The Inevitable HIM

Love was out of the picture. Don't get him wrong-he didn't hate it. How could he hate something that never existed for him? He'd only heard of her. Never seen her. His mother-unknown. All he probably got from her was his complexion. A one-night stand with a foreign waitress in a club had brought him into existence.

He didn't have a father. He had an owner. A man who raised him like property, broke him, and built the demon he became. At eight years old, he killed whatever humanity was left in him. "To make you strong. A worthy successor," Akim used to say.

The day Akim died, the devil inside him got a free ticket-out of South Africa and into the world. Revenge? No. It was pointless. He had an empire to build, and Akim's blood-soaked rival wasn't worth it. He couldn't afford to lose his most loyal followers-not when legitimacy was the key to a global throne.

He built it. And now, Ghana-Africa-was about to give him the encounter of his life.

"Lu...ci...fer?" she whispered.

"Yes. Lucifer. Problem with that sweet voice, sweety?" he asked, smirking, his eyes drifting to her thin, tender lips. Something in her expression made his jaw twitch. He hadn't even touched her-so why did she look like that?

"Look at me."

She lifted her head slowly, her brown, sparkling eyes swimming in fear.

"Get out," he said, barely above a whisper-but it froze her blood. She bolted, leaving behind her small hung bag.

Kara-known as Nana-is the "unwanted" child of the Agyemang family. The result of her mother's college affair in the States, Kara returned to Ghana as a child wrapped in "baggage." Her foreign blood, her complexion-none of it was accepted. Her grandfather saw her as a stain on their lineage.

But with the help of her mother and uncle, she was raised a proud Ghanaian. Despite her appearance, Kara believed in her roots. She belonged to Ghana in all the ways that mattered.