Page 33 of Silent Night Temptation

“How long?” she repeats, louder, her tone vibrating with a deep, trembling rage.

I almost wish I could deny it. But I can’t. The truth feels unbearable, but it’s all I have left.

“Since the day I got here,” I whisper, barely able to push the words out.

The silence that follows is thick with disbelief.

“Oh my God…” she breathes, the realization hitting her like a punch to the gut. Her face twists with the weight of it, her world crashing down around her.

“Coco, please…just listen,” Marcus steps forward, his voice strained, pleading, but she doesn’t spare him a look. Her eyes are still locked onto me, brimming with betrayal.

“You’ve been messing with my dad since the day you arrived?” she seethes. “He’s my father, Nyree. How could you?”

Her words slice through me, each one a fresh wound. The shame is unbearable, twisting my insides until I feel physically ill. I hurt her. I betrayed her. The gravity of that truth threatens to crush me.

Marcus steps in again, firmer now. “If you want to ask anyone, ask me. This is not Nyree’s burden to carry alone.”

But Coco remains fixated on me, her pain only deepening. “And you never told me? You never said a word?”

It’s the most crushing thing I’ve ever heard. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. What could I say that would make this any better?

Then something in Marcus snaps. His voice rises, steely with frustration.

“Are we really going to stand here and throw accusations, Coco? Are we?” He steps forward, his body tense, a raw anger edging into his words. “You want to talk about keeping secrets? You’ve been seeing Ethan…Ethan! The man who has caused me no end of trouble…and I only found out when you brought him here for Christmas! The man you’re still with, despite everythinghe’s done. And now you want to talk about people hiding things?”

“It’s not the same!” Coco shouts back, her voice shaking. “Nyree is my best friend! She should have told me!”

“And you’re my daughter! You should have told me about Ethan!” Marcus's voice is louder now, harder. The tension between them crackles in the air like electricity, threatening to explode.

Coco’s face flushes with fury. “And what would you have done? Told me to leave him, like I’m still a child who needs protecting? I’m not some little girl you can control anymore! I love him!”

Marcus's expression shifts, his voice dropping low. “And does he love you, Coco? Or is he just using you?”

The question cuts through the air like a knife. Coco freezes, her breath hitching as if the words have struck a nerve. In that brief moment, I see something flicker in her eyes, something uncertain and fragile. She falters, unable to respond. Her eyes shimmer, betraying a wound Marcus's words may have reopened.

I want to reach out, but I can’t. The space between us is too wide, filled with too much pain and anger.

“I do love her!” Ethan’s sudden confession and raised voice causes all eyes to turn to him. There is so much conviction and sincerity in his voice that for a moment Marcus’s angry expression falters, giving way to surprise. His words land with force, like a stone dropped in still water. Everyone turns to him, and though his face is calm, I can see his nerves in the way his hands tremble ever so slightly at his sides.

The silence that follows is so complete, so deafening, that I can hear the soft tick of the clock on the wall, counting down the seconds in slow, agonizing beats.

“I love her,” Ethan repeats, his eyes never leaving Coco’s. “That’s why I came all this way, and that’s why I wanted to try toget along with you, Marcus, even though you make it so hard. I want to be with her, to build a life with her. We’re going to raise this child together.”

Child… Oh no…

The word shatters the stillness like a bomb going off. Everything seems to tilt. The ground under my feet sways, the air becomes too thick to breathe, and my heart hammers in my chest. I’m aware of Marcus’s sudden shift in his body, the shock rippling through him. His mouth falls open, but no sound escapes. For the first time since we met, I see the strong, unshakable Marcus, reduced with complete astonishment.

“What did you just say?” Marcus's voice, when it finally comes, is low, dangerous in its quiet intensity.

Ethan, steady as ever, looks at him without flinching. “Coco’s pregnant. We’re having a baby.”

The air goes still again, nearly suffocating. The room shrinks around us, drawing us all in. I can’t move. I can’t speak. My mind is reeling, trying to process how Marcus is going to take this.

Marcus's reaction is swift and explosive. His shock bleeds into anger so quick, I barely have time to register the transition. His eyes search the room, seemingly scanning all our faces as if looking for answers in our eyes. And I am not sure what does it, maybe my face betrays a certain calm with an awareness of the bombshell Ethan just dropped on him, but when he finally speaks, it’s not to Ethan.

He snaps to me.

“You knew?” he says, his voice sharp and cold, the accusation clear and cutting.

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