The Price of Protection
Mushishield
Summary:
When Lucifer digs too deep into Alastorâs empire, the consequences come knocking at her door. Faced with an impossible choice, Lucifer must trade her freedom for her sonâs safety. Mob boss Alastor Week Day 1: Arrested by temptation/Bribes in bedroom
Lucifer sat on the edge of her bed when the noise came.
A thump. Muffled. Probably Mrs. Kowalski from upstairs dropping something againâthe woman was seventy-three and insisted on rearranging her furniture at odd hours. Lucifer pulled the duck sock over her heel, wiggling her toes to settle the little orange beak into place. Charlie had saved for weeks to buy these. Lucifer wore them even when no one else would see.
Another thump. Louder. Then the creak of her front door opening.
She froze, one foot still bare.
Mrs. Kowalski didn't have a key. No one did except her and the building super, though the super always called first, mindful of Charlie.
Footsteps. Heavy. Multiple people.
Her heart slammed into her throat. She looked at her bedroom doorâclosed but unlocked, she never locked it with Charlie down the hall.
The footsteps stopped outside her door.
She grabbed the first thing within reachâthe duckling nightshirt draped over her bedpostâand yanked it over her head just as the door burst open.
Three men filled the doorway. The largest stepped into her room.
She backed up until her knees hit the bed.
He looked at her. At the nightshirt she'd just pulled onâshe'd been naked seconds ago, and they'd likely seen everything through the gap in her door. At her bare foot, still waiting for its sock. At her pale, frozen face.
He pressed a finger to his lips.
Shh.
Then he nodded toward the hallway. Toward Charlie's room.
Understanding hit like ice water. She went still. Nodded once.
They let her finish putting on the second sock. She sat on the edge of her bed, hands shaking so badly she could barely pull the cotton over her heel, the men watching. No bra. No underwear. Just the worn-soft nightshirt that hung past her knees and the stupid, adorable socks her son had given her.
When she stood, the large man jerked his chin toward Charlie's door.
One minute. That's what he gave her.
She slipped into the small bedroom where her son slept, curled around his stuffed dragon. Moonlight caught his wild blond curls, spilled across cheeks still round with baby fat. Seven years old. Seven years of scraped knees, bedtime stories, and his small hand trusting in hers. Seven years of being someone's entire world.
She pressed her lips to his forehead, breathing him inâwarm skin, faint sugar from his bedtime snack, the clean laundry smell of his pajamas.
"Mama will be back soon, my duckling," she whispered against his skin. "I promise."
She didn't know if she was lying. She prayed she wasn't.
When she straightened, one of the men had moved to stand in the doorway. Watching. Waiting. She met his eyes and let him see exactly what waited for anyone who touched her son. She had no power, no weaponsâonly fury and a mother's absolute refusal to let harm find her child.
He looked away first.
At the door, she twisted back, craning to see past them. One man remained behind, standing in the hallway outside Charlie's room, hands clasped in front of him, watching her go.
Now she stood in a stranger's house, her bare legs prickling with goosebumps, her socks absurdly bright against dark hardwood. The room reeked of money, leather, lemon polish. Most likely, never endured a fart. Everything was arranged with precision, control issues or OCD, or maybe just a man who'd killed enough people to appreciate order.
The bed was a massive four-poster, worth more than her entire apartment, its mattress rising somewhere above her hip. She tried not to think about what that meant for what came next.
Alastor stood at the window with his back to her.
She'd seen photos. Every journalist in the city had seen photos of Alastorâleaving restaurants, entering buildings, smiling that awful smile at charity events where people wrote checks to feel better about the bodies in their basements. The photos didn't capture the reality.
Six feet nine inches and tailored red pinstripes. His silhouette blocked half the damn city skyline, all those glittering lights from buildings he owned, businesses he controlled, lives he'd crushed and reshaped to fit his design. Photos made him look like a man. In person, he felt like a force of natureâthe kind that didn't ask permission before destroying your house.
When he finally turned, her breath caught in a way she hated.
Handsome. She'd known that. She hadn't known how threatening handsome could feel. Brown hair slicked back to gleam under soft light. His smile stretched wide and easy, showing too many teeth, yet never touched his eyes. Those were amber and cold and moving over her like he was cataloging inventory.
Duckling nightshirt. Duck socksâridiculous little beaks peeking out. Bare legs. Hair loose. She might as well have arrived naked.
"Ms. Morningstar." His voice rolled through her, deep and smooth as aged whiskey. "Kind of you to join me. Though I expected more of a fight from the woman who took down Senator Whitmore."
Her throat closed. He knew about Whitmore. Of course, he knew. He probably had files on every story she'd written, every source she'd protected, every secret she'd dug from the dark.
"My men said you came quietly." He moved toward her in lazy strides, and she tipped her head backâway backâto hold his gaze. The height difference was almost comical. She stood five-four in shoes; without, she barely cleared five-two. "Impressive restraint. Or perhaps just good instincts."
She forced her chin up. "I've been told I have good instincts."
"Have you?" He stepped close enough that she caught his cologneâsandalwood and something darker, smoke from a fire you couldn't see. "Then your recent choices are especially puzzling. Poking into my business. Asking about people who disappeared. Cultivating sources among men who should know better." He tilted his head, studying her. "What did you hope to find?"
"I'm a journalist. Asking questions is my job."
"Ah, yes." His smile sharpened. "The Chronicle's youngest lead investigator. Fought with claws. I read your file." He nodded toward the bed, toward the manila envelope resting between two perfectly arranged pillows. "I have a gift for you. For your dedication."
Her hands trembled as she approached the bed. Up close, it was worse. She'd have to climb. In just a nightshirt with no underwear in front of him.
Her dignity already lay in shreds. She grabbed the silk coverlet and hauled herself up.
Her knee caught the edge. She slipped. For one horrible, flailing second, she was airborneâthen she crashed face-first onto the mattress, the impact driving air from her lungs, the nightshirt rucking up around her waist. Her bare ass and everything below it were on full display, presented like an offering.
Behind her, a sharp inhale. Then silence.
She scrambled upright, yanking the fabric down with shaking hands, her face so hot she thought she might combust. When she finally dared look back, Alastor's expression was carefully, meticulously blank. His smile remained fixed at the proper angle. But for just a momentâa flicker so brief she might have imagined itâhis eyes had dropped to where her nightshirt bunched, and his brow had furrowed.
Not in disgust. Not in disappointment.
Something almost like surprise. Beneath that, heat formed in her stomach.
Then it vanished. He nodded toward the envelope. "Open it."
She did.
Photographs slid into her hands. Dozens, each a blade to the heart. Charlie is walking home from school, his backpack bouncing. Charlie at the corner store, counting coins for ice cream. Charlie was in his bedroom, the window caught in the blue glow of his nightlight, his stuffed dragon clutched to his chest.
Charlie, perfect and innocent and completely unaware that monsters were watching.
A sound escaped herâsomething between a gasp and a sob. The photos slipped from numb fingers, fluttering down to scatter across the floor.
"He has your smile." Alastor moved beside her, close enough that his sleeve brushed her arm. He didn't look at the photos. "Such a bright boy. The world is dangerous for children like him."
Something inside Lucifer cracked.
She'd fought her whole life. Fought out of poverty, fought for scholarships and bylines, fought for respect in rooms that wanted her silent. She'd faced crooked politicians and corporate criminals, endured death threats and smear campaigns, survived the grinding cruelty of systems built to break women like her.
None of it mattered. None of it ever had. Because thisâthis small, perfect boy who'd grown inside her and come out screamingâthis was the only war she needed to win.
She launched herself at Alastor.
Her hands fisted in his lapels, fine wool crumpling beneath her grip. He didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't even blink. His smile stayed fixed as she pressed against him and begged.
"Please." The word tore from her throat. "Alastor, please. I'll do anything. Retract the stories, quit the paper, leave the city. I'll disappearâyou'll never hear from me again. Anything. Just don't touch him. Don't even look at my son. He's all I have."
He looked down at her hands fisted in his suit. Slowly, deliberately, he pried her fingers away. His grip was gentleâshe felt the strength coiled beneath restraint, knew he could crush her if he chose. Instead, he held her hands cradled between his palms.
"Such fire," he murmured. His thumb traced circles across her knuckles. "I always admired that about your writing. The passion. The refusal to back down." He led her, unresisting, to sit on the edge of the bed. Her feet dangled. "Your devotion is... compelling."
"What do you want?"
He released her and began to pace, footsteps silent on the hardwood. "Your investigation has caused me trouble. The Whitmore situation was manageableâhis political capital was already depleted. But your more recent inquiries?" He paused. "You've been asking about disappearances. About men who worked for me and were never seen again."
He turned to face her.
"Normally, I'd eliminate the source of such interference. Cleaner, more efficient. But I find myself in an unusual position." His gaze traveled over herâtangled hair, tear-streaked face, ridiculous pajamas. His eyes snagged on the hem of her nightshirt, on the bare stretch of her thigh. Something flickered in his expression, there and gone. "A man in my position needs certain... appearances. A stable foundation. A legacy beyond fear."
He stopped before her, close enough that she craned her neck.
"I need a wife. And an heir."
She stared, the words refusing to cohere.
"A beautiful, intelligent wife," he continued, "with a backbone of steel and the instincts of a survivor. One who understands power." His gaze held hers. "I'll forgive your transgressions. All of them. The stories die. The questions stop. Your boy will be safeâhis future not merely secure, but everything you ever dreamed. He'll want for nothing, fear nothing, be protected by the very empire you sought to destroy."
"A wife." The word tasted like poison.
"Quit your job. Be my housewife." His voice was soft, inexorable. "Warm my bed. Manage my home. Play hostess at my dinners, smile at my associates, wear the diamonds I give you, and pretend not to know their blood price." He leaned closer, breath ghosting across her ear. "In return, your sonâour sonâwill be my heir. He'll attend the best schools, marry well, and inherit everything. He'll be untouchable. And you'll never fear another photograph."
Her career. Her identity. The name she'd carved with blood and ink and broken pieces of her pride. All of it, laid on her son's safety.
She looked down.
Charlie smiled up at her from a photograph. He was laughing, caught mid-throw of a baseball, his face bright with innocent joy. His front tooth was missingâshe remembered that day, the tearful phone call from school, the quiet pride when the tooth fairy left five dollars under his pillow. He'd been so purely, completely happy.
That was the trade. Her freedom for his happiness. Her future for his. Her soul for his.
The fight drained from her shoulders. The fire in her eyesâthe fire that had carried her through every battle, every lossâhad died. What remained was the flat acceptance of a woman with no choices left.
"My job," she whispered. "My life."
"Will be a small price for his," Alastor finished.
He extended his hand.
She looked at it. She looked at the photos of her son. She thought of unwritten stories, truths left buried, corrupt men sleeping easier knowing Lucifer Morningstar had traded her pen for a wedding ring.
She thought about Charlie, grown and powerful. Safe, protected by the devil himself.
Her hand was steady as she placed it in his. His fingers closed around hersâwarm, strong, inescapable. He pulled her to him, her hand lost in his grip.
"Yes," she breathed. "I'll be your wife."
Alastor's smile widened. For the first time, it reached his eyes. Not warmthâshe wasn't sure he was capable of warmth. But satisfaction. Triumph. The look of a chess player who'd finally claimed the queen.
Beneath that, buried so deep she almost missed it: something that looked almost like relief.
His other hand came up to cup her face, his thumb wiping away her tears with surprising gentleness. Possessive, not comforting. She was his now. His to touch, his to claim, his to keep. His gaze dropped to her mouth, then lower, to the neckline of her nightshirt. To the hem she'd pulled down, hiding what he'd already seen tonight.
His smile softened, almost imperceptibly.
"A wise choice, my dear Lucifer." His thumb traced her cheekbone. "Andâfor the record?"
She blinked up at him, wary.
"I prefer it." His voice dropped, intimate. "The natural state. It suits you."
A moment passed before she understood. Then her face flooded with color, burning to her ears.
Alastor's smile widened into something genuine. Not warm. But real. Amused. Almost... fond.
Inside, Luciferâreporter, crusader, fighterâdied in that photograph-strewn room. In her place stood a bride, trapped in a monster's grip, her future written in ink.
