Page 61 of Silver Hills' Christmas Miracle

“I take back what I said.” He looked up at me, and tears sparkled in his own eyes. “I don’t give a shit what Samuel does. I will fight it, you hear me? I won’t leave you. I promise. Ipromise.”

He pressed a few kisses to my abdomen, then surged back up to kiss me full on the mouth. Our tears mingled, and further calls of congratulations rose up around us.

Holy shit, thank God.

I stayed with Rook for as long as I dared, but as the world started to darken, I knew I had to make it back home before anyone noticed I was missing. It was difficult to leave Rook when we couldn’t keep our hands off one another, but eventually, we parted on the edge of town and I snuck back to the manor.

I needed to get something for Paul. A decent bottle of whiskey or whatever his choice of drink was.

My steps felt lighter. In fact, my entire body felt lighter now that Rook knew the truth. It had been too easy for me to get lost in scenarios where Rook rejected me. We’d never discussed a life together, or children, so it would be understandable. He was a lot older and had lived much more than I had. I had even envisioned him telling me that he’d only been in this for the sex.

I had never been happier to be wrong.

Approaching the edge of the estate, I pulled my coat tighter around my body and tried to fight off the waves of cold piercing through my clothes.

How could it be this cold and yet not a single flake had fallen from the sky? It was the one thing holding my festive joy at bay because it just didn’t feel like Christmas without the white blanket everywhere.

Although the joy of being loved by the man I loved and carrying his baby were pretty good consolation prizes.

Just as I reached the back gate I had snuck through behind the old shed, a shadow melted out of the darkness and grabbed my arm. I screamed so loudly that my throat ached.

“Kitty!” said a familiar voice. “It’s me! Calm down!”

Snatching my arm away, I peered at the stranger and then rolled my eyes. “Holy shit, Anton. You scared the crap out of me! What are you even doing here?”

“I came to see you. We haven’t heard from you in ages.”

“Oh.” Trying to brush off the fright, I shrugged. “I’m sorry. I’ve been busy. Wait, how did you get in here?”

“The back fence.” Anton jutted his head behind him.

A shiver crawled down my spine. Rook’s security alarm should have caught Anton sneaking onto the property, but I quickly realized that Paul might have shut it off so I could sneak back in without issue.

“Well, why are you here? If you want to invade another meeting, everything’s on pause until after Christmas, so there’s nothing we can do.”

“Oh.” Anton smirked. “Well, you see, I have a plan.”

“Which is?”

“Well, that would be telling. I need you to get me into the manor.”

I scoffed and took a step away. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not letting you into my home at this time of night. Look, I told you, there’s nothing for us to disrupt until after?—”

My words died as Anton surged forward and slammed his hand so hard into my throat that my entire stomach somersaulted. I immediately crumpled to the ground, and he stood over me, bringing his face very close to my ear as I choked.

“You mistake my intention, Kitty. I wasn’tasking.”

26

ROOK

Iwas going to be a dad.

The news didn’t feel real. I lay in bed all night just staring at the ceiling, processing the information. When I’d met up with Kitty, I’d been certain she would walk away upon learning I could spend the next chunk of my life in prison. Suddenly, that didn’t matter anymore.

She loved me, and she was carrying my child.

It wasn’t real.

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