Page 85 of Hell Hath No Fury

I move to stand, but Lilith’s hands on my head stop me, so I remain there, kneeling at her feet, staring up at her as she whispers, “Sei la mia vita.”

The words hit me square in the chest, and, for a moment, I worry that the world has tilted on its axis, and this is now the upside-down fantasy where no one lives. That if I blink for too long, all of this will vanish, and I’ll find myself locked in some dungeon purgatory, fucked out of my mind for eternity.

But then, her hands squeeze my head, keeping me in place as she bends forward and presses her lips against mine.

Her kiss is possessive, her lips firm, and her tongue seeking mine. I reciprocate in kind, allowing her to lead me wherever she wants because regardless of how far the fall or how dark the chaos, I will inevitably happily go. With her.

37

An Offer and a Confession

Lilith

We’relateforbrunch.

We do our best to play it cool when we enter the room, but I can tell no one’s even remotely fooled. The smirks and teasing glances are blatantly obvious, and after a few minutes of this, I finally say, “Go ahead. Get it over with.”

Antoinette turns innocent eyes on me. “Whatever do you mean?”

I give her the same innocent look, my palm pressing against my chest as I drawl, “Oh, nothing at all. My bad.”

Agatha snickers from her seat on the other side of the table. “I bet you are bad.”

Turning my narrowed eyes on her, I show her my middle finger. “No one asked you.”

Antonio’s hand squeezes my thigh. “Come now, Lil. I’m sure they know they got it from you.”

I pretend to think over his statement, then shrug because it’s obvious he’s not exactly wrong. Then I turn to Matt and ask, “How’re things back at Declan’s?”

“Quiet so far,” he responds. “Declan is a bit disappointed to not be here but understands his job there is critical.”

“Am I allowed to ask a question that pertains to the events we pretend never happened?” Darius asks.

Antoinette replies, “Depends on which events you’re referring to.”

“Yeah,” Tony adds. “There are so many at this point; you’re going to have to be more specific.”

Darius frowns, his hand rubbing over his jaw. “Well, technically, it was a conversation I had with Carolina, so maybe I better wait and ask her.”

“And when was this conversation?”

“Right about the time the warehouse blew up.”

Tony frowns, as does Antoinette, and then Antoinette asks, “If one of us can answer the question, then just ask.”

“Tony should be able to answer it, but it might be delicate.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Matt mutters. “If The Beast is feeling awkward about potentially delicate question, it must be bad.”

Darius glares at Matt. “I thought we were done with all that Beast shit.”

“We willneverbe done with the Beast,” Tony interjects. “So, get that idiotic thought right out of that pretty head.” Darius snorts and shakes his head. And then Tony adds, “I think we are all past anything being considered delicate, so ask whatever you want. If I can’t or won’t answer for her, then you’ll just have to wait for an answer.”

“Where is baby Darius?” he asks bluntly.

I spit out my drink, coughing and choking, and Antonio has to whack me on the back a few times before I’m able to take a decent breath. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I grab anapkin, wheezing as I say, “What would Carolina have to do with a baby Darius?”

Antoinette laughs, patting Darius on the arm as she answers, “He told Carolina to name their first baby after him.”

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