Shattered Vows (The Denton Family Legacy Book 2) (11 page)

With the Dentons, Harper had come to see over the last few months that it was like they knew a secret and couldn’t tell her. She found it odd at times, at others a little uncomfortable.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“What does Abel do?”

“Harper, why haven’t you searched his name, or the Dentons?”

In some twisted way, she felt it wasn’t loyal to search for something she’d been asked not to do. When she asked her father about it, he’d told her to follow her heart, and to trust in the man she had married.

The more she thought about what she did, the harder it was for her not to regret it. Her feelings changed completely when Abel was there, and she could talk to him, love him.

“It’s something he’s asked me not to do.”

“Then that is something you’re going to have to take up with him. You won’t find that information out for yourself, you’re not ready to know.”

“Did you know Jacob before you married him?”

“I knew of Jacob before I met him. His reputation preceded him. You and I, we are different people. I came from a family who knew the Dentons on a business level.”

“What about now?”

“Jacob is my husband. I love him very much.”

Running fingers through her hair, Harper glanced out of the window. Riley had fallen asleep even with them talking.

“Abel is intense. I find it hard to function without him. When I’m away, I think to myself, I’m going to put my foot down, and that’s it. He’ll tell me everything and we will see how it goes.”

“Then?”

“He looks at me, and the way Abel looks at me, it’s like I’m the only person in the universe. He’s breathing because I’m there for him.” She swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. “How can a woman not love that?”

“That’s our curse. I wouldn’t give Jacob the time of day. He knew. We don’t, do we? They just have this ability to know who they want to spend the rest of their lives with. It’s quite heady stuff.”

“Almost like a drug,” Harper said. She sighed. “Sorry, I’m not usually this … depressing.”

Lou laughed. “You’re not depressing me. I find you refreshing. It’s nice to be around a woman who isn’t looking up to the Dentons, or thinking how great and amazing they are. You’re down to earth, and I like that.”

“What was Abel like before me?”

“He was a total ass. Honestly, he thought he was this amazing guy with women. He just had to snap his fingers and they would come running. They probably did go running for him.” Lou smiled. “All of the Denton men, they have something about them, and we have to either accept it, or we have to walk away.” She patted her hand. “You’ll find everything out soon enough. Abel’s just scared of losing you.”

“Why?”

“He’s only just found you. The biggest fear for a Denton is losing the woman they love.”

****

Landon entered the casino and made his way up toward his father’s office. In just a few weeks he was going to be eighteen, and soon be on his way to earning a name for himself. He was having to keep his head down, and out of trouble. His mom was pissed at him. She was talking to him, but he knew he had hurt her by fighting.

Knocking on the door to his father’s office, he waited.

There was a time when Charlotte would pick Tamsin up, then come for him. They would go for ice cream before heading home. He’d do his homework while watching his mom cook. Since the fighting had started, that hadn’t happened. He just got into more and more trouble.

“Come in.”

Entering his father’s office, he watched Maddox remove his glasses, and stand up. “How did you do on your history paper?”

“I got a B.”

“That it?” Maddox asked.

Landon was the youngest son, and as such, he hadn’t gotten as much stick as his brothers. Jacob and Abel teased him constantly about being a pussy. He had to prove himself. If his own brothers didn’t respect him, who else would?

“I studied hard.”

“When your brothers studied hard, they got As. Why didn’t you?” Maddox moved to the front of the desk, leaning against it. His arms were folded, and he wore a glare. Landon hadn’t expected this hardness to last so long.

“I-I—”

“Stuttering is not good enough. Do you think I want a boy working for me who can’t get his words out?”

“Karl works for you!”

“Karl earned his place. His stutter is something he can’t control!” Maddox stopped, and snorted. “You just don’t get it, Landon. You think you have a right to this because you’re a Denton.”

“I am a Denton. I should be here, working for you.”

“No.” He leaned across the desk and picked up a piece of paper. “Do you know what this is?”

Landon shook his head. “No.”

“Your mother is at her last nerve. She wants you to have a good education. I love my wife. I love her more than anything. I love her more than any of you. That hurts for me to say it, but it’s the truth. I love you all. You’re my kids, but you’ll go, have your own families. I didn’t understand what my father meant until he said that, and I met Charlotte. You’ll love your kids, but your wife is for life.” Maddox smiled. “With you, Landon, you’re entitled, and that’s a problem. I have two brothers, three sisters. You see Stuart, regularly. This life, it’s like a calling. My other brother, Rick, this wasn’t a life for him. He’s a doctor, in England.”

He’d met Rick, but only every couple of years. His work kept him out of the country. He was the only Denton to drop his name, and take on his wife’s.

“I am giving him guardianship for the next seven months,” Maddox said.

“What? You’re sending me to England?”

“I’m sending you to live with family away from this life.”

“Dad, no—”

“You cannot do as I ask. I gave you a simple instruction. Straight As. It can be done. Jacob, Abel, Oliver, Gideon, and Damian, all of them did it. They have got their heads screwed on, and they have sense. The only people they put in the hospital are those that deserved it, and I demanded they do it. You don’t listen. This was a test. Your history paper was a test for you, Landon. You got me my A, you’d stay, finish out your year, go to college near home, and that would be the end of it.”

“But, Dad—”

“You refused to listen to your mother. You refused every single little piece of help we’ve tried to give you. This is the final straw. Your bag is already packed, and I’m taking you to the airport tonight.”

“Wait, I don’t get to say goodbye?”

“Why? You want to cry about it, Landon? You want to beg your mother for you to stay? That option went out of the window on your last fucking fight. You think I’m not being fair.”

“You’re sending me away from everything I know.”

“I’m sending you away to become a better man.”

Landon watched in amazement as his father brandished a single case. In that moment, Landon wished he’d stopped to listen to his mother. He wished he’d paid attention to all the warnings, but he hadn’t. He didn’t care about anything but getting out there, fighting, hurting, and making the Denton name a name to be feared.

He had fucked up.

****

Charlotte stared down at the family photograph. It had all of them in it, taken four Christmases ago. Rick had been home, as had Stuart and Michelle, along with Maddox’s three sisters, Leah, Billy, and Tess. It was rare to get the entire Denton family together. They were all there.

The door opened, and she looked up, watching as Maddox entered the room.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I sent Howard with him. Rick’s aware of what needs to happen.”

“Do you really think sending him to England is the key?”

“I’m hoping by taking him out of his comfort zone, he’ll realize the error of his ways. He can’t go on doing what he’s doing.”

“I know. He’s still our little boy.”

“That’s the problem. He’s our last boy, and I went too easy on him.” Maddox poured himself a drink and sat down beside her. “Rick will take care of him.”

“He’s as far away from the Dentons he can get.”

She knew Maddox loved his brother, even though he wished at times that Rick was with them. It would have been good to have a doctor in the house.

“We shouldn’t have had to send him away,” Charlotte said. “Does that make us bad parents?”

“I don’t know. Some would say he needs a good beating. With that boy, I think he loves it.” He rubbed at his temples again. “Everything is just fucked right now. I never expected to send him away.”

“What did he get on his history paper?”

“He got a B.”

“That wasn’t too bad.”

“I asked him to get an A. How can I expect his brothers to accept him, or our workers to accept him when he can’t follow a simple instruction from me, and he’s in high school?”

“I know why you did it, baby.” She patted his chest again. “We did this for his own good.”

They really did.

Maddox hadn’t seen any other way. Charlotte knew without a doubt if there had been another way, he’d have found it.

Chapter Eleven

It was after two in the morning on the second night of hunting for Lou’s brothers. Abel was pissed off, hungry, and he was fucking cold. Now he had to listen to Jacob, and how amazing it was having a woman that was pregnant. So far, Harper wasn’t pregnant, even though he had tried. He hadn’t asked her about it.

“Lou told me Denny’s is their old hunting spot.”

“That’s on Marshall’s turf.”

“Stuart reached out to him. We go to him, he finds them, and we settle this,” Jacob said.

“How can you be so fucking happy?”

“How can you not be? With Landon in England, Dad’s different. Can’t you see that?”

Abel had seen the change in his father. He was back on the ball, taking care of business, and not sticking behind a desk. It wasn’t like Maddox Denton to be constantly pushing paper, handling phones, or dealing with petty squabbles. That was usually Stuart’s job.

“He’s calling the Moores in tonight,” Abel said. Usually, Abel would have been present, but with his own stubbornness not to tell Harper the truth, his father didn’t want him anywhere near the situation. Instead, he was hunting two pain-in-the-ass men who really didn’t deserve it. They deserved to die.

“I know.”

“Does Lou know?”

“Yep, she doesn’t care. Her family has caused her enough heartache to last a lifetime. She wants them all gone.”

“Bloodthirsty.”

“Dad’s thinking of inviting your woman’s parents home for Thanksgiving.”

Abel froze. “What?”

“I heard our folks talking about it. I thought it would be kind of funny to watch you squirm.”

They pulled up outside of Marshall’s house, and pressed the buzzer at the gate.

“Denton to see Marshall,” Jacob said.

The gate buzzed, and they drove down the long winding road. “Has it ever occurred to you that big bad men have the best fucking houses?” Abel said.

“That’s because crime pays.”

“I was thinking of buying Harper a house. What do you think?”

“I think you should tell her, and then start thinking about it. See if she’s still around.”

The time for talking stopped as Marshall was waiting for them at the door. Climbing out of the car, Abel was ready to fight. Entering Marshall’s turf had risked the possibility of death.

Tell Harper.

Tell Harper.

It was becoming a mantra in his mind of what he should do, and shouldn’t do.

“Gentlemen,” Marshall said, coming toward them. He held his hands up. Marshall was a large man, muscular, his arms covered in ink, some of which Abel saw peeking out from underneath the cuffs of his suit. “We have what you’re looking for inside.”

“You’ve found the Moore boys?”

“Yep, roughed them up. They were trying to break into one of the shops that were under our protection. They are petty thieves.”

Entering the large home, Abel saw lots of scantily clad women walking around. It was kind of … cheap. He couldn’t believe he was thinking that women walking around naked was cheap.

For the Dentons it was just classier.

They made their way down to a basement. Every bad guy had a basement. It was cliché but totally right. Abel loved basements. Some of them were built to be soundproof, and you could get a lot of information out of the people that didn’t usually like to do a lot of talking.

There, tied to two chairs were the skinniest, ugliest people Abel had ever seen.

They were also covered in blood.

“We’re sorry.”

Their arms were covered in track marks.

Abel’s stomach heaved from the stench coming from them. They hadn’t washed in weeks. He was going to need to take a shower before he headed home.

Jacob walked up to one, gripping his hair, and pulled his head back. “Moore?”

“Yeah, we’ll tell you anything.”

“What? Not even for a price?” Abel asked.

“As if you’d pay it,” the one on the left said.

“We’re dead either way,” the one Jacob held said. “We’re expendable to our parents, and seeing as they got what they wanted, we’re dead anyway.”

Abel nodded. They were dead. It was only a matter of minutes, hours, or days.

“Start talking.”

“It started after Riley was killed,” the one on the left said. “The Moores always had a bad rep. We always wanted something more. Lou, she got in good, and wouldn’t help our folks, so they were going to solidify their own fortune.”

Abel stood back, listening as the two forgotten Moores spoke of their parents’ betrayal. They had found their way with the Coltons. They were a fierce family who had been enemies of the Dentons’ for a long time. The Moores would give them information, and lead them into places known for being controlled by the Dentons. The Moores were not the main threat here. The Coltons were, and had always been. His dad was going to be so pissed.

“They will attack your friends, your families, and they intend to take the city, and have the Denton Casino as their trophy.”

Jacob showed the brother who had told the family secrets a mercy, and snapped his neck. Marshall would do a lot more.

“Your red zone is not safe,” the one on the left said.

Abel produced the money, and the deeds to one of the houses Marshall wanted. This was the agreement placed between him and Stuart.

“Tell Maddox and Stuart if they need to do business again, give me a call. I’m not like you, but I have my own morals. I run a tight ship.”

Jacob nodded. They left Marshall’s place, and headed toward the red zone. Abel put a call through to his father to let them know what had happened. When they got there, no one was left alive. Deidre was pierced to the wall. The carnage before them made Abel tense up.

The Coltons were coming after them. It was time for the Dentons to go hunting.

****

Harper was humming to herself as she put the finishing touches on dinner. Abel had promised he was going to be home by seven, so she had made her way toward his apartment, determined to get a nice hot meal on the table. It was now cold outside, and the weather forecast predicted it was going to get a lot worse, and as such, she was going to be cooking some soups and stews. Since talking with Lou, she felt happier, lighter. It was the strangest feeling in the world.

Every morning this week, she had woken up feeling sick. The scent of coffee turned her stomach. She had taken a pregnancy test, but that had been negative so she put it down to the flu or something. Betty had been having similar problems, and she was feeling sick all the time.

Pushing it to the back of her mind, she focused on the now. Chicken noodle soup wasn’t fancy, but it was comfort, and right now she needed the comfort. Her life outside of marriage was in chaos. There was no way she was going into law. Her careers advisor was at the end of his patience with her.

She had to pick a career path soon, as otherwise she wouldn’t be able to get into the necessary classes. What should she do?

Business was boring, but at least she’d know how to run her own if that ever happened. Law was a pain in the ass, and hard. Teaching was out of the question. English, boring, unless she could read what she wanted to. Science, gross, and boring.

The door opened, and she turned to find Abel entering. He looked … tired.

Rushing into his arms, she squealed as he caught her up in his arms. She hadn’t seen him in two days. He’d been busy at work, and she’d been taking care of Betty, studying, and working overtime. James’s latest case was causing a bit of stir. She would have quit, but she didn’t believe in walking out when someone needed her.

“Fuck, I’ve missed you.” He cupped her face, tugging on her hair to pull her back. Abel slammed his lips down on hers, claiming her once again. She loved his kisses. The possession, the urgency of his lips turned her on. She moaned, succumbing to the pleasure he gave. “I love you, babe.”

“I love you, too.”

She shoved his jacket off his shoulders, needing him inside her.

“Tell me what you want,” he said.

Harper had wanted them to enjoy a nice meal, but that wasn’t going to happen yet. She needed him inside her.

Sinking to her knees, she unbuckled his belt. Dinner could wait; she couldn’t. Pushing his pants down his thighs, she wrapped her fingers around his length, working at the base then going up to the tip, which leaked pre-cum.

Flicking her tongue over the tip, she moaned at the taste of him.

“Fuck.”

“I want you to fuck me. First, I want to taste you.”

She took the tip of his cock into her mouth. He hit the back of her throat, and she pulled up, sucking more of his pre-cum, and swallowing it. “You taste so good.”

“Is my woman feeling a little dirty today?”

“She’s feeling a lot dirty.”

He wrapped his fingers around her hair and held her steady as he thrust into her mouth. She took him deep, trusting him.

With Abel, she could explore, experience everything at his hands, and he didn’t think differently of her. He loved her for her.

“Damn. Your mouth feels so good. You’ve got the perfect mouth, and you know exactly what to do with it, don’t you, babe?”

She moaned around his dick, the vibration turning him on. Harper knew what he liked. There were moments he liked to take his time, make love, explore. Then there were moments like these, where it was raw, hard, and dirty fucking. She loved the dirty fucking, relished it.

They were brutal and perfect all at the same time.

Abel tugged on her hair, and she got to her feet. He tore at the dress she wore, stripping it from her body. There was nothing sweet about his touch. He pushed her up against the wall, released his cock, lifted her, and pulled her down onto his cock. They both cried out. She was already wet, but even still, the one thrust was harsh, making them both gasp.

“I love you, Harper.”

“I love you, too.”

He pulled out of her, only to pound back inside. There was no finesse to his touch. This was total, utter control. He held her as he took his pleasure. Abel kissed her deeply, and she stroked her pussy, bringing her own climax, as he found his against the wall. Once it was over, they were both panting for breath.

“I’m sorry,” he said, shocking her.

“Why?”

“I shouldn’t have just taken you.”

“I liked it.” She cupped his face, smiling. “I’m in love with you, Abel.”

It was the only reason she hadn’t gone behind his back to check out who he was. Their time together had been about trust, building their relationship. Instead of seeing the bad, she’d embraced the good, loving him for him.

“You love me?”

“Yes, you douche. Why do you think I get so worried? I worry about you because I love you. I want to make this marriage work.”

She watched the happiness shining in his eyes, and something changed.

“Abel, what’s wrong?”

“There’s something I need to tell you. Um, will you get dressed?” he said.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Please, what I need to say.” He stopped, grabbing his shirt, and wrapping it around her body.

It was the only item of clothing that had survived their sudden fucking.

The change of his mood scared her. She didn’t know what to say to put the smile back on his face.

“The Dentons, we’re not—”

The door crashed open, and Harper screamed as guns fired. Abel threw her to the floor, and she crashed down, crying out at the pain. Two men had broken into the apartment. She watched in fear as Abel blocked the man with the gun, dropping it onto the floor, and slamming his fist against the man’s face.

“What do we have here?”

The other man grabbed her hair, lifting her up. He slapped her across the face, and on instinct, she kneed him in the balls. When he went for her again, Abel was there. The pain in her shoulder and cheek were nothing compared to the fear as she watched Abel handle the two intruders. He held a knife, and she couldn’t look away as he plunged it into one man’s eye. Covering her mouth, she tried not to vomit as he pulled it out, and attacked the one who had hit her. The knife went into the guy’s throat, over and over again.

She couldn’t take it. As the man dropped to the floor, blood covering her feet, she threw up.