Page 34 of Wicked Believer (Original Sinner #2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Charlotte

The following morning I’m still so furious with Lucifer that I don’t even want to look and see if he’s on the other side of the bed waiting for me.

Thankfully, when I do finally sneak a peek, he isn’t there, and once I cave and eventually decide to search the penthouse for him after breakfast, I find he isn’t anywhere else either.

So, I hightail it into my office at Apollyon headquarters as soon as humanly possible, hoping to avoid him completely before he returns from wherever it is he’s been going.

Whatever it is he must be up to with Michael. I scowl.

The thought fills me with so much rage, it’s hard to breathe.

I seal myself inside my office, and I do the only thing I can do.

I throw myself into my work. I make phone calls, answer emails.

I review the finalized schedule for the CFDA Awards along with mine and Lucifer’s show-host script.

I arrange several interviews— People , Entertainment Weekly , Time —update all the corporation’s social media accounts, including my own (one billion followers and counting), coordinate with Vogue about an upcoming photo shoot I have scheduled, and generally, girlboss my way too close to the sun.

I barrel through my to-do list with such an intense fury that I don’t give myself room to think. About Michael’s little visit last night. About his deal with Lucifer.

About our engagement.

About what that all means for Lucifer, for humanity, for me.

Fuck that noise.

By the time I finish working, over nine hours later, it’s early evening, and I almost forget that I told Azmodeus I’d meet him at his club tonight. I still haven’t figured out exactly what his endgame with this sibling-bond thing is.

I have half a mind to find an excuse not to go. Lucifer told me to leave his family to him, and I’m in no mood really, but it’s the sight of my investor proposal sitting on top of my desk that stops me.

You want to be queen? Fine. Then start acting like it.

Lucifer’s words echo inside my head, taunting me.

“Maybe I will, asshole,” I mutter, my plan cementing itself inside my brain.

I call down to Jeanine at the front desk and ask her to get ahold of Dagon for me, then collapse back into my office chair to wait.

Dagon arrives nearly thirty minutes later with the Town Car and full security team in tow.

Four members of the team come up to my office to escort me down to where the car’s waiting.

They’re all even more on edge than they were previously.

Apparently, Lucifer laid into them about the whole Olivia thing.

He fired several, only to hire several more in their place.

Three to every previous one position. Not that it was any of their faults, really.

Olivia wasn’t even with me then. How could they have known when they were busy protecting the real me?

Though I suppose I did slip their detail a bit too easily.

Another thing I’ll likely be feeling guilty for.

I take accountability for my actions.

Unlike some people.

My lip curls in frustration, the thought of Michael and Lucifer’s deal both infuriating and terrifying me.

The apocalypse? The apocalypse? Are you freaking kidding me?

I try to silence my thoughts, try to hold myself together. But I’m barely hanging on by a string. I know from all my years of Bible study how this goes.

Or what John the Baptist’s prophetic version says in Revelation, anyway.

Though based on what Lucifer’s told me about the Bible being full of human error, I can’t be certain how much of it will prove true.

“Seven seals. One for each apocalyptic event; each one unlocks a new trial humanity will face,” I recite out loud to myself.

Like I’m back in Sunday school. “The first four unleash the Horsemen. Pestilence. War. Famine. Death. Each tribulation worse than the last, until ...” The final battle. Armageddon.

I blanch.

No. Don’t go down that road.

I can’t allow my emotions to get the better of me right now without risking my newfound powers bursting out of me.

The two seem to be inextricably connected, and giving in to the fear won’t help anything.

I have to keep moving, keep going, in order to remind myself of that.

If I have even a small chance of getting Lucifer to change course, then I need to show him my strength. The whole world is counting on me.

I groan, glancing up toward Heaven, or the Town Car’s cab ceiling, in any case.

“Big Guy, why me?”

By the time Dagon gets me back to the penthouse and I change into a Valentino minidress that’s better suited to the club scene, night has already fallen.

The city below glitters at my feet.

I turn, prepared to head toward the car, only to startle when I find Azmodeus already standing in the first-floor foyer, watching me.

“What’re you doing here?”

I was supposed to meet him at his club, The Velvet Fold, full security detail in tow.

Azmodeus shoves his hands in his pockets, stepping toward me ruefully. “Change of plans, lovey. A little birdie told me my brother put you on lockdown, so I thought you might need my help escaping, though I also hear congratulations are in order.” He glances at my collar.

“On lockdown?”

It’s the first I’ve heard of this, though after what happened to Olivia, and with Michael suddenly appearing in our bedroom before dawn this morning, it wouldn’t surprise me.

I march toward the penthouse’s front door, opening it to peek outside. Sure enough, two of the security team are now inside the building, stationed where they weren’t previously, despite the fact that our floor requires a special security key for elevator access.

And they’re not positioned like they’re trying to block someone from getting in.

It’s like they’re trying to stop someone from getting out.

Namely, me.

I let the door snick shut, turning back toward Azmodeus. “How did you get past them?”

“Let’s call it a celestial loophole.” He shrugs. “You might want to bring it up with Lucifer in case you’re actually—”

“I’m not scared.”

It’s a bold-faced lie, but I manage to say it confidently.

If I want to be Lucifer’s queen, I can’t show any sign of weakness.

Not in front of him and his siblings.

And now that I know that Lucifer isn’t putting a stop to this apocalypse like I thought, well I’ll be damned if I won’t go down swinging. I’ll be exactly the righteous, obedient servant my father trained me to be.

Number One Leader of Team God. That’s me.

I frown a little at the thought.

I have to believe He doesn’t want this, that He’s still out there, that this was always His plan for me, because if it isn’t ...

Azmodeus simply smirks, drawing me back into the moment. “Of course not.” Though I have a feeling he’s patronizing me. “I’m no monster, you know.”

“That’s debatable, I think.”

His grin widens, my insult not even fazing him, as he holds out his arm to escort me. “If you want a true monster, you might take a good long look at who you fuck each night, Charlotte.”

I frown, my hand flitting to the new diamond collar at my neck. It feels incrementally tighter. “Trust me. I’m aware.”

He quirks his head at me. “Are you?”

I take his arm, opening my mouth to answer, but then a sharp tug pulls at my navel, like I’m being sucked forward into a gaping black hole, and whatever response was poised on my lips dies instantly.