Now, I shuddered, tears welling up in my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. They stood shivering on the tips of my lashes. “Then why? Why can’t you come and be with me? We can all be happy together. We can go back here on Earth and live in fucking peace.”
“Hell is my home, Isabella. I can’t leave it behind.”
“Then let’s keep it your home. I’ll rule it with you as you’ve always wished. For the sake of my vagina, I don’t care if they make me barren again. I’ve had all the children I’ve ever wanted in all of my lives combined.”
“What exactly are you proposing?”
I blinked away the tears. “I’ll split my time between Hell and Earth. My family gets to have me, and you get to have me. I get my fucking peace, living true to my heart and nature, all of it without having to smother or miss any part. Everybody wins.”
He leaned back, looking at me in disbelief. “You want me to give up everything for half of your time?”
“Your greed is what got us here in the first place. When will you ever learn?” I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. “Think, Damien. You’re going to lose everything anyway. Half of my time is better than nothing.”
“No, it’s not. Because I’m not going to lose everything. I can still win, and I’m never going to give up.”
Fuck you, Damien Pattison.“Fine, have it your way, but you should know Heaven is playing nicely now. They’re trying to win me by protecting my children. After that, it’s not gonna be hard to choose which side to favor.”
The green of his eyes flickered with the red tinge. That must have got to him. “I thought you were not going to choose a side.”
“It looks like you’re making me.” I stepped away and spun to leave, but then I faced him once more. “By the way, the supernatural that are now forced to hide will be under my protection. Every single one of them.”
“Under your protection as what?”
“As Isabella Ferro. The first Belle. The Queen of Hell. The fallen angel cursed passion that could tumble Hell and Heaven,” I said. “I’ll bring the supes to my family, and they will live with us away from your shit. If you think about touching or harming any of them or my family, it will be your last day in any realm, Damien. I’ll fulfill my part of the prophecy and get it all over with.”
I walked away to the willow tree, new tears forming in my eyes. “Goodbye, Damien.” It felt like I was breaking up with him all over again, except the first time my heart was cold and black; it didn’t hurt that much. And…last time I knew I was bound to see him again. This time, it was our last goodbye.
My thumbs wiped under my eyes as I marched away faster, calling Joshua to send back the angel. I didn’t care what he or the rest were going to say. I did what I had to do.
Suddenly, Damien was in front of me, and his hands were grabbing my arms. I inched a brow at him, twisting my arms out of his grip. “Get out of my way.”
He pulled me hard into his body, and his lips sucked mine into the heat of his mouth.
Lightheaded, I felt weak in the knees for a second. This was another one of his tricks, the sweet temptation that got me every time. A huge, dominant part of me wanted to just surrender and savor the pleasure it’d so longed for. It was so easy to give up when Damien’s lips were shattering me to pieces.
But no. “No…” I was supposed to push him, but I grabbed him by the lapels of his suit jacket as if bringing him closer. “No… No!”
Breathing out, yanking my lips away from his, I finally managed to shove him off. “You can’t do this. You want me, you earn me, Damien. You fucking earn me.”
“But you’re already mine.”
“Not anymore dammit,” I snapped. “For fuck’s sake, Damien, why don’t you just listen?”
“Listen to what? Your leaving me again?”
“You’re forcing me to go when you’re a greedy son of a bitch that doesn’t know when to stop. I said I’d fucking take you back. I was willing to bend over backwards to convince everybody you could be fucking redeemable and living together againsafelywas possible, but you… you…” I clawed the air, too angry to even form more words.
The angel landed, and all of us tensed up.
“Your ride is here,” Damien mumbled.
“Yeah,” I sighed, and then I peered at him, wondering why I was still trying with the devil, why I still believed anything he said, why I was delaying my departure so I’d hear him say he’d take my deal.
“So this is it? You will leave and hide with the winged traitors, and I will never see you again?”
“It doesn’t have to be that way, but it looks like you’ve already made that choice for both of us.” I walked—ran—toward the angel. I had to get out of here; I couldn’t stand another moment of this. I wanted to go away where I could cry my eyes out.
As I settled on the wings of the angel, Damien called out, “Professor Ferro, you never cease to amaze me.”
