She’s scrubbing his brother’s floors. He’s the billionaire’s son she never stopped loving. This Christmas, the only thing more dangerous than their family secrets is a second chance at forever.

Caro Soliz is used to the shadows. By day, she’s a head maid for the notorious House of Morgan, meticulously cleaning the Star Island estate of Miami’s elite. By night, she’s an aspiring designer sketching the dreams she’s too afraid to chase. She’s spent years trying to forget the college crush who kissed her outside a library and then vanished, taking her heart with him.

Dr. Luke Marshall has finally returned to Miami, but he’s not the man Caro remembers. He’s a newly discovered heir to the Morgan billions, a family defined by headlines and heartaches. When a chance encounter reunites them, the spark between them is instantaneous and undeniable—but the secrets they’re keeping are enough to ruin them both.

As a family crisis involving a kidnapped nephew and a missing bride threatens to pull the House of Morgan apart, Caro must decide if she can step out of her uniform and into Luke’s world. In a city where class lines are drawn in the sand, it will take a Christmas miracle to prove that love is the one thing money can’t buy.

“Doctor Morgan, you’re being paged.”

I turned to the nurse as my name echoed over the speaker that said I should report to the nurse’s station. Strange no code was announced, so I had to assume someone new worked here. I passed the carolers who were visiting all the rooms to fill the place with holiday cheer. 

I walked briskly away from any sign of Christmas. One of my patients must be critical. I dropped my coffee cup into the basket, and the rubber of my sneakers squeaked against the linoleum floor.

“Thanks,” I said as I ran past the nurse that stood at the door. 

My mind shuffled through which of my patients might be in trouble, but today I hadn’t seen anyone close to critical in the ER. Someone must have been wheeled in from an ambulance. I fixed my stethoscope around my neck and turned the corner. 

My sister, Elizabeth, stood there, with her shoulders straight, in her new House of Morgan ensemble that currently rivaled Prada, and acting like she was now an heiress. The pretense didn’t help us. Our billionaire father had ruined our family, and it was better to not acknowledge our inheritance.

Elizabeth must want to talk, but I didn’t want reminders of the trust fund or the billions we had. I had important work to do here. I slowed my pace, but as I approached I saw her familiar brown eyes and brown hair that always silently said ‘big brother, I need you.’ 

I slumped my shoulders. “Liz, I don’t want to talk about accepting the trust fund in my name at the bank. Mitch Morgan ruined our mother and is probably to blame for your son’s disappearance.”

“He was still our father.” Her hands went to her hips. “You know I need the money. I need the best private investigator money can buy to find my baby.”

“Come with me to my office.”

She dropped her hands to her sides and followed me. Every fiber in my being told me that Mitch Morgan orchestrated my sister’s loss, and his money would not bring her son home. I opened the door and then closed it behind me once she came inside.

I stared into her brown eyes and said, “Sis, we’ve been through this.”

“It’s Christmas, Luke.” Her head shot up. “I can’t give up on my son. I need a miracle.”

Miracles were for fairy tales. Christmas wasn’t about hope. It was my job to protect Liz and Mom from more of the heartbreak that the Morgan name brought them. If I had a way to help her, I’d have given anything, but I didn’t believe her plan had merits now.

“I’m not saying that. We’ve bankrolled the best detectives money can buy, Liz, and no one has found any clue in months. There is nothing we can do except find more people to recruit and help us.”

“I can’t.” She choked on tears. “He’s my son, my baby, and I lost him.”

“He was kidnapped. The more I hear about Mitch Morgan, the more convinced I am he did this to you. We should stay away from his name, but otherwise, I wish I knew how to help.”

Our father hadn’t approved of our sister Victoria’s child. Our father had told her that her baby girl died at birth and let her live her life without her daughter until Vicki realized the truth. Mitch probably had the same thoughts about Elizabeth’s. The difference with Elizabeth was the father of the child wasn’t a good guy, and in no way would he raise a son on his own.

I took her hand in mine. “I will continue to pay for everything. The trust fund money so far has all gone toward the search and that’s fine. Take every dime I have. You know that, but you have to take care of yourself too.”

“I need you to go with me to this wedding.” She shook her head and dropped her hands to her sides. “You don’t have the resources that Peter and John do. Money isn’t enough. We need their connections, and I want your support. We are all family. They are our brothers.”

“There is no resource that money cannot find and they were raised by him.”

“I trust them, Luke, and I want you with me.”

The wedding was a joke. I had no answer for how to help Liz find her kidnapped child. It had been three months already, and the trail was cold. The detectives told us to begin to grieve, but she saw Christmas as a reason to hope. Right now there was nothing.

“I don’t see how you trust them.” I turned to my sister. “They might be our siblings but we didn’t grow up with them. Besides, they were raised by the same monster who probably set you up and took your son.”  I coughed and shook my head. “Look, I don’t want to talk about this at work, but you never had time to build trust with any of them.”

“He was our father too and my instincts say I trust them.”

She crossed her arms, looking and acting exactly like our mother. Her glassy eyes now mirrored the pain Mom always embodied.

Every cell in my body wished I knew what to do to help as she said, “They are our brothers. Peter’s getting married. Let’s go and play nice so I might find the people who stole my son.”

Liz was on her personal mission. My body was chilled by the reality that I hadn’t been able to help her so far. I stilled.

“What does his nuptials have to do with taking that money? I’m afraid you’re putting too much stock into Christmas.”

“Luke, you’re not listening. We have to be a family. So get over yourself.”

Elizabeth wasn’t wrong. I glanced at my door and longed to deal with my patients, who I could help unlike my sister and her crisis. She made me feel helpless. If everything worked out, today’s shift would be a rare one with simple, easy-to-fix patients.

Right now I had patients. I couldn’t help my sister or locate our brother for his help either. I was older than Elizabeth by seven minutes. Last I heard, our other brother, Matthew, had been at some conference in Brussels for a few weeks now.

I took a deep breath and told Liz, “Sis, please think about what I said. I have to go now.”

She met my gaze, and I saw her lower lip push out in a pout that always got to me. “I need you to come with me to Peter and Belle’s wedding. He’s our brother.”

No. Mitch Morgan, our father, had forced our mother into seclusion and sent the three of us to boarding school as soon as we were six. Now I understood Mitch had kept Peter, Victoria and John from our mom and then taken the three of us from her too. I hadn’t known till well after college, and then Liz’s son was kidnapped a week after we reconnected with our own mother. Liz had to see that the three other siblings meant more bad news for the rest of us. Our father had to have a hand in this.

“You should have come to the party with Mom.”

“I don’t want to meet them.”

“Are you going to tell Mom that?” 

Our mom saw the appearance of John, Peter and Victoria as a blessed miracle. I’d have better luck with negotiating peace in the Middle East. My stance widened as I slipped a printout that was automatically forwarded from a nurse into my white doctor’s coat. 

Liz didn’t mention the interruption and continued with her argument. “From what I read, our sister, Victoria, thought her own daughter was dead. For all we know our father could have done the same to me.”

At least she had the same suspicions I had. “He died the same time as the kidnapping. I have no way of retracing that man’s steps and that’s exactly why I don’t want us to bother with them. Mitch Morgan kept Peter at his side at all times.” 

An email came through about a new patient that might be dehydrated. I sucked in my breath and stood. 

“Liz, our world is fine without the rest of them.” An alarm went off that indicated there was an emergency. “I have to go for now. I have patients.”

She stepped in my way and blocked the door. “You don’t have a life either. All you do is work. Come to the wedding and all the festivities that begin tomorrow.”

The alarm ended, which meant another doctor was already there.

An argument here would be heard, and I had a reputation. I couldn’t call Peter and John my brothers, not if they were anything like our father. I couldn’t take a chance. 

So I deflected what I wanted to say. “I don’t have a tux.”

She shrugged. “I’ll send it over to your condo on Collins Ave.”

My forehead was hot, but I still kept what I wanted to say to myself. I glanced around her to the door.

“I don’t have a date, and you and Mom have wedding duties.”

She smiled and again stepped in my way, so I couldn’t clear a path. “I’ll set you up with a hot woman to have on your arms for the night.”

The last time I kissed a woman in Miami, it had scorched my soul. Caro Soliz was a college dream, who probably was married with three children now. 

I lowered my voice and narrowed my gaze. “You’re finding me a date now?”

She dropped her hands to her sides. At least now she seemed more like the girl I grew up with.

“I’m your sister.”

I squared my shoulders. “We don’t know anyone in Miami. We’ve been here less than a month.”

“You moved because you’re a good son. I moved here as the investigators tracked Brandon to Miami.” She smiled like she would for some child. I shook my head as she said, “You have this nice job already. Matthew will be transferred for a script here to Miami soon. We’re all going, and it would be wrong for you to miss it. It’s Christmas, Luke. I need that miracle.”

Miracles weren’t just offered. A brief vision of Caro Soliz flashed in my mind. I blinked and the thought left me. 

“Where are you finding this woman for me?”

She shuffled on her feet. “I have my ways.”

She had no clue. I should let her and then whatever disaster she found, I could tease her about for the next decade. At least she wasn’t crying again.

I smiled. “Fine. It seems you are determined.”

“I am.”

The teasing needed a set up. “You owe me.”

“How do you figure that?”

Anything that helped keep her smiling would be good, though I already imagined what a horrible date she’d find at the last minute. “I’m letting you find me a date for a wedding. I’m sure I’ll have something to say once I meet this woman.”

“Trust me.”

If she needed me at this wedding for the show, then fine, I’d go. I tapped my fingers on her arm to ensure she was listening.

“In most things, no problem, but I’ve met the line of losers that you called your boyfriends.”

She shook her head. “And the quiet mice that you brought home to dinner were what? Stellar examples of your taste?”

One of the losers she had dated might have been the one who kidnapped Liz’s child. What happened that day sounded too planned out. I’d spent money finding every possible ex of hers, but I never found Brandon. If the kidnapping was related to our dead father, our new last name should be kept a secret, not advertised. I kept these thoughts to myself and focused on what she said.

“I like quiet women. You and Mom are the opposite and can give me a headache.”

Her lips curled into a smile. “Stop it. Now go to your patients. I have work to do.”

At least she seemed stable at the moment. I reached out and hugged Liz as I said, “I love ya, sis.”

She turned to leave, but glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t try to butter me up, and thank you for this weekend.”

I waited for her to leave, and then checked my paper printout on my next patient. I read numbers and realized this wasn’t life-threatening, but the patient might be distraught.

As I walked down the hall, decorated with Christmas cheer, I picked up the patient chart outside the first door on my rounds.

Now if I could wave my magic wand, I’d somehow help my sister find her missing son and help our own mother stay calm. As I slipped into the patient’s room, I let my own thoughts go and put my effort into diagnosing what was next. Here, I knew what to do. Here I didn’t wonder if Brandon was dead and I hadn’t been able to find him. The ache in my heart grew stronger every day.