Page 51 of Desperate Vows

My head throbbed. That little nap hadn’t made a dent in how exhausted I was. I was sore, too. Stiff and achy. If I was sore, I could only imagine how much worse it was for him since he was the one who had been on the hard floor for who knows how long.

“Lucas?”

He made a soft noise, rolled his head, and now he was somewhat facing me.

After everything, he pulled me onto his lap, wrapped his arms around me, and let me cry once again. As upset as I was, now watching him sleep, all I could think was that we were both equally flawed.

I brushed the back of my hand across his cheek and stretched my fingers into his hair. He inhaled deeply. His eyes opened, and we were staring at each other.

“You—”

He sat up and drew me to his chest, kissing the top of my head. “I didn’t mean I thought you’d told Franklin about us. I thought that maybe in all those photos there was evidence that he suspected it was my family hitting his businesses.”

The whole statement poured out of Lucas so quickly that it took me a second to catch up. Once it did, it made complete sense.

“Look, I know this trust thing goes both ways, I do, but?—”

“We haven’t exactly been the poster children of truth?” My voice was soft.

Pulling back, his lips stretched into a wry grin. “You could say that.”

I locked eyes with him, hoping he could see the sincerity and truth in them. “Lucas, I’m not working for Franklin, with Franklin, or anything else. I don’t want anything to do with him. I know talk is cheap, but that’s the truth.”

“I know. I’ve struggled to think that you were from the very beginning. Then Thea?—”

“Thea?” I asked and sat up.

“She said you weren’t either. Even after the restaurant. I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me, though.”

I took a breath. “That’s the night I found out my mom knew what he did to me. He said you…that you must be really good at getting into a girl’s pants and that you’d followed me to the charity, but I already knew that. Then he said he knew you’d held me in your car…and…”

“You had no reason to trust me.”

“It’s like he’d listened in on our conversation, but you were being sweet to me. Anyone watching us would have seen that, and it wouldn’t have been difficult to guess what you were saying. I think he made a flippant comment, hoping to hit home, and it landed.”

His eyes roamed over my face as he tilted his head while his fingers brushed along my temple. “Franklin Benoit is the most repulsive man I’ve ever known. You understand I’m going to kill him, right? From this point forward, we’re honest with each other, and I’m telling you that’s what will happen.”

I didn’t know how I felt about that. Franklin dead by my husband’s hands. “Wouldn’t it be better if he went to prison?”

Shaking his head, he replied, “No. That’s not how my world works. He had a hand in Gianna and my dad dying. His head isn’t just for you. I made a promise to my mom that her baby would have justice, and I’m going to give it to her.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?”

My breath hitched as our eyes met. A raw vulnerability, something entirely new, was reflected in his eyes.

“Claire, you need to understand I’m not a good man. I have plenty of blood on my hands. I’ve hurt people. Good and bad and I’d be lying if I said it’ll never happen again. Being married to me means being married to a life that will never be pretty.”

Maybe he wasn’t a good man in the past, and maybe he wasn’t a saint now. Perhaps he resided firmly in a gray area. He was stopping people like Marco and Franklin. He wasn’t Superman, but I was perfectly okay with Batman.

“I know.” I set my forehead against his. “I pledged ‘til death do us part. I made that vow knowing what I was signing up for.” I slid my cheek against his as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re mine.”

Chapter Twenty-One

LUCAS

Franklin gave Marco permission to touch his own daughter.

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