Page 49 of Stealing His Christmas Present

Chapter 18

“I’LL FIGURE IT OUT,” Pablo said. “I promise.”

I wiped away my tears and blinked at him as he strode to the door.

“Wait.” I hurried after him. “Where are you going?”

“To my office. I have all the info there.”

“I’m coming with you.”

He stopped, meeting my gaze. “I don’t think—”

“No, Pablo. We need to find Gianni and Sofia as soon as possible. You need all the help you can get. We’ll be quicker if we work together.”

He definitely seemed like the lone wolf type, and it wasn’t a surprise that he didn’t trust people after everything that had happened. But this wasn’t a one-man job.

If he really wanted to help me find the twins, he had to realize he couldn’t do it on his own.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, and pulled out his phone. “I’ll have my men search for the twins and Benjamin. I don’t have to tell them why. The conflict between the traffickers and your family is of interest to everyone in our city. They won’t suspect anything.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” His face was grave. “It’s the least I can do.”

When we got to Pablo’s office, I looked around. It wasn’t as empty as the rest of this house. Aside from a desk and three chairs, there was a closet and a shelf full of folders.

Pablo took a seat in his leather chair and turned on his laptop. He opened the drawer on his desk and pulled out a tablet, which he slid across the desk to me.

I settled in the chair across from him and took the tablet.

“You have access to all the files I have on Benjamin,” he said.

I tapped the screen, trying to find something of interest. “Please tell me he didn’t kill them.”

“No, he didn’t. If he had, he would’ve already made it known.”

“Do you know how he got them?” I just couldn’t understand how something like that could’ve happened, especially when everyone had to be on high alert because of me and the traffickers.

“Apparently, Stella’s trusted babysitter handed the babies over to one of Benjamin’s men.”

“What?” I gaped at him. “Mrs. Livvy? But she’s been with my family and then with Stella for, like, forever!”

“They must’ve gotten to her family or found some other way to threaten her.”

“I think her family doesn’t even live close by.”

“That’s probably why no one thought they’d need protection too.”

I scrolled through one of the files. The details of Benjamin’s business were making me sick. The guy had been taking children and women, and selling them all over the world as if they were chattel.

My throat constricted, my stomach tightening. “Please tell me he’s just going to try to use the twins to get what he wants from Dante or my family. Please tell me he won’t sell them to someone or...” I couldn’t even finish that sentence.

Pablo’s gaze met mine, but he didn’t say anything.

The tablet fell out of my hands, thudding loudly against the desk.

I couldn’t breathe.

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