Page 26 of Daddy's Christmas Rescue
It belonged to another girl Blake had loved, and that wasn’t me.
Chapter nine
Blake
I’d stayed late at the site, longer than I needed to. The crew had left early and I’d wished them Happy Holidays, then sat in the truck for a good ten minutes staring at the wheel.
I wasn’t avoiding going home. I just didn’t know what the hell I was walking into.
Cas’s words were still sitting like shrapnel in my chest.Her parents own Clearwater Insurance.The same company that destroyed my mother’s life. The same kind of people I’d sworn I’d never let near me again.
And Holly—the girl who’d flinched at loud noises and clutched a ribbon like it was her lifeline—was their daughter.
Maybe she was innocent. Maybe she wasn’t.But I couldn’t stop replaying the look on her face last night when I pulled back from that almost-kiss like she’d been waiting for rejection her whole life and I’d finally given it to her.
By the time I drove home, it was already dark. Snow was starting again, light and cold and relentless. The house looked warm from the outside. Light in the kitchen window. Smokerising from the chimney. And I knew that no matter what Holly had gotten herself into, I wanted to come home to a home that looked like this every night because Holly was in it.
Then I opened the door.
The smell hit me first—perfume. Expensive. The kind that clung to the air like it was marking territory. Biscuit launched himself at me whining. I looked around. Saw the cake, smelled something amazing in the slow-cooker the perfume couldn’t mask, and heart dropping, because I knew that perfume, I carried on to my room.
And there she was.
Amanda.
Sprawled out on my bed in a blood-red satin contraption that was supposed to be arousing.
“Surprise,” she said, her voice smooth as honey.
For a second, I just stared. “What the hell are you doing here?” I said finally.
Amanda laughed softly. “That’s not the welcome I was expecting.”
“I asked you a question.”
She tilted her head. “Don’t look so shocked. I wanted to surprise you. Thought maybe we could… reconnect.”
“Reconnect?”I repeated, the word coming out low and dangerous. “You’re a liar and a cheat, Amanda. You were fucking someone else at the same time you fucked me over. You made me into a joke. There’s nothing to reconnect.”
Her smile tightened. “I made a mistake.” She knelt up her hand outstretched. “I love you and—”
I scoffed “Yeah,” I said.
She sighed, feigning patience. “Look, I know things got messy, but people change. I’ve changed.” She stood, taking a few slow steps toward me. “You look good, Blake. You look… softer.”
That made me laugh, rough and humorless. “You don’t know me anymore. Get dressed and get your shit out of my house.” I took a step back and saw Holly’s door closed. She was probably hiding and I didn’t blame her.
Biscuit whined at Holly’s door, tail thumping, then pawed at the wood with a restless urgency that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Something was wrong. I called her name, sharp and quick, but there was nothing. No sound. I opened the door and looked inside, expecting her to be curled up in the blanket, bunny in her arms, maybe hiding her face in the pillow. But she wasn’t there. The bed was made, the blanket folded, and the bunny sat propped against the pillow like she’d left him on guard duty.
I turned, heart suddenly pounding, and nearly ran straight into Amanda.
She was halfway down the hall, silk robe pulled tight, hair up in a bun, her mouth twisting in a smile that wasn’t even trying to be nice. “Looking for your housekeeper?” Her tone was pure acid wrapped in honey.
“Where is she?” My voice came out rough, and I didn’t bother to hide it.
She shrugged, like it was nothing. “I sent her home. Told her we’d need privacy for the holidays, and it was best to leave early. She was very agreeable.” Amanda looked me up and down, then past me, into the empty room. “Honestly, Blake, you should be careful about the people you let in here. She looked like she was about to cry when she left. I hope she didn’t steal anything.”
It was like being punched in the gut.
