[Morning] [Garden Wedding of Jimmy]
The garden wedding looked expensive and painfully self-important.
Rows of white chairs lined the aisle beneath strings of flowers and soft morning sunlight. Guests filled every seat, dressed in designer suits, pastel dresses, sunglasses, and polite smiles that barely hid the gossip moving between them. Family sat near the front with proud expressions. Frenemies sat farther back, whispering behind champagne glasses while pretending they had come to celebrate love instead of watch another industry disaster unfold in real time.
It was a whole big ta-da.
At the altar, Jimmy Barnes stood in his wedding suit with a smile that looked rehearsed in front of a mirror. Sweat shone faintly across his big forehead despite the perfect weather, and his eyes kept flicking between the priest, the guests, and the woman standing before him.
Amanda Bello looked beautiful enough to make the entire garden feel underdressed.
The supermodel bride stood in white, holding her bouquet with practiced grace. Her face carried the calm perfection of someone trained to look flawless under cameras, but her eyes were distant. She smiled when expected, moved when expected, and stood beside Jimmy like she had already agreed to something she was trying not to think about too deeply.
The priest opened his book and continued in a solemn voice while the guests watched with polite attention.
"Speak now or forever hold your peace..."
A voice boomed from the back of the garden.
"Excuse me!"
Every head turned at once.
Lucifer Morningstar came strolling down the aisle as if interrupting weddings was a normal part of his morning routine. His dark suit fit perfectly, his smile carried open mischief, and his entire presence dragged the focus of the ceremony away from the altar before Jimmy could even react.
A few guests gasped.
Some immediately lifted their phones.
Jimmy's smile vanished.
Lucifer continued walking, relaxed and unhurried, while Amanda stared at him with wide eyes and the priest seemed to forget the next line entirely.
Lucifer stopped partway down the aisle and looked around at the assembled guests with theatrical concern.
"I have a problem. Has anyone else noticed how incredibly, jaw-droppingly, loin-stirringly beautiful this young woman is? And how short, sweaty and altogether fugly this homunculus is? What is this? A wedding or a kidnapping?"
The garden erupted in shocked murmurs.
Someone near the front made a strangled sound that might have been a laugh. A woman in a huge hat turned bright red. Several guests looked at Jimmy, then at Amanda, and then looked away far too quickly because Lucifer's question had landed with uncomfortable accuracy.
The priest crossed himself and began mumbling prayers under his breath.
Lucifer noticed and chuckled.
"Good luck with that, padre. While you're at it, tell him I say hey -- it's been awhile."
The priest's mumbling became faster.
Lucifer reached the altar and turned his attention fully toward the groom, who was sweating harder now while desperately clinging to some semblance of cool. 'I'd love to snap his neck right now, but... I gotta control my urges, atleast till this episode is over. Then, I'll have Maze deal with him.'
"Jimmy Barnes! Do you remember me?"
Jimmy forced a laugh and glanced toward the guests, clearly hoping someone would step in. Nobody moved.
"Hey, man, this is a private event. How'd you get in here?"
Lucifer looked around the garden, taking in the flowers, the expensive chairs, the guests, and the overall smell of money pretending to be romance.
"Yes, and quite a lavish, be it tacky one for a record producer on the outs."
Jimmy looked really nervous.
Lucifer stepped closer, his smile still bright but his eyes much sharper now.
"Do you remember me?"
Jimmy lowered his voice, trying to keep the panic away from the guests. "Of course I remember you! What do you want?! I'm a little busy!" He tried to smile a bit.
Lucifer tilted his head slightly, as if the answer should have been obvious.
"I can't believe you're getting married the day after your ex-lover and once brightest star nearly got killed by a shooter."
The murmuring changed immediately.
Delilah's name did not need to be spoken for the guests to understand the shadow that had just fallen over the ceremony. Some faces shifted with discomfort. Others brightened with ugly interest because scandal was still scandal, even when blood was involved.
Jimmy's expression hardened.
"Yeah, it's sad, but Delilah ruined my wedding once before. I wasn't about to let her do it again."
Lucifer's eyes locked onto him.
"Yes. It's hard to be rejected, isn't it Jimmy? Twice."
Jimmy blinked.
"What?!"
Lucifer's smile sharpened.
"She said you tried to get her back recently. I'd kill someone if they denied me once... not that that's possible. Come on, tell me, Jim-bo, did you want her dead? You know I love a juicy story."
Jimmy looked away.
It was brief, but Lucifer saw it.
So did several guests close enough to watch his face properly. Amanda noticed too, and her fingers tightened around her bouquet.
Jimmy shook his head quickly, trying to recover.
"I'm not playing that mind game with you. Of course not! I was furious and humiliated when she dumped me, but I think I rebounded pretty well."
He gestured toward Amanda with desperate pride.
Lucifer gave her an appreciative glance.
"Clearly. Respect."
Amanda looked between them, her perfect bridal expression beginning to crack around the edges.
Jimmy swallowed and hurried to push the attention elsewhere.
"You should go play your games with 2Vile."
Lucifer raised an eyebrow. 'The bastard who hit her. I'm gonna break his bones.'
"The rapper?"
"Yeah, Delilah dumped me for that lunatic. They were always fighting. I think he slapped her around a bunch. He's the real deal, man, and he's surrounded by a bunch of gun-toting morons 24-7."
Lucifer already knew that thanks to his past life.
2Vile. The rapper. The next stop in the original path. Then meeting with Trixie and Linda. The pieces still needed to move, at least enough for the day to unfold properly. He needed to play the first episode carefully enough to solidify his stance with Chloe and meet the key characters, even if the story had already started bending beneath his feet.
Still, he could slightly change the script.
Lucifer turned his attention to the bride. 'Now she's a beauty.'
"I'm sorry, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself..."
He extended a hand.
Amanda stared at him for a beat before taking it.
The moment her fingers touched his, the charm settled over her like a velvet noose. Her eyes widened slightly, and the polished mask slipped from her face as a sudden, overwhelming urge to confess rose through her before she could stop it.
"I really don't want to have sex with him tonight."
She turned to Jimmy in immediate horror and left Lucifer's hand.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that!"
Jimmy stared at her, dumbstruck.
Amanda looked just as stunned by her own words.
The guests reacted all at once. Gasps, whispers, sharp laughs quickly smothered behind hands, and the frantic tapping of phones filled the garden. The priest looked like he wanted to melt into the altar cloth.
Lucifer nodded as if this had all been expected.
"Of course you don't! Let's be honest here. You're not marrying this human stain because you're actually in love with him, right?"
Amanda's eyes glistened with embarrassment and panic, but the truth still came out.
"God no, I guess it's more about lifestyle."
Lucifer gave a sympathetic little grimace.
"Good luck with that. He's broke."
Amanda started to cry.
Jimmy's face twisted with humiliation.
Lucifer's expression softened slightly as he looked back at Amanda.
"Dry your tears, darling. Wait! Aren't you Amanda Bello? The supermodel from Victoria's Secret?"
Amanda sniffed and nodded.
"Yes. I am."
Lucifer looked toward Barnes, his grin returning with wicked delight.
"Well, well, you dirty dog."
Jimmy opened his mouth, but no useful sound came out.
Lucifer then looked toward Amanda and extended his hand again.
"I doubt this wedding is going to happen now. So, why don't you come with me? I'll introduce you to someone better than this old, smelly fart."
Amanda took it almost instantly.
She was drowning in Lucifer's charm so completely that she didn't think twice. Maybe some part of her knew this was outrageous. Maybe some part of her understood that walking away from her own wedding with a stranger who called himself Lucifer Morningstar would become the kind of headline that followed her for months.
But compared to marrying Jimmy Barnes, it still looked like the better option.
Jimmy stepped forward, furious and humiliated.
"Amanda!"
Amanda looked back at him, tears still on her face.
"I can't do this. Sorry, Jimmy."
Jimmy stared at her as if the words had slapped him.
Lucifer tucked Amanda's hand around his arm and gave the groom one last bright smile.
"Well, we should be going. Best of luck to you, Jimmy. Maybe develop some human emotion before trying to seduce young and beautiful girls while taking viagra."
A strangled laugh escaped someone in the second row.
Jimmy looked ready to explode.
The priest crossed himself again and turned his eyes toward the sky as if requesting immediate backup.
Lucifer walked down the aisle with Amanda in his arms, leaving Barnes and the guests baffled. Phones followed them. Whispers spread like wildfire. Amanda kept close to him, still shaken, but already looking lighter than she had at the altar.
Lucifer glanced down at her with a charming smile as they passed the last row of guests.
"Come along, darling. Let's rescue your morning before it becomes legally binding."
Amanda wiped carefully beneath one eye and gave him a small, overwhelmed laugh.
"Is this really happening?"
Lucifer looked back at the ruined ceremony, Jimmy's red face, the horrified priest, and the guests who would be talking about this for years.
"Oh, absolutely," he said with a delighted smile. "And I must say, weddings are far more entertaining when someone tells the truth."
...