Page 102 of Three Stepbrothers Save Christmas

“You didn’t have to do that; I would have hung it up,” Maximus frowns as she shrugs, walking back.

“I want to keep busy,” she replies before leaning against me. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her head.

“Do you want anything, Little Kitten? Coffee? Toast? A large gin?” I offer, forcing a smile, but I don’t get one in return. She just shakes her head and walks over to the kettle.

“I’ll do it. Anyone want one?” she asks, looking around. We all shake our heads and watch as she makes herself a hot chocolate. She looks so small and vulnerable it’s hard to watch. I want to stop her and make her sit down so I can do it, but she says she wants to keep busy, and I have to let her. I know the feeling, so I leave her to it and look to Maximus and Ethan, who are also watching her.

“Do you guys know what he may know to get her out of this?” Maximus asks quietly as Verity whisks some milk.

“Yeah, the three of us discussed it before,” I reply, letting him know Verity can hear this. “Logan said he found evidence that Henry was hiding more money. He doesn’t know everything but knew Travis would. He left some printouts for Travis, as he said he would if anything came to light. He never expected him to run off alone to tackle it, though. That was a surprise to all of us.”

“Logan is a good guy and wouldn’t want to see Travis hurt, not only because he is under his care, but because Logan does this job for a reason. He would have gone with Travis as backup,” Maximus explains. I have to agree. He couldn’t apologise enough when he popped around earlier. He had no idea Travis would be stupid enough to rush off alone.

A commotion catches all our attention, and I see Verity standing with milk pouring onto the floor by her.

“I’m sorry; I will clean it up. I didn’t mean to,” she sobs as she bursts into tears.

I move her away from the mess, which looks like she has knocked over the milk she was whisking.

“I’m sorry, Bear,” she sobs again.

“Stop apologising; it was just an accident. Did you burn yourself?” I ask, checking her hands. I can only see it down the front of Travis’s hoodie, which will upset her more than anything. When I see she is unharmed, I pull her into my arms and hold her against my chest.

“Hey, there’s no point crying over spilt milk, right?” I ask, offering her a small smile. “Why don’t you go and change your top, and I’ll finish making your drink for you? Ethan can help clean up the mess,” I add a wink to try and lighten the mood, but she just nods and starts towards the door. As she goes to leave, she stops and looks at the two of us.

“I love you, both of you. You know that, right?”

I stare at her for a moment, my breath catching as she says the three words I wasn’t sure she would say for a long time.

“We love you too, Baby Girl,” Ethans says as I nod and give her a more genuine smile.

“I never told Daddy, and I wish I had. I don’t want any of you to think I don’t love you because I do, more than anything,” she whispers before turning around and hurrying out of sight.

“Shit,” Ethan sighs as he turns to look at me. “I didn’t expect that to hurt as much as it felt amazing to hear.”

Maximus claps him on the shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

“I know what you mean,” I reply, rubbing my face before taking a deep breath to settle my nerves before I start cleaning up the mess. We stay silent for a short while, both lost in our thoughts.

I always imagined Verity saying she loved me for the first time in a romantic way, not as a heartbroken woman who may have lost one of the guys she loves forever.

She looked so sad and lost standing there in the hoodie that swamps her, so it hangs almost down to her trainers.

I freeze the cloth in my hand.

Why was she wearing shoes?

Dropping the cloth, I spin on the spot and rush towards the stairs.

“What’s going on?” I hear Maximus and Ethan call behind me. I don’t have time to reply as I take the stairs three at a time and rush to her room, throwing open the door to find it empty.

“Kitten!” I yell out as I rush to the next room, which is mine, but it, too, is empty.

“What is it?” Ethan demands, stopping in front of me.

“She had shoes on!” I yell, pushing him out of the way as I barge into the bathroom; it’s empty. I turn to see Ethan checking his room and cursing, telling me she’s not there. We get to Travis’s room together, and we throw open the door at the same time as I hear car tyres skid on the gravel outside.

“Fuck!” I yell as we rush down the stairs and out the door, but the car’s long gone.

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