Page 41 of Falling for Lucifer
Ellodie looked back up at Lucifer and leaned into him. He wiped her tears, while Kamilah scoffed. “They sure do look like they’re together. Look at them. She could do so much better?—”
“You ain’t just hear your daughter?” Lucifer asked. “A grown ass man was beating on her and forcing her to have sex, and you’re worried about the nigga that stepped up and makes her happy? Is you cool?”
He was over playing nice. This entire situation overstimulated him, and he was about to crash out.
“You can’t speak to me like th?—”
“Kamilah, shut up for once,” Daniel interrupted, and all eyes went to him. “I’m so sick of you tearing this family apart.”
Kamilah shot Daniel a warning glance. “You’ll do good to remember your manners when it comes to me.”
Daniel shook his head. “Fuck that.”
“Excuse me?” Kamilah practically had steam coming out of her ears. “What has gotten into both of you?”
“Years of your bullshit,” Daniel snapped before he turned to Ellodie. “Your mother and I haven’t been happy since you were a child. When I tried to divorce her, she blackmailed me. I’ve been in love with another woman for a very long time, and your mother found out about her. She threatened to expose my affair and jeopardized my job if I divorced her. The deal was that Iwould play like I was a family man to the public, and in private, I could be with the woman I loved. All your mother cared about was the money. And I had to think about providing for you, but what your mother doesn’t know is I’m retiring at the end of the month.” He turned back to Kamilah, whose jaw was damn near on the cement. “We’re getting a divorce, and there’s no prenup, so guess what,wifey? You aren’t getting a dime.”
“You can’t do that,” she shouted and then stomped her foot like a child having a tantrum.
“I can and I did. Right in front of the mayor, too, who is technically my boss. A boss I’ve despised during his long run as mayor. Fuck both of y’all. Only reason I invited him to anything was because you insisted. You loved feeling important. Wonder how you’ll do that now without my connections,” Daniel taunted.
Henry’s brows rose. “I think that’s my cue to leave.” He took a timid step toward Lucifer. “Uh, Lucifer, I know you don’t want anything to do with me. My time as mayor is coming to an end soon, and while I still have some pull, I would like to do something for you, like I did for you and your brother a few years back. If there’s anything I can do, . . . like making sure a certain ex can’t bother you, call my office and let my assistant know.”
With that, he turned and limped away from the front of the house. He wondered why the hell his father would offer to help him. Outside of the situation a few years back with Harley’s ex, he’d never lifted a finger to help any of his children before. His mind flashed to the regret he thought he saw in his expression earlier. He sighed as he tried to process everything before he looked down at Ellodie. “You ready to go?”
He had taken as much as he could for the day. He didn’t feel like being around anyone aside from Ellodie.
“No, she isn’t ready to go. Me and my family have things to discuss. You may go,” Kamilah said with the wave of her hand.
Ellodie shook her head. “As far as I’m concerned, we have nothing to talk about ever again.”
Her words came out in a whisper, and Lucifer knew she was close to breaking down. He didn’t say anything to anyone as he gently guided her toward his car. He opened her door and made sure she was in before buckling Etta, who had slept through that whole ordeal, into her seat. After taking a deep breath, he closed her door and made his way around to the driver’s side. He would be okay with not dealing with family for a while. This had worn him completely the fuck out.
“Ican’t believe I missed all that!” Yasmine whined as she stared into the phone, wide-eyed.
Ellodie sat curled up on the couch with Etta sprawled out beside her, surrounded by pillows.
It had been an hour since she’d left her parents’ house, and her head was still reeling.
“It was definitely a lot happening. Right up your alley for sure.” Ellodie spoke to her cousin, but her mind felt a thousand miles away.
“Where’s Lu?” Yasmine asked.
Ellodie tuned back into the conversation. “I think he needed a moment. I can’t believe the mayor is his father, Yas. The things he told me about his childhood . . .”
“I don’t know,” Yasmine uttered. “Uncle Daniel never really liked him. There had to have been a reason.”
“He probably picked up on that negative energy.” Ellodie agreed.
They remained silent for a moment before Yasmine spoke. “You look like you could use a hug. I wish I was there.”
“Me too. Hopefully, Lu will be back soon.” Ellodie’s mind wandered to him again.
The ride back home had been completely silent. They were both lost in their own thoughts. Ellodie couldn’t believe her mother. Well, she could, but at the same time, she never thought the woman would go as low as blackmail. And then there was her father. He’d had a mistress this entire time? The shit was too much.
“You really like him, don’t you?” Yasmine asked, once again snapping Ellodie’s attention back to the conversation.
A slow smile filled her face. She hadn’t talked to Yasmine much over the past month. Her cousin had been busy traveling and living her dream. She had no idea how far Ellodie and Lucifer’s relationship had developed.
