Lying Hearts (Small Town Lies 1)

“He said he was…” she took a deep breath in. “My father. He was mad.”

“Oh my god,” Tessa cried and shook her head, turning away from everyone as she took a seat.

“It’s true?” Luna asked.

“Star,” her dad began to say then shook his head. “Yes, it’s true.”

I expected Luna to scream. I didn’t understand fully what was happening. Luna’s name was Nora? Her parents weren’t her biological parents?

“Shit, that makes you the last heir to the Hampton fortune,” Zeke said in awe. “Ms. Nightingale, why didn’t you want the money?”

“Because nothing but death happens when the Hamptons spend the Hampton fortune,” she hissed. “I wanted nothing to do with it, and then they placed my beautiful niece in my arms, and I knew she was better off with me. My sister… she had problems. Your father and I couldn’t get pregnant, Luna. We didn’t want you to be reminded of them, so we changed your name. Oh god, I hope you can forgive us.” Tessa reached out and took Luna’s hand and gripped it as she wept.

“Shit,” Ezra said from next to me. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Me either.

We all waited for what Luna had to say. It took a few minutes. Her chest rose and fell slowly, eyes closed, but she squeezed her mom’s hand, and Tessa met Luna’s eyes with her watery gaze. “I will always be Luna. I am your daughter. No one else’s,” she said, leaning her head back on the pillow. “Past means nothing to me. I only care about the future.” Luna turned to me when she said that, and my heart sped up on the monitor.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

“Marry me,” I said through an oxygen mask. I wanted to kick myself because I didn’t have the ring in my hand, and I was bandaged to hell, but everyone we loved stood in this room, and while it wasn’t romantic, it was in front of everyone.

She blinked at me, and then her brilliant emerald eyes shined with unshed tears, and she nodded. “Yes, Easton Moore. I’ll marry you. I’ve always been yours.”

My damn heart was sped up like it was running a marathon, and I tapped Evan on the shoulder and pointed to my jean pocket. I had been carrying around a moonstone engagement ring since my senior year of high school.

It really had only been Luna for me. I didn’t deserve her or the second chance she gave me, but I wouldn’t take it for granted.

Ethan grabbed my pants in a huff, clearly still mad at me, and searched through my jeans until he

slowly pulled out a blue velvet box. “Holy shit,” he said under his breath.

“Luna. Give to my Moon,” I said to him and wished like hell I could be holding her right now. I turned to her as he set the box on her belly and she opened it, crying her eyes out, I didn’t think she’d be able to see the ring.

“Oh god,” she said, tilting the box to show a two-carat moonstone surrounded by emeralds because they reminded me of her eyes. She slipped it on her hand, and I was right, the ring was made to go there.

My heart beat wildly for Luna Nightingale, even in smoke and flame, nothing could stop our love.

Our story had been written in the stars, right next to the moon.

Epilogue

Luna

One year later

It had been a crazy year of many things.

Of healing.

Of building.

Of moving on.

The boutique had finally been finished. The Hampton house had been demolished, and I begged Easton not to rebuild the same house. I wanted our home in a different spot on the land, nowhere near where my biological father tied me to a bed and tried to kill me.

He agreed. He didn’t fight me or anything of that nature. He only wanted me happy. So Easton and his brothers built a beautiful mansion on the other side of the property. It looked like an old Victorian home, and I couldn’t wait until it was finished. Between work and having a life, the brothers took their time building our home.