Page 198 of Awakened by Sin

“I brought you here, so Gavin would come to play, but he’s not even in town. So disappointing.”

“He’s in Bora Bora,” she said numbly. So, no rescue for her.

“I just got off the phone with him. I assume he’ll tell Angel that you’re here, so I have time to kill. Who’s Marcus?”

“Kiss my ass.”

“So vulnerable and weak as a kitten, yet you still spit at me. Love him, do you?” He caught her first in his hand. “I’m going to teach Gavin’s daughter how to fight. You should attend, so I can teach you to control your energy.”

“Fuck you,John.”

He grinned and released her. “I quite liked that name. I can pass for a John, right?”

She stared at the ceiling. This so wasn’t happening. She was literally in Hell being emotionally flayed by the devil.

“You’ve replaced Vinny,” Lucifer said.

She ground her teeth. “You can’t replace one person with another.”

“Humans do it all the time, especially the weak ones. Why are you so mad? Marcus doesn’t love you back?”

For someone who didn’t have emotions, his insight was uncanny.

“That must be hard,” he mused. “Loving two men who never loved you back.”

She whipped her head around. “What?”

He held up two fingers. “Your ex-husband and now this lover. You’re mad because neither of them loved you.”

“Vinny loved me!”

Lucifer cocked his head. “Then why isn’t he here?”

“Because he took Gavin’s place. You know that.”

“Yes, butwhydid he take Gavin’s place?”

“Because—” She stopped abruptly. Everything in her turned to ice. Lucifer and the cave disappeared as the truth struck her with such force that everything in her shattered. She thought bearing the weight of sorrow and guilt all these years was unbearable, but this … This ripped her soul in two.

She stared into Lucifer’s dark eyes and he nodded.

“You see it now, don’t you?” he murmured almost gently. “If he loved you, he would still be here. He took the position to make a point because he cared more about himself than you.”

She went numb with shock. She clung to her relationship with Vinny, idolizing it and comparing every other man to him, but … Vinny hadn’t loved her more than he loved Gavin. If he loved her, he wouldn’t have tried to be crime lord. He would have been content with her, with their marriage, with her love. She hadn’t been enough, and that was why he wasn’t here. Because she wasn’t enough to make him feel complete. He needed more than she could offer.

“Come, you must be hungry,” Lucifer said.

He walked through an arched doorway. She didn’t attempt to escape. She lay there, wondering if one could die from having their soul destroyed. There was the sound of running water and then Lucifer reappeared with clean hands, damp hair, and an identical pair of shirts and pants. He grabbed her under her arms and sat her on the side of the bed. The bedsheet fell away. She was so far gone that she didn’t even notice.

“This is all I have,” Lucifer said as he dropped the shirt over her head.

She didn’t have the strength to dress herself, so he did it, pulling her arms through the sleeves as if she was a child. He even rolled up the sleeves with tiny, precise folds. She didn’t realize she was crying until he traced a tear down her cheek.

“I don’t understand this either,” he said quietly. “Fascinating.”

He thought heartbreak was fascinating. Of course, he did. He knelt and slid his monstrous pants over each leg.

“Mickey?” she whispered as he made her stand. She had to grip his waist to keep from falling over. She felt dizzy, weak, and nauseated.

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