All Chapters of His Christmas Present : Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

19 Chapters

CHAPTER TEN: THE FACE THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST

My brain couldn’t process it at first. The name hung in the air like smoke, drifting and curling and refusing to disappear. Liana. My skin pricked all over, a wave of cold sweeping down my spine so fast I grabbed the arm of the couch just to keep myself upright. The screen kept flickering, the lighting in the lobby sharpening around her as she moved closer to the front desk. Every step she took felt like it was stomping on the center of my chest.She looked like me.Not in the mirror-image way Damon had seen me yesterday. Not in the soft mistaken-glance way Daniel had reacted. No. This… this was colder. Sharper. Like a distorted reflection someone dragged out of a nightmare and placed under bright lights.Maybe it was the way she held herself. Confident. Familiar with the building. As if she didn’t need permission to be here. As if she’d been here before.The guard leaned in to speak to her and she tilted her head just slightly, her hair slipping off her shoulder. It was my hair. Not

Last Updated : 2026-01-06

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE MOMENT I FELT THE GROUND SHIFT

The sound of Caleb’s voice grated against the inside of my skull, sharp and volatile, and for a second I couldn’t decide if I wanted to shut him up or walk away before I did something reckless. He kept pacing inside the small holding room, breath coming out in angry bursts, eyes darting anywhere but mine. I wasn’t even looking at him anymore. My phone kept vibrating inside my palm. Security alerts. Internal notifications. Something digging at the edge of my awareness. A pull. A warning. Like the building itself was trying to tell me something was wrong. Something upstairs. Something with her. “Are you even listening to me?” Caleb snapped, stepping closer, the kind of step meant to provoke. I leveled my gaze at him without moving. “You pushed one of my employees. You forced your way into a corporate building. You barged in demanding access to someone who clearly doesn’t want to see you. I’ve listened enough.” He went rigid. “She’s my business, not yours.” “No,” I said quietly.

Last Updated : 2026-01-06

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE GIRL WHO WALKED OUT OF HIS PAST

Aria’s POV The door was thin. Too thin. Every word outside slipped through it like air through cracks, and I swear I could feel my heartbeat in the wood itself. I stood frozen, fingers pressed so tightly against Damon’s desk that my knuckles ached. Something trembled inside me, something sharp and metallic, the kind of fear that tastes like old coins at the back of your tongue. I didn’t want to listen. But I couldn’t not listen. I heard a voice I’d never heard before. Soft. Calm. Familiar in a way that made my chest tighten. “Hello, Damon.” My breath stuttered and pain shot right through me. A woman’s voice. A voice that sounded like it belonged to someone who had never been afraid a single day in her life. My heart dropped lower when she spoke again. “Is she inside?” She meant me. She was talking about me. For a second I forgot how to breathe. I took one small, shaky step backward, bumping into the edge of the couch. My hands flew to my chest because the pain there felt

Last Updated : 2026-01-07

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE WOMAN WHO SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD

Damon’s POV The moment Liana crossed the threshold of my office, something inside my chest seized—hard, violent, like the past reached out and wrapped a hand around my throat. I didn’t even remember moving, but suddenly I was in the doorway, blocking half the room, instinct driving my body faster than thought ever could. Aria stood against the far wall, eyes wide, hands trembling where she tried to hide them behind her. She looked small. Cornered. Frozen the way a deer freezes when it realizes the predator isn’t in the woods—it’s already breathing the same air. And Liana… Liana walked inside like she owned the space. Like she remembered every inch of it. Like she had never vanished, never drowned in a river, never disappeared without a trace and ripped my world apart. She moved toward Aria with slow, deliberate steps, and something ugly kicked to life inside me—a warning, a surge of protectiveness so sharp I felt it in my teeth. I stepped forward. Hard. “Liana.” She stopped, h

Last Updated : 2026-01-08

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE QUIET THREAT IN HER SMILE

Aria’s POV The knock outside Damon’s office felt like a gunshot. My entire body jolted, breath catching in my throat so hard I thought I’d choke on it. Daniel’s voice came muffled through the thick outer door, urgent, tight, like he was trying not to panic. “Sir—security found something downstairs. You need to see this. It’s about her.” Her. Me. Not Liana. Me. My stomach dropped so violently I had to grip the wall to keep myself upright. I felt Damon tense in front of me, shoulders tightening, his weight shifting like he was ready to bolt into action. Liana didn’t move. She just smiled. A small, slow, poisonous tilt of her lips. Like she already knew what Daniel had found. Like she’d been waiting for someone to say it out loud. She turned her head slightly, eyes skimming me again. Not a glance. A dissection. Something in my chest folded in on itself under that look, something fragile snapping in the quietest possible way. Damon took a half step back toward me, shielding m

Last Updated : 2026-01-08

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE TRUTH I NEVER MEANT FOR HER TO HEAR

Damon’s POV The words left Liana’s mouth like they were dipped in poison. I felt them hit the air, felt them strike the space between us, felt them land on Aria like a blow. Her breath hitched behind me, small and shaken, and I swear I felt it against my spine even though we were not touching. You did not tell her who she really is. My pulse slammed so hard I tasted metal. The room tilted. Not physically, not in any way someone else would see, but inside my skull something lurched sideways. Liana watched me with eyes that were too steady. Too sure. Too unafraid. She knew exactly what she was doing. She always had. Even before she disappeared. I stepped between her and Aria again, one slow move, deliberate, because my body remembered what it meant to protect before my head caught up. Liana’s gaze followed the motion with a soft hum, the sound of someone confirming a theory. I did not look at Aria. I could not. Not yet. Not with the way her breathing sounded like it might c

Last Updated : 2026-01-09

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE FILE WITH MY NAME ON IT

Aria’s POV The sound of Daniel’s voice punched through the door again, louder this time, carrying this tight edge of panic that made my stomach twist so sharply I had to grab Damon’s sleeve just to steady myself. I didn’t even realize I was holding him until his hand curled around mine, grounding me with one solid, steady squeeze that barely hid the tension vibrating through him. Security found her file. My file. And Damon wasn’t going to like what was in it. My throat closed. I tried to swallow, but the motion stuck halfway down. The air felt thick, like breathing through wet cloth. Damon’s eyes flicked toward the door, then toward me, then back at Liana who stood there with that awful calm expression carved into her face. She didn’t look surprised. She didn’t look confused. She looked like she already knew exactly what was inside that file. And she looked like she was waiting for me to crumble. My fingers tightened around Damon’s without thinking. I could feel the trembli

Last Updated : 2026-01-10

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: WHAT THE CAMERAS SAW

Damon’s POV The screen lit up before the door even closed behind us, and I knew before I saw anything that this was going to ruin what little control I had left. I felt it in my chest first. That tightening. That wrongness. The kind that comes right before impact. Daniel stood stiff beside the security console, one hand braced on the desk like he might need it to keep himself upright. Two guards hovered behind him, eyes fixed anywhere but mine. No one spoke. No one breathed properly. Aria was still pressed against my side. I could feel the tremor in her body through my sleeve, small and constant, like she was vibrating apart molecule by molecule. My hand stayed firm at her back. Not possessive. Protective. Anchoring. “Show me,” I said. Daniel swallowed. Hard. Then he tapped the keyboard. The footage filled the main screen. Black and white. Grainy. Nighttime. A street I recognized instantly. Three blocks from my building. The camera timestamp blinked in the corner. Two weeks

Last Updated : 2026-01-10

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE NAME THEY HID FROM ME

Aria’s POV The way Liana said it made my stomach drop before my mind could even catch up. Who you really are. The words slid into the room like smoke, filling every corner, choking out the air. My fingers tightened in Damon’s shirt, clutching fabric like it was the only solid thing left in a world that had suddenly tilted off its axis. My pulse roared in my ears, loud enough that for a moment I couldn’t hear anything else. Not the hum of the screens. Not Daniel’s shallow breathing. Not the guards shifting uncomfortably behind us. Just my own blood. Too fast. Too loud. Like it was trying to escape. Liana leaned against the doorway as if she had all the time in the world. As if this wasn’t my life cracking open in real time. Her expression wasn’t cruel exactly. It was worse. Calm. Assured. Like she was finally allowed to speak a truth she had been holding onto for years. I shook my head slowly. “No.” The word came out thin. Weak. Barely there. Damon’s arm tightened around my

Last Updated : 2026-01-11

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