Page 64 of Fractured Vows (Fraser Crime Syndicate 1)

Epilogue

SARIAH

ONE MONTH LATER…

Luke is crushed against my body when I wake. He’s snoring softly, his face more peaceful than it is when he is awake. I trace circles on his chest, feeling at ease for the first time in my life. I know my husband is not the poster child for good behaviour, but it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care if he’s a criminal, if he’s hurt people, even killed them. When it mattered, he was there to save me, to protect me from a man who wanted to harm me. That is all I ever wanted in life. Someone to care.

I lie quietly for a while, just drinking in the quiet with him, until he starts to stir. I watch as he slowly comes round, dragging himself out of sleep. When he fixes his bright blue eyes on me, I melt a little. My husband has the power to render me speechless with just a look. He’s so handsome, although I might be biased.

“Have you been awake long?” he asks in a sleepy voice.

“Not long.”

“Now that I am awake, I want to feel your pussy wrapped around my dick.”

My body heats at his words. I love when he talks dirty to me. I forget that we have places to be, that we’re going to be late to Kane’s wedding. My focus is on my husband.

He slips his hand between my legs, and I let out a moan. His touch is like magic, and he knows exactly where to put his fingers for maximum pleasure. Just as he slips inside me, my phone on the bedside table starts to ring.

“Ignore it,” he commands as he finger fucks me.

I do as he says, focusing on the sensations growing between my thighs. The phone stops ringing and instantly starts up again. I drop my hands over my face.

I start to roll over to grab my phone, but Luke stops me, holding my hips steadily in place. “They’ll wait. This won’t.”

“What if it’s important? What if someone needs help?”

“Then they’ll phone back later.”

He latches his mouth over my nipple, and I let out a whimper as my pussy throbs. The phone stops ringing and then starts again. This time, I push Luke away and reach for the phone. He lets out an irritated growl as I glance at the screen. Unknown number. Normally, I wouldn’t answer. The persistent calling makes me intrigued to know who might be on the other end, so I swipe the screen.

“Hello?”

“Sariah.”

I sit up, jackknifing in the bed. My heart thuds. “Declan….” I seek out Luke, who stiffens at the name. There is no love lost between him and the man I used to call my father. I know Luke despises him for what he’s done to me, for the pain he put me through and the way he treated me for my mother’s transgressions. “I’m surprised to hear from you.”

“You’ve left me nearly a hundred voicemails. You were getting hard to ignore.”

He is exaggerating. I haven’t left that many, though there have been a few. After Jeremiah died, my father suddenly changed his mind about standing against the Frasers. I think on some level he knew he couldn’t defeat them without Jeremiah’s support, and the Wood syndicate, leaderless, was in no position to give him any help. From what Luke has told me, they are in a civil war, fighting amongst themselves over who will take the leadership. Luke is happy about this because it keeps them out of the city and focused on their own problems.

“If you answered the first one, I wouldn’t have had to do that.” My pointed response earns me a cluck of his tongue.

“The Frasers know you are not mine, don’t they?”

“Only Luke.” He refuses to tell the rest of his family, unsure what danger that might place me in, if any. His mother is a first-class meddler. I learnt that within a week of being in the family. If she knew the truth about my parentage, I think Luke is worried she might try to use it against me somehow, or to their advantage. He’s not willing to allow that to happen. He is always protecting me, even from his own family.

“Do you plan to keep it that way?”

“As long as you give me the information I want. Tell me who my father is.”

There is a long pause—so long I think the call has dropped. Then Declan speaks again. “Alice never mentioned who your real father was, so I can’t help you with that.”

Disappointment floods me. I’d hoped I would get answers, that Declan would know the truth. “Then I’m under no obligation to keep our secret.”

“Hang on a second,” he snaps. “You don’t get to defy me. I raised you. Gave you a home. I took care of you.”

“You abused me and made my life a misery. You tried to force me to marry a man twice my age who also wanted to abuse me. I don’t owe you anything. You’re lucky I haven’t sent my husband after you to put a bullet in between your eyes for what you did to me and to my mother. Can you get the information or not?”

---