RP for: luthor_lineage

[notyouranswer]

It had been a week.

A week since he'd found her in Shanghai, a week since he'd blackmailed her into coming home, a week since she'd returned to Smallville to begin their lifelong charade. We're the happy couple. The young society newlyweds. Smile, Lana.She hadn't seen much of him. Her dinners were spent alone, her evenings with only the maid as

Comments

[luthor_lineage]

There wasn't much that Lex didn't know about his wife. For one, she was a conniving little bitch. Somehow he always married the worst kinds. They always had something up their sleeves. If they weren't trying to kill him, they were trying to make his life difficult. These days, he knew better than to trust his women though. He knew better than to fall head over heels in love. His wife was only good for one thing, and that was sex. And even then, Lana fell short. He hadn't been able to touch her without feeling the need to cleanse himself of her lately

[notyouranswer]

If his smile was meant to assuage her, it didn't.

It was strange, but the more civil he became at times, the more frightening he could be. She remained in her spot, nails digging into her palm. She could lie - it was as easy as breathing by now - but he'd find out anyway. He always did.

Dread sunk into her chest and it left her frozen, splintered.

She hated him. She hated him.

"I didn't - " suddenly her lips were suddenly very dry. "I didn't go."

[luthor_lineage]

"You didn't go." He nodded. "And here I was hoping to get a performance out of you."

Well, apparently, Lana was learning. There really was no point in lying. But she wasn't going to get any points for telling the truth either.

Lex had dropped by her class this evening; having intended to ask her to join him for dinner. He wanted to make up for causing her distress earlier that afternoon. Well, he'd made a mistake, thinking that she had actually attended class. She'd made him look like a fool.

Lex stepped into her room and walked toward her. He reached for the Neiman Marcus bag in her hand.

"What's this? A new dress, Lana?"

[notyouranswer]

She took one step back. And kept taking steps until her back hit the wall. The more distance she placed between them the easier it would be to untie that knot currently threading like a vine at her throat.

"Lois wanted to take me shopping." She despised herself for sounding so meek. Lifting her chin, she added. "I didn't use your money."

He was unreadable. His eyes betrayed nothing.

"I really hate pottery."

[luthor_lineage]

"Hm." He licked his lips and nodded once. "Well, I thought you were going to make this difficult." He glanced over his shoulder and signaled at the security camera. "Which is why I called ahead." He stepped back as two men from Belle Reve, dressed in their signature white uniforms walked into her room. "Don't worry, Lana. It's just a routine checkup. You'll be back home in no time."

[notyouranswer]

Her throat constricted as the two men walked into the room, flanking at either of her sides and grabbing her by the elbows. Lana remembered the sensation of being trapped in that straight jacket, remembered the screams from everyone around her, sanity nowhere to be found. A week. He'd left her there for a week.

Lana's head whipped over to Lex. Had she really thought, once upon a time, he'd be the man to love and protect her? "Lex, please. Please don't do this." She closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks. He wanted her to beg.

This was hell. Hell of her own making.

"I'll..." Faustian bargains. She'd made so many. "I'll do anything."

[luthor_lineage]

The two men were waiting on his signal.

Lex moved forward, and he cupped Lana's chin in his hand. "Oh, I know you will." He wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I'm only doing this for you, Lana. I want you to get better." Resolute in his decision, he nodded at the man on Lana's right. "Have Dr. Sydell call me."

[notyouranswer]

"You want to break me."

"But you don't understand." She almost smiled. "I don't care anymore. I have nothing to lose." Lana resisted being pulled as she whispered into his ear, "You think you're so important. One day someone will do us all a favor and finish you. And you know what Lex? The world won't even blink."

She shrugged the men off. "I can walk on my own."

[notyouranswer]

Five days.

She was stuck in Belle Reve for five days. The first day she'd been a hellish and uncooperative bitch, until she learned quite quickly it was better to not put up a fight at all. If she argued with the nurses, she was threatened with electroshock therapy and given inhumanly cold showers. If she talked back to Dr. Syndell, she was restrained and used for drug testing.

Lana puked most of the second day as an after effect. She was kept sedated day three and four.

Lana looked out the window, didn't bother to acknowledge the nurse as she announced bitingly her worried husband had finally arrived.

[luthor_lineage]

Lex hadn't bothered to visit at all but he was kept up to date at all times. He received reports, video footage of her sessions with Dr. Syndell, and daily phone calls from him. The good doctor was aiming to please.

"Thank you," Lex said to the nurse as he walked past her and into the room. "I'd like to be alone with my wife, please." She gave him a smile and nodded before signaling to the orderly to remove the restraints from Lana's wrists.

[notyouranswer]

Lana winced as the restraints were removed. The nurses were always more forceful than necessary, especially when it involved injecting her. Her vein throbbed, a purple and ghastly sight.

Not that he'd care. He probably told them to be as harsh as necessary.

She remained quiet until they were alone. "And how is my keeper?" she asked, but her voice carried none of the irritation she wished to inflect. She was too tired, her words feeble, dull and lifeless as every part of her.

Lana looked straight ahead, emotionless. Kept looking at the bright sky out her window, hoping it would blind her.

[luthor_lineage]

He slipped his hands into his pockets as he stood at the foot of her bed, watching her.

"I meant to visit, Lana. But I had some business to attend to. An emergency." He moved beside her and reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. The bruise on her forearm went unnoticed, as did the ones on the back of her hand.

"You look tired. Have they been treating you well?" Oh, as if he didn't already know.

[luthor_lineage]

Taking her gloved hand in his, Lex walked her out of the room and out through the main entrance of Belle Reve. Almost immediately, the reporters came toward them like bees attracted to honey, snapping shots and asking questions.

"Mrs. Luthor, are the rumors true?

"What drove you to do that to yourself?"

"Mr. Luthor, what was your reaction to hearing that your wife had overdosed?"

"Mrs. Luthor, was that a suicide attempt?"

Lex kept his arm around Lana, protecting her from the crowd as his bodyguards cleared a path for them. The limo was waiting.

"I would appreciate it if you'd give us some privacy," Lex said, holding a hand up to the camera. "This is a difficult period for us. My wife suffered a miscarriage only two months ago, and let's not forget that no less than two weeks ago, she went through another terrible ordeal." The fake kidnapping to cover up Lana's plan to have Lex framed for her own murder. "So please."

[notyouranswer]

Lana placed her sunglasses back on - no sooner had they stepped outside were they seized by various flash bulbs as cameras began snapping pictures. She groaned inwardly, Lex placing a hand on her waist as he steered her away from those that got too close for comfort.

It was a claustrophobic chant of Mr.and Mrs. Luthor's! all the way over to the limo. Lana crossed her legs, propping her chin in her hand, silently proud at her feigned composure. Miscarriage. Overdose. The nerve of this man.

And then they were alone. "We can't live like this, Lex."

[luthor_lineage]

Lex was seated across from her in the limo, already on his computer, checking his emails. He didn't bother to look at her.

"I thought you like being driven in the limo," he said as he typed on his laptop. "I believe you said it made you feel important. ... What? Do you have a problem with high society living now?"

[notyouranswer]

Money isn't only luxury, Lex...it's power. She'd been in awe. A small town girl from Kansas with the world at her fingertips. How easily she'd been sucked into his world. How easily she'd been sucked in by him.

She really was no better. "Forget it, Lex." She looked out the window. The sun wouldn't blind her. "Go on pretending I don't exist, you're a pro at it."

He didn't even look at her. From the moment she'd arrived, he would simply look past her, through her. Never at her.

[luthor_lineage]

Lex knew that what Lana wanted more than anything else was to be left alone right now, but if that was going to happen, it wouldn't be because she wanted it. It would be because he was done with her. And he wasn't.

"I'm fine, Lana," he said once they were in her room. "It's you I'm worried about." And as he stood behind her, Lex wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. He brushed a kiss against her cheek.

"I've missed you."

[notyouranswer]

Lana moved her head to the side, staring at their forms in the full-length mirror across the room. It should have been a distorted image, crystallized in fragments. Instead it was clear, aesthetically pleasing. She knew they looked good together.

"No you haven't," she whispered miserably, breath quickening as he leaned in, his nose brushing against her collarbone. She twisted in her spot to face him, confusion genuinely flitting across her features.

"Why pretend when we're alone?"

[luthor_lineage]

He kept his arms around her waist as she turned to face him, and he narrowed his eyes at her, managing that somewhat puzzled look.

"I don't know what you mean by that." He glanced down and reached for her hand. Lex swept his fingers across her ring finger and then returned his gaze to her. "I love you."

The declaration came easy. It usually did when the words meant nothing to the person saying it.

"Why don't you believe me, Lana?"

[notyouranswer]

You are incapable of love. The words nearly left her mouth.

But she knew what would come next. And she'd had enough the past few days. She smiled. "I believe you, Lex." They'll both burn in hell. "And I love you." She said them as one would say I hate you, you've ruined me, your love is a terrible thing, but it was hard to question when her gaze was so sincere.

Lana looked down at the ring, fought the urge to strip it off her finger.