Page 54 of Stealing His Christmas Present

Pablo rolled over the ground and then pointed his gun at one of the men who’d rushed out of the house.

I aimed my gun at the other guy and pulled the trigger. The bullet missed him, but I got his attention.

The guy turned to me, and I fired again before he could point his gun at me.

The bullet hit him in the chest. He stumbled back and then fell to the ground.

Pablo’s gaze met mine, his eyes narrowing, but there was no surprise on his face. As he headed inside, I slowly inched closer to the door, looking around to make sure no one else would show up.

As soon as I reached the door, I heard the cries.

Babies!

The twins!

“All clear,” Pablo said.

I raced in the direction of the sound and stopped dead in my tracks when I entered a dim room full of cages.

Cages filled with people.

“Please! Help us!” one of the women cried as she gripped the bars of the cage she was in.

Her face and clothes were dirty, her cheeks tearstained and smeared with makeup.

Some of the women were lying on the floor, unmoving.

I hoped they were all alive.

“It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you,” Pablo said when the women backed away from him.

As he looked for the keys to open the cages, I hurried to the corner of the room.

The cries were coming from two big cartoon boxes with blankets hanging out of them.

Tears filled the corners of my eyes as I got close enough to see what was in them.

“Gianni! Sofia!” I recognized their little faces in an instant.

They were still wearing yellow onesies with their names that my mom had gifted Stella when they were born.

I carefully reached into the first box and picked Sofia up. She was crying as I held her close to me.

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe now,” I said.

“Do you need help?” Pablo asked.

“Yeah. Can you pick Gianni up?”

“Um, I guess.” Pablo glanced at me before taking crying Gianni in his arms with all the gentleness and care in the world.

Oh, my god. I want his babies.

What? No, wait!

It wasn’t just Pablo. I kind of had a thing for men holding babies.

Gah, they were adorable.

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