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Her emerald eyes were in a death haze as she squeezed Lucifer’s neck. No words needed to be spoken—the devil knew his fucking sins. She had watched Lucifer die in her mind a million times on her way over here. Having heard enough.

In the little time she already spent with Dominic, she heard enough of the things the devil did to his own children for a lifetime. This man needed to pay with his life, and she wanted it now. Lucca was never going to let this man die.

Seeing the life force almost leave him, she was so close …

“Maria!” Lucca entered the room in a rush, going to her hands and trying to pry them off his neck. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“He needs to die!” Maria shrilled out as she spit on the dead man who was catching his breath while Lucca held her back.

“He is not for you. Do you understand me?” Lucca threw her out of the room, trying to calm her down. “That is not your soul to take.”

“Then get Dom in here!” she cried, hitting him. “Why the fuck haven’t you brought him here yet?”

“Maria …” He tried to calm her as he shook her to force her eyes to his. “Dominic has already been here …”

Fifty-Seven

The Night Before Their Wedding …

“Hello, Father.” The words slid from his lips, arching in an eerie smile. He had waited here quietly for his father to wake from his nightmares, only to be greeted by another. “You’ve never looked better.”

Startled, Lucifer jumped back, the rattling chain wound around his ankle that had been tightened several times over from his weakening echoed throughout the room.

Dominic’s head fell back in laughter. “I see you have finally met your match.”

Seeing who it was, a bony Lucifer started to ease. “What took you so long?” he hissed.

“I knew the day Lucca took you that you wouldn’t be dead anytime soon,” Dom revealed.

“Then why come now?” His haggard voice was on the brink of giving up. The only reason he was alive was because Lucca had willed it so.

“Tomorrow is a special day for me, Father, and I’ve come to tell you the news.”

Lucifer’s ears perked up. It was the most alive he had looked.

Dom knew that his successes were going to be his father’s, Lucifer would take the credit that he had raised him, and it would give him a happy death. Only one thing would make Lucifer roll in his grave.

“Tomorrow”—Dominic’s hazel eyes glowed—“I marry Maria Caruso.”

Any bit of sanity Lucifer had broke as he crawled across the floor, the chains rattling as he went for his son.

Dominic threw him on his back in an instant, digging his shoe into his father’s neck while Lucifer looked like a zombie that’d been brought back to life as he tried to scratch and beat at his legs.

And he thought Maria’s father had handled it badly.

“Lucca has given me permission to kill you,” Dominic whispered the words of his final sweet release that had Lucifer stopping from pathetically trying to kill him. Dom could see the prayers in his soulless black eyes that he thought were about to be answered. Stepping onto his neck harder, he smiled evilly, one last time.

“I love her.

“I’m going to marry her.

“We will have children.

“And this Luciano blood that sits in my veins will be mixed with those you hate most.

“Sleep well tonight, Father”—suddenly, Dominic released the pressure at his neck—“because you have twenty-seven fucking more years to go.”

Fifty-Eight

My Turn

Maria’s heels sharply tapped on the porch as she entered the dark monastery of Lucifer’s home. There wasn’t a time she had come that she hadn’t felt the scope of his vileness that had been hidden from sight.

The television was playing, and Dominic was on the couch, watching. Maria went to him, ignoring the free space on the couch to sit on his lap. His arms surrounded her in a loving circle.

How this man could feel an ounce of love in his body after being raised by Lucifer was a testament to his strength.

“I hate this fucking house.”

Dom took his eyes off the television. “Then find a house you want, princess.”

“I fucking hate him,” she finally whispered.

Dominic knew who she was talking about. “You went to see him?”

“Why didn’t you kill him?” she asked, trying to understand how he could possibly walk away. “I tried, but Lucca stopped me. He’s saving him for yo—”

“I’m not ready to put him out of his misery,” Dom told her the truth.

“Put me out of my misery.”

“What misery?” He hadn’t missed what she mumbled under her breath.

She placed a kiss on his cheek where his dimple was. “I want you to wipe him out of my mind.”

Dominic stood, lifting her into his arms. She started unbuttoning his shirt as they went up the steps. By the time he laid her down on the bed, both of them were in too much of a hurry to remove the other’s clothes, seeing who could get themselves naked faster.