Elizabeth Walker lived a simple life—if any life in Los Angeles could be described as simple. Miss Walker worked for Larmes Event Planning, which was fitting because Larmes meant tears in French and Elizabeth often cried in the confines of her studio apartment because of her wretched boss, Madam Mimi Tanner.
Really, her life was quite boring outside of her chaotic career. Elizabeth had an obligatory girls' night every Thursday at the PUSH! Lounge with her three remaining friends from college, who were either married or engaged. Outside of that bit of fun, she frequented 24/8 Fitness that was conveniently next to a late-night bakery. Then, she would go home to the only thing in the world that kept her humble and sane: her dog, Jethro.
She didn't have a clue that her life was about to be derailed.
Chapter 1:
1 AM, Wednesday
Elizabeth Walker handed the keys to her dented 2009 Honda Civic to the valet working outside of LUX, an obnoxiously upscale club that her boss frequented often. The Madam was conducting an informal meeting with the owner about a potential event at 1 A.M. and demanded Elizabeth's brainstorming notes immediately. Elizabeth was still wearing her workout clothes from the gym—a teal sports bra and a pair of gray yoga pants that she always thought her ass looked great in.
The bouncer at the front of the line raised an eyebrow when she confronted him, breathlessly pleading to skip the hoards of people so she could just go home. "Look, my boss is inside and she's going to fire me if I don't deliver these notes to her—" Elizabeth shakes a black journal that is covered in sticky notes and filled with an assortment of methodologically placed tabs—"immediately. Can you let me in?"
The buff and stylish man considered her for a moment, "Boss's name?"
Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes, "Madam M—"
"Oh, damn, I'm sorry. Yeah, you can go inside." The bouncer looked at her with sympathy and let her pass through the rope. She heard annoyed protests from the barely clothed girls that were waiting in line. Elizabeth followed the people that had previously been let in knowing that she looked like a total misfit.
Her alabaster skin was flushed, giving her cheeks a light pink color and her blonde hair was coming undone from the tight bun on top of her head. Fortunately, Elizabeth was pretty much invisible around her boss. All she had to do was hand over some notes and then she could go home to her lazy dog, Jethro and apologize with a hundred Milk-bones.
It wasn't hard to find the Madam. Mimi Tanner had drawn a crowd around her and the handsome (but weird) owner. It was her attempt to stay relevant in the tabloids for as long as possible. Elizabeth pushed through all of the sweaty bodies, gripping her journal to her chest. All she had to do was give it to her boss and pray that the Madam had the sense to bring it back to the office tomorrow afternoon when she finally recovered from her hangover. If not, Elizabeth had learned not to get too attached to anything in Mimi Tanner's presence. The journal and ideas were replaceable. Her promised promotion was not.
Madam Mimi Tanner was planning to take a step back from the event planning industry. The Madam had inherited the company from her father and really only maintained the uphill success because she was willing to sleep with whoever to land a contract and the Larmes brand used to mean something in L.A. before her father's passing.
Elizabeth offered a way to keep the company alive and to help it thrive. In secret, she had been running all of the Madam's accounts behind the scenes since she started her internship two years ago.
Elizabeth cleared her throat, "Madam."
The Madam and the club owner were making out on the black leather couch. Mimi Tanner looked extremely unprofessional as she tried to mount the owner's lap as if she wasn't pushing 30 and she hadn't labeled this a business meeting.
Elizabeth had the sinking feeling that her poor journal was about to be used as a sex prop.
"Ah, took you long enough." The Madam finally detached herself from the club owner, who didn't even have the decency to be ashamed about the corrupted business meeting. "I've been drinking so much—" The Madam released a false giggle, "—I have to refresh myself on my ideas for notable events in L.A." She took Elizabeth's journal and started to flip through it without much care for the fragile pieces of paper.
Elizabeth looked around at the venue. It was the first time that she had been inside the club. Most of the time, she just picked Mimi up off the corner or stayed with her until an Uber or town car arrived. LUX was extremely different from PUSH! Lounge, mostly because PUSH! died around the same time Manny MUA and Laura Lee's careers did. People gravitated towards different trends and new clubs with even dumber names.
LUX was different from the other clubs, though. Ever since it's opening, people have filed through every single night—even on Sundays. It was the desired destination for any type of event because there would undoubtedly be a crowd.
Elizabeth didn't know much about the owner other than the ridiculous alter-ego that he paraded around to attract women with similar daddy issues. She knew that the Madam was infatuated with his bank account and that she spent most of her nights here trying to get his attention. Elizabeth knew that she didn't like him very much, solely based on the fact that he seemed to enjoy Mimi's company.
She was so distracted by her thoughts and her survey of the club that didn't see his extended hand or hear his first introduction. It wasn't until Mimi said, "Miss Walker, don't be rude to our gracious host. I'm so sorry, Luce."
Elizabeth straightened her posture, "I apologize, Mr. Morningstar."
"Oh, love, pretty women do not apologize." Mr. Morningstar said with a smirk on his face that made Elizabeth incredibly uneasy. His hand was still extended, so she went to shake it. Lucifer Morningstar grabbed her hand and pressed his debased lips against her sweaty skin. Elizabeth couldn't help but stare at her boss, who looked mortified. Elizabeth would pay for this later. "Join us."
"She can't." Mimi piped in, "And anyway, we have business to handle. You can leave Miss Walker."
"Ah, yes, business." Lucifer chuckled, finally relaxing against the couch again. "Well, maybe another time?"
Elizabeth didn't answer as she turned around and left the club. The last thing she needed was to get on Mimi's bad side.
10 AM, Thursday
Kitty Parker, an elite socialite was pacing back and forth in the Larmes Event Planning lobby as she furiously tapped on her phone. Miss Parker was a childhood friend of Mimi Tanner and acted just as entitled as she did because she had been in a few B-List films and her daddy owned a yacht and a jet.
Larmes Event Planning was contracted to plan her lavish wedding with fifty-year-old film producer, Marco Hinson. Hinson's career was an embarrassment until he got lucky after he sold the merchandising rights to Wal-Mart for one of his "sure-to-fail" films. The film, Diary of an Avocado, became a social media icon and later became one of the most circulated memes of all time. Hinson became an overnight millionaire and immediately started dating Kitty Parker.
Not being a looker of any kind, he proposed shortly after. Rumor has it, Kitty was so worried that her father was going to cut her off after her third DUI, that she said yes out of survival. Either way, Kitty wanted a huge L.A. wedding and had the budget to make it happen.
Unfortunately, Mimi Tanner had been MIA since Elizabeth left her at LUX Wednesday morning. Kitty only wanted to work with Mimi directly, even though Elizabeth was putting all of the blood, sweat, and tears into the project.
Elizabeth was sitting at her small desk going over vendor charts. When Mimi returned from wherever the hell she had gone, she wanted to have everything in order. Kitty wanted a Japanese-Mexican fusion menu, which was Elizabeth's absolute nightmare.
She watched as Kitty stomped her foot against the ground and then returned to the list. Kitty wanted the whitest doves for the end of the ceremony, and she also wanted a carriage. Essentially, she was chasing the Princess wedding that every little girl imagines when they are young.
Kitty opens her mouth, most likely to throw another insult Elizabeth's way when someone walks inside the office. A short, dirty blonde-haired woman in a reasonable pants suit took in her surroundings. There were the promotional posters of previous events hanging on the wall at the entrance and a curved reception desk that Elizabeth utilized because she liked listening to the clients.
Eventually, the woman's eyes landed on Elizabeth and she straightened her blazer.
"Are you Elizabeth Walker?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said hesitantly, putting down the tablet that was in her hands. The vendor list would have to wait.
The woman was very observant, at least that's what Elizabeth was getting from her attention to all the minuscule details in the office. She paused to look at the fresh flowers that Elizabeth picked up from her favorite florist—a combination of spring-colored flowers featuring hydrangeas (which were Elizabeth's favorite flowers). And when she made her way to the reception desk, she dragged her finger across Elizabeth's business card deck.
"I'm Detective Chloe Decker with LAPD. I'd like to ask you some questions about your boss, Mimi Tanner." The Detective fixed Elizabeth with a look that made Elizabeth uneasy. Mimi was a total mess, but she had never been in trouble with the law, especially on a level that involved a detective.
Before Elizabeth could respond, Kitty interrupted her. "What's wrong with Mimi? Oh my god!"
"Mimi Tanner has been reported missing by her maid. It hasn't been 48 hours, so this visit is strictly informal. Miss Tanner is a friend of the Chief." The Detective said, a pensive frown working its way onto her facial features. Elizabeth was cautious about the detective's overall attitude. "You're her assistant, correct?"
Elizabeth furrowed her brow as she frowned. "I'm an associate but Mimi likes to treat me as her assistant, yes."
"Rough relationship?"
Elizabeth squinted at the detective, trying to figure out why she was casting around implications so early in the non-investigation. If Mimi was anywhere, she was probably on a jet with Lucifer Morningstar, continuing the party for Wednesday. "I would say complicated. Mimi is demanding, but so is the industry."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
She couldn't help but sigh because of the accusatory tone the detective was taking. It was uncalled for. "I saw her Wednesday morning around one. She called me and wanted my notes on our prospective events for the upcoming season."
"And you dropped everything and went?" The detective was surprised.
"As I said, Mimi is demanding, and I was just leaving the gym anyway."
"Where did you meet her?" Detective Decker pulled out a notepad and started to take note of her thoughts. Elizabeth was feeling increasingly uneasy about the whole ordeal.
"A club. LUX. Mimi was having a meeting with the owner, Mr.—"
"Morningstar?" The detective perked up, "Uh, LAPD is familiar with him. What happened after you went to LUX?"
Elizabeth shrugged, "I gave her my journal and I left. That's it."
"Do you have an alibi?"
"I'm sorry, do I need one?" Elizabeth asked angrily, "You said this was informal questioning but you seem to have made a judgment already about me."
Detective Decker wasn't pleased with Elizabeth's outburst. "It's standard procedure, Miss Walker. I think I have everything I need. Don't leave town."
Hello, hello. So, I originally posted this on AO3 under my other account (because I'm dumb and can't sign into my actual AO3 account under BrookeSutter).
Anyway, I've always toyed with the idea of OC's in other stories but this is my first actual OC centered story. I'm really in love with it and would appreciate the feedback.
SO REVIEW!
Side note: I do love Chloe/Lucifer. I'm not anti-Chloe, this story just kind of is. My bad.