Page 43 of So This is Christmas

When the door clicked shut, she tapped the name of the hotel into the search bar and when the results came back her mouth fell open.

The Wynter Hotel was gorgeous. The picture she was looking at showed it bedecked in Christmas lights around the windows.

She could almost feel the extravagance drawing her in, not to mention the money the guests must have to be able to stay somewhere so fancy.

Maybe it was time she suggested the Wynters pay Bea a visit. After all, Bea didn’t have any other family, and who knew how many Christmases she had left. Nick, on the other hand, looked like he had plenty ahead of him.

And Amber wouldn’t mind sharing one with the handsome stranger, the heir to an absolute fortune.

Amber had had her eye on the necklace Bea wore for a while.

After all, Bea wasn’t going to need it where she was going and she had no surviving relatives.

It was a nice necklace and when Amber had once found something almost identical online, she’d sneaked into Bea’s room where the old lady was sleeping.

The necklace was hanging outside Bea’s jumper that day and Amber had managed to remove it without even waking her.

She’d taken it to her office to compare to the picture she’d found online and sure enough the pieces were pretty similar.

Of course, there was only so much you could tell from a picture but she was sure the necklace could reach four or five hundred quid or so if she were lucky.

She’d intended to put the necklace back where she’d found it, on Bea’s person, but given she’d seen Sophie rooting through the bins she’d realised Sophie was probably hunting for it.

Amber had left it by the chair in Bea’s room instead, as if the necklace had simply fallen off.

Not long after she’d eavesdropped on such a valuable conversation that day, the shit really hit the fan at the lodge.

Bea died and Sophie really lost the plot.

Sophie had marched into her office and accused her of taking the damn necklace.

But that time Sophie was wrong. Amber might have taken it if she’d been able to find it but she hadn’t, and the way Sophie talked to her that day could not be ignored.

She’d fired her on the spot and doing so was very high up on Amber’s list of most satisfactory accomplishments.

It had been a long time coming since that little cow had reported her for misconduct.

Not long after she fired Sophie, Amber overheard yet another conversation that proved invaluable to her.

Sophie had apparently gone to Vienna and when Amber heard that, she’d felt her blood boil.

She’d stormed back to her office, fury rising at the thought of Sophie with the Wynters.

Was she at the hotel right now, in a luxury room with 800 thread count linen, a spa on her doorstep, where her every whim was catered for?

And did Sophie have the necklace too? Amber had been squirreling away items over the years she’d been in charge here.

She deserved it. She didn’t get paid anywhere near enough for running this place and nobody else worked as hard as she did.

Her dad had always said that sometimes you had to take what was owed.

So that’s what she had done, and those people wouldn’t miss their items either – she tried to only pick people who didn’t have many visitors, or residents who struggled to remember what they did an hour ago let alone what they’d done with the things they owned.

And if she hadn’t taken things someone else would have done, she was sure of it.

After overhearing the conversation, Amber couldn’t get the thought of Sophie out of her head.

Sophie, who had tried to ruin her with her complaint, when she should’ve kept quiet and just got on with her job.

How had this happened? Most people, if they got fired, would go home and wallow and think about how to honour their financial commitments.

Clearly, Sophie Hannagan wasn’t one of those people.

It seemed Sophie knew exactly what to do about her financial situation.

She’d got the necklace, she was with the Wynters in their luxury hotel.

What was next, an engagement announcement between her and the handsome Nick Wynter?

Nick had come into her dreams last night. So had the hotel. And knowing Sophie was there? Well, she couldn’t let that little cow get a happy ending she didn’t deserve… The Wynters – especially Nick, the man Bea had tried to matchmake Sophie with – deserved to know the truth about Sophie Hannagan.

There was nothing else for it but to go to Vienna herself and set the record straight.

She was due some time off. Way overdue. And Christmas in Vienna sounded like just the thing.

A knock on the hotel room door now alerted Amber to her Christmas Day meal for one.

Some would think it was sad, but she wasn’t one of them.

She’d got used to being by herself over the years, and now she’d done what was right.

She’d come here and told the truth like she’d been taught to do, as long as that truth was to your advantage and nobody else’s.

After her mother walked out on her and her dad, her dad had picked himself up and carried on.

He’d kept a roof over their heads, food on the table most days.

He might not have shown a whole lot of emotion and he was involved in a few schemes that never quite worked out, but it was thanks to him that she’d been raised with rules.

She’d been to what she called the School of Hard Knocks.

He’d gone to prison when she was nineteen, but it had toughened her up.

She’d had to get on with it, she’d had to make ends meet and all of it had stood her in good stead for being a manager, for getting what she wanted and deserved and not letting people walk all over her.

Today she’d gone to the Wynters to let them know all about the imposter they had invited into their home.

She’d dressed to impress too, knowing she’d probably see Nick.

She’d worn black cigarette pants which flattered her figure along with a ruby-red cashmere jumper and her favourite knee-high Italian leather boots.

Sophie had looked better than usual – she’d made an effort for the occasion – but Amber would never forget the look of devastation on her face when the truth came out.

Well, she deserved it after putting Amber through the wringer with her complaint at work.

With a tray on her lap and the sumptuous roast dinner in front of her – plus another extra-large glass of red wine – she lifted the remote and put the television on.

She clicked her way through channels in different languages, with all the usual Christmas trashy films, and settled on Die Hard .

Totally a Christmas movie. And one of her dad’s favourites.

She’d never really had her dad’s approval before he died a few years ago, after a third stint in prison and a sudden heart attack soon after his release, but she liked to think he’d be proud of her for sticking up for what was right today, even though her plan had gone the same way as so many of his.

He’d taught her how to survive.