Buying Beth_A Dark Romance

by Izzy Sweet

  No doubt the sight of me holding a baby in my arms is making him hot.

  “Mommy!” Abigail calls out, skipping over to us. “Look what Charlie made for me!” she exclaims holding out a little blue flower made out of Legos.

  Amy smiles warmly at her daughter and it’s a little surreal. With her brown hair, and fine, delicate features, Abigail looks like a tiny replica of her mother.

  “That’s lovely,” Amy tells her. “Did you thank him for it?”

  Abigail’s big brown eyes widen and she turns, calling out, “Thank you for the flower, Charlie!”

  Charlie’s cheeks pinken as he shuffles over to join us. He looks at her and then down at his feet. “You’re welcome, Abigail.”

  Johnathan’s warm breath hits my ear again. “I think our boy might have developed a crush.”

  I think he’s right, especially because of the way Charlie keeps sneaking little peeks at Abigail but looks down at the floor every time he’s noticed.

  “Come on, Charlie, let’s go play some more,” Abigail smiles and skips up to him. She grabs his hand and starts to tug him back towards the gorgeous silver and white Christmas tree when Lucifer and his family finally appear.

  “So sorry about that,” Lily apologizes as she sweeps into the room. “The FaceTime call with my mother took a little longer than expected.”

  Amy and I both smile at her and tell her it’s no problem at all. With a look of relief, she joins us on the couch and starts cooing over Noah.

  Honestly, I can’t believe I’m spending Christmas in Lucifer’s house of all places. When Johnathan originally explained the compound to me, I envisioned a prison-like setting, not this gorgeous, multimillion-dollar mansion. Granted, the mansion is surrounded by prison-like walls, a couple of guardhouses, and twenty-four hour patrols and surveillance, but it’s still gorgeous.

  Lily has really outdone herself on the Christmas decorations. The entire room is decorated in white, silver, and gold, and under the ginormous Christmas tree are dozens of beautifully wrapped presents.

  Lucifer walks into the room carrying their young son, David, with his two other children, Adam and Evelyn, following behind him. Like Abigail, Evelyn seems to greatly resemble her mother, but her features are softer and more child-like in appearance.

  Lucifer walks towards Lily while both Adam and Evelyn breakaway and walk towards Charlie and Abigail.

  Adam seems to be glaring daggers at Charlie and it sets me on edge a little.

  Adam walks right up to where Charlie and Abigail are standing and glares down at their connected hands. For a moment, he looks so damn angry I’m afraid he’s going to do something.

  “Adam!” Abigail squeals, a bright smile lighting up her face. She immediately drops Charlie’s hand and throws her arms around Adam.

  The whole scene is kind of strange, and I’m not entirely sure what I’m witnessing. Adam seems to soften as Abigail hugs him, but I catch him shoot another glare in Charlie’s direction.

  Is he jealous? Isn’t he a little young for that?

  “Look what Charlie made for me,” Abigail says happily. She steps away from Adam and holds out the little blue flower Charlie built for her.

  Adam takes one look at the flower, snatches it out of Abigail’s hand, and snaps it in half.

  Abigail’s eyes widen in shock and her bottom lip trembles. She bursts into tears, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

  I look up at Johnathan and we both share a ‘what the fuck’ look.

  “What’s going on?” Amy asks, rising from the couch. I don’t think she witnessed what happened.

  “Uh… Adam broke Abigail’s flower,” I supply.

  “Adam,” Lily gasps angrily and stands. She marches over to Adam, who doesn’t appear at all contrite, and grabs him by the arm.

  Leading Adam over towards the fireplace, I politely turn my attention away as she starts to lay into him.

  Lucifer glances around the room, and then his gaze narrows in on Simon and Andrew who have been sitting on the other couch.

  Andrew stands and heads over to comfort his crying daughter.

  “Simon,” Lucifer grins, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he approaches him.

  Simon stiffens and eyes Lucifer warily. “Yes?”

  “Here,” Lucifer says, thrusting out David towards Simon. “Hold David for a moment while I have a talk with Adam.”

  Simon looks at David, who looks to be about a year and a half old, and looks ready to bolt, but Lucifer doesn’t give him the chance. He gently drops David into Simon’s lap and walks off.

  Little David is the spitting image of his father, and like Lucifer he’s almost painfully beautiful, even with the little bit of drool dripping down his chin.

  Simon stares down at David with wide, horrified eyes and his face goes deathly pale as David’s little hands grab his white shirt and he begins to babble.

  Behind me, Johnathan bursts out laughing and even Amy giggles.

  “I think he likes you,” Johnathan says.

  Simon glances up and shoots Johnathan a glare.

  Little David, though, appears to be completely oblivious to Simon’s discomfort, babbling non-stop before he decides to try and shove one of the little fists gripping Simon’s shirt into his mouth.

  “Good god,” Simon gasps, causing all of us to burst into another fit of laughter.

  Simon grabs the little boy by the waist and holds him away from him. The two stare at each other, Simon at a loss of what to do and David drooling and smiling.

  “It’s okay, Abigail,” Charlie says, drawing my attention back to him. He picks up the broken Lego flower and has it put back together in two seconds flat.

  This seems to appease Abigail. She sniffles and smiles through her tears at him. “Thank you, Charlie.”

  Charlie nods his head and blushes. He’s so sweet, and I’m so proud of him.

  “Can you make me one, too?” Evelyn asks, looking hopefully at him.

  “Sure,” Charlie smiles at her. “What color do you want?”

  “Pink!” Evelyn declares and bounces with excitement.

  “Uh… hello?” a soft, feminine voice calls out, drawing everyone’s attention.

  I turn towards the sound to see a beautiful, dark-haired woman standing in the doorway.

  Her eyes widen in surprise as she takes in the room and all the people gathered.

  Is she another wife I haven’t met yet?

  “Who’s that?” I whisper to Johnathan.

  He frowns, his bushy brows knitting together, and says, “Shit. I think that’s Lucifer’s sister. What’s she doing here?”

  I glance towards Amy, but she looks just as confused as I am.

  I look towards Simon and see he is no longer staring at David. No, he’s staring at the woman and looking like someone just punched him in the gut.

  “Meredith,” Lucifer says, and slowly approaches her. The woman may be his sister, but he doesn’t look particularly happy to see her. “What do we owe the pleasure?”

  The woman glances nervously around the room again, at all the surprised faces, before her expression hardens with determination.

  She lifts her chin in the air with the regal bearing of a queen, and says, “Matthew, I need your help…”

  Playlists

  Beth’s Playlist

  http://spoti.fi/2jbyfVn

  …Ready for it? - Taylor Swift

  Immigrant Song - Karen O, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

  Black Wave - K.Flay

  Call the Shots - Louise Dowd, Toni Halliday

  River of Fire - In This Moment

  Into the Darkness - The Phantoms

  You’re the One - Charli XCX

  Rise Up - J2, Keeley Bumford

  No Mercy - Pvris

  Another One Bites the Dust (Epic Trailor Version) - Hidden Citizens, Jaxson Gamble

  What a Wonderful World - Joseph William Morgan, Shadow Royale

  Johnathan’s Playlist

  http
://spoti.fi/2CLH4xz

  Stay Vicious - The Gaslight Anthem

  Sleeping Dogs - Zakk Wylde, Corey Taylor

  Gimme Shelter - Stone Sour, Lzzy Hale

  Absolute Zero - Stone Sour

  Stillborn - Black Label Society

  Lift Me Up - Five Finger Death Punch

  Trouble - Five Finger Death Punch

  Into the Fire - Asking Alexandria

  Where the Wind Blows - Blacktop Mojo

  Defy - Of Mice & Men

  About Us

  Izzy Sweet & Sara Page – The one and the same brain.

  Sean Moriarty — The real life alpha bad boy that Izzy tamed.

  Residing in Cincinnati, Ohio, Izzy and Sean are high school sweethearts that just celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary, though they’ve been together since they were teenagers – over fifteen years.

  Both avid and voracious readers, they share a great love and appreciation for a great story, and attribute their early role-playing days as the fledgling beginnings of their joint writing career.

  You can see more of our works at our website - www.dirtynothings.com

  Newsletter

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  Also by Izzy and Sean

  Disciples

  Keeping Lily (Lucifer & Lily)

  Stealing Amy (Andrew & Amy)

  Buying Beth (Johnathan & Beth)

  The Pounding Hearts Series

  Banging Reaper (Chase & Avery)

  Slamming Demon (Brett & Mandy)

  Bucking Bear (Max & Grace)

  Breaking Beast (Alexander and Christy)

  By Sean Moriarty

  Gettin’ Lucky

  Gettin’ Dirty

  Star Joined Series

  Craving Maul

  By Izzy Sweet

  Letting Him In

  Stepbrother Catfish

  Keeping Lily

  My husband traded me away to save his own life…

  And now I belong to the devil.

  One night and everything in my life changed. Two words and my world turned dark.

  “Take her.”

  Owing the most ruthless crime lord in Garden City five million dollars, my husband chose to trade me and my children away to save himself.

  I was on the cusp of freedom, so close to divorcing that scumbag I was married to.

  Now I’m enslaved to a man who is obsessed with me. A man so wicked and beautiful they call him Lucifer.

  So alluring, he makes the angels weep with envy. He’s so powerful, I can’t stop myself from bending to his will.

  He’s determined to master me, and he won’t rest until I give him all.

  He wants my light, and he wants my dark.

  He wants my body, and he wants my heart.

  But most of all, he wants the one thing I can’t give him. The one thing I can’t bear to part with…

  My soul.

  Chapter One

  Lucifer

  “Motherfucker!” Comes out of my mouth in a growl as I shake my hand.

  The punch to this piece of shit’s jaw sent tingling sensations up my arm.

  Mickey Dalton sputters gibberish out of his busted lips. “I… I… Swear I will pay… just gotta…”

  I’m tempted to keep this up, but fuck it. I have bigger fish to fry than this small time fucking gambler.

  Looking over the man’s shoulder, I nod to Andrew. “Ensure he fully understands how much he owes. Remove his pinky.”

  “Yes, sir.” Andrew nods.

  “Wha… No!” Mickey shouts as Andrew heads to the table where he keeps a black bag stowed.

  Turning around, I look at Simon, my right-hand man. “Where are we at with the other three files?”

  “Two have been collected on, the last I was waiting on your judgment.”

  “Marshall Dawson.”

  “He has flat out refused to cooperate with any of our attempts to collect. He believes his status is untouchable. He will give us no answer on where he was or what has happened to our money.”

  “Is he finally home?” I ask.

  “Arrived earlier tonight.”

  A metallic snip rings out into the room followed by a high-pitched scream. I turn to see Andrew wiping the blood on the guy’s t-shirt.

  Andrew raises his voice only slightly as he grabs the man by the throat. “Stop fucking squealing, asshole. Lucifer doesn’t like hearing pigs fucking about.”

  Walking out through the door and into the hall, I look to Simon. “How are the spreadsheets with Bart coming along?”

  “Clean, with everything accounted for…”

  “Yet, you still have doubts?” I ask him as we walk.

  “I do. I just can’t explain why.”

  “Keep an eye on him then.”

  Simon holds an umbrella over my head as we walk out of the abandoned hotel. The shattered glass door slams shut behind us as he ushers me into the sleek black Mercedes SUV.

  Getting comfortable in the backseat, I reach over and pull the file left on the other seat for me. The name Marshall Dawson is neatly typed on the tab.

  I let out a quiet sigh to myself. I knew this one was going to come back as a thorn in my side.

  Marshall Dawson is a waste of breathable air. The man used the connections he had with my father and another city boss to secure a loan from us. Five million in cash.

  Five fucking million dollars with nothing to show for it.

  Five fucking million dollars down the drain.

  I took this on as a favor to Sean O’Riley. A favor to a now dead and buried man.

  Shit like that doesn’t sit well with me. But when I went to the top to seek retribution, I was stonewalled. I was told the man who killed Sean, and all the surrounding issues, have been dealt with.

  Fuck that. I want my pound of flesh.

  Shaking my head, I open the file. It’s no use going down that train of thought right now. I can pursue it another time if I need to.

  I slowly flip through the pages we have on Marshall.

  It’s funny how we can put a file together on a person where he is reduced to twenty or so pages. I can see every payment he has made on his mortgage to how many times he has been in the overdraft with his bank.

  I look at his legal outstanding debts, and I look at the five-million-dollar debt he now owes to me personally. Anger is slowly creeping through my veins.

  Flipping through the pages, I look at his family life. Since he borrowed the money I have had one of my men keeping close tabs on his family. He is married to Lilith Merriweather, aged twenty-seven, and has two children, a boy and a girl. Both children under the age of seven.

  I look at the picture of Marshall for a long time as we drive through the late-night rain. The man is closer to my father’s age than mine. How did he marry a woman so young? Money and his slimy charm must have played a large part of it.

  I look through the pictures of his family quickly. The children are pretty in a child way. Blonde hair and blue eyes, they must take after their mother. Marshall must have married way out of his league.

  My fingers stop as the picture of his wife comes up. Emerald green eyes, sensuous pink lips, high cheekbones, pale flawless skin and long blonde hair. All of those parts on their own would make her remarkable. Even if her face was overall plain just one of her features would stun a person. But together they make something otherworldly.

  She is beauty incarnate.

  Fingers tracing the lines of her lips, I frown. How the hell did that man marry a woman like this? I flip further through the pictures of her. There aren’t many, but what I do see shows me that she is unlike any other woman I have ever laid eyes on.

  She is perfection.

  There is a rather candid photo of her putting groceries in the back of her red Volvo station wagon. Her hair is all over the place. Her slender legs are encased in yoga pants, feet in Uggs. Her daughter looks like she is giving h
er problems as she tries to watch her and still put groceries in the back.

  Even this… domesticity calls to me.

  There is a glamour shot of some type mixed in and I can see just how haunting those eyes are. They are calling to me, pulling me in to get forever lost. I can feel my hands curling into themselves. She is pulling me from where I sit in the SUV.

  “Take me to Marshall’s, James,” I say to my driver.

  Looking back at me from the front seat, Simon says, “Now? You don’t want to wait until tomorrow?”

  “No. We’re going there now.”

  The car makes a few turns as we pull off the freeway and then back on again.

  My eyes drift out the window for a moment to look at the rain that has been pelting down on the city all week.

  Looking back to the picture, though, I see something I haven’t seen before—a light. Inside I feel an ember flaring to life.

  My muscles are going taut with expectation.

  I need to see this woman; I need to see if what the pictures show me is true.

  Lily

  My husband, Marshall, is sleeping beside me, snoring loudly, and I have the strongest urge to smack him.

  I want to scream in his pale, pudgy face. I want to tell him to wake the fuck up. I want to ask him why he’s back in my bed.

  But I just lay beside him and stare up at the ceiling instead.

  It’s time to accept reality.

  Our marriage is done.

  Dead.

  Today was the final nail in the coffin.

  First thing in the morning, after I get the kids off to school, I’m going to meet with a divorce attorney. I can’t go on like this. This is no way to live, this is just…existing.