Page 36 of A Dark Mafia Christmas

“Whoa!” They both say in unison. “Can we try them out?”

“Not in here.” Sinead stops them from jumping up and racing around the room. “You can take them outside when it stops snowing.”

They go around the room, taking turns to open a gift so that everyone gets to see what they’ve got. Sinead unwraps her gift from Emmett: A Ted Baker bathrobe and a spa weekend-for-two at Dromoland Castle.

“Aw, you sweetie.” Sinead blows him a kiss from across the room. “Did Sonia choose this?”

I can’t believe she said this, but Emmett only hangs his head in mock-shame. “You got me, Mom. I’ve been busy lately.”

“Lucky your mother loves you, Emmett.” Patrick shakes his head but doesn’t seem surprised by his son’s confession. His gift from his son is an antique gold cribbage board. I don’t understand the game, but tears well in Patrick’s eyes as he holds the board up for everyone to see.

Fianna goes next. Her gift is a trouser suit from Prada on Fifth Avenue. Her eyes light up when she sees the emerald-green suit complete with gold accessories, and she throws her arms around Emmett’s neck, squeezing him tightly.

I envy her this natural reaction, this closeness to her cousin, the effortless abandon with which she hugged him. When she looks at Emmett, she sees the cousin she grew up with, the businessman who lives in New York and flies home for special occasions, the guy who tolerates Christmas for his family’s sake.

Whereas when I look at him… When I look at him, I see someone who makes my heart skip around like a child who ate too many sweeties, and I don’t even know when or how this happened. But so much has changed since we came to Ireland that I can barely even recall how badly I wanted to hurt him for drugging me and bringing me here.

I sit in my bubble on the sofa, part of the festivities but outside of it at the same time. I don’t mind. It gives me a chance to watch Emmett unnoticed. He’s aloof, detached from the family even though they seem oblivious. Sure, he smiles and laughs in all the right places, he appreciates his gifts, he even helps the twins open a Monster Truck Lego set and starts building with them. But his heart isn’t in it.

Yes, that’s it. His heart is elsewhere.

Is it another woman? Is that why he keeps reminding me that this isn’t real? Every time he claims to be making business calls, is he really speaking to his girlfriend back in New York? The thought makes me feel queasy, and my pulse starts racing.

It would explain his complete three-sixty on the way back from the stream yesterday. I’m such an idiot. Why did I fall for thecharm when I already knew about his reputation as a player? I made the classic mistake of thinking I could change the womanizer, and now I realize how stupid that was.

So, why did he say what he said earlier? “No one has ever been more my woman than you, Mary Chrysler.”

Like, what does this even mean?

I hear my name mentioned and am jolted back to reality. What did I miss?

Everyone is staring at Emmett like they’re waiting for him to perform a magic trick or reveal the punchline to a joke.

Fianna, realizing that I’m clueless, says, “I just asked Emmett what he bought you for Christmas, Mary.”

Am I imagining it, or does Fianna know more than she should? She always seems to ask the right questions, the kind of questions that put us on the spot.

I think quickly. “We said that we weren’t buying gifts for each other. We have a wedding to plan.” I smile and shrug, praying that they all buy it as an excuse. I mean, getting married isn’t cheap, but then of course, I’m forgetting that Emmett O’Hara is a billionaire playboy businessman.

Fuck!

“Actually, I do have a gift for Mary.” Emmett stands, and heat floods my cheeks.

He smiles at me as he navigates his way across the room avoiding unwrapped gifts and the mountain of scrunched up paper in the middle. What is going on here? Is he going to give me the gift he bought for his real girlfriend back in New York? Isthis another piece of jewelry that I’ll have to hand back before we leave?

I chew my bottom lip and avoid meeting anyone’s eyes.

I don’t want someone else’s gift. I thought Emmett came and found me this morning and brought me back here because he was worried about me, and now he’s going to go and ruin everything again by giving me a present that doesn’t belong to me.

He comes back into the room, and I hardly dare raise my eyes to see what he’s holding. Come on, Mary, pull yourself together and act! Act surprised and pleased like your life depends on it. Which maybe it does.

I was expecting a small jewelry box wrapped up with a neat red bow, but Emmett is holding what looks like a painting in his hands.

“Sorry, I haven’t wrapped it, Mary.” He shrugs. “I hope it will make up for the stupid things I said to you yesterday.”

Okay, is this for real, or is he still covering for my failed runaway attempt in the night?

He turns the painting around, and my heart literally starts trying to hammer its way out of my ribcage. It’s me. It’s a head-and-shoulders painting of me, wearing the red dress Fianna loaned to me the night we arrived, my hair loose and tumbling over my shoulders.

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