AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER17
Lucas
The relief I felt when I pulled back that veil and realised it was Alice—Sariah Easton—standing in front of me and not a stranger is still with me as we walk into the building. I can only imagine how we look. I’m in a suit and Sariah is wearing a wedding dress. We look like we just fled the church, which is kind of what we did do. The urge to get her home and safe before the shit hits the fan is overwhelming. I want to protect her. No, Ineedto protect her. She is still keeping secrets, and I plan on getting to the bottom of all of them. As her husband, I want to know everything about her.
She gazes everywhere as we step into the foyer past the doorman, who gives me a jut of his chin in recognition. The suite once belonged to my brother, Zeke, but when he married Bailey, they moved into her family home so they didn’t have to uproot the kids. I’m not complaining. I gained a swish penthouse apartment out of it.
I go into the lift, pulling Sariah with me. She comes without question, something I’m going to have to tear out of her. I get the impression she’s used to being the obedient servant. I don’t want that. I don’t want a sheep. I want someone with their own thoughts and feelings. Whatever trauma she’s been through has ground her down in a way I can’t even fathom.
Winters gets into the lift behind us, and I find myself smirking. Last time the three of us were in a lift together, I fingered Sariah’s pretty pussy. If she wasn’t wearing so many layers of lace, I’d hoist her skirts up and take her now. Instead, I settle for holding her hand and rubbing my thumb over the back of it. I can feel her trembling. I want to dismantle all her demons and fix everything, but that will take time. Luckily, we have plenty of it because I take the “until death us do part” bit of our vows seriously.
When the lift doors open on the floor, Winters moves to make sure it’s safe. We step off the lift and wait for him to return. When he does, I dismiss him. I wait until the elevator doors slide shut on him before I turn back to Sariah. I want to take her now, push inside her and fuck her until she’s screaming my name, but her wide frightened eyes still my hand. “I meant it when I said you had nothing to fear from me.”
“I’m not scared of you,” she admits. She might be the only person on the planet who isn’t. “I’m scared of what comes next.”
I rake my fingers through my hair. “Nothing to be scared of there either. I like my women willing, Sariah. I want you to enjoy what we do as much as I do.”
She shakes her head. “Not scared of… sex with you. We’ve done that before.”
“Then what is bothering you?”
“That I don’t know the first thing about you.” She raises her arms out at her sides and gestures around to the grandeur of the penthouse apartment. It is lavish, obnoxiously so, but it’s all Zeke’s doing. He left everything behind when he moved, other than his belongings. He picked all the furniture and the decor. I would not have chosen such an ostentatious design.
“What would you like to know?”
“The woman in the chapel—she called you Lucas. Do you prefer that to Luke?”
I cock my brow at her question. “Do you really care what I’m called?”
“Yes, of course I care. I don’t want to call you a name you don’t like.”
I walk over to the table in the middle of the room and grab a bottle of scotch from the cupboard underneath. “Do you want one?” I expect her to say no, but she surprises me by nodding. I pull out two glasses and begin to pour. “The blonde woman is my mother, Charlotte. She is one of the few people who calls me Lucas. Most of the time, my friends and my siblings call me Luke. That is why I gave you that name. Because it is the one I identify with more.” I pass her the glass, and she takes it with two hands. She downs the alcohol in one hit. “Thirsty?” I smirk.
“I don’t usually drink very much, but today seems a good day to indulge. Why did you pick me?”
She moves around to the edge of the sofa and manages to sit down in a plume of skirts and lace. I sit on the seat opposite her, wanting to look at her face as I talk to her. “Charlotte manoeuvred the wedding. She wanted to break the treaty your father had with Jeremiah.”
“Why? What does it matter who I marry?”
“Peace exists in London because things are carefully balanced. Marrying you to the head of the Manchester syndicate would have upset that balance. Your father is seeking allies from further afield, men he can call in when needed. That concerned us. If your father had the weight of Manchester behind him as well, he could have unseated the other London syndicates. We had to act. Stopping your marriage, stopping the alliance, was imperative. Charlotte tried to offer a deal, but your father wouldn’t hear it. He was determined to go ahead with the wedding, and we could never allow it to happen. We couldn’t exactly crash the church. It would have been too dangerous. Two crime families plus whoever else was on the guest list…. It would have been a bloodbath. That’s why we took you on the road. Your father didn’t have much security around you, so you were easy pickings.”
She places her hands in her lap and peers down at them as she takes all this information in. “You could have killed me. That would have stopped the wedding and any future alliance. Why did you agree to the marriage instead?”
“Because you’re an innocent, Sariah. You didn’t deserve to die for your father’s crimes. Besides, this way there is a chance your father may come around and support us. That would send Jeremiah back to his rathole and restore peace to the city.”
Her eyes come up to meet mine, and I see the heaviness weighing on her shoulders. “Jeremiah will never return to Manchester. He will see this as a slight. He thought he owned me, that I was his toy to do with as he wanted. You’ve taken that from him. He will come at your family hard, and he will not stop until he has what he wants. Me.”
“He can try, but he won’t find the Frasers an easy target. If he has any common sense, he will walk away and let this go.”
She gives me a sad smile. “If you were in his position, would you just walk away?”
I wouldn’t. It must show my face because she says, “Exactly.”
I go over to Sariah and sit next to her, needing to be in her space. “Wood…. He is why you were so desperate to lose your virginity?”
Sariah bobs her head up and down. “It’s stupid, but I wanted my first time to be on my terms. He made it clear he wasn’t going to be gentle, and I was scared. I mean, I couldn’t guarantee it would be gentle with a stranger either, but Jeremiah aimed to hurt me. I saw it in his eyes when I met him. I figured if I’d at least had sex before I went to his bed, it would be less… painful.”
“I hope I made your first time bearable.”
