Page 125 of Once A Crime Lord

“Your daughter will be hunted all her life,” Lucifer said and he stilled. “Your family has generations upon generations of enemies. Even if you step down, it’ll never stop. Once you’re in, you can’t get out.” Lucifer spread his arms wide. “I can teach her how to be invincible. She’s a girl, so…” Lucifer tapped his chin. “I can teach her how to use her brain and not her strength. Even if she turned into a weight lifter, she couldn’t best a man that way. She has to think dirty. Pluck out eyes, rip off dicks. That kind of thing.”

Lucifer was definitely insane, but something strange was going on. It was almost as if he was feeling paternal. Angel shuddered, and Gavin made up his mind.

“Fine.”

Lucifer stopped listing all the ways Nora could kill with her bare hands. “Huh?”

“You can teach Nora when I think she’s ready to know that shit.” Hopefully Lucifer was murdered before that time came. If not, he would take care of Lucifer himself.

“What about annual visits?”

“No.”

Lucifer crossed his arms. “Then the deal’s off.”

“Fuck. Fine. It’ll be supervised.”

Lucifer pointed at all of them. “You all fight tonight, right? I want three deaths per man, so nine deaths minimum. I want them bloody.”

He would drop as many bodies as he had to. “Deal.”

“I wantbloody, got it?”

“The faster you give me my wife, the faster you get your fight,” he snapped.

Lucifer held out a hand. Angel and Blade released him. When Gavin went to shake his hand, Lucifer withdrew.

“Maybe you and I can spar occasionally?”

“Two seconds or the deal’s off,” he barked.

Lucifer quickly shook his hand. “Okay, fine.Geez.”

“Take me to my wife.”

Lucifer went to the bar and grabbed another Coke before he waved a hand, indicating they should follow. Lucifer led them down a dimly lit hallway and halted before a red elevator. He pressed the down button and turned to Gavin.

“You know, there hasn’t been a kid in Hell since you and me?” Lucifer asked as he popped the top of his soda.

“For good reason,” Gavin said. “Our fathers were the only ones fucked up enough to have us fight to the death before we were teenagers.”

Once more, he felt Angel’s glance but didn’t return it.

Lucifer shrugged. “It’s kept us alive.”

The elevator arrived. They stood behind Lucifer with their hands on their weapons as the elevator traveled down two floors. The elevator opened to reveal a hallway with red walls and carpet. Moans, squeaking beds, screaming, and snapping whips echoed down the corridor.

Lucifer walked up to the first room and opened the door. Gavin shoved him aside, expecting to see Lyla. Instead, he found a man fucking a woman chained to the wall. There was blood everywhere. Whether it was his or hers, he didn’t know or care. He slammed the door and turned on Lucifer who was opening the next door, exposing a woman stomping on a man’s dick. The woman looked up.

“Carry on. Wrong room,” Lucifer called and shut the door.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“I don’t know which room she’s in. She’s here somewhere.”

When he reached for Lucifer, Blade stepped between them.

“How many rooms are there?” Blade asked Lucifer.