“Because Abaddon is an asshole who is fucking everything up down there and up here.” Belial shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t like war or violence, but at least under you, there was order and justice. Plus, you let me be alone. I’ll fight to have that back again.”
“So, what is your next move, brother?” Michael asked.
I hadn’t expected support in this endeavor, and it took me a minute to get my bearings. “Well, I’d been planning to go in alone, guns blazing, but I’ve spent a week on this and I did make back-up plans. If I have the hands, we can make it a full-scale invasion.”
“I can’t speak for the swords of Heaven without permission,” Michael said, glancing toward the sky, “but if you need me, brother, you have my sword.”
We looked at Belial, who shrugged again. “I can find a sword somewhere.”
“There is one problem.” I met Michael’s eyes seriously. “I received a message. I thought it might’ve been from you, but the more I think about it, the more it doesn’t make sense.” I nodded upwards. “I think He tried to tell me that the fifth trumpet is nearly upon us. Abaddon will be moving soon.”
Michael’s jaw clenched and he clapped my shoulder again. “Then I’ll try harder for those swords. If the Abyss is allowed to open, the humans will need our protection, and then we won’t be able to spare anyone.”
“Thanks, both of you.” I grinned and meant it. “I’ll call on you soon. There’s still more work to be done before I solidify anything.”
“Just don’t go after him alone,” Belial said. He smiled back, and it was both encouraging and creepy on his goth-painted face. “Earth is great and all, but I’d like my space back and that can’t happen if you get yourself captured or killed, boss.”
I snorted. “Thanks for your concern.”
Chapter 22
Lexi
This felt wrong.Unbelievablywrong. Lucifer's things shouldn’t belong to me. He’d spent so much time collecting that stuff—literally throughout human existence—and he was just going to hand it over? Loki said he had stashes all over the world. Why not preserve this one for his eventual return like the rest?
I stood leaning against the door for at least ten minutes before Sophie poked her head out of her room. “Lex?”
And he left me the bakery. Under any other circumstances, I would’ve been ecstatic to have it. I’d been obsessed with it since the first time I baked there. It felt like a second home.
It wouldn’t be the Sophiee, though, would it?
“Lexi, you okay, girl?”
There was the problem. Lucifer, the devil himself, admitted to caring about me. Trusting me. He’d meant it, otherwise he wouldn’t have left his entire fucking fortune in my hands. But he was part of what made that job more than just a job.
Sophie grabbed my arms and I met her dark brown eyes. “Am I stupid, Sophie?”
“No.” She pulled me into a hug. “No, honey, you’re not stupid.”
I squeezed her tight, burying my face in her shoulder, craving physical comfort. “Then why do I love him?”
“Because you deemed him worthy of your love,” she replied softly, “and your love, speaking from experience, is the best gift anyone could get.”
“Doesn’t that make me stupid, though? Loving someone who used me like that?” My eyes stung and I blinked rapidly. If his words meant what I thought, then this was no time to fall apart.
She was quiet for a few long seconds, then pulled away. Her lips pulled down at the corners; as bubbly as Sophie normally was, my low mood had been affecting her all week. “What are you going to do?”
I shook my head and sighed, not sure where to even start. “I have no idea.”
“You want my honest opinion?”
“You’re my family, Sophie,” I said. “I value your honesty, even when it’s painful.” She had a way of getting into the cracks of my psyche and exposing harsh realities. One day, she’d make a great psychiatrist.
Sophie snorted and crossed her arms. “Got that right, Red. So coming from an outside view, I can see how much he loves you, whether he said the actual words or not. He came back after a disastrous third date and still wanted more.”
Yeah, he did. Even though it was his fault in the first place, my third date curse had happened—without my dad’s interference this time—and he came back. He explained himself, even if he’d accidentally exposed another secret, and had hoped I’d stay.
“He used you when he thought you were the enemy,” she continued as if she’d read my mind. “And when he decided you weren’t, telling you then would’ve only driven you away.”
