by Izzy Sweet
“It’s a good idea, and once tomorrow is over we just might.”
We stand from the desk a few minutes later and head down to the women and children.
He stops me just as we step off the stairs.
Placing a hand on my shoulder, he turns me to face him. “Don’t ever put my fucking faith in you to the test, Andrew. One of us would not leave the room.”
Smiling, I say, “I’m your man, Lucifer. But don’t ever think of my girls or unborn child as anyone’s but mine.”
Raising an eyebrow, he nods his head. “Andrew, congratulations are in order then. Will there be a wedding soon?”
“I have to tame her first.”
12
Amy
“Please, call me Lily,” Lucifer’s wife smiles at me once we’re settled on the couch in her luxurious living room. “Only Matthew calls me Lilith.”
This house is huge, like a palace or a museum, and every room we’ve passed through so far is elegantly appointed. I’d be in awe if I wasn’t so on edge.
Obviously being evil pays well.
I return Lily’s smile, trying to relax a little, but it’s hard to feel comfortable in the home of the devil. Just knowing I’m in his private domain is about to give me a panic attack.
“Wine?” she asks, and I quickly nod my head.
A little booze might be exactly what I need to relax.
She leans forward and begins to pour two glasses.
I glance towards Abigail, checking on her. Unlike me, she seems to be enjoying herself. She and Evie have already declared that they’re best friends.
The children have settled on a carpet in front of the roaring fireplace. Evie and Abigail babble and giggle non-stop, playing happily with a pile of dolls and dresses, but Adam holds himself away, just watching them. For a boy so young he looks entirely too stiff and serious.
Well, I suppose if Lucifer was my father I’d be very serious too.
Lily straightens from the table and hands me a full glass.
“To new friendships,” she smiles, lifting her glass in cheers.
“To new friendships,” I croak and lift my glass. My smile is so tight I’m afraid my lips might split.
She nods with approval and tips her glass back. I start to lift my glass to my lips and then suddenly remember I could be pregnant…
Shit.
“What’s wrong?” Lily asks, lowering her glass and frowning at me with concern.
Lowering my glass, I stare down at the deep, red liquid. How can I even explain it? Does she have any clue what her husband does behind her back? I seriously doubt it.
“I… I…” I can’t even get the words past my lips so I just give up and shake my head.
“Is it the wine? I’m sorry. I’m not at all knowledgeable when it comes to picking it. I just grabbed a bottle from Matthew’s private cellar and assumed it was good.”
I glance up from my glass and Lily looks so upset that I feel the strongest urge to reassure her that it’s not the wine. “No, I’m sorry, it’s not the wine. I’m sure the wine is very good.”
Lily smiles, looking relieved for a moment but then she’s frowning again. “Is it something I’ve done?”
“No,” I say quickly. “You’ve been a very gracious hostess…”
Lily nods her head slowly and leans back. She doesn’t seem offended by my refusal to drink the wine, if anything she seems to be simply curious now.
She regards me over the rim of her glass for a long moment before she takes another sip.
I glance towards the door, hoping that someone will appear to save me from this situation. Lily seems so nice, I don’t know how to interact with her. A part of me assumed she would be mean or stuck-up given how flawlessly beautiful she is. Or as cruel as her husband. But she’s practically tripping over herself to make me comfortable.
“Matthew did something, didn’t he?” she finally says knowingly.
I immediately stiffen in reaction. Shit, shit, shit. I want to deny it but I just can’t.
Leaving me alone with her was a bad idea. What was Lucifer and Andrew thinking? I’m not at all good at deceiving others. I hate lying, and I really suck at it.
Her eyes narrow, and the way she looks at me I get the impression that she’s starting to figure it out on her own. “You know, I’ve been with Matthew for a little over a year now and you’re the first wife I’ve ever been introduced to…”
“Andrew and I are not married,” I quietly correct her. I have to set my glass of wine down on the table before I give in to the urge to drink deeply from it. “I’ve only known him for two days.”
“You’re kidding,” she exclaims shrilly and then blushes, casting a quick look towards the children.
Adam glances over, looking at his mom curiously, but Evie and Abigail are in their own happy little world, completely oblivious of us.
“I’m not kidding, though I wish I was,” I say, shifting uncomfortably.
I feel like I’ve already said too much and I’m afraid of what will happen if Lucifer and Andrew were to get wind of this. I wasn’t specifically told not to talk or reveal why I’m with Andrew, but I just figured that it was something understood.
Not to mention I have no clue what Lily will do if I tell her the truth. Would she even believe me if I told her? If I were in her situation, I probably wouldn’t.
Lily leans towards me and drops her voice to a whisper. “He took you, didn’t he?”
I’m so surprised she guessed it right, I blurt out, “Yes!”
I slap a hand over my mouth and look worriedly towards Abigail. She glances over at me, smiles sweetly, and then goes right back to playing.
My heart pounds frantically behind my ribs and my mind races a mile a minute. How much does Lily know? Does she already know everything and this is some kind of test?
Or is she someone who could help me get out of this situation?
I lean towards Lily and lower my voice to a whisper. “How did you know?”
Her eyes light up with something. Joy? Or is it amusement?
She looks almost as eager as I feel, like she too has been dying to say something.
As she sets her glass down on the table and turns back to give me her full attention, I feel this strange jolt, like we’re kindred spirits in this moment.
Her lips curve into a mischievous grin and she leans in close as she whispers. “Because Matthew took me… from my husband.”
Lily proceeds to tell me a whispered story about Lucifer appearing in her bedroom one night and strong-arming her and her children away from her husband. Apparently, her husband at the time, Marshall, was an awful man. He cared nothing for her or the children, and she was planning on divorcing him.
But then Lucifer swept into her life, claimed her and the children as his own, and changed all of her plans. Some of the details are fuzzy. She kind of brushes over Marshall kidnapping her and Lucifer taking care of him, but doesn’t provide any specific details.
“Are you happy?” I ask her, letting it all sink in my brain.
The story is so dramatic, so crazy, I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t go through something similar myself.
She doesn’t hesitate. Her lips curve into a smile and she nods her head. “Incredibly.”
“Wow,” I murmur and shake my head. I almost can’t believe it.
Her smile sharpens and her eyes sparkle at me over the rim of her wine glass. “I told you mine, now it’s your turn to tell me yours. I want all the dirty little details, and I mean all of them.”
I hesitate, feeling suddenly self-conscious.
“Come on,” Lily prods me. “Don’t be a tease.”
I smirk and shake my head. “I don’t even know where to begin…”
Lily rolls her eyes. “At the beginning, of course.”
Unlike her, my story doesn’t start with Andrew, it starts with Ivan.
After taking a deep breath and figuring out where to begin, I tell her how Ivan and I met. How lucky
I felt until he started getting pissed off because I wasn’t ready to sleep with him until I got to know him. How quickly the situation escalated.
The stalking and the surveillance.
The pressure and manipulation.
“What a dickhead,” Lily hisses after I tell her how Ivan got me fired from the boutique I worked at just because I used work as an excuse not to see him.
I nod my head, fully agreeing with her, but that wasn’t the worse of it. The worse was the beatings. All the times he’d hit me in anger when I fought him… But I don’t bring those up. I don’t know why, but I just can’t.
Instead, I recount how I couldn’t find work and how I was living off of my savings.
“He was probably telling them not to hire you,” she growls.
I nod my head. “I pretty much figured that.” After the twentieth rejection or so.
With a snort, she tosses the rest of her wine back, and I fight back a smile, flattered that she is so annoyed on my behalf.
“Then what happened?” she asks while leaning forward and setting her empty glass down on the table.
My amusement fades as I remember and recount the events of two nights ago. Just like she glossed over the details of Lucifer taking care of her former husband, I purposely omit Lucifer holding a gun to my head. I’m not sure how she would react to that bit of information, and I’m starting to like her too much to risk our newly minted friendship.
Not to mention I don’t want to do or say anything that would piss that man off. I like my head right where it is, thank you.
“I’m glad Andrew is keeping you,” she says when I finish.
I nod my head but I can’t quite bring myself to verbally agree with her.
“You’re not, though?” she asks.
Like I said earlier, I really suck at lying. I could try to pretend I’m happy with the situation but even a blind man could probably see that I’m not.
“Honestly?” I ask.
She nods her head.
“No,” I drawl out. “I’m not happy with the situation. I’d prefer my freedom.”
She scowls at me. “But Andrew will take care of you.”
“Yes, but he’s a stranger,” I explain. “I hardly know the man. He could be just as bad as Ivan…”
Lily shakes her head vehemently. “He is nothing like Ivan. That man is scum and Andrew is one of my husband’s most trusted men. He’s a step above the rest.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” I concede because I honestly don’t know enough about Andrew to argue with her regarding the state of his character. What I do know, however, is that just like Ivan, he’s manipulating me into a situation I don’t want to be in. “He’s holding me prisoner in his house.”
Again, she’s quick to come to his defense. “I’m sure in time, when he can trust you, he’ll give you more freedom.”
I shake my head in dismay. “You know this from experience?”
She sharply nods her head. “Yes.”
I sigh and take a second to really think my words over before I say them. “I know things worked out for you and Lucifer, but Andrew and Lucifer are two very different men.”
I don’t point out how different she and I are, and our respective situations, but I can feel it hanging in the air between us.
“I agree,” she concedes. “Matthew and Andrew are two very different men, but they share the same philosophies and fundamental beliefs. They look at the world in a very…”
She trails off, her brows furrowing together in thought. “There is a word for it but at the moment it is eluding me. The way they look at the world is…”
“Radical?” I offer.
She snorts and narrows her eyes at me, obviously not finding my suggestion funny. “I was thinking more along the lines of unique.”
I smirk at her and say, “Radically unique.”
She rolls her eyes but she’s smiling. “Very well, the way they look at the world is radically unique.”
She looks at me, waiting for me to agree or disagree. I incline my head and she smiles, going on. “Before I met Matthew, I was blind. But he opened up my eyes and now I see the world for what it really is. Before him I was just another one of the sheep…”
“Sheep?” I repeat. “What do you mean?”
She sighs and brushes some invisible hair out of her face, looking a little flustered. “How to put this? Matthew is so much better at explaining this...” She glances over at the children and lowers her voice, as if she’s suddenly worried about them overhearing. “These men, they are fierce and they are powerful, and they see the world for what it really is. They see through all the bullshit.”
“Okay…” I drawl out, kind of getting it, but not really getting it. “But what makes someone a sheep?”
“A sheep is a person who believes the laws and rules are there to protect them. To make the playing field more fair when they’re really there to—”
“Excuse me, Lily?”
We both turn in surprise. A middle-aged woman stands in the doorway, cradling a little bundle in her arms.
“Yes, Mary?” Lily smiles at the woman, not looking the least bit irritated by the interruption. In fact, she looks rather relieved.
“Little David is ready for bed. I thought you’d like to say goodnight before I lay him down.”
“Of course,” Lily beams at the woman and holds out her arms.
Mary returns Lily’s smile and approaches, carefully handling the little bundle over. Once the bundle is safely in Lily’s arms, Mary takes a step back and glances over at me. I smile politely at her and then we both turn our attention to Lily.
Lily smiles and nudges some of the blanket out of the way, revealing a tiny golden head.
She coos and speaks sweetly to her baby, and watching her, I experience the strangest pang. Like there’s a spot inside of me that I didn’t realize was empty.
“I didn’t know you had a baby,” I say softly.
Lily glances up at me and gently nods her head. “His name is David.”
“How old is he?” I ask, scooting a little closer to get a better look.
“Three months,” she answers with a proud smile. “Would you like to hold him?”
“Yes,” I fairly gush. I haven’t held a baby since Abigail was born and I suddenly miss it.
Lily scoots closer to me and I extend my arms, ready to accept him. Carefully, Lily places him in my arms.
“He’s fallen asleep,” she whispers.
I look down at the sleeping baby in my arms and the sight of his beautiful little face steals all the breath from my lungs.
I’m stunned speechless.
Beside me, Lily chuckles quietly. “He tends to have that effect on people.”
I shake my head, trying to clear it, but I still can’t seem to take my eyes off of him.
“He’s perfect…” I choke out, marveling at his angelic features. He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.
“He is,” an amused male voice agrees from the doorway.
I finally manage to tear my eyes away from David’s beautiful face and glance up to see the grown-up version of him smirking down at me.
I don’t know why but I feel like I’ve just been caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing.
“Thank you for letting me hold him,” I say softly to Lily.
She nods and smiles as I gently hand David back to her.
Lucifer strides into the room and walks up to the couch. Bending over the back of it, he places a quick kiss on Lily’s cheek and then peers down at his son.
“Mary was just about to put him in his bed,” Lily murmurs quietly and leans into Lucifer.
He smiles and reaches down to stroke his son’s head.
As they lean into each other, staring down at their sleeping child, the moment is so sweet, so tender, my chest tightens and I ache with a confusing jealousy.
It takes me a second to realize I want what they have.
I want the l
ove, and I want the tenderness.
Once the realization sinks in, I abruptly turn away, feeling like an intruder peeping in on a private moment.
Lucifer straightens away first and then Lily reluctantly hands David off to Mary.
“Sweet dreams, little one,” she murmurs sweetly as Mary wraps him back up and carries him out of the room.
“Shall we head into dinner?” Lucifer asks once Mary is gone, and I finally notice the dark shadow lurking in the doorway.
How long has he been standing there? Has he been there the whole time?
Andrew’s eyes bore into me, burning with a dark intensity. “I’m starving,” he grins.
And I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.
13
Amy
Dinner is a torturous affair for me, though everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves. Lily tries hard to keep me engaged in the conversation going on around the table but between having Lucifer seated across from me and Andrew directly beside me, it takes all my concentration just to get food down my throat.
And I have to eat, everyone pretty much expects it from me now. Andrew dropped the bomb and told everyone I’m expecting.
I don’t know what the hell is wrong with him.
I know he wants me to be pregnant, but it’s way too damn early to tell. I keep telling myself that he’s going to be pretty fucking embarrassed when it turns out that I’m not pregnant. But I have this stupid feeling that he’s not going to be embarrassed at all. That he’s a man used to getting what he wants, and his will alone is powerful enough to knock me up.
I know, I know, now I’m the one who’s thinking crazy. But this entire situation is fucking with me. Everyone around me is so happy, gathered around the table like it’s one great big happy family.
And I feel like I’m the odd man out.
I’m surrounded by murderers, kidnappers, and adulterers, and yet I wonder if I should be trying harder to fit in.
When I really think about it though, especially when they’re all so polite and considerate of me, I have to wonder who am I to judge?
I don’t know for certain that Lucifer, Andrew, or any of the other men sitting at this table are murderers.