Page 210 of Boss of the Year

In other words, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He’d keep them both on if it was the last thing he did.

“We should go down,” Marie said. “The kids have probably already started opening presents.”

Lucas nodded, though his stomach turned. They’d arrived so late the night before that everyone had already gone to bed. This would be his first real introduction to the rest of the Zola clan—people who knew exactly what he’d done to their sister last August and September, how he’d twisted her feelings, how he’d betrayed her completely for money.

People who had every reason to hate him.

“Ready?” Marie took his hand and squeezed.

“No,” Lucas admitted. “But let’s do it anyway.”

They walked downstairs to the sounds of a family gathering for Christmas morning. Children’s voices, the clink of coffee cups, and the crunch of wrapping paper filled the air. It was all very foreign to Lucas, who had spent most of his Christmases surrounded by his father’s corporate cronies, then shuttled off to a room where a nanny would entertain him, and later Daniel, until they could take care of themselves.

In the living room, the family was scattered in various stages of Christmas. Lucas nodded hello to Kate and Nathan, but the others were faces he’d only seen across the room when Marie FaceTimed her siblings. Matthew, the eldest Zola, was sitting in an armchair and holding his infant son while he and his wife watched her daughter, Olivia, open a package. Four other children—undoubtedly Marie’s nephews and niece from her sister Lea—were also in the middle of tearing off wrapping paper while their mom directed. Joni sat on her boyfriend Nathan’s lap while Kate had made herself comfortable in the other corner.

“Morning, everyone,” Marie said as they entered the room. “I’d like you to meet Lucas.”

The name was like a bomb dropped.

Of liquid nitrogen, given the way everyone froze.

Marie’s brother looked up with an expression that went from curious to thunderous in the space of a heartbeat.

“Matthew, don’t,” his wife murmured, but he was already handing her the baby so he could stand and walk directly to where Lucas stood.

“Lucas Lyons?” he asked without preamble.

Lucas nodded. “That’s right. It’s nice to meet you. Matthew, right?”

The punch was swift and perfectly placed to his left jaw. Lucas’s head snapped back with a crack, and he staggered but didn’t go down.

The only thing he recalled from it later was vaguely thinkingGood for him, as he managed to stand up with stars in his vision.

“Mattie!” Marie shrieked. “What the hell?”

The room erupted.

“Oh, my God, Mattie,” Lea called from where she was trying and failing to keep her sons from climbing over her to see the drama. “Do youhaveto punch everyone we bring home?”

“He didn’t punch me,” Nathan pointed out to Joni. “Should I feel left out that your brother has never assaulted me?”

“I’m sure he would if you asked him to,” she replied with a grin that could only be described as saucy.

“Whoa!” One of Lea’s boys—Nathan thought his name was Pete, based on the photos he’d studied on the plane—jumped up from his presents. “Zio just knocked that guy out!”

“He didn’t knock him out,” corrected the older one, Tommy. “He tried, but he’s still awake. Looks like the rich guy can take a punch at least. Zio, try again. Maybe you’ll get him this time.”

“Hush, Tommy,” Lea said sharply, though Lucas caught the hint of approval in her expression. “Mattie, it’s Christmas morning. You think you can wait until after Christ’s birthday to give my boys a lesson on how to be a hoodlum?”

“What’s a hoodlum?” asked the youngest of the brothers. MJ, Lucas recalled even as he held his throbbing jaw.

“She means like a gangster,” Tommy explained helpfully.

“Oh, I want a lesson on that,” Pete said with enthusiasm.

“You really don’t,” Joni assured them. “Have Nathan teach you how to be a doctor instead.”