Page 120 of Devious Lies

No more lies. No more miscommunication.

This woman is more important to me than my own life. And it’s time she knows it,

“When I said I can't do this, I meant I can't do anything without you. I love you. Do you hear me? I am so fucking in love with you. So, no more boyfriend and girlfriend. And, with all due respect to your mother, you are never living with her again. You are never living anywhere but with me, you got it?”

Her big beautiful eyes are still swimming with tears even as she laughs at that.

“So, what are you saying?”

“The only thing I can say. You’re going to marry me. You’re going to be my wife, and I’m going to be your husband. Now, look at me with those beautiful almond eyes of yours and tell me what I already know.”

“You’re serious?” she asks.

As if I could be anything but.

This woman.

“Tell me you’re mine. Say yes, you will marry me, Baby Girl, and make me the happiest man in the world.”

“Yes. Oh, yes,” she says, and I kiss her once gently before I call for Preacher to come in.

“Sign this,” I tell Maria, handing her a marriage license and a change of name form.

She does without reading them.

Maria signs both forms, and my heart is pounding.

“Wait. My name is Mia though,” she says, and she frowns.

She is right to frown. That name doesn’t suit her.

It’s not hers anymore. Back when she was Mia, she wasn’t mine. So no, that’s no fucking name for my wife.

“Nuh uh. That second form is a change of name form. You’re my Maria. Maria Batiste, now.”

Another bossy dick move, but my girl doesn’t seem to mind.

That’s the name she used when I met her. It’s how I know her. And it is who she has become.

Mine. All fucking mine.

She smiles even wider, and a ray of light seems to wash over her face. Just like that, the sun is back out.

“Are you ready for me, Mr. Batiste?” Preacher asks and walks in the room with Nico and Angel behind him.

I pluck a rose from one of the dozens of arrangements I’ve had delivered to her room, and I hand it to her.

“Yeah. We’re ready,” I say, and I hold her other hand as Preacher marries us.

My blood brothers stand in silent witness as Preacher marries us. Maria is beaming.

And when she says I do, I feel complete for the first time in my life.

“We’ll do it again with people. Have a party,” I say, suddenly feeling guilty for robbing her of that in my need to bind her to me.

“This is perfect, Luc. All I want is you,” she tells me.

And she’s right. This is perfect.

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