28 December, Unknown location outside city K

Matthew knew exactly how Lexi felt, and he agreed with her. He simply wanted away from here, but unlike her, he wanted to bring the Devil down. He had to play the situation carefully, because the end goal was protecting them, and their assets. A marriage firstly, would ensure Lexi's assets were protected as his already were.

Matthew paused, as he knew the next words would harm any future relationship between them, but that could not be his current concern. "I assume the Imam will recognise the marriage performed before the conversion?"

The Devil spat our "He will." After a breath, he continued "Now you understand the realities of the situation."

Given the information he knew about the Devil using the ISX and similar groups, Matthew knew that he could play the Devil to do what he wanted in protecting Lexi and what she had worked hard for. While there had been rumours that the Devil and ISX had differing objectives, nothing was provable.

In just a few minutes Matthew was certain he could answer that question. Money was the Devil's motivation rather than the Islamic country that ISX were after. But, the ease in reaching that conclusion made Matthew wonder what the Devil was up to. Was he about to deal with ISX like other groups he had used and move to the next group?

The one thing, Matthew knew was that it was not safe at this moment to set of his tracking device. He needed to be careful as there was only going to be one opportunity for it to be detected without the Devil and his minions picking up what was happening.

However, before Matthew could plot in his mind his next steps, into the room walked a man, who was obviously an imam. The Devil, grabbed Lexi, who had only just covered herself with the clothes that the Devil had given them, and dragged her in front of the Imam, and held a gun to her head. It was obvious to Matthew, if he did not move quickly the Devil would pull the trigger.

Matthew, walked over, still feeling somewhat effected by the drugs that had been injected into him dragging behind him the chain that was bolted into the wall and attached to the shackle on his left ankle. He also noticed behind Lexi was another chain, which must also be attached to her ankle by a shackle.

Before he realised it, the Imam despite the fear that was clearly in his eyes commenced performing the wedding ceremony. Lexi looked at Matthew and realised that when they were younger, she had dreamed of marrying him, but her parents finding out about her pregnancy with Dominic and forcing her to marry Richard quickly to protect them and the company from having an unwedded pregnant daughter was drastic. They were so mired in conservative values, like Andrew was, it made her question how she and Chester were ever related to them. This was a travesty due to her earlier dreams of marrying Matthew.

While she did not understand what was happening, but for the circ.u.mstances and their current location the situation a simple ceremony as the Imam was performing could be considered romantic. She was just grateful that ultimately this would be considered a non-marriage. Who could recognise a marriage performed under duress and my someone not of her faith?

For Matthew, standing beside Lexi, he realised that what was happening, was a fulfilment of his youthful dreams. He was taking as his bride the woman that he loved as a young man, and who had been kept in his heart all these years. He would, gain a stepson, and hopefully down the track, she would agree to have children with him.

The only thing that he was concerned about was that Lexi would become highly angry when she learnt that the marriage would be recognised due to the operation of the law. She would view that this was not a legal marriage, but he knew the minute that she found out that this was legally valid there would be hell to pay.

Both Matthew and Lexi were lost in their thoughts, and Matthew was slapped around by one of the Devil's minions when he failed to respond to the Imam's request for confirmation. He gently shook Lexi to save her from being hurt in the same way. Before long the imam finished the ceremony and declared them husband and wife and completed the paperwork. Matthew internally relaxed a little, because now the simple fact of the marriage protected Lexi and her assets.

Once the Imam was finished the paperwork, neither Matthew or Lexi were willing to easily convert as demanded by the Devil. He c.o.c.ked the pistol in his hand and put it up against Lexi forehead so Matthew realised that he could do nothing that to cooperate to the minimal extent that would make the Devil happy.

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