All Chapters of His Christmas Present : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Aria's POV"Aria! Over here!"I turned and beheld Aunt Mira waving her arms as she had a great big smile on her face. She was running my way before I could think, and threw her arms open and embraced me.“Oh, dear,” she said , cupping my face. "Look at you! You've grown so much.""Aunt Mira, don't embarrass me." She ignored me completely. “You have always been studying overseas. Never spent a single holiday at home. You have become a young woman before my very eyes.” “I had to complete school,” I said to myself. "You know that. I couldn't just stop."She nodded, eyes warm. "I know. Nevertheless, it is different to see you once again. You've changed so much."We entered her car and she began to talk. I was mostly nodding and smiling and listening. Her voice was soothing, it felt peaceful and good to be home. Few minutes later, she abruptly turned into the street that led to the cemetery. I looked at her, but I said nothing since I already knew why.She pulled up next to the rust

Aria's POV I got out of the car and the driver nodded at me as he drove away. The entrance of the nightclub was lit with the streetlights, and I entered the building, the bass beating in my chest. It was a dim place, with lamps blinking over vacant booths and a bar which seemed well-stocked. I went directly to the counter and asked for a shot. The bartender poured it swiftly and his eyes shot up. "Rough night?" he asked, sliding it over.I shook my shoulders, and knocked it back and the fire stung my throat. "You could say that."He refilled it. “First round on me if you can explain to me why you look like you are in a noir film.”"Nah." I replied, and declined his offer in a polite manner."Boundaries, I understand. The offer is still valid tho." He said as he poured me a shot. "On the house." He said, and gave me the glass.I smiled and ordered another, then another, and the warmth was spreading through me. I continued to take shot after shot, my head beginning to spin, my body

Damon’s POV I was sitting behind my desk and looking at the file before me, but I could not make sense of any words. My head had been in the same rut over years- Liana. My girlfriend that disappeared after that accident. No one, not my girlfriend, thought that she was alive.Daniel was standing opposite me, crossing his arms, and looking at me with that wearied expression which he had when this subject was brought up."Any update?" I requested him the third time that morning.He sighed. “We are still searching, Damon... however, as I have said, I think you know my honest opinion. It's been years. No sighting of camera, no hospital record, no travel record. Nothing. I believe that you need to come to terms with the reality that you keep denying.”I looked up at him sharply. "Don't say it.""Why not?" Daniel shot back. “She had had a terrible accident. They never found her body. Everybody thought that she drowned in the river. Damon, maybe she really-“"She's alive." I cut him off, my

The moment I stepped into Damon’s office, something in the air thickened, like walking straight into heat rising off pavement. My breath stuttered. My fingertips tingled. The door clicked shut behind me a little too softly, and that tiny sound made the hairs on my arms lift. He was standing by his desk, arms tense, shoulders squared, eyes locked on the screen like he was staring down an enemy.I tried to swallow, but my throat refused. The scent of his cologne lingered in the room, warmer here, stronger, like it had seeped into the walls overnight. Or maybe I was just reacting to him again, the way my stupid body always did around him. I hated that. I hated that I felt everything too sharply.“Come here,” he said.Not loud. Not harsh. But the way he said it made my stomach clench. I hesitated anyway, my feet glued to the floor. Damon turned his head slowly, his eyes dragging to mine, and something in his expression tightened. Something like frustration tangled with something hotter, s

The moment Damon said “Tell me. Right now,” something inside me twisted so sharply I almost reached for the edge of his desk just to steady myself. My mouth felt dry. My tongue stuck to the roof of it. My pulse hammered against my throat like it was trying to claw its way out.I wanted to lie.Or maybe I wanted to pretend I didn’t know.Or maybe I just wanted to disappear into the floor and spare myself the humiliation of saying the truth out loud.Because the only person who would come looking for me like that, uninvited, unannounced, bold enough to demand attention at the front of a skyscraper he had no business entering, was—No. I wasn’t ready to say it. I wasn’t ready to hear it.Damon stepped closer and the room felt smaller, tighter, charged with something that made the air burn inside my lungs. He wasn’t angry with me. Not truly. His posture wasn’t the posture of a man betrayed. It was the posture of a man preparing for violence on my behalf.“Aria.” His voice softened just en