up again. If she had to lose this job, she may as well go out with guns blazing. It was bad enough the little girl’s mother left her behind to go gallivanting around on some never-ending world tour – but clearly Adele was starved for her father’s affection as well. It wasn’t right, and someone needed to tell him so. Someone needed to open his eyes to the harm he was doing his daughter.