Matthew Collins had everything most people could only dream of. Mansions, luxury cars, companies spread across three continents. The only thing he could not handle was his three year old twin sons. In just two months, five nannies had quit. The last one ran out sobbing after the boys set her handbag on fire using a lighter no one knew they had.
Lauren Hayes arrived one Monday morning. She was young, quiet, and completely unremarkable at first glance. She simply looked at Matthew and said, “Give me one week.”
Matthew did not believe her. But he was exhausted and desperate. That afternoon, he left for a business meeting. When he came back three hours later, the house was silent. No screaming. No crashing sounds. No alarms.
He slowly opened the door to the backyard and stopped cold.
His twins, the same children who had driven professionals away, were rolling around in a massive puddle of mud. Completely filthy from head to toe.
And Lauren was standing there laughing, spraying them with a garden hose like it was a game.
The boys were laughing. Truly laughing. Not the cruel, destructive giggle he had grown used to.
Matthew stormed forward, furious and ready to fire her on the spot. But when he got closer, something stopped him.
Their eyes. His children’s eyes looked different. Brighter. Calmer. And Lauren was smiling. Not the forced smile of an employee, but the calm smile of someone in control.
“Mr. Collins,” she said, still holding the hose. “We need to talk about what’s really happening to your children.”
A chill ran through him. “What are you talking about?”
Lauren turned off the water. The twins ran straight to her and wrapped themselves around her legs. Something they had never done with anyone.
“They aren’t the problem,” she said quietly, looking directly at him. “The problem is what someone in this house has been doing to them when you’re gone.”
The air thickened. Matthew stepped back. “Who?”
Just then, he heard footsteps behind him. Someone had been watching from upstairs.
And when Matthew turned his head, what he saw would leave him speechless