A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

Ulysses's face darkened instantly.

What Calliope meant was obvious-she was pretty much saying they weren't her real family, and she wanted to have Christmas Eve dinner with someone else.

Just now, she'd made it clear Quentin and the others were more important. Now she was doubling down, saying she'd only spend Christmas Eve with them? "Aren't we your family too?" Ulysses followed Calliope, unwilling to give up.

"To me, 'family' means the people who actually care about me," Calliope replied, her tone calm but firm. "People who hurt me, judge me, dislike me, or try to use me, they're not real family. And honestly? I don't need family like that."

As she finished, the elevator doors slid open. Calliope walked in without looking back.

Franco hurried in after her, nodding emphatically. "My boss is right. You gotta choose your family, just like you'd pick friends. Blood isn't everything."

Ulysses tried to follow, but Valerian grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

Valerian's face was stone-cold. "Forget it. Don't say another word. She's stubborn as a mule. She's not going to listen to us, no matter what."

worry growing in his chest. He felt Calliope slipping away from them more and more each passing

we might've messed up?" he asked, uncertainty creeping

against Lisette. But looking back, he realized she'd never really done anything wrong. She'd just kept quiet, accepting whatever

scene, so they'd assumed Lisette was the one

he thought about it, the more uneasy Ulysses

sister, not Lisette. Was it right to treat Lisette better than Calliope? Franco's

so flustered, red-faced, angry, clearly embarrassed, Ulysses couldn't shake the feeling that something was

making a huge mistake? Had they been

voice icy and unyielding. "She's the one

him in front of the whole company. Calliope had gone too far. She didn't care about their feelings at all. She was just petty and

brothers so much, she could stick with them. They still had Lisette, and

wanting to say something, but he bit his tongue. In the end, he said nothing, sinking into

...

Calliope rode the elevator down and handed out gifts to