“I can’t betray or lie to Chance in any way, in exchange for Kellen’s safety.”
She knew her dad wouldn’t like that she had bargained loyalty to Chance, but her sons life and well-being was more important to her.
Britt turned her attention to Chance, more than a little shocked that he of all people had agreed to something like that.
“You willingly made a deal?”
He shrugged, grinning a little. “I got what I wanted out of it. She can’t leave me.”
Azrael hesitates a moment before begrudgingly relenting, knowing that he didn’t have a leg to stand on once Sera pulled that card, especially in light of the revelation about what Jeri had done to her.
“Fine.” He muttered, turning his attention to Britt. “But make sure those conditions are air tight and that he can’t hurt anyone else. That’s the only way I’ll agree to this happening, if you and the kids are safe.”
She gave him a soft smile, but it never quite reached her eyes. Either way, she was going to need to compromise and she knew Az wasn’t going to like it at all.
“Sera, what is your part in all of this?”
“Yes.” She answered resolutely without even a flicker of hesitation.
“If Chance is granted his freedom in exchange for agreeing, in blood, to adhere to a fair set of terms governing his release, then isn’t that better than locking him up and torturing him?”
“No.” Scoffed Azrael, appalled at the mere suggestion of Chance being allowed to remain a free man.
“Oh really?” Sera shot back, fixing him with a venomous glare.
“What’s worse? Putting your own daughter in an induced coma and trapping her in her nightmares for six months while Mom was in the hospital? Sorry, Dad, but you really lost the moral high ground on that one.”
Britt gave Az a look over his answer. It was clear that he was always going to hate Chance, but she just couldn’t get herself to that same place. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, touched Az’s arm, and moved to stand a little closer to the kids than he was.
“Okay.”
Chance glanced at her, not too surprised that she agreed so easily. His attention drifted back to Az, expression carefully unreadable.
She nuzzled him for a moment before she spoke again.
Az’s anger had mostly dissipated into confusion and despair now, seeing Sera behave affectionately to the monster who had put her through so much.
“Chance doesn’t want to go back to the Underworld, so we want to negotiate a compromise that is in everybody’s best interest while allowing him to remain here.” She explained, leaving out the part about her own pact with him as she knew Azrael would assume she’d been tricked into making it and not believe she was speaking on her own terms.
Brittia was focused on watching her children, noting their body language and expressions. Sure, Chance had the same smug air he had always possessed, but there was something beneath it. Something she hadn’t seen before. He wasn’t acting as possessive over Sera as he had done with Oona, at least not physically.
“Is this…is this what you want, Sera?”
Az still wasn’t quite ready to believe this wasn’t just another of Chance’s games, but Sera’s physical state was contradicting everything he wanted to believe.
“That still doesn’t explain how you got out in the first place.” He growled through gritted teeth.
“It doesn’t matter how.” Sera sighed, giving her father a firm look, letting Britt finish looking her over before she returned to Chance and curled up with him again.
“The only thing that matters is what happens going forward from this point.”
Britt tried to move forward, to grab her wrist to keep her from moving back to that couch, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The idea of Chance actually doing something even remotely good, no matter the reason, was taking a moment to process.
Chance’s expression returned to something smug as he sat up enough to wrap an arm around Sera’s waist. “Tell them everything, if you must,” he murmured, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“He kept dosing me with poppy any time I tried to stand up to him or leave. He wouldn’t even let me call anyone unless he was in the room with me.” She explained, letting Britt hug her and check her over for other injuries.
“He tried to do it again tonight, but Chance stopped him and brought me here to get away from him.”
Azrael had gone quiet, stuck between horror at not knowing if Sera was telling the truth or she’d been manipulated into saying it.
“I’m okay because of Chance.”
It took Britt a long moment to actually check her over simply because she didn’t know how to let go at first. Jeri had always said she was too sick, too tired, to even talk.
“If I was going to harm her, it wouldn’t be bruises,” Chance finally spoke up, eyes rolling as he shook his head a little.
It was those words that prompted Britt to really start looking her over, fingers tracing over the faint scars on her arms. “Az…” His name was soft, dark eyes pleading as she held out Sera’s arms. “Az I don’t think they’re lying…”
Sera slid off Chance’s lap and crossed the room to her parents, letting them see that she was in good health, aside from a few visible bruises that Az looked all the more furious at.
“Okay? Those bruises don’t look okay to me. What the fuck did you do to her, you piece of shit?”
“Dad, stop! Chance didn’t do anything. It was Jeri.” Sera interrupted, stepping into the space between them to break Az’s line of sight.
“Jeri’s been drugging me to stop me from leaving. If you don’t believe me, ask Kellen.”
As soon as she was across the room, Britt was moving around Az, needing to hug her baby. It had been far too long since she had actually gotten to even look at her daughter and the pain it had caused was still so raw.
Chance had opened his mouth to answer, but Sera had cut him off. He recognized her body language and that alone was what kept him on the couch for now.
“He was doing what?”
“Mom.”
Azrael’s face had gone bright red and the vein in his temple looked like it could burst at any moment.
“Anyone care to explain what the fuck is going on?” He managed finally, the question more directed at Sera, since he didn’t really want to acknowledge Chance as an actual being still.
“Why the fuck is he out? Sera, baby, did he hurt you? Jeri said he kidnapped you. We’re gonna take you home, okay?”
All it took was one look at their mother’s face for Chance to see that Britt had not seen her in years. It was enough to make the smirk falter a little and he nudged Sera gently, a silent permission to go to their mother if she wished to.
Britt took a couple steps forward before Az spoke, making her go still once more. When she finally looked at Chance, it almost felt like she being slapped and her hands went to her stomach.
“Az, calm down. She…she looks okay,” she mumbled, trying to keep things from escalating. The way Jericho had spoken, she wasn’t expecting Sera to be in one piece.
“What the fuck?!?!” Azrael exclaimed, trying to comprehend the scene and resist the urge to grab Chance for fear of hurting Sera.
“Dad, calm down. I’m okay.”
The atmosphere was tense enough that if it didn’t diffuse soon, they wouldn’t even get to the point of negotiating.
Azrael was struggling to find coherent words in the sea of questions and accusations flooding through his head suddenly.
Chance remained silent, his fingers sliding over Sera’s thighs. Already it was going better than he had thought it would simply because no one had moved to hit him yet.
She knew she was supposed to wait, but patience had never been Britt’s strong suit. Walking up to that door was hard though, but she wasn’t surprised he had chosen this place.
The door opened again, slower this time, and she eased in, careful and alert. She hadn’t expected to see her daughter looking so…well. It was just enough to make her hyper focused on just Sera for the moment.
“S-Sera?”
Sera shifted into his lap, straddling him as she kissed him again, ignoring the scraping feeling in her nerves as headlights cast briefly through the window and cut out with the car engine.
The front door of the house opening didn’t register with her until she heard Az’s voice, sounding shocked, confused, worried and livid with rage all at once, causing her to break the kiss and turn to look at him.
His hands settled on her hips, his grip still not as hard as it used to be. He was trying to behave and he knew if he got rough, he would end up making things worse.
When she pulled away, he smirked, looking her father over but not saying anything. She had told him to behave, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to push a little.
