Chapter Thirteen Lucifer
Chapter Thirteen
Lucifer
“That was uncalled for.”
I tear into my office following that godforsaken meeting. Astaroth sits in wait, but it’s Imani who’s hot on my heels. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion, Imani.”
Her dark eyes flash with fury. “That girl’s got potential, and if she quits because of this, I swear to—” She stops just short of saying something particularly damning, but her anger isn’t even close to quelled. It’s hard to get anything past her, and though she may not know exactly what happened between me and Charlotte last night, she clearly suspects it.
She knows me, more than I ever intended for her to.
Even though I’ve never dallied with an employee before.
I wave a hand dismissively. “Potential is a dime a dozen. Potential doesn’t interest me. Respect does.”
“Respect?” Imani wrinkles her nose. “If you were interested in respect, you damn sure would’ve fired me a long time ago.” She appraises me like she’s disgusted with what she sees. “I’m not going to be here to clean up your messes forever, you know.”
“Last I checked, you weren’t doing me any favors.” I round my desk, dropping into my executive seat. “I’ve been paying you for over a decade.”
“True.” She steps up to the desk, stabbing a finger onto the surface in front of me. “But if you think for a minute you can get any senior PR employee to pull the kind of hours I do without threatening them, think again, Lucifer. Every workers’ union in New York and beyond would be breathing down your neck.” She glares at me. “Humanity’s growing more and more tired of the Originals by the day. Give it another generation, and things are going to be tough for you. You need me.”
I shrug. “Threats aren’t above me.”
“Nothing’s above you.” She says it without any judgment. It’s merely a fact she accepted when she chose to work for me. “But her presentation was good. The delivery was a little faulty at moments, but the idea was a decent one. I wouldn’t have signed off on it otherwise.”
“And I’d expect nothing less.”
Astaroth lifts a brow from where he’s seated, but I shake my head, staying him. I’ll deal with him shortly.
“But neither of you are telling me anything new,” I say, turning back to Imani.
“Maybe not.” She crosses her arms, looking down her nose at me. “But we can’t tell you anything new if you refuse to listen to reason, if you refuse to let us do our jobs, which is exactly what that girl was trying to do.”
“That woman,” I correct her, leaning back in my seat. “She’s a woman.” I lift my gaze toward Imani. “Let her fight her own battles.”
Imani’s nostrils flare as she lets out a slow, furious huff. But she knows better than to argue with me when I’ve dug my feet in. No matter how much she dislikes it. “Are we done here?” she asks.
“You followed me .”
She stares at me for a long beat.
I nod. “Yes, we’re done here.”
Without another word, she turns and leaves, barely casting so much as a glimpse toward Astaroth. My office door shuts heavily behind her, just short of slamming.
Astaroth lets out a low whistle. “You pissed her off something fierce.”
“She’ll get over it. She always does.” Uncharacteristically, I prop my feet on the edge of my desk before pressing a hand to my temple.
“You don’t normally tempt Imani’s anger. She could cause trouble if she wanted.”
I scowl. “If you have something to say, Astaroth, fucking say it already.”
He doesn’t try to stifle his grin. He knows he’s pushing me. “I hear you were at Az’s club, alone, with the girl last night.” He takes in my now-loosened tie and disheveled hair. “She must be something if she’s already gotten under your skin.”
My scowl deepens. No one gets under my skin. I stand from my chair, crossing the room to lock the office door. As soon as the lock clicks, I turn toward Astaroth.
“I can’t see her sins,” I say, the words falling into the quiet between us.
Astaroth lifts a brow. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” I growl. “I can’t see them. I can see everyone’s, but not hers.”
“Fuck,” Astaroth mutters quietly, pacing back and forth over a small section of the floor as if he’s trying to parse out exactly what I’m saying. Once the idea seems to settle, his face turns deadly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I wave a dismissive hand. “I wanted to be certain it wasn’t a fluke.”
“And is it?” he asks.
“No,” I say quickly. “No, I’ve tried more than once.”
Astaroth swears loudly. “This is bad, Lucifer. Very bad.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I sneer.
“The timing means something. You must realize that.”
With Gabriel’s return so close, he means. It’d be just like my Father, or one of my siblings, for that matter, to attempt to pull the rug out from under me just as we near the finish line.
They’ve tried as much before.
“I’m aware,” I answer tersely. My jaw tightens.
“We can’t afford any unexpected setbacks,” Astaroth says, giving voice to what I’m thinking.
“And what exactly do you propose we do? Kill her?”
“Keep her close,” he says, smirking at me. “It’d hardly be a chore for you.”
In other words, fuck her until she’s loyal to me.
Even though she’s my employee ...
It wouldn’t be the worst thing I’ve done, hardly, and the idea holds more than a little appeal for me. Despite how I ended things, I enjoyed last night, though I’ve never made it a habit to dally with humans. On the rare occasions I’ve indulged myself, I’ve chosen to stick to demons or the Nephilim.
“And when this is through?”
“Discard her, like the others,” Astaroth says, as if the answer is obvious. “It’ll be easy.”
It’ll be easy. His words play in my mind like a refrain.
I nod, agreeing, though something about Astaroth’s suggestion doesn’t sit well. But for the life of me, I can’t begin to place my finger on why it bothers me.