“Mr. Malloy,” I whispered, ignoring the blustering a few feet away. Nothing mattered except Luke’s mouth coming down over mine, so firm yet tender. I groaned, leaning into him. With Luke, I knew everything in my life would be okay.
But I needed to face my father. Pulling back regretfully, I saw understanding on Luke’s face. His thumb brushed over my cheek. “I’m right here.”
His hand grasped mine, and before I guessed what he was doing, he slipped my band onto my ring finger. I held out my palm, and he dropped his ring onto it. Once I had it on his hand, I moved to face my father, Luke at my side, giving me much-needed strength. This was the parent who’d been so harsh and borderline terrorizing my entire life. This was the parent who’d never cared about me until he deemed me useful.
“I’m married now,” I told him. “But even so, I don’t belong to anyone but myself.”
Beside me, Luke growled, and I squeezed his hand, telling him I belonged to him, but that was different.
“I love Luke, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him. And I…” I took a deep breath, steeling myself for some of the hardest words I would ever say. “I…don’t ever want to see you again.”
“Laura!” my father gasped.
“No,” I interrupted before he could argue. “I was never anything to you, not until you wanted something from me. I was the daughter who should have been a son. And because I’m not a boy, I was worthless to you. Luke loves me. Luke makes me feel important, not for anything but who I am. He listens to me and believes in me.”
“I do,” Luke breathed. “You’re everything.” His face turned granite as he glared at the man I was eschewing from my life. “And I will do everything necessary to protect Laura. I know how precious she is. And you can bet, she will always be guarded. Don’t ever think about trying anything.” He glanced down at me and away from the deflated man who realized he’d lost and was probably tallying how much in his head. I knew it wasn’t about me, but the money. “Are you ready to go celebrate?”
“Yes.”
“Malloy wedding party? Ready?”
“Let’s go,” Jameson replied. It didn’t miss my attention that his eyes were pinned to Willow when he answered.
“I’ll get the car,” Rick said.
“How much was he—the guy you promised me to—going to pay you?” I asked, unable to help myself.
My father’s scowl returned. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me. How much was I worth? What’s the dollar value of losing a daughter?”
“Two million,” he muttered.
“I’ll send you a check—”
“Luke, no!” I exclaimed, even as the face of the man who’d sired me brightened. He didn’t deserve to be called my father. “You can’t.”
“And in return, you will never bother us, never come near Laura again—you or anyone working for you,” Luke went on.
“Done,” the other man replied. Turning on his heel, he left without so much as another glance at me. I tried to ignore the pain in my chest, the hurt at being so much…nothing to him.
Luke hugged me to him, somehow knowing what was going on inside me. “I can do it,” he said. “I’m a billionaire, remember? Two million to ensure you’re safe is like pennies to another man. We won’t even miss it.”
“We?”
“Did you sign a prenup? I sure didn’t. What’s mine is yours, babe. But most importantly, you’re mine. All mine. Forever.”
I melted into him. “All I want from you is your love. And maybe babies, one of these days.”
He grinned. “I look forward to making as many as you want. And as for my love, you’ve owned that for months. You’re stuck with it.”
A few feet from us, Jameson made a gagging sound and Willow punched his arm. “Shut up, dick,” she grumbled. “Your brother is exactly what women want. Sweet, romantic. He’s the kind of guy I’ll—”
She screeched as Jameson suddenly threw her over his shoulder and stormed from the chapel. I looked at Luke, wide-eyed.
“Long history there,” he told me. “I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Today is about us.”
Going on tiptoes, I pulled his mouth down to mine. “Nope. Forever is about us. Let’s go, husband. I want to get started on that.”
I laughed, giggling, as he threw me over his shoulder, too and followed his brother’s footsteps right into our bright future—of course, not forgetting our wedding certificate on the way.
Epilogue
~ Luke ~
One year later…
“Nice of you to invite me this time,” my mom said as she straightened my tie.
“Mom, you have to let go of that,” I told her. “I’ve explained a hundred times why Laura and I got married the way we did.”
“And where is your beautiful wife?” she asked, patting my cheek a little harder than necessary.
“She’s puking her guts up in the bathroom again,” I said.
“Poor thing. I was always so sick in my first trimester with you boys.” Mom shook her head. “Should I go check on her?”
“Her mom is with her,” I assured my own mother. “She’ll be okay. I hate it, but she’s getting used to vomiting for hours every day.”
My poor wife had spent the last two weeks heaving. I’d been on the phone with her doctor four times, convinced this wasn’t normal, begging him to bring her in for another appointment. Finally, Laura and the doc had ganged up on me. He no longer took my calls, and she slapped my phone out of my hand every time she caught me on it.
“Is her father coming?” Mom asked tentatively.
“He’d better fucking not,” I growled.
“Language,” she admonished.
“Mom.” My tone was a clear warning to drop it. “Look, if you ever tell my wife this, I will never speak to you again. But it cost me another million dollars to get him
