Page 47 of Stealing His Christmas Present

Chapter 17

CLAUDIA WAS GETTINGinto my head.

She was undoing me bit by bit, and I was letting her.

As I strode to the kitchen, I wanted to cling to my anger. Rage was the only thing I’d known for so long that I wasn’t sure what to do without it.

But it had dissipated so easily because of her touch and her kind words.

My gaze fell on the tray with Claudia’s Christmas cookies. Stupid gingerbread men grinned at me, and I grabbed the tray, intending to dump it all in the trash.

But as I stared at the cookies, I could see Claudia’s face again. I placed the tray back on the counter.

No one had ever said they were sorry. Not even when I’d held my gun to their heads.

No one had ever cared about any of what had happened to me.

Except her.

There had been tears in her eyes. Tears of compassion for me, and they’d been real.

After everything I’d done to her, how could she still have compassion left for me?

Maybe I was wrong about this whole thing.

What had happened wasn’t Claudia’s fault.

It had never been her fault, no matter how much I’d wanted it to be.

It was mine.

It was my fault.

A mistake I had made.

But had it been a mistake?

This world wouldn’t be the same without Claudia. She was like a bright ray of sunshine that warmed up everything, even my cold, dead heart.

And she didn’t belong here.

She should be free to do whatever the hell she wanted.

I’d gotten what I’d always dreamed about, and it had been the best moment of my life. Her warm body under mine, her gentle touch, her fiery kisses...

I’d never be able to forget any of it.

I should let her go, even if that meant her family would come after me and I’d lose her forever. It was the right thing to do.

Just like it had been the right thing to let her go that night.

No matter the consequences.

I didn’t know how I hadn’t seen it before. But she was worth it.

She was worth all the pain and suffering because she didn’t belong in my dark world.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out. An alert was flashing on the screen. It was red, so it had to be something important.

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