Filthy Rich (The Five Points' Mob Collection, #2)

by Serena Akeroyd

As he got on with the ceremony, I tilted my head to the side. “I will make them pay for beating you.” She stiffened. “I-I…they didn’t.” “Bullshit.” Another flinch. “Don’t lie to me, Inessa,” I warned, and as Doyle droned on, I whispered, “They did a good job, but not good enough. You’ll dance in their blood if you want.”

She belonged to me, and Eoghan O’Donnelly protected what belonged to him. That was a fucking fact.

Tears pricked my eyes at the thought, and I dipped my chin, whispering, “They can’t touch me anymore.” He stiffened at that. “You’re damn right they can’t.”

“I will never hurt you, and no one else ever will either.”

“You’re not the biggest monster I’ve come across.” Her words floored me. Fucking floored me. And not because I was jealous either. Our eyes met and held, and out of nowhere, a flame soared between us, arcing into being. The lust came as a surprise, but the depth of it? Annihilation. It razed me to the ground.

“Your price is that low, little bird?” he rasped, and maybe I was crazy, but I could hear the lilt of Ireland in the words. “I did that for pleasure.”

“I vow that I will not betray you…so long as you don’t betray me.” The addition had him blowing out a breath, but he grabbed the scissors from me and mirrored my action. Blood spilled once more, more of it staining my dress, and he stated, “If you think I’ve betrayed you, before you think to break this vow, you will talk to me about it first.”

It was human nature for the good to blur and for the bad to stick out like a sore thumb.

“No guess about it. I don’t promise to be a good husband, Inessa. I just promise that you won’t hurt when I’m around.”

“You touched her period. She’s mine to touch,” I snarled, my temper snapping off its leash at his paltry excuse. “You don’t lay a fucking finger on her, or I’ll consider this my barely touching you, and the next time, I’ll blow your fucking head off. Do you understand me?”

“Don’t you dare compare me to a clubhouse of dirty bikers.”

“I did at first, then I got a sight of your ass in boxer briefs and I was a convert.” I rolled my eyes for the third time in this conversation. “My butt is a lifesaver.”

I was a possessive motherfucker. And I’d just claimed her as mine in front of them.

Because I was family now too. And I’d never been so happy not to be a Vasov anymore.

This love I felt for him. The freedom I felt in his arms. No, he wasn’t perfect, but neither was I. Yes, he was jaded and filthy, but so was I.