Page 3 of Silent Night with Massimo

He huffs in disbelief. "Your words mean nothing."

He turns his back on me, pulling the massive door closed and I hear the clank of a lock falling into place.

His footsteps echo across the cellar floor as he walks away, leaving me behind in the cold. I'm already shivering, the winter chill biting through my skin.

Chapter 2

Massimo

Ican't believe she's here. Why the hell would she risk coming back? Returning after the exile is a death wish. Is that what she wants? For me to kill her and end her misery? How selfish of her to put that on me. It was hard enough being the one to announce her exile - the exile of a woman I was in love with. It tore me apart. And now she's back, forcing me to act against her all over again.

I march away from them, back into the stifling warmth of the house. The air feels thick, and suffocating, as though the atmosphere has tripled in weight. I need to breathe, but my lungs refuse to cooperate. I'm dizzy with rage, crushed under the weight of seeing her again. My mind spins, and my body feels like it's caving in, overwhelmed by the fury and confusion she's reignited.

I walk straight out into the snowy landscape of the garden.

Standing on the edge of the patio I take several deepbreaths. My breath steams from my lips in heavy puffs of smoke against the cold air.

Minute white flakes of ice fall from the sky, drifting past my vision, blurring in and out of focus. Some land delicately on my eyelashes, cold and fleeting.

I hold out my hand, catching the tiny flakes, but they vanish the moment they touch my skin. Love is like that—disappearing as soon as you try to hold onto it. I fell in love with Vera all those years ago, but she wasn't real. She wasn't the woman I thought she was.

It shattered me when she betrayed my family. She betrayed me. Selling intimate family secrets to our enemies put everyone I cared about at risk. I had no choice but to exile her. I couldn't let it slide.

But I was already in a dark place—our son had been stillborn, and my world fell apart. Everything I loved was ripped out from under me.

After Vera, I met my wife. She pulled me out of the darkness, and I loved her in a very different way. She was my world, and she gave me our daughter. But when I lost her in a car accident—around this time, two years ago-- I was destroyed all over again.

Things like that change you. They force you to switch off certain aspects of yourself, to grow harder and colder against the cruelty of the world.

I stare down at my hand, at the small drops of water left on my skin where the snowflakes touched me.

Coldness.

After my wife's death, I was left a single parent -- alone.But my daughter forced me to stand up and block out the pain. I had to be a father. I had responsibilities.

I take another deep breath of ice-cold air, letting it seep into my lungs and make me focus on my physical body instead of my heart which is beating too fast.

My love for my wife and my love for Vera - they were two different things.

My wife was safe, warm, and comforting. She was a steady, stable future for my daughter-- a beautiful woman with a beautiful heart.

Vera was passionate, wild, spontaneous, and full of laughter and endless love. She made me feel things I never thought were possible. She set my life on fire. And in the end, she burned it to the ground with her treason.

Now she is back—looking even more incredible. The years have only made her more alluring, more refined. The light in her eyes seems to burn brighter.

"Fuck." I mutter angrily.

I have so much to do, so many things that need my attention at this time of year - and my daughter and I struggle the most over the holidays because that is when we lost her mother. I don't have time to deal with Vera now.

Why the fuck is she here?

"Massimo?" My brother's voice drags me from my thoughts, a relief I need. I could have been spiraling into darkness out here alone.

"Adrian." I sigh and turn to face him, running my hand through my hair. "What the fuck is going on?"

"She claims she has proof that someone framed her. Shesays she didn't do it. But I don't fucking trust her at all and I don't think you should either. She could be planted here. A spy maybe?" He shrugs. "What do you want to do with her?"

"Right now - nothing. I need to think about it a little. Let's just focus on getting the place ready. Our family will be arriving over the next few days, and I want everything in order. She can't be a distraction." I clench my jaw, knowing that she already is. My thoughts are consumed by her—memories of us together. The way she'd pull her long, dark hair over her shoulder and tilt those teasing eyes at me, a cheeky smile playing on her lips. And the way her back arched when she pressed her body against mine, every curve seared into my mind.

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