Clary took one last look around her dingy apartment as she placed the key on the cracked tile of the kitchen counter. The carpet might have been dirty and smelled like tobacco despite her never touching a cigarette before in her life, and the walls might have been stained a grimy yellow, and the hot water might not have always worked, but this apartment had been her home for the past few months. She knew it was run down and an absolute piece of shit, but it was still a place for her to call home, and she was going to miss it in an odd way.

She grabbed the handles of her two suitcases, which she had managed to shove all her belongings into, and left the apartment, making sure the door locked behind her. She walked down the dilapidated hallway, rolling her suitcases behind her. This was the last time she'd walk down this hallway. When she reached the stairs, she struggled to carry her luggage down with her. The plastic wheels clanged loudly against the wood of the stairs, and she hoped she wasn't disturbing anybody in the building.

When she finally made it outside, she retracted the handles on her bags and sat down on the steps in front of her building. She glanced at her watch, knowing that her ride would be there soon. Jace had told her he was sending someone over to pick her up on Monday at noon. Here she was, at 11:55, anxiously waiting for them to show up.

She had almost protested him sending someone, figuring she could easily get a cab, but then she had looked him up online and realized a driver was not something out of the ordinary for her new boss. Jace Herondale was not just any ordinary businessman. A quick Google search had led her to an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the man. Not only was CEO of Herondale Pharmaceuticals, but he also dedicated a lot of time to doing pro bono work in the oncology department of the children's hospital. She had felt weird reading up on him on the internet, but justified it by comparing it to whatever extensive background check he no doubt ran on her before welcoming her into his home.

Clary had discovered a lot about him from the Wikipedia page and news articles she had read through. He had been born to Celine and Stephen Herondale. Celine had died of lung cancer when Jace was in his early teens. Stephen had been the one to start Herondale Pharmaceuticals and build it from the ground up. Jace had inherited the company at 24 when his father passed away from a heart attack. Clary had almost scoffed at that. She was 24 now, and nowhere close to being as rich and successful as he was.

There had been a lot of pictures of Jace with various women at different events he attended. However, she was never able to find anything about a wife, current of ex. In fact, she hadn't found much on Ceecee either. There were some photographs of her, and there were mentions of him having a daughter, but her name was never said and there wasn't anything about who her mother was. She had wondered how much he paid to keep that information private.

A large black Escalade with tinted windows pulled up to the curb, and Clary quickly stood up. A man stepped out from the driver's side and approached her. She recognized him as the other man who had been at the mall with Jace. She hadn't paid much attention to him then, but now took a moment to study him. He was definitely older with specks of gray sprinkled throughout his brown hair, and there were little crows feet at the corners of his blue eyes.

He gave her a warm smile as he walked up to her. "Miss Fray? I'm Luke Garroway. Jace sent me to retrieve you." He offered her his hand.

"Just call me Clary," she said as she took his hand and shook it.

He glanced at the two suitcases next to her. "Are those all you have?"

"Um, yeah." She awkwardly ran a hand through her hair. "I'm not one to collect a bunch of unnecessary possessions."

"There's nothing wrong with that," he laughed kindly as he picked up her luggage and put it into the trunk of the SUV. He came back to the front of the car, opening the passenger door and gesturing for her to enter.

She climbed into the seat, surprised to find the leather wasn't burning hot despite the high temperature of summer. She took a moment to look around as Luke walked to the driver's side. The interior of the car was just as dark as the outside. All the leather seats were black, as were the steering wheel and dashboard. The only color in the car came from a cliché pine tree shaped air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.

Luke turned the key in the ignition, and the vehicle barely made a noise as the engine turned over. A blast of cold air from the AC hit Clary in the face and goosebumps rose on her arms. She welcomed the sensation, though. This summer had been hotter than usual, and she'd been stuck travelling on overcrowded subway cars. The air-conditioned SUV was a nice change of pace.

"So," Clary started, wanting to break the silence of the vehicle, "are you Mr. Herondale's chauffer or?"

Luke chuckled slightly and shook his head. "Not quite. I'm his head of security. Driving around just happens to be part of the job."

"Oh." She paused, trying to think of something else to ask. "What's it like to work for him?"

"There's no one I'd rather work for," he stated simply, not elaborating.

Clary nodded, realizing Luke must not be a man of many words. She didn't want to have to continue to force conversation, so she kept her mouth shut and looked out the window. The scenery quickly changed from run down and neglected buildings to tall skyscrapers and apartment complexes.

Luke swiftly turned into a parking garage, and Clary barely caught a glance of the sign on the building: Alicante Apartments. He expertly pulled into an open parking space, and Clary looked at all the other cars in the garage. BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, Porches, and other kinds of luxury vehicles occupied the other parking spots.

She had been too busy focusing on the other vehicles to notice Luke had gotten out, and was startled when he suddenly opened her door for her. She mumbled a thanks as she climbed out, and she saw that he had also already grabbed her bags from the back. He led her to an elevator and pressed the down button. The shiny metal doors slid open to reveal a marbled floor and mirrored walls inside.

"You're going to get a code," Luke said as he punched a few buttons on a keypad. "It'll take you straight to the penthouse. You are not to share the code with anybody for any reason, understand?"

She nodded. "What if someone doesn't have a code?" she asked as the elevator started to ascend.

"They call up. Jace either gives them access or comes down to get them."

She nodded again, staring at her reflection in the back of the elevator doors. She had put on a sundress today, trying to look more presentable. Most of her clothing consisted of ratty jeans and t-shirts. Even this dress was a cheap, thin cotton one that she had bought of a clearance rack of some department store. She felt very out of place. A girl like her didn't belong in building like this surrounded by people like Jace Herondale. If Raphael hadn't made that obvious enough to her, she was surely realizing it now. She suddenly found herself questioning the decision to apply to this job, and wondering why she had been chosen out of all the candidates who applied.

The doors to the elevator opened, and Clary held back a gasp at the sight before her. The doors opened into the foyer of the penthouse, and the first thing she saw was the ceiling to floor windows that gave a beautiful view of the city. There was a baby grand piano sitting right in front of the window, looking out.

To the right was a living room, with chocolate colored furniture arranged to face a large flat screen television. The floors were a rich mahogany wood, and the walls were a soft cream color. To the left was a kitchen, and from what she could see, it had mainly stainless steel appliances.

"I'm going to take these to your room, Jace will be right out," Luke said, disappearing down a hallway off of the living room.

She was still looking around the apartment in awe when she heard what sounded like footsteps coming down a staircase. Jace walked around a corner next to the kitchen, his hands in the pockets of suit pants and a smile on his face. "Miss Fray, glad you're here."

She smiled shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You can just call me Clary."

"Well, Clary, why don't I give you a quick tour, and then we can go over expectations in my office?"

"Sounds good."

He led her around the corner from which he appeared and up a set of wooden staircases. The second floor only contained three rooms. The one at the far end of the hall was the master bedroom. On the right side of the hall was his home office, and on the left side was the gym. Jace told her that he liked to think of the second floor as his own space, but that if she ever needed anything not to hesitate to go up there.

He took her back down the stairs and into the kitchen. Clary had been right in assuming everything was stainless steel, from the dishwasher to the fridge to the sink. However, she was not expecting the dark granite countertops. Jace told her that he had a cook, Imogen, who worked during the week, and that she could make her whatever she wanted.

He then led her past the living and down the hall where Luke had disappeared. There were more rooms down here than on the second floor. There were two guest bedrooms, a bathroom, CeeCee's room, and her room. They stopped outside of CeeCee's door, which was at the end on the left. Clary smiled at the wooden, purple crown that hung on the door with CeeCee's name written in gold glitter glue. Jace let her know that he had just put her down for her afternoon nap, but that she would be awake soon.

Across from CeeCee's room was where Clary would be staying.

"I had someone redecorate it, but if you don't like it, we can always change it," Jace said as they stood outside her door. Clary thought that he almost seemed a bit nervous. She didn't know why, though. To her, as long as she had a place to sleep, she was happy.

Jace turned the handle and opened the door, and this time Clary did let a small gasp escape. The room itself was probably almost as big as her old apartment. There was a queen-sized bed in the middle, decorated with a seafoam green comforter and a plethora of pillows. The walls were a very light blue, and the plush carpet was an off white color. A pair of matching seafoam green drapes were tied back to let in sunshine from a glass sliding door that led to her own balcony. Against the back wall was a large wooden desk with a spinney chair. There was an ensuite bathroom, as well as a walk in closet across from the bed.

"Do you like it?" Jace asked. She nodded, not trusting her voice. The room was way more than what she had expected. He let out a chuckle. "Good. Let's go back up to my office and talk business."

She followed him back through the living room and up the stairs to his office. In the middle of the room was a dark cherry wood desk with a brown leather chair behind it. On the other side were two plush, deep red armchairs. The walls were painted a gray-beige color, and the floor was covered in an off white carpet similar to her bedroom. A cherry wood bookshelf covered the left wall, and the far wall had another floor to ceiling window. A pair of reddish brown drapes hung off to the sides of the glass. The right wall contained various awards and newspaper clippings, and she smiled at the drawing of flowes, obviously done by Ceecee, that hung amidst them.

Jace sat down in the leather chair and gestured for Clary to sit across from him. As she took her seat, he opened one of the top drawers of the desk and pulled out a stack of papers.

"First, I need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement," he said, sliding a piece of paper and a pen over to her. "I like to keep my private life private, and need to know you won't go leaking anything to the tabloids or gossips mags."

She quickly skimmed over the paper in front of her and signed on the dotted line. She passed the NDA back over to him, and he put it aside.

"Alright, now let's go over expectations." He handed her a few pages stapled together. It was a list of responsibilities and rules. "Obviously, your job is to take care of CeeCee. I often find myself occupied with work, and am not always capable of giving her the attention and care she needs. You will on the job during the week. Weekends you will always have off. Every other week you will have to take CeeCee to her mother's on Friday afternoons, picking her up on Sundays. Once school starts, it will be your responsibility to take her to and from Idris Academy. I have included her schedule in the packet I gave you. It's on the last page."

Clary turned to last page and looked over the schedule. CeeCee had lessons from piano to dance to Spanish all throughout the week. She wondered how the poor girl managed with all of that being thrown at her at such a young age. There were also some weekly play dates thrown in, which Clary thought was nice.

"I have listed the time and location of each appointment she has. You will take her to and from the ones that are not held here. The teachers have access codes to the penthouse, so you don't have to worry about letting them in." He opened another drawer and set a pair of keys on the desk. "These are for the Lincoln Continental. It already has a carseat and everything in the back. It's what you will drive while working for me. I will also have security detail assigned to you while Luke is out with me. Jordan may drive you instead, if he feels like it's the best option."

"You're going to trust me to drive your child around?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled at her, cocking his head to the side. "I ran an extensive background check on you, Clary. You have a very clean driving record. If this for some reason changes, I will have Jordan drive you all the time instead."

She nodded. "So, what do I do during the time when she's not in school or some sort lesson or whatever?"

He shrugged. "Just keep an eye on her. Make sure she's eating, sleeping, bathing, brushing her teeth, keeping her room clean. Don't allow her to eat junk food. Imogen will make her meals during the week, and you shouldn't stray from that. Her bedtime and wake up times are listed on the schedule. Don't let her stay up past her bedtime or sleep in."

Clary internally rolled her eyes. He seemed a bit controlling toward his daughter. She guessed he just wanted to make sure she was healthy and taken care of, but he seemed to take it too far. However, she didn't have the best point of reference. Jocelyn had been more of a free spirit and a hands off parent. She had let Clary make her own mistakes and learn from them, letting her experience tummy aches from too many sweets and exhaustion from staying up too late.

Jace once again reached into a drawer. This time he pulled out a black credit card and handed it to her. "You may also take CeeCee shopping if she wishes. Charge it all to this card. She's going to need to go school shopping soon, and I figure it might be better if you take her, knowing a girl's mind better and all that."

Clary looked down at the black AmEx in her hand. She probably wasn't the best option for taking CeeCee school shopping. Growing up, she hadn't been as impoverished as she currently was, but her and her mother weren't rich by any means. They were extremely middle class, and most of her school shopping had been done at Wal-Mart. She had no idea what kind of stores this five year old liked to shop at.

Jace leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head. "Now, do you have any questions for me?"

"What happened to whoever was working before me?" she asked, The question was one that had been on her mind for awhile.

"Let's just say she began to lack a certain level of professionalism."

Clary almost laughed. The girl had probably tried to move from nanny territory into mommy or fuckbuddy territory with Jace.

"Why did you pick me? Out of everyone that applied? I'm sure there were people far more qualified."

He removed his hands from behind his head and leaned forward. "There were, you're not wrong about that. However, you seemed to be the most real."

"The most real?"

"So many of the people who applied were doing it to climb a social latter, and it was obvious. They were hoping that by working for me they could make some nice connections with other businesspeople in New York. Others were hoping to just get closer to me. Not you, though."

She was about to respond when a small knock came from the door. The door was slowly pushed open to reveal CeeCee standing in the hallway. Her eyes landing on Clary and immediately widened. "Miss Clary!" she yelled, running over and throwing her tiny arms around her. Clary stiffened at the unexpected contact. "You're here!"

Jace chuckled and smiled fondly at his daughter. "She might have also played a role in the decision. She hasn't stopped talking about you since that day at the mall, always asking when we were going to visit you. I figured you'd be a good choice, considering she's already so taken with you." The phone on his desk rang, and he looked at his daughter. "CeeCee, why don't you go show Clary your room and your toys?"

CeeCee beamed and grabbed Clary's hand. "Come on!"

Clary got out of the chair as she tugged on her, and followed her out of the room as Jace answered the phone. For the short walk to her room, CeeCee talked excitedly about how glad she was to have Clary has her nanny. She mentioned that her last one wasn't that nice, but that she thought Clary was very nice.

CeeCee's room was even larger than Clary's, not that she was very surprised by that. She had a beautiful white wood canopy bed with flowing ivory curtains handing down. The carpet was a soft purple and the walls were light pink. One of the walls had a picture of a castle with Disney princess standing outside of it painted on. The other walls were lined with shelves, which were filled with picture books, board games, stuffed animals, and other toys. Clary noticed two doors, and wondered if she also had a bathroom in her room. However, CeeCee opened one of the doors to reveal a closet-type room full of more toys.

CeeCee started to pull items from the closet, the first one being the newest version of a Barbie Dreamhouse. She proceeded to pull out various dolls, clothing, and accessories, which included a few Barbie sized vehicles. She laid all the toys out on the floor and looked up expectantly at Clary.

"Are you ready to play?" she asked.

Clary sat down across from her on the floor and picked up one of the dolls. She guessed her new job was starting right now.

I meant to update earlier but got my wisdom teeth removed and was disposed of for a few days. Anyway, hope you enjoy the update. More drama and such will happen soon, but the beginning is a little bit of a slow burn to build the foundation.