CEO Single Dad Falls For Her, Never Expected She’d Love His Kids Like Her Own
Chapter 1
Why was the woman his children barely knew the only person who could make both of them stop crying?
Ethan Hayes stood frozen in the doorway of the kitchen, one hand still wrapped around his phone, while rain hammered the windows of his million-dollar house.
His six-year-old daughter, Lily, was sobbing beneath the kitchen table.
His eight-year-old son, Noah, was sitting on the floor beside her, trying desperately to hide his own tears.
And kneeling between them was Ava Morgan.
The new housekeeper.
She had been working for the Hayes family for exactly eleven days.
“Lily,” Ava said softly, “look at me.”
The little girl refused.
Ava didn’t force her.
Instead, she sat on the floor.
“I’ll wait.”
Noah looked toward his father.
Ethan expected him to say something.
He didn’t.
Ava reached into her pocket and pulled out a small paper flower.
“I made this for you.”
Lily’s crying slowed.
“You made that?”
“Badly.”
A tiny smile appeared.
Ava held the flower toward her.
“My little brother used to make these whenever I was sad.”
Lily crawled out from beneath the table.
“What happened to him?”
Ava’s smile faded for half a second.
“He grew up.”
Lily took the flower.
Noah looked at Ava.
“Can you make one for me?”
“Of course.”
Ethan watched silently.
His children hadn’t reacted like this to a stranger in years.
Since their mother died, every new nanny had lasted weeks at most.
Some complained about Noah’s anger.
Others couldn’t handle Lily’s nightmares.
One had quit after Lily locked herself in the bathroom for three hours.
But Ava never pushed.
She never demanded affection.
She simply stayed.
Ethan finally stepped into the kitchen.
“What happened?”
Noah looked down.
“Dad…”
Lily clutched the paper flower.
Ava stood.
“They were looking at their mother’s old photographs.”
Ethan’s expression tightened.
“You went through them?”
“No.”
Ava shook her head.
“They found the box themselves.”
Ethan looked at his children.
He knew that box.
He had hidden it because he wasn’t ready to explain the past.
Apparently, neither were they.
Ava continued quietly.
“They asked if their mother loved them.”
Ethan’s throat tightened.
“What did you tell them?”
“The truth.”
He stared at her.
“What truth?”
“That their mother loved them.”
Ava’s voice was steady.
“And that nothing that happened afterward could change that.”
Ethan didn’t know what to say.
Ava picked up the scattered photographs.
Then she looked at him.
“They don’t need you to hide their mother from them.”
Ethan felt something he hadn’t felt in years.
Not anger.
Not grief.
Something more dangerous.
The sudden realization that he wanted to know everything about this woman.
But Ava turned away before he could ask.
“Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”
She walked out.
Noah looked at his father.
“Dad?”
“What?”
“Can Ava stay forever?”
Ethan looked toward the doorway.
Ava was already gone.
He didn’t know it yet.
But his children had just asked the question that would change all four of their lives.
