Shattered Vows (The Denton Family Legacy Book 2) (12 page)

Chapter Twelve

They had warned him.

Abel hadn’t listened.

Now his mistake had caught up to him. His wife, the love of his life stood with blood on her face, a bruise decorating her cheek, and spatters of blood marring the white shirt he’d changed into. Vomit was on the floor, and she looked … dazed.

“What happened?” she asked. “We have to call the police.”

“No cops.”

He made his way to the door, and saw the guard he’d put on duty with a knife sticking out of his chest.

“How can you say that?”

“Cops will not help. I just killed two men.”

“In self-defense.”

“I can’t call them.”

“Why?”

“My job.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed his father, giving him an update.

“Why did you call your father? Why is it your job? I don’t get it.” Tears fell from her cheeks, and she looked so fucking scared and vulnerable. He hated himself, and knew this was all because of him.

“What I’m about to tell you cannot leave this room. The Denton family is the most feared family in the city, and in many parts of the world. We deal in money, death, sex, guns, violence, and drugs.”

She covered her mouth, shaking her head, constantly repeating the word “no”.

“You asked what I do. I hunt fuckers like this, and I punish them. I make sure the name of Denton is feared. My father, he runs everything through the casino. It’s a tightly run ship. A tightly run business with family as the ones in charge.” Each word he spoke made him feel sick. “Jacob as the oldest, he will take over. We all have our role to play.”

“You’re breaking my heart.”

“I know, baby. I had hoped to keep this from you. I never wanted you to find out.”

“Why didn’t you just lie to me from the start?”

“The Denton men, we’re gifted with a skill. When we find the right woman, the woman meant to be ours, we know. There is no doubt that you belong to me. Lying is also a difficulty with our woman. I didn’t want to lie to you.”

“Please, stop.”

“I can’t.”

“Why did you bring me into this? Why couldn’t you leave me alone?” she asked.

Abel closed the door. Three dead bodies stood between them. The silence between them was deafening. Moments ago he’d been inside her, and now, the fear was evident in her face, in her body, in everything.

“You’re the love of my life,” he said. Tears filled his eyes, but he forced them down.

“I’m the love of your life, but by your own words, you didn’t choose.” She swiped at the tears, and he saw she was shaking.

“You need to sit down,” he said.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She whimpered. “My feet are covered in blood.”

He moved toward the sink, filling a bucket with water, and making his way toward her. “Walk toward me. You can put your feet in the bucket.”

Harper didn’t move. She didn’t make a sound.

“Harper, baby, listen to me.”

“You lied.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“You kept secrets. I’m not … I’m just a girl.”

“I know. I’m not just a boy. You deserve better than me.”

“You made me love you,” she said.

He held his hand out. “I will love you forever.”

She didn’t say anything, taking his hand as she stepped through the blood. Her hand shook as he guided her toward the bowl. She stepped into the water, and he got a chair, giving her a chance to sit down.

Kneeling at her feet, he washed the blood off, hoping it would help her.

Harper was still crying softly, and she was shaking. He wished he could do something to ease the fear and the pain. In her eyes at the moment, he was still the monster.

Minutes passed, maybe even hours, he didn’t know, before the doorbell sounded. He went to open it. Maddox, his mother, Jacob, Damian, and Oliver were there.

“We were attacked,” Abel said.

Charlotte didn’t wait to listen. She went into the room, and he watched as she held onto Harper, even as his woman fought at first. It didn’t take long for his mother to wrap her arms around her, consoling her.

“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay.”

“These are Colton’s men,” Maddox said. He lifted the back of his shirt, showing the dagger tattoo at the back of the neck. “Fucking assholes.”

Abel stared at his woman. She had gone pale. His mother was talking to her, whispering into her ear, calming her. Harper glanced up, and he watched her flinch. Seeing that one action was like a kick to the gut. He wanted to hurt himself for making her so afraid.

“I thought you ended the rift with the Coltons,” Jacob said.

“I didn’t kill them all. I guess they’re strong enough to take a hit. It’s okay. James has been working with the police. They will be searching our homes soon, and they’ll come out with nothing,” Maddox said.

“You’re not worried about another backlash?” Abel asked. He couldn’t look away from his woman. She looked so frightened, so out of place. He’d done that by defending her.

“There will be backlash, but you’ve proven that you can handle yourselves. I want the protection increased at our clubs. What happened at the red zone cannot happen here, got it?” Maddox asked.

They all agreed. His mother got through to Harper, and they moved away from the carnage toward the main bedroom. He didn’t want her here, watching them.

“Someone had to have told them where you live,” Jacob said.

“They tortured Deidre until she gave them something. I’m not mad,” Abel said.

“You’re not? What else could they have gotten out of her?”

“Nothing. Deidre was a whore, but she was loyal. We had a deal. She ever get tortured, death imminent, she was to give them this location, and I would know they were looking for us. It was a failsafe for the whole of the Dentons. It’s why we will be claiming Deirdre’s body, and taking care of her kid. I promised that.”

“Is the kid yours?” Maddox asked.

“No. The kid is ten years old, and I didn’t meet Deirdre until she already had the kid. If it had been my kid, do you think he would be unclaimed?” He may have just lost his woman. Abel wasn’t interested in having his character thought badly of. Turning to look at his family, he shook his head. “I may be an asshole, but any child I had, I’d have claimed it. I’m many things, but I don’t abandon my family.”

“She knows,” Oliver said.

“No shit! We need to clean this mess up, and then I’ve got to figure a way to stop my woman from flinching away from me.”

He was angry, hurt, and filled with so much anguish. Abel wanted to hurt something. “I shouldn’t have kept this away from her.”

“We all tried to warn you. Do you think it was any easier for your mother? No, it wasn’t. She ran from me. Be lucky you’ve got a family here to support you. Also, your mother happens to like Harper.”

“We’ve got your back,” Damian said.

Abel took some deep breaths and pressed his thumbs against his eyes. The tears were flowing thick and fast, and he hated it. This was all too much for him right now.

“It’s okay, son,” Maddox said, moving toward him. His father wrapped his arms around him, and he just broke down. He hadn’t sobbed like this since his dog died when he was a boy.

“I’m not crying.”

“I know, son. I know.”

“I can’t lose her.”

“You won’t. We’re here.”

****

Harper stood in Charlotte and Maddox Denton’s garden as the cops rummaged through their house. She wore a thick cardigan, staying outside to keep out of the way. The last thing she wanted was to talk to anyone. After Abel killed those men, Charlotte had taken her home with her. Tamsin had helped to calm her down. She couldn’t sleep all that well because of the nightmares. It had been a couple of days since the incident, but she still wasn’t sleeping, and her stomach wouldn’t settle. She was throwing up constantly. Betty and Lara had called her, and Harper had finally snapped. She had withdrawn from college. Right now, she needed a break, and had contacted her professors letting them know she was taking a break.

“Hello, miss,” a man said.

She turned to see a man dressed in a suit. He was clearly the one in charge of the search party on her in-laws’ house.

Maddox and Charlotte had taken her into the dining room and told her everything. They had trusted their family’s legacy with her. Charlotte had told her the truth about her own troubles in accepting what her husband did.

Harper was happy that she finally knew the truth, even if it did terrify her. She also knew that her parents were told as well. Everyone had known but her. Abel had kept her in the dark, and yet, she even understood why.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Yes. We don’t know who you are.”

“So? I’m not in the way of your conducting business inside the house. I’m out of the way.”

“I don’t seem to recall your name.”

“Bernard, what are you doing?” Maddox asked, coming out onto the back porch.

“You have a girl out here, and it looks suspicious,” Bernard said.

“You think I’m stealing girls, hiding them at home?”

“I’m his daughter-in-law,” Harper said. “I’m married to Abel.”

“Why are you here?”

She could tell them the truth. Leave, and never look back. She’d had two nights’ sleep away from Abel, and she missed him. If she told them the truth, Abel would go away. The men who had come to her at the apartment, they were going to kill her. She had the bruise on her face to confirm that. Her hair was hiding it though.

“I’m here because I’ve been sick, and Abel works long hours. It’s none of your business,” she said, presenting him with her back. She had picked her new family over freedom. Once she became a Denton, she would always be one. They wouldn’t turn their backs on her, and she wasn’t going to do the same to them. She had been terrified. Harper still was, but she understood family, and she understood the Dentons.

The officer left, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” Maddox said, shocking her. She thought he had left when the door closed. Before she turned toward him, he was standing beside her. “That must have been hard to do.”

“It wouldn’t be fair.”

“It would be simple though. You tell them what happened, Abel goes away for life. Maybe some of the family gets implicated.”

The thought of Abel going away sent chills down her spine. That was her man. The one person she loved more than anything. Why couldn’t she think of him as the creep she’d married, rather than the wonderful man he’d shown her?

“I couldn’t do that.”

“You could.”

“You’d let me live after that.”

“I would. You’re Abel’s woman, no matter what. He loves you.”

“Yeah, I get the whole Denton legacy crap. Don’t you hate it?” She knew about how strong the feeling was for the men when they met their women. That first night when Abel put his hands on her ass, he couldn’t help it. He’d been unable to leave it alone, wanting her. She couldn’t imagine feeling like that.

You can.

The night he’d killed those two men, she had wanted Abel’s arms around her even though she was terrified. He had gotten in her heart, and in her mind. She thought about him constantly.

“Hate what?”

“Not being able to choose?”

“Are you talking about our legacy?”

“It’s more like a curse.”

“How so?” he asked.

“You can’t pick who you love. What if someone you fall for is this horrible beast, a monster?”

Maddox laughed. “Yeah, we don’t want monsters here.” The sarcasm was clear to hear.

“Forget about it.”

“Harper, I know what you’re saying. There have been women who haven’t been particularly nice, but if you know the couple they made up, you’d see that it’s just different.”

“I don’t get how you can be okay with that.”

Maddox wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her temple. “I’m in love with my wife. Charlotte is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I will spend the rest of my life, happy and in love. You see it as a curse. I see it as something to be happy about. Where many people flit in and out of people’s lives, I know my life was meant to be spent with Charlotte. I’m happy, I’m content. I’d rather know the love of my life than spend the rest of it searching for something else.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Is that how Abel feels?”

“Yes. He loves you, Harper, and right now he’s hurting. We all told him that he had to tell you the truth. He’s a stubborn, irritating boy. He will do whatever the hell he wants.”

“You love him.”

“Of course. He’s my son. It grieves me having to be hard on any of them. The same goes for Landon, the boy that is currently in England. We all make mistakes. Abel, he’s a good man with a good heart. Do you love him?”

“Yes.”

“Then let your heart lead you with this.” He kissed her temple. “We are your family.”