Free A Billionaire for Christmas by Maggie Marr Page B

and left, the other attorneys trailing in her wake.
    Silence.
    All four Travati brothers in one room, and there was silence. That rarely happened. Anthony couldn’t remember a time when one of them didn’t have something to say about something.
    “Why do you want to do this?” Justin finally asked Devon.
    Anthony came around the table and held up his hand. “Stop.”
    Justin glared at him. “What the hell, Anthony? Now you don’t even care enough to talk to your own brother, who may or may not be going to prison?”
    Anthony cocked an eyebrow. He leaned forward and placed his palms on the conference table. “No, that’s not what I meant,” he said with a cool, measured calm. “I just want everyone to be on the same page before we begin. Anything incriminating that Devon says to us could make us accomplices, or potentially make us perjure ourselves. Brothers don’t have any sort of qualifying confidentiality. I’m good with that. I just want to make certain you are too.”
    The brothers all exchanged looks. The Travatis had always subscribed to blood first and always. Family was the most important thing. Each of them nodded.
    Justin leaned closer to Devon. Devon’s eyes shifted away from his older brother’s scrutiny, and a light sweat filmed his upper lip. His fingertips continued to tap an unheard beat on the back of his hand.
    “Okay, Devon,” Justin sighed. “Tell us what the hell really happened.”

 
Chapter 8
     
    “Thank you for coming with me today.” Aubrey hadn’t developed the full-on waddle that Shelly had seen in other women who were this far along, but she was definitely walking wide-hipped.
    “When is the baby due?”
    “March.” Aubrey smiled. “But it feels like next week.”
    They turned the corner into a giant banquet hall. People carrying lights and ornaments and tinsel and evergreen branches scurried about the room. “We’re having the Travati Foundation Teddy Bear Luncheon here tomorrow, and I wanted to check on the progress. All the years they’ve been doing this before, the guys handed off the responsibility to Gwen.” Aubrey nodded toward the tall redhead at the far end of the room, the Travatis’ event planner. “And she’s always done a great job. But somehow, this year, this event got shuffled to me, I guess because I’m the only woman in the Travati family. So all the questions she used to ask Justin, she now asks me.”
    Gwen waved and walked toward them. She wore a black sweater and pants and boots, her hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. Her look screamed all kinds of urban sophistication.
    Aubrey leaned toward Shelly and whispered, “I really like her. I’ve been trying to work some matchmaking magic, but I’m not sure if she’s right for Leo or for Anthony.”
    Shelly’s stomach pitted. Anthony? Her Anthony? She forced a smile to her face. Was it possible Aubrey didn’t know about Shelly and Anthony’s past? More than possible, actually, if Anthony and Justin had been getting along as poorly as she’d witnessed last night. Plus, Anthony had completely insulted Aubrey with the whole DNA test. Anthony and Aubrey probably hadn’t had any heart-to-heart, tell-me-your-life-story sessions, and Justin probably didn’t have much to say to his new bride about the brother who was being such a jerk to her.
    So yeah, to Aubrey, Shelly might just be a girl the brothers had grown up with, Mrs. Bello’s granddaughter, not the former love of Anthony Travati’s life.
    “You’re glowing!” Gwen leaned in and kissed both of Aubrey’s cheeks. Shelly looked at her from head to toe.
    “This is Shelly Bello,” Aubrey said. “She grew up with the guys. Like a sister, from what I’ve heard. She’s in from San Francisco for the holidays.”
    “San Francisco!” Gwen gushed. “One of my all-time favorite cities. If I didn’t have my entire family in D.C., I’d be living in San Francisco. Do you love it?”
    Her enthusiasm and beaming smile nearly knocked