Page 19 of Hacker Christmas

“I don’t think we should—”

“Don’t you say it, Aaron,” she said. “We are going to California. This is your last premiere, and we aren’t going to miss it just because the media wants a picture. I don’t care what the media says about me. I want to go.”

A young female doctor walked in just as he was opening his mouth to respond.

“Hi, Daisy, I know we have an appointment tomorrow. But given the accident, let’s take a look at those babies.”

Daisy’s face lit up at the mention of our babies. It only took the doctor two minutes before our babies were on the monitor and I could hear the heartbeats of our twins.

When I looked at Aaron, he had tears in his eyes, and Daisy had a big smile across her face.

9

Daisy

Two days had passed since the accident. Even though Fredrick had died when an alligator ate him for lunch, Aaron and Neal wouldn’t leave my side. Finally on my own, I reclined back into a massage chair. Aaron and Neal had booked a mani-pedi for me, followed by getting my hair and makeup done. The paparazzi had run with the story about Aaron. The three of us didn’t care that the media had plasteredour relationshipacross the TV. Our close friends already knew about us, and that was all we cared about.

Aaron wanted to be out of the public eye by the time the babies came. When the doctor performed the ultrasound, both men had tears in their eyes. I swear if I hadn’t been in the hospital, Aaron would’ve gone to the closest baby store and bought everything he could find. Every so often over the past couple of days, I would find him on his phone, looking at baby stuff. I couldn’t imagine how many boxes would be arriving at the penthouse over the next few weeks.

We planned to go look at a house next to Aaron’s brothers the following week. He wanted our kids to grow up close to their cousins. Neal and I had no brothers or sisters, and Aaron’s family had taken us in like we were their own. I had no issues with living next to them.

The doorbell over the spa door rang, and when I looked in that direction, I couldn’t hold back the tears. Annabella stood at the front door. Aaron had mentioned he had a surprise for me at the salon, but I’d expected a gift, not my old friend and boss.

When she spotted me, she ran in my direction. After I returned from being kidnapped, I cut out everyone from my past. I couldn’t face anyone and didn’t want to talk about what happened. After the first year, everyone from my past stopped contacting me, and when I felt better, I didn’t contact them.

“Daisy?”

I leaned over the side of the chair and engulfed her in a hug. “Yes.”

She climbed into the maroon chair next to me. Everyone wanted Annabella in their next movie. Her long blond hair shimmered in the light, her emerald eyes were piercing, and her hourglass figure filled out her jeans and white T-shirt perfectly. She placed her Prada purse on the table and slipped off her Prada high heels. I wanted to reach over and cradle her shoes. They were to die for.

“Dais—I mean, I take it Aaron called you?”

She crossed her arms and let out a huff. “I would have preferred that you had called.”

The technician took that moment to rub my feet. It helped reduce the tension. So much time had passed, and I wasn’t sure what to say. “After everything, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Al held me captive for ten years before Sam and his team saved me. I felt dirty and unworthy—that’s the only way I can explain how I felt. Dai—I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Then when I felt better,it had been too long. You were an A-list movie star. Why would you want to associate with me?”

Annabella reached over and grabbed my hand. Hers was soft and warm. “Daisy, we were friends—no, wearefriends, and friends stick by each other through thick and thin. You know I don’t care about the A-list title the media gives me. It hurt that you never reached out to me and dodged my calls. You know how excited I was when Aaron called me? No kidnapping will ever change the way I look at you.”

“Even though I avoided you for so many years and I’m dating two men?”

She let out a chuckle. “I love you for the kindhearted woman you are. You would sacrifice yourself for anyone. I wish I had tried harder to help find you.” Annabella’s emerald eyes lost their sparkle. “I blame no one but Al for your years in captivity.” She shook her head. “Okay, let’s stop talking about the past. Tell me about those two sexy men you captured.”

“Before we get to them… I saw you’re getting married.”

She let out a sigh. “It’s not what it looks like. We are marrying for convenience, and I don’t want to talk about my fucked-up situation. Tell me about those men.”

I made a mental note to dive into her issues more later. Annabella and I spent the next two hours talking about Aaron and Neal.

* * *

Neal

I would never get used to how salespeople treated Aaron when we walked into stores. Aaron and I had set Daisy up with a spa appointment so we could go ring shopping. Daisy thought we were heading back to Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, but Aaron I had planned to spend Christmas at his house in Denver. His family and our friends were flying in to go skiing and spend the day with us.

The salesperson literally had drool running from his mouth the second Aaron walked into Tiffany’s. When we said we were looking for an engagement ring, he escorted us to the back room and laid out a bunch of huge diamond rings, but none of it was anything Daisy would want.

“Do you have anything smaller and pink?” I asked.

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