Late to Arrive, Warm to Stay

Sophia Winters was squatting in a hospital hallway with $100 left. Three days earlier, her fiancé Jason Reed had thrown her out of the bridal suite. He was marrying her stepsister Claire Winters instead. Claire wore the dress Sophia picked out, in the room Sophia spent six months decorating, and thanked her for getting everything ready. Her father took Claire's side, arguing the Reed family money would save Sophia's mother and she should give up her fiancé, her bridal suite, and her dignity. In the end, they spent nothing on her mother. The ICU bills kept piling up.

Sophia answered an ad: $150,000 a month, room and board included, caring for a four-year-old. Landing Corp Domestic Services asked her age and education. She had a master's in clinical medicine from Northbridge University and a minor in child psychology. They told her to come to Lakeview Manor at 10 a.m.

She arrived in a wrinkled T-shirt and sneakers. A butler in his forties led her past stables, a heated pool, and an indoor botanical garden to a room on the second floor. Leo sat on the carpet with a row of blocks lined up perfectly. He had beautiful dark eyes with no emotion in them. The butler's account: Leo didn't speak a word until he was three, uttered his first sentence only last year, and exchanged a few words with Mr. Landon on rare occasions. Eight nannies before her, none lasting longer than a week. The previous ones had vases thrown at them.

Sophia crouched beside him and placed a block next to his castle. He threw it aside. She placed another. He threw it farther. The third time, she built a small swing set instead. He paused, stared at it for three seconds, and took a block from his own castle to place next to it. The butler stood stunned in the doorway.

That night Charles Landon came home. The interview lasted less than three minutes. His question: why become a nanny? Her reason: she needed money. He set the rules: don't mess with Leo's routine, don't touch him, don't force him to talk, don't set foot on the third floor. One month trial.

Back in her room, her bank balance was $95. Her mother's medical bill was $40,000, due tomorrow. She texted the butler for an advance. The reply: Mr. Landon would pay her daily, $5,000 starting from her first day of the trial. Her hand shook. That would do. Enough to get by. The rest she would deal with later.