Page 37 of Stealing His Christmas Present

The Casadeis and Lombardis had to know the Red Eagles had a new boss, but I’d made sure no one knew it was me. I used an alias instead of my name when I was dealing with people who weren’t members of the gang.

But there was always a chance I’d be spotted somewhere and someone would recognize me, so I had to be careful and only go to the areas without any cameras or spies.

I didn’t know how to cook, though, and I didn’t want to hire a cook because having anyone around here might mess up my plans with Claudia, and I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t risk anyone bringing attention to this place.

That only left one option.

Claudia.

She could cook for us. I doubted she knew how, but she’d figure it out. We’d survive. There were instructions on most of the food packages anyway.

How hard could it be? And I could watch her.

It would be fun. Maybe she’d complain. The Casadeis had more than one cook, as far as I knew, and she could always get whatever she wanted.

But now, she’d have to work for it. It would be good to have her occupied with something, and then, once the war between Benjamin and her family started, I could show it to her.

She’d see that her family wasn’t coming, and that they were never going to figure out where she was and who had her.

She had to still be clinging to the hope that they were going to find and save her.

I wanted to quash that hope forever.

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