“It’s ironic to think you trained me for the exact place you are in now. I would outlast you in there, you know. I lasted twenty-three years in my hell and didn’t break once. That’s why you hate me so fucking much. You just can’t admit it.” Smiling, Angel started to slide the door closed, letting the darkness have him. “Just know, it’s a hell of a lot bigger than the closet you kept me in. Tell me, Lucifer; how long are you going last?”
Slamming the door shut felt therapeutic, freeing, like he had finally closed a book on his life and was ready to start a new one.
“How was it?” Lucca’s haunting voice sounded from behind him.
Angel thought for a moment. “Better than I thought it ever could be.”
“Good.”
Angel turned around, his gray depths staring into the demon’s eyes. “I’m going to need something else from you.”
Lucca stared him down with evil eyes, waiting.
“You don’t get to kill him … till every one of my brothers get to have him.”
Thirty-Nine
The Final Goodbye
Looking down at the city, she continuously tapped her heels against the hard floors.
“He’s waiting outside,” Lucca told her as he stopped beside her.
She had always loved this spot right here, where she was fully able to see what could have been hers.
“Maria …” he tried to get her attention.
Hearing the muffled screaming, she snapped her eyes to her brother. “Does he know what’s waiting for him?”
“I thought we could surprise him.”
She looked out the window again, her eyes roaming the many buildings, entranced as Lucca stood beside her, seeing exactly what belonged to him and not to her. Maria quite enjoyed doing this with her brother, finding it relaxing. She supposed he did, too, by the number of hours they spent doing it while they talked.
Hearing the muffling, fervent praying, she was drawn out of her thoughts again.
“So, brother”—looking to Lucca, she got back to the business at hand—“have you figured out who the one-shot killer is?”
He seemed to be annoyed as the words passed his lips. “He hasn’t revealed himself to me yet.”
“And what is the boogieman going to do with Amo?” she asked with a smirk plastered on her perfect face, dying to get an answer for this one last question.
A demonic pair of blue-green eyes almost lit up the room. “I was hoping you had something in mind.”
The screaming got louder now, making her tap her stilettos again.
“We can come back to that.”
Maria went up to the window and pressed a button on the wall that slowly slid the shades over them. “Send him in.”
“Come in,” Lucca commanded the person on the other side of the door.
Turning around, she watched the door begin to open as the screams grew in intensity.
Opening the door, Angel took in the room, seeing Lucca and Maria standing behind a man tied to a chair. The sight didn’t change his expression.
He walked in and closed the door behind him, then stepped onto the plastic that was spread out on the floor underneath the chair. He stared right at the man who was tied and gagged. “He’s mine?”
Lucca nodded.
It was always easy to spot the fear in a man’s eyes, especially before the final goodbye. The man he now looked at tried to find that same fear in Angel’s eyes, but sadly, he came up short.
Leaning down, Angel pulled out the metal object he kept hidden under his pant leg. Flipping it open with the flick of his wrist, he twirled the butterfly knife in the air. It spun so fast it blurred to the point where you could no longer make out which part exactly was the handle or the blade, until it slashed the crying man’s neck.
“Goodbye, Joey.”
Forty
An Eternity Like This
When the door was opened, Adalyn ran, jumping into his arms and wrapping herself around him.
Angel caught her and held her to him. “What are you doing here, sweetness?”
“I got you a present.” She placed a kiss on his lips before she jumped back down and took his hand, leading him upstairs.
She was a bit nervous to show him, hoping she hadn’t overstepped. God, please let him love it.
Angel stopped suddenly once he had reached the top of the stairs.
“D-do you like it?”
Walking up to the queen-sized canopy bed, Angel moved the black curtains that draped over the rods. Then he turned his head to look at her before he held out an inked hand. “Come here.”
She walked over to him, placing her hand in his.
When he continued to stare down at her for several moments, she felt the need to explain herself, quickly rambling out of nervousness, “I thought it might help you sleep. When you close the curtai—”
Angel captured her lips with his, giving her a kiss she would never forget.
Slightly dazed, she smiled up at him. “So, you do like it?”