Behind Chatachi's back, Lucifer worked.

As easy as it was to imagine that Fedriel had a million replacements, that wasn't the truth. In actuality, Fedriel was one of a kind. A rarity that was created to work for Chetachi. Groomed to fit the needs of the very people Chatachi claimed to represent. After years of learning to go with the flow of Nigeria's economy, Chatachi had pulled that rug out from beneath Fedriel's feet.

Now, everyone else was hiding who they truly were, pretending that they could be the next Adam Ekikere, begging to be noticed for how clean they thought their hands were, when in fact, they'd all muddied it up for years.

Lucifer smiled.

Soon enough, everyone would know. Soon enough, the whole country would see that Adam was just as breakable as the next person. When that happened, Chatachi would have a choice to make. He'd either double down and support the man he'd started to sell in the last couple of weeks.

Or choose someone else. Either way, a saint wasn't entering Aso Rock. Not if Lucifer could help it.

"Yes, Gregory?" he asked, as soon as he answered the phone.

"You said I should call you, an hour before Governor Ekikere's appointment."

It was Friday already.

Lucifer couldn't have timed it better. He'd gone to visit Adam on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, Adam had spent hours at home in prayer. As if kneeling before God was going to change the things Lucifer had done to and for him in that office. It wasn't enough to make him break his vows, Adam had to use his words, use his lips to profess that he needed Lucifer. That he needed the things Lucifer could give to him.

An intoxicating experience, to break a man whose aura ran white as snow, and whose morals were as sturdy as fifty sheets of metal stacked on top of one another. Adam, like any other man, just needed a little push. A simple nudge and he was barreling into depravity, chasing orgasm after orgasm, like a nymph in the midst of floating tree fairies.

"I'll be there," Lucifer said, rising to his feet.

If Tuesday had been the breaking point and Wednesday had been for repentance, Lucifer understood that Thursday was a day when he'd indulge. Brimming with want for the things Lucifer had given him, Lucifer knew Adam would have experimented with his body. Touched himself, watched dirty videos, tried his hand at everything he could think of. To his greatest shame, tried to imitate the things Lucifer did to him in order to recreate the evening they had shared on that couch in his office.

With Friday arriving and Gregory's monthly appointment, Lucifer could not have asked for a better progression of events. As his driver took him out of the lodge and into town, he thanked his stars in anticipation of the destruction he was about to cause.

Sexual deviance. Financial fraud. Bodily harm. One sin after another in a beautiful progression of events. Adam was about to wreck the Apple Clause and he had no idea.

When they arrived at Gregory's establishment, Lucifer held Sherimiah's hand when she was about to get out of the car.

"Wait here."

"But Sir-"

"I'll be fine," he said.

He knew what he was getting into and even though he trusted Sherimiah, even though he trusted his guards, he didn't want them to witness what he was about to witness. If he could, he would guard it with his life, hide it from the rest of the world so that only he could enjoy it. But as it were, some people were going to be privy to a private moment that Lucifer would rather have had to himself.

The massage parlor was on the fourth floor of the building. Thirty minutes before Adam's arrival, Lucifer walked into the private room that had been kept aside for the governor. Big, dimmed lights, plushy cushions on the table and scented oils lined by the side.

"You'll wait here, Sir," Gregory said.

"Thank you," Lucifer replied as he was shown into a quiet dark room, from where he could watch the proceedings through a one-way mirror.

As a man of utmost respect for the governor's privacy, Gregory had never used this room before. But when Lucifer informed him of what he needed, Gregory had had just the place.

Getting comfortable, he sat back, crossing his legs as he waited for Adam to arrive. Unmoving, he swiped through candidates in his head. Weak men who could never hold a candle to Fedriel. Weak men whose resolve would have been nothing, next to Adam's. He regretted the choice he'd had to make with Fedriel. Because a little bit of trust would have spared them both the trouble.

Greeting as he entered, Adam appeared in the door. Faithful to memory, he was still as beautiful as ever. His chocolate skin glazed against his body like a tasty dish begging to be tasted. Lucifer had tasted that skin. He'd sucked on every inch of it and loved every second. Even as Adam undressed, his perked buttocks sticking out for a few moments before it was covered with a towel, Lucifer found himself longing for more. For another taste. For another chance.

Because while he was sure Adam had been plagued with memories of Lucifer's visit, Lucifer had not been spared the same experience. Developing a minor addiction to the talentless novice who knew nothing about giving another man pleasure was a shock to Lucifer that he had never thought he'd experience.

After he'd laid on the massage table, Gregory returned to the room.

It was a simple massage appointment. One that, according to Gregory, Adam had kept for years. He liked to unwind by having the knots worked out of his bones, out of his nerves. From his stressed body.

Watching them as he did, Lucifer couldn't help the little surge of irritation he felt. For some reason, watching another man's hands press and pull at Adam's skin ignited an unknown, unwanted fire in Lucifer that he couldn't quite name. This was a job. Adam was an obstacle. The rules were clear. Yet Lucifer couldn't find the stipulation in the rules for a man whose chastity he held in his hands.

Everytime Adam moaned at the pressure, Lucifer was dragged back to Tuesday, memories lapping over reality to the point that Lucifer could imagine himself standing over Adam. Being Gregory. Being the one easing Adam's stress. Feeling his body jump and recede at the wanted contact.

"Can I go lower?" Gregory asked as he worked his way down Adam's lower back.

A non-committed hum gave him the permission he needed. To Lucifer's horror, Gregory shifted the towel just a bit, massaging Adam's bum. pressing and pulling it apart as he went. Adam did nothing but grunt in appreciation.

"He'd never let me go that far," Gregory had told Lucifer. "Governor Ekikere has set boundaries and touching his ass is well beyond those boundaries."

Lucifer had known that wouldn't be the case anymore. With Adam wanting for physical contact and looking for the first hands that weren't his to touch him, Lucifer knew he'd welcome the touch. He knew Adam would cave to it like a wanton slut in need of affection.

Lower and lower, Gregory went, feasting his fingers on Adam's supple flesh. Under the guise of a massage, he moved over the bounds of Adam's voluptuous, sexy bum till the towel slipped completely from Adam's body.

And yet, all the resistance he encountered was a needy groan as Adam raised his ass, meeting Gregory's touch like he wanted more.

"Don't ask him about it," Lucifer had said. "Don't ask for permission once the towel comes off. You might spook him."

"He won't let the towel come off."

"Just trust me."

Climbing onto the massage table, placing himself between Adam's legs, Gregory pressed his cheeks together, then pulled them apart, savoring the small shiver that ran through Adam's body. Lucifer uncrossed his leg and crossed it back, looking away to give himself a moment not to see the greedy look on Gregory's face as he touched the governor. Because Gregroy didn't deserve this. It wasn't his to enjoy. He had no right to witness Adam in such a vulnerable space as Adam moaned at his ministrations, minutely humping against the massage table.

Lucifer could just imagine what his cock looked like down there. How it clung to the fabric of the cushion, inviting the friction, taking from it, chasing another orgasm that was on the horizon. Lucifer wondered if his mind was clear. If he knew what was going on. He wondered if Adam was thinking of him. If he had the memory of Lucifer on his knees with his lips wrapped around Adam's girth.

He wondered if Adam was thinking about Gregory and that thought nearly provoked vomit from his mouth.

"Uhn," Adam groaned, stilling himself on the table, just as Gregory's fingers slipped between his cheeks. "Oh."

Lucifer didn't need to guess to know what had just transpired. How Adam, after days of wanting for pleasure, had finally found it at the hands of a mediocre masseuse.

Gregory didn't move, the moment it happened. Because Adam didn't move either. Lucifer, waiting on bated breath, knew what was to come next. All that pent up energy, all that desire that had clouded Adam's waking moments for days, was coming apart. As his eyes cleared, so would his conscious wake.

Like a bolt of lightning, Adam shot up from the table, grabbing his towel as he put some distance between himself and Gregory.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Gregory said. "I thought that would help."

"No," Adam said. "This was not your fault. No. It was mine. I-I let my guard down. You can leave."

Bowing slightly, Gregory got off the table as he exited the room.

Thinking himself alone, Adam fell to his knees in tears and bowed his head to the floor.

"Please forgive me," he prayed. "Forgive me for I have sinned."

Lucifer smiled at the sight. Because if Adam thought he was through with sinning, he was sorely mistaken.

***

As soon as Adam left, Gregory returned to the room. Lucifer emerged as Gregory retrieved the camera he'd fixed in a corner to get a perfect view of everything that had transpired.

"Did it meet your expectations, Sir?" Gregory asked.

"It did," Lucifer said, collecting the memory card from Gregory. "You've done well."

"Thank you, Sir." He bowed. "Thank you very much."

Cradling the card in his hand as he left, he nodded to Gregory. "Thank you, too."