Page 9 of Stealing His Christmas Present

Chapter 3

STELLA AND DANTE’SChristmas party was completely hijacked by little Gianni and Sofia. They were just way too adorable and it was impossible not to want to cuddle them.

I stood near a table farther away as everyone cooed over them. Stella and Dante were grinning and looking at each other with so much love in their eyes as they held their babies.

I sighed. Would I ever have a family on my own like that?

Or would I screw it all up?

But Dante and Stella’s relationship hadn’t started peachy either, so maybe there was still hope for me too. I still didn’t want to have to marry a stranger to save my family, though, because I so didn’t want my family to ever be in danger again.

A movement caught my eye, and I glanced to the right. My older brother, Lorenzo, stood there, his dark eyes looking at Gianni and Sofia with sadness, his dark brown hair ruffled.

I went closer to him. “Hey, are you okay?”

“It’s just... The twins.”

“They make you think of Isabella,” I said softly.

He nodded.

Isabella was Lorenzo’s twin, and she had been brutally murdered when my family’s enemy had snuck into our house and taken out the guards. I’d been visiting Grandma with my younger brother, Tomasso, and only Stella and Isabella had been home that night.

When we’d thought we’d taken all the precautions, life had dealt us a huge blow and taken Isabella away from us.

“But this is a party.” He forced his lips into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “And nothing will happen to the twins.”

“Of course it won’t. We’ll make sure of it.” I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

“Claudia!” Tomasso’s voice made me spin around.

“What?” I asked.

“What’s the title of that stupid Christmas movie you like to watch?”

I furrowed my brow.

He’d slicked his brown hair back, and his brown eyes were filled with nervousness as he glanced at someone across the room.

“Why? What are you up to? If you plan to destroy my movie collection, I swear I’m going to kill you.” I loved romantic comedies, but Christmas romantic comedies were my favorite.

“Just tell me.”

“If you cared, you would know which one I liked the most.” I crossed my arms.

Tomasso and I rarely agreed on movie choices. On more than one occasion, he’d told me romantic movies were stupid, and well, I supposed I hadn’t always gone easy on his favorite SF movies either because I didn’t like when someone poked at something that I liked.

Tomasso groaned, but his gaze was still flitting to the other side of the room.

I turned to see what he was looking at.

Or better, who he was looking at.

Ah.

A smile curved my lips. “Aw! You want to impress that girl over there. The tall blond in that pink dress.”

“What? No!” He made a face, but I was so damn right about it because his cheeks actually reddened.

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