Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
The funeral was a spectacle from the moment it began, but still nothing compared to the chaos that erupted when the police arrived.
One moment, the priest was droning on about my life, my legacy, how much I had meant to the people in this room. The next, the heavy doors of the chapel burst open, and the sharp clack of boots against marble cut through the somber atmosphere like a blade. Murmurs turned to gasps as uniformed officers strode down the aisle, their faces grim, their purpose undeniable.
And still, I was trapped beneath Lilith, my body wracked with the aftershocks of pleasure, my mind a battlefield of horror and humiliation.
She hadn't even moved off of me. She was still pressed against mine, her nails digging into my shoulders, her breath hot and giddy against my ear. She was glowing with satisfaction, feeding off my despair like it was the finest wine she'd ever tasted.
I tried to shove her off, but she didn’t budge. Her body wasn’t weighty in the way a living person’s was, but her grip was iron. She controlled the connection between us, determined to make this moment stretch out for as long as she pleased.
“ Oh, darling, ” she purred, her lips grazing my throat, sending shudders down my spine. “ You are just delicious when you’re suffering. Look at you, completely undone. And the best part? No one can save you now. ”
The officers reached the front row where Emma sat, still trembling, still lost in her grief—until one of them grabbed her by the arm.
A strangled noise left her lips, confusion twisting into horror as they yanked her up. “Miss Carter, you’re under arrest for the suspected homicide of Lucian Mercer. You have the right to remain silent?—”
The room erupted into chaos.
Emma’s wail split the air as she thrashed in their grip, her hands clawing at the officers as though she could fight her way out of this. Gasps and whispers rose like a tidal wave, accusations and disbelief mingling in the air. My mother clutched at my father’s arm, her face drained of all color. Kael surged forward, furious, shouting something about a mistake, about how this couldn’t be happening.
I watched it all unfold, frozen. Trapped.
Lilith moaned against my throat. Moaned.
I recoiled, but she only pressed closer, her hips shifting against mine in a slow, lazy roll that sent a spike of pleasure through me. My stomach twisted .
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I hissed, my voice barely more than a breath.
Lilith just laughed . “Oh, Lucian, everything about this is perfect. The grief. The betrayal. The absolute agony of it all.” Her tongue flicked against my skin, just beneath my jaw. “And you? You’re mine. Stuck here, feeling everything. Unable to do a damn thing about it.”
Emma’s voice cracked as she sobbed, her legs buckling beneath her as the officers dragged her toward the exit. "Please— please —you have to believe me! I didn’t— I didn’t do this! "
The words barely registered. All I could hear was the echo of our last fight, the venom in my voice as I threw her betrayal in her face, the way she screamed back, desperate and panicked. The texts, the pictures, the fucking lies —it all came rushing back with dizzying force. She had cheated on me. She had been lying to me for months. And in that final, vicious moment before my death, before I felt the world slip out from under me, she was the last thing I saw.
Lilith rocked against me again, her breath hitching, her fingers threading through my hair. “The more you hurt , the hotter I get,” she admitted, her tone drenched in sadistic pleasure. “It’s intoxicating, Lucian. Watching you unravel like this.”
I clenched my jaw, forcing my focus back to Emma, to the way she looked—so small, so broken, so fucking lost . Her eyes darted wildly around the chapel, searching, desperate, as if she thought someone— anyone —would stand up for her.
No one did.
The weight of that crushed something inside of me.
Lilith dragged her lips down the side of my throat, sinking her teeth into the flesh of my collarbone. I shuddered as I felt the sting, the sharp edge of pain coiling around the pleasure in a way that made my stomach churn.
“ Stop, ” I growled through clenched teeth, but she just sighed happily, rolling her hips again like she could coax me back into her rhythm.
“You don’t want me to stop,” she whispered, licking the mark she’d just left. “You never want me to stop.”
I did. I did .
But my body—the fucking betrayal of my body—was already reacting to her again, even as I tried to drown in the rage consuming me.
Emma was gone. Hauled out the door like a criminal.
My parents sat in stunned silence. My friends stood in helpless disbelief.
And I?—
I was trapped beneath a monster, powerless, as she claimed me again and again, savoring every inch of my torment.
And worst of all?
Somewhere deep inside me, buried beneath my fury, I could feel myself breaking.