Page 111 of The Broken Vows

It takes all of me to keep from laughing at my grandmother’s expression. She clearly expected Lex to be reluctant, and nothing about this situation is as she thought it would be. She should’ve known, though. Lex has always been our troublemaker.

“We’ve set the wedding date one month from now. Since we agreed to their request for secrecy, we felt there was no need to delay the paperwork. The two of you can simply have your ceremony once Raya graduates.”

Lex merely nods, and Celeste raises a brow. “What is going on?” she whispers.

I position myself behind her, my lips brushing against her ear. “He had one of his friends hack grandma’s systems and found out who he was marrying long before this announcement. Lex then tracked her down at a party, and I’m not entirely sure what happened there, but shortly after, he signed on to teach at her college. I have this sinking feeling he never told her who he was when they met.”

Celeste lets her head fall back against my shoulder and laughs, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room. I press a kiss to her temple before letting go of her, unable to push aside my own amusement. Raya has no idea what she’s getting herself into, but if she managed to get Lex’s attention at all, she probably is someone who can handle him. Behind his often eccentric charade, he has the kindest soul, and I just hope Raya will be able to see and appreciate that.

If he’s as lucky as the rest of us have been, he’s about to find out what real happiness is — the kind I know he’s been missing since our parents died. I smile to myself and grab my wife’s hand, quietly excited to see my youngest brother meet his match.

Epilogue

Zane

I smile to myself as I place more meat on our grill in the observatory. It’s a recent addition that Celeste wanted for the monthly family lunches we’ve started doing again, and I wasn’t too sure how I felt about it at first, only to find out that my wife was right. It’s brilliant, and I love using it.

Laughter rings through the air, filling up the garden with pure joy, despite the rain that’s hammering against our glass ceiling. Sometimes I look around, and it hits me. We made it, and this is real happiness. It seems a little surreal every once in a while, especially when my beautiful wife looks at me the way she does right now.

“That’s my sister, asshole,” Archer says, knocking his shoulder against mine playfully.

I shrug and smirk at him. “Can’t help it. That’s my wife.”

“Disgusting,” Lex says as he walks past us with his own wife, Raya. He turns to her and grins. “I’ll never be like that.”

She merely raises a brow. “Lex, you literally call me yourwifeevery chance you get. You’ve nearly gotten us caught a few times now.”

I can’t quite make sense of them, but one thing is for sure — Lexington met his match. Raya is fiery and strong-minded, and she’s exactly what Lex needs. Or she could be if she actually gave him a chance. I’m not too sure what’s going on between the two of them, but I can tell they don’t have what Celeste and I have. Not yet.

Archer chuckles next to me, and I glance over to find him on his phone. He’s barely put it away since he got here. “Are you going to tell me who she is?”

His gaze snaps to mine, and his smile melts away. “What do you mean?”

I shake my head and turn the meat. “Is it Serenity?”

His lips part in shock, and I can’t help but laugh at his incredulous expression. “How did you know?”

I glance back at my wife and grin. She looks so beautiful in that red dress and herZane’s Wifenails. I’ve recently created even more shades for her, and every time I give her a new one, it just makes her smile in a way that brings me an insane joy.

“Celeste told me she opened your door wearing a t-shirt Raven designed the last time she came to see you.” I glance at him and shake my head. “It was a limited edition t-shirt that Celeste bought for you. Women notice that kind of thing, man. If you wanted to keep it a secret, you should’ve been more careful.”

Archer cups the back of his neck and shoots his sister a worried glance before looking down. “It’s not like that.”

I raise a brow.

“Okay, fine. Itislike that, but it shouldn’t be. She’s… well, she’s my business partner’s younger half-sister. She’s a decade younger than me, and I absolutely shouldn’t be… ugh, fuck.” He rubs his face and looks up at the rainy sky. “I keep telling myself I’ll stop. It was never meant to be serious, Zane. I was just helping her with something, and it was never meant to be more than a favor.”

I begin to place the food on plates and throw him an incredulous look. “Right, so you’re fucking your business partner’s sister as afavor. What the fuck, Arch?”

He buries his hands in his hair and nods. “Literally. I’m not even joking, Zane. She’s made a list.”

“What kind of list?”

He looks into my eyes, completely flustered. I’ve never seen him lose his composure like that. “She made a list of people she considered asking… she, uh… she…”

“Fucking hell. What could she possibly have asked you that has you stammering like that?”

His eyes fall closed, and he sighs. “She made a list of people she considered losing her virginity to, and she put me on it.”

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