Page 117 of Corrupted Pleasure

He brushed his mouth against the tip of my nose. “Yes. I’ll never let anyone hurt you. Family or not.” The heat of his stare seeped into my bloodstream, filling my chest with warmth. “I’ll never let you go, but I’ll protect you with my every breath. You’re part of me, Davina.”

The pressure building in my lungs grew at the intensity of his words and promises that I was certain he’d keep. I met his gaze, possessive and dark in the blue depths that kept pulling me in.

“Why?” I breathed.

“Because you’re mine.” Simple. Possessive. True.

“I am,” I confirmed against his lips. And I didn’t regret it.

“You want to know about your father?” he asked.

A choked laugh escaped me. “Did he try to kill me too?”

“No, he didn’t.”

I pushed my forehead into his chest. “That’s good,” I murmured. “I don’t know, Liam. I want to know. I’m tired of being oblivious to it all. But he obviously doesn’t care about me. Otherwise, he’d have at least met me. And I know he doesn’t matter. Not really. I have all I need now.”

I needed a father when I was a kid. He wasn’t there. There was nothing that learning his name could give me. He only had one thing over my own mother. He didn’t try to kill me. But other than that, neither one of those two had any room to be in my life.

Yet, why did curiosity nudge me forward?

The lack of my parents in my life always made me feel like I was lacking something. But that was on them, not on me. Like Liam said, their loss.

“Davina, you should know one thing about your father.” Liam’s voice was soft, but firm.

The next heartbeat drummed achingly inside my chest. “Okay, tell me.”

It was probably time I learned who they both were. “He’s a senator.” My shoulders tensed, but I remained still. My eyes glued on my husband’s bare feet, thinking how even his feet were strong. “Senator Ashford.”

“No wonder he didn’t want an illegitimate daughter,” I said. “It would have ruined his career.”

“You have five brothers and one sister, all older than you,” Liam continued. “One of those brothers is illegitimate.”

“Dear old Dad got around, huh?” I muttered bitterly.

“He did,” he retorted dryly.

I recalled the day we got married and the judge mentioned Byron Ashford.

“So you know the Ashford family?” I asked him.

“I do. Your father is a corrupt motherfucker, but your brothers and sister are good people. Your sister Aurora recently got married. Last year, in fact. She’s an FBI profiler.”

“That guy-” I paused. “Alexei Nikolaev. He’s her husband.”

Liam nodded. “He’s your brother-in-law.”

Unbeknownst to Senator Ashford, both of his daughters were now married to mobsters.

“How did her father take the news about his daughter marrying a mobster?” I asked, although it didn’t really matter. That man would never accept me, even if I married a president.

“He severed all connections with her. His daughter refused to sever or hide her relationship and marriage to her husband.”

I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.I have brothers and a sister. I had wanted siblings my whole life, and now that I learned it was a reality, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. The Ashford men were known as the Billionaire Kings among the crème-de-la-crème of elite society. Handsome. Rich as sin. And reclusive.

“Their mother is from this area, actually,” Liam added. “My sister knew her. Mrs. Ashford was killed over twenty some years ago. Drive-by shooting in D.C. by one of the Syndicate rivals.”

Approaching them would be pointless. Besides, they were strangers. Nobody to me. I had everything I loved and wanted right here - my best friends and my husband.