Page 138 of Vengeful Vows

Like what really happened to my mother. What had she done to deserve such a fate?

I go silent as I think about it, and it’s Lara who puts her hand on my knee to get my attention.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

I sigh, looking over at Patrick. “When I talked to my father last?—”

Declan stares at me, shocked, and I reach out and take his hand.

“I let her call him,” Patrick says.

Declan visibly relaxes, but my heart aches. It may take some time for him to trust me again, and I can’t blame him.

“I have reason to believe he did something to my mother,” I whisper. “I don’t know what it was. I don’t know if he hurt her or—” My voice cracks, and Declan squeezes my hand.

“We’ll find out,” he promises. “We’ll do some research.”

I know that “research” probably means interrogating a few of my father’s men, but so be it.

Patrick speaks up. “We’ll do whatever we can for you, a’stor. You just say the word.”

I smile at him. “Thank you. Thank all of you, for accepting me as a Burke. For showing me the way.”

“Thank you for proving not all the Murphys are snakes. Gray chuckles.

“I may have a little snake in me,” I joke. “But it’s like a garden snake. Not a cottonmouth.”

Declan laughs at that, and we continue dinner.

It’s not silent, or awkward. It’s wonderful, like every dinner with the Burkes.

After it’s over, Declan leads me upstairs as I’m saying goodbye to everyone.

Lara frowns at him. “You’ll have to eventually give her up for a girls’ night, you know?”

“I’m not giving her up for anything,” he growls, and I nudge him with my shoulder.

“One night a month for a girls’ night,” I insist. “We can’t be around each other every moment. You’ll have to work."

“I guess," he grumbles and all but drags me up the stairs.

I undress, letting my clothes fall to the floor, and climb into bed, exhausted and sore all over, bruises on my thighs and my hip bones.

“I hope you don’t think I’m going to let you sleep.”

I groan. “You have to. We’ve barely slept in days.”

Declan looks serious, but then his jaw cracks in a yawn. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” I say, and he snorts, climbing into bed with me after undressing.

Declan draws me into his arms, pulling me close and kissing the side of my face.

“You’re mine now,” he mumbles. “Body and soul.”

“And heart, too,” I point out, and he smiles against my lips as I turn my head to kiss him.

I’m happier than I ever have been,

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