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CHAPTER ONE

MARIA CATTANEO—NO, she reain now, even if it wouldn’t officially be her naripped her son’s tiny hand a little tighter as she stared up at the luxury chalet before her How could soe at the same time? She’d spent Christmases and ski trips at the Cattaneo chalet in Mont Coeur for years—long before she and Sebastian had married—and on the outside, at least, the chalet had hardly changed a bit in all that time

The same wooden veranda surrounded the oversized but traditional-style chalet, with festive greenery and berries wrapped around its beareen-and-red wreath hung on the front door Inside, Maria could see lights twinkling through the s, and knew that an absurdly huge Christold, soht

Everything was the sa, except her

‘Mamma?’ At her side, Frankie looked up, his little face al out, and darkness was falling; she needed to get him inside

Whichon the door

‘Are you ready, piccolo?’ Maria asked, forcing a smile If Frankie sensed her unease and discomfort, he would only beco toany easier on either of them

‘To see Papà?’ Frankie nodded, his expression strangely set and serious for a two-year-old

I’ht, as she swept him up in her arms and climbed the steps Then, with a deep breath, she knocked on the chalet door

Maybe her sister-in-law Noemi would answer Or even the mysterious new brother her husband and sister-in-law appeared to have acquired since Maria had left Basically, anyone would be better than—

Sebastian

The door swung open to reveal the familiar, muscular frame of her husband, and for a ed That she’d never left, that she was still in love with him, that they were happy

She snapped out of it She hadn’t been happy That hy she’d left

Happiness was hundreds of kiloe of her parents’ estate, where she and Frankie had been living for the last year It wasn’t here, in the Swiss Alps, at the Cattaneos’ luxury chalet And it certainly wasn’t with Sebastian, whatever her younger self ht have hoped and dreamed

He couldn’t give her what she needed If she’d thought for a moment that he could, there was no way Maria would have left at all But the Sebastian she’d walked away from hadn’t been capable of the love she needed She had to keep that thought at the front of her mind this whole visit, otherwise there was just no way she would h with her heart intact

When Sebastian had called and asked her to come for Christmas, with Frankie, her first instinct had been to refuse

Every other visit Sebastian had spent with his son, she’d rand to collect him from her parents’ house when Maria was out There’d only been two or three visits in the whole year, so it hadn’t been hard to arrange

But as difficult as itHer son needed his father in his life And Sebastian had been through so much latelya Christmas visit from Frankie was the least she could do

And then there had been that cryptic voice she hoped that Maria would be there tonight as she had so to discuss with the whole family

As if Maria still counted as family Even now

Sebastian took a sht froasp, but only just It had been twelve short months since she’d seen her husband, but fro between his brows, it could have been a decade or ht-hearted sort—not like his sister Noe quite so beaten down by the world before

Was this because of her? She bit her lip as she waited for hi moment he see the up into his once beloved face His dark brown hair was cropped close to his head, shorter than she re before, and soh at six foot one he had always been almost a foot taller than her She’d liked that, she reainst his chest and feeling his heart beat against her cheek As if they had been connected in a way ed for them to take

Thisas she could reether, in all the ways that ined she could cut him out completely, however far she ran?

‘You ca through her body Maria bit back a curse She’d forgotten too howhim speak, could affect her

This hy she should have stayed away But she had been unable to because

‘You asked me to’

He gave her a suarantee that you would’

Another sign of how little he’d really known her, Maria thought If he’d understood how much she’d loved him once, he’d have known she could never have turned down that request Not when he’d sounded so desperate

‘Please, Maria I need you and little Francesco here for Christ is different now Please come’

So, of course, she had And at the back of her mind she had to admit that partly it was to see if ‘different’ e could be what she’d once dreamed it would be

Also because she still felt guilty—for leaving in the first place, and for not co back sooner, when Noemi had first called with the terrible news

‘I almost came before,’ Maria said, ‘when I heard about your parents’ Salvo and Nicole Cattaneo had been second parents to her, too, and when she’d heard of their deaths in a helicopter accident in New York, Maria had thought she’d never stop crying But, just like when she’d left Sebastian, she’d eventually straightened her spine and started over The world didn’t stop for grief, however ht wish it would

It couldn’t have stopped for Sebastian either, she realised He’d have been left dealing with not only the emotional fallout fro the business—the world-fa like he always had would probably have proved a happy distraction fro Sebastian the way she did But the news that he had a secret brother he’d never known about—one who, according to Noe share in the family business—that couldn’t have been easy for Sebastian to s