Lucifer's Queen

Chapter 8

could speak.

The air inside smelled like expensive perfume and betrayal. Her mother's voice echoed from upstairs.

Who is that barging in?!

"It's me!" Amara shouted, her voice sharp and cracked. "The daughter you SOLD."

Her mother appeared at the top of the staircase, draped in silk, lips painted a deep red. "Amara... what is the meaning

"Oh, now you care about appearances?" Amara barked. "You abandoned Dad and me for money, and now I find out it wasn't just a divorce it was a trade!"

Her mother walked into her bedroom, but Amara followed, slamming the door shut behind them.

"You made a deal with the devil, Mom. The freaking Devil. For what? A penthouse? A perfect face? You offered me like a pawn and thought he'd never come back?"

Her mother turned, eyes glossy but mouth tight. "It was never meant to reach this far. I was young. Poor. Desperate."

Amara laughed bitterly. "We were all poor. You were just the only one selfish enough to sell her daughter's soul to escape it."

"I had nothing!" her mother snapped. "You don't understand what it felt like to be invisible, to have doors slammed in your face, to be told your daughter was a burden you couldn't afford."

"Then you shouldn't have had me," Amara said coldly.

Silence.Her mother's lip trembled. "He promised me it wouldn't affect you. That you'd live a full life and never know."

"Until he came to claim me," Amara said. "To make me his bride. His Queen."

Her mother looked away.

Amara stepped closer, trembling. "You didn't just ruin my childhood. You destroyed my future. You chained me to a man who isn't even human. And the worst part? You don't even look sorry."

"I did what I had to do," her mother whispered.

"No," Amara said, voice breaking. "You did what you wanted to do."

Her mother's eyes filled with tears. "You don't understand the power he has. I thought he'd forget. I prayed he would."

"You prayed to the same God whose son you gave me to?" she shouted. "You don't get to cry now."

Amara turned to leave, heart thudding, but paused at the door.

"You want to know the part that hurts the most?" she asked, her voice hollow. "That all this time I thought I hated you for leaving us. For choosing money over love. But now I realize..."

Her voice cracked.

"You never loved me at all."

Her mother took a step forward. "Amara, please"

"I wish you were dead," Amara whispered, and walked out.

She didn't slam the door behind her.

She didn't need to.

The silence she left behind was loud enough.