Page 84 of Sweet Wicked Vows

“I already told you,” Jaxon growled. “That’s not happening.”

“I’m not asking you. I am asking your wife.” Olivier turned to me. “You’re coming, right? OurGrand-mèreis so excited to meet you. She keeps asking when Jaxon is going to bring you to meet everyone.”

Jaxon downed his bourbon. “She doesn’t want to spend Christmas with us.”

“Says who?” I snapped.

“I assumed you would want to spend Christmas here.” Jaxon’s jaw twitched. “I didn’t think you would want to leave your father.”

He wasn’t wrong.

After all, the last time I left, he ended up in a coma. But honestly, the thought of spending Christmas alone in my family home without Flynn or my dad was too sad to think about.

Flynn was likely going to spend Christmas anywhere that I wasn’t.

Lola and Violet would spend the day with their own families, and though I knew they’d invite me in a heartbeat, I didn’t want to intrude.

Poppy always flew back to her elderly parents for the holidays, and I hadn’t the faintest idea where Saunders disappeared to.

I’d be alone with only my thoughts to keep me company.

“I’d love to spend Christmas with you and your family.” I smiled at Olivier. “If you’ll have me.”

Olivier grinned in return. “Now you have to come, Jax. Youcan’t expect Evie to come all the way to Monaco by herself.”

“What about Reynolds?” Jaxon ground through gritted teeth. “Do you really wish to leave him?”

Yes and no.

No, because I feared that something worse would happen in my absence. What if he died when I was on the other side of the world?

And yes because the truth was, I was being selfish. I didn’t want to spend the holidays alone. With every ugly truth that was coming out about my dad, I may have loved the man, but I was struggling to like and understand him.

“It’s only for a couple days,” I said. “The doctors said he hasn’t shown any worsening signs. They seemed positive that the coma is doing more good than harm. I will tell them to ring me at the first sign something is wrong, and I’ll come straight home.”

“Perfect.” Olivier clapped his hands together. “It’s all settled.”

Maybe I was being a little spiteful, considering how things between us were left before dinner, because it was obvious Jaxon didn’t want me to go.

“Do you have a problem with that?” I asked Jaxon, tempting him to actually communicate with me like an actual adult and not a fucking man-child.

“Non.”

Christmas in Monaco it was then.

Chapter TwentySeven

I used to love Christmas.

Going and selecting a tree, and then spending hours decorating it with Flynn while we drank hot chocolate and watched tackyHallmarkmovies.

I loved the atmosphere of the season. The twinkling lights and the shop windows dressed in golds and reds. The hustle of the people on the streets frantically shopping for that perfect gift, and the sudden drop in temperature threatening to bring snow with each new breeze.

It was my favorite season of the year.

Landing in Monaco on Christmas Eve morning, I felt as Christmasy as the damn Grinch.

I always wanted to visit the French Riviera. During my time studying journalism, I managed to snag an opportunity to study abroad for six months. They placed me in Ireland, a beautiful country and somewhere I would happily return. While in Ireland, I took every chance I got to explore the rest of Europe on my days off.

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