Keep Your Merry Christmas to Yourself

Third-person POV

The night after Cristina received the anonymous email, Ivano sat at the head of a private room in an upscale club on the outskirts of the city, casually sipping his drink and making small talk.

Odorico Dante, a partner on the Fennaris project, approached with his own glass and clinked it against Ivano's.

"Mr. Dominici, you truly have some remarkable talent around you. Just the other day, I saw the design sketch posted by Ms. Giada Soave. The Soave family sure has put a lot of effort into nurturing her. Even her casual sketches have a certain charm."

Ivano took a sip of his drink calmly. "She just does it to pass the time. She's not a professional designer."

"Of course. She's the Principessa, after all. As long as she's happy." Odorico laughed, agreeing.

Then, he swiftly changed the subject. This time, his tone was more excited. "But speaking of real professional designers, we've unexpectedly recruited a rare genius for our overseas project today!"

Ivano didn't look up as he wasn't particularly interested in office gossip.

Odorico grew increasingly animated as he spoke. "The lady's design drafts are incredible! They completely stunned several senior Fennaris artists at headquarters. She's the most talented person I've ever seen. She's bound to shine in this field!

"And funny enough, she shares the same last name as Ms. Giada. Her name is Cristina Soave. Mr. Dominici, have you heard of her?"

Ivano's fingers stopped playing with his glass.

Cristina Soave.

The name struck him like a dagger.

He suddenly remembered what Giada had said at the party a few nights ago about Cristina working multiple jobs.

He had thought that she was doing menial, unimportant work and had casually transferred some money to her.

He also recalled the words he'd said the night before, accusing her of childish manipulations to gain attention.

He had belittled her so much, but it turned out that her designs had earned high praise from industry leaders.

Cristina was slaving away at side jobs just to be sent abroad for the project. She had been preparing to leave all along, and no one had noticed!

She had once returned home for her family. If she left this time, would she ever come back?

Ivano suddenly threw his glass down.

Panicked, he rushed out of the room and dialed Cristina's number with trembling hands.