Cheating with the Babysitter

Nineteen-year-old Dahlia took the job for the paycheck, plain and simple. When she signed up to babysit five-year-old Mia, she expected nothing more than a few hours of coloring books and easy money to help get her life started. She didn't expect to walk into a house that felt like a beautifully decorated cage.

Christian was only twenty-two, but he had been playing the role of a husband and father since he was seventeen. A single night's mistake with Harper had turned into a lifetime of commitment. He lived in a house he was forced to buy, married to a woman who treated their daughter like an inconvenience. He stayed with her only for Mia, working from home in a quiet, isolated world while Harper spent her days anywhere but with her family.

Dahlia was the first breath of fresh air the house had seen in years. She didn't just watch the clock; she genuinely cared for Mia in a way Harper never did. As Christian watched her from his home office, the distance between them started to feel unbearable.

While Harper was out, the house grew quiet, and the air between Dahlia and Christian grew heavy. Every shared laugh over Mia's jokes and every lingering look in the house made the truth harder to ignore. Dahlia felt the crushing weight of the guilt, reminding herself that he belonged to someone else.

She wasn't the girl who crossed lines or ruined marriages... until she was.

#3 in love