Buying Beth

Lucifer doesn’t blink as his gaze hones in on me. Staring into his eyes, I watch them harden and then glitter with something dangerous.

For a split second, I’m almost afraid to ask, “Is that what you want?”

I have no doubt this time he’s being completely sincere when he leans forward and says almost eagerly, “We do.”

14

Johnathan

I feel a strong sense of pride when I look at Beth by my side. She held up so damn well to all the questions we put her through, even the embarrassing ones. That she wants revenge on the fuckers who took her and her friends shows she’s got grit.

She especially wants revenge on the fucker she called Sasha.

Every single name that came out of her mouth was quickly entered into Simon’s little fucking computer brain. I could see his machinations running overtime as she cleared up some parts of the operation. The doctor coming in to do a check on her was important. I don’t see them having one that travels with them. My bets are it’s someone close to the Russians, probably has a private practice somewhere nearby.

One thing that I had to put my fucking foot down on was Simon trying to get in to question Charlie.

Not one fucking chance in hell will I let that fucking spider near my boy.

“Lucifer, I’ve seen how bad the boy’s fucked up. We won’t get answers like this from him. I’ve been working with him this morning, and anything we do here will shoot that in the fucking foot.”

“We need more answers…” Simon says with some heat. “His information could provide us with valuable intel.”

“Look, I’ll get the answers, but not here and not like this,” I say. “Lucifer, let me work with him. There is no reason to hurt him when we can get the information another way.”

“Agreed,” Lucifer says slowly then looks to Beth.

“Miss Norton, would you mind terribly if I asked you to go watch over Adam and Charlie?”

“Okay…” she says hesitantly, and I can tell she wants to be a part of what’s going on.

Taking her by the hand, I lead her out of the office.

Stopping as soon as we’re out of earshot, I say, “Take care of our boy. Make sure Adam isn’t boring him to death.”

Pressing her tight against the wall, I kiss her hard and fast. “We need to talk tonight.”

Letting her go, I usher her over to Adam’s office. Yeah, the little fucking kid has an office of his own. Lucifer has been interviewing people lately to become his secretary. Can’t fucking believe it myself.

Beth walks ahead of me, and in the dress she’s wearing right now, I admire the regal bearing she has to her step. She’s regaining who she once was, or maybe who she’ll be. What happened to her has changed her, I can see it. Most of it probably not for the better. No one comes out of something like that unharmed, but she’s not letting the bad make her crumble, letting it bring her down in a hole of despair. She’s trying to take the fight back to the ones who hurt her and her friends. She’s also trying to keep Charlie safe.

Safe like a real mother would do.

Once she’s settled in, I head back to Simon’s office to face the music.

As soon as I walk in, I ask, “So what do we not know?”

“Far more than I would like to admit at the current moment,” Simon says, and I can see that it almost pains him to admit it.

“Yeah, what I walked into wasn’t a mom-and-pop type of setup. Too much security and high-end shit going on.”

“We’re you able to see anything beyond the auction?”

“Not much. I could see a couple of the buyers, but that was it. Never saw anyone besides my handler.”

“We figured as much.”

“Johnathan,” Lucifer begins, and I can tell I’m in trouble. “Senator Norton has been asking around for his daughter. He’s even come to me for aid in the matter.”

Right to the fucking heart of the problem.

“Tough shit. She goes to him she’s as good as dead.”

“She’s not the only one whose parents are anxious to hear some news,” Simon says.

“Yeah, well, one’s dead. What happened to the other two?”

“Successfully picked up, though there’s a body count now,” Andrew says, and I can hear the grimace in his words.

“What kind of count?”

“James and Peter, it seems, took exception to the men they took the girls from. Both dead, and so are their security teams. They’ve disappeared off the radar for now, but I can imagine it’s going to come back that two buyers ended up dead after the auction. The Russians are going to be curious.”

Fuck.

“And the dead one?” I ask.

“No sign of a body so far.”

“What about the pig feeding thing Beth told us?”

“Could be where the bodies were dealt with…” Simon mutters. He doesn’t like things like this, he wants hard facts and cold corpses. He wants to be able to count things up perfectly.