: Chapter 54

My heart is ripped from my chest. The bloody, beating organ lies before me, thumping and bleeding out as I feel it tearing into pieces with every strike to his face. A hole resides where it once sat, aching with an internal torture I’ve never known as Baret drags me from the scene.

I’m already lost without him.

After witnessing the bodyguards take the consciousness from him, they tied him up, dragging his limp and bleeding body across my living room floor before my eyes, and into the awaiting vehicle.

He’s alive. They want him alive.

I had to keep reminding myself of this fact as I watched on in horror, clutching to Baret’s shirt while tears flooded my vision and one of the guards stood watch.

He sacrificed himself as the villain they wanted him to be so he could spare me time. A beneficial story, as Aero knows well, goes a long way in this world of looking good on paper for the public. A chess move for those who play the grimy game of politics. Saint, the hero who saved the sweet innocent Briony from a despicable act of violence in her own home. It was the perfect setup. The attention, the blame, the accusations, it all had a purpose. It all came to a point.

Callum Westwood had everything under control and in his back pocket.

Or so he thought.

“You came for me.” I cling to Baret, holding his tattered and torn college shirt in my grasp, his dried blood smeared across the heathered gray.

“As soon as I saw that message, I knew. I just fucking knew something was off. I don’t trust these people.” He shakes his head, glaring towards Cal as he continues in a whisper, “Never have.”

“What message?” I ask in a hushed tone, my eyes following as Cal and Saint walk towards the back of the house.

I haven’t seen my phone since being locked away with Aero at his place.

“The one you sent me,” he says pointedly.

My brows draw together as I wipe some of the blood from his chin.

“The one about Saint acting strange, being alone with him making you nervous…”

I sigh in disbelief, knowing it was all Aero’s doing. He knew this might happen. He knew everything and planned for it again. Three steps ahead of everyone, as always.

“I know what he did. Saw it with my own eyes,” Baret growls through gritted teeth, holding me tight. “I don’t care how it started. He won’t get away with this, Briony.”

His fury for me is comforting, but it only reiterates the fact that we aren’t blood. We aren’t related at all, and yet he still loves me wholeheartedly as his sister.

As if hearing the thoughts pouring from my mind, his expression turns sympathetic and he cups my cheeks, his nostrils flaring as if to ward off his own pain and struggle.

He knows. Baret knows. He knows more than he’s letting on. Maybe this was his reason for never staying with the church and paving his own way. Maybe this is why he’s always pulled away from our religion, yet stayed close enough to support me and my decisions. To watch over me in his own way. I have so many unanswered questions.

“He said to take this.” Baret eyes the guard before slipping me a tiny baggie with a single pill into my palm. His eyes snap back to mine and he nods towards the hallway. “Bathroom, now.”

Nerves have me on edge, unwilling to trust damn near anyone now that Aero’s gone. He must sense my confusion because he leans closer and whispers, “So you can continue to make your own rules.”

My own rules.

The last time I said that was when Aero and I were discussing birth control after our conversation about pregnancy. He got me a Plan B pill to take after everything went down, knowing I was off my pill and knowing the possibilities, but giving me the freedom to take my life into my own hands yet again. But how could Baret know? When did he…?

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to expose that prick for who he is,” Baret says, as if enraged at the event all over again.

Exposing a Westwood is harder than he thinks.

“They won’t believe you. No one will believe you, Bar. Just play the part,” I whisper in his embrace. “Play the part they want you to play while I figure this out the way I’m meant to.”

He shakes his head, but I part from him, making my way down the hallway.

“You’re not going anywhere!” the guard says in a gruff tone from the other side of the room, stepping towards me.

“I’m going to the bathroom!” I snap, my tears flowing again as I hold my top together, looking worse for wear.

The man pauses in place, his eyes softening slightly. “We’ve got a man out back and another at the front. You can’t escape even if, for some reason, you are stupid enough to try.”

“She needs to use the restroom, you pathetic fuck! Shut that hole in your ugly fucking face and let her piss!” Baret retorts.

They glare at each other as I continue my way down the hallway to the bathroom on the main floor. My mind is a mess of confusion and frustration as I try to contemplate how we’ll navigate ourselves out of this.

As I turn the corner into the bathroom, I hear whispers of a discussion happening outside the house through the screen of the back door. Sliding up along the wall in the shadows of the darkness, I peer down the hallway to ensure no eyes are on me, and lean in closer to listen.

“I fucked her. I fucked her dad. I’m done. It’s over.”

It’s Saint’s voice. The smell of cigarette smoke hits my nostrils and I see the shadows of both men standing on the back patio near the edge of the bushes.

“So what? It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. We’ve deleted your video and failed attempts. What matters is we are back in control of the situation you fumbled. We have him in our custody, and no one needs to know anything else about it. Baret will follow suit if he knows what’s good for him.”

Saint tried to record me? Aero must have known, which is why he stepped in and took over so coldly.

“What if she gets pregnant? I can’t become what I’m meant to if—“

“As if that’s ever stopped us,” Callum interrupts with a laugh. “We’ll make our own rules, and she will fall in line. She owes you that much.” I hear a back being slapped. “Be grateful, son. You got some fine pussy out of the deal and a fucking badge of honor before the induction. The congregation will be more than fine with the unanimous vote now.”

“I fucked up. I couldn’t get it done,” he says, sounding defeated.

My pulse pounds in my head, overwhelmed with fury.

“That’s why you gotta leave the thinking to me and stop trying to take matters into your own hands. You’ve fucked up enough.”

“I had her. I had her spread and ready, doing things to incriminate herself. I was so close, but then he came in and said this was the test. The same one you and the elders have always talked about. He got in my head.”

My fist tightens at my side, nails piercing into my flesh.

“What?” Callum asks with venom on his tongue.

“He called her my beloved stain. You’re the only one who’s ever called her that.”

“You got played, son. Played like a goddamn fool. I didn’t want her tarnishing your reputation, but you just couldn’t stay away. You couldn’t keep your dick in your pants, could you?” He scoffs, inhaling his cigarette. “You’re lucky you invited me to come clean up the mess.”

There’s a heavy sigh and some shuffling of feet. I lean more of my weight against the frame of the door, and it cracks. I hold my breath, closing my eyes tightly before I hear them continue their conversation.

“So, where are they taking him?” Saint asks quietly, and my ears perk up. “Did you have him killed?”

My chest feels as if a knife pierced through it at the idea alone. The pain makes it impossible to breathe.

“No,” Cal answers calmly. “Not yet. A few old friends wanted to pay him a visit first.” He chuckles.

There’s a slight pause.

“Aw, don’t get soft now. He’s not your blood. His is tainted and spoiled with the DNA of a whore. He isn’t pure, like us.”

Pure like us. Rage fills my vision, threatening to explode from the tips of my fingers, but I remember words from Aero during my lessons in the woods; “Harness it. Hold it in your grasp and mold it into your weapon, using it only when ready.”

“What will they do to him?” Saint asks.

“Destroy him,” he answers calmly, and I hear him exhale his smoke. “They’ll take every last bit of hope he’s ever manufactured. Steal any fragment of determination he’s ever cultivated, and ruin him while he’s alive enough to feel it.”

“Good,” Saint says, and my stomach churns with a sickening sensation.

Aero knew all along. He’d always tried to get me to see the light. The truth lurking in the dark corners. But I held hope for Saint. Thought he was innocent in all of this as well. But he’s worse than all of them. He’s been playing the part of the good guy. A slimy snake that slithered his way into the heart of a woman who tried to see the best in the worst of people.

“He’s not a part of this institution, but the infection that threatens to dismantle our place in this world. We must stand together and remain strong and cut the cords that hold us back.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” Saint scoffs. “And yet, somehow, he still got out of prison. Even after he murdered her.”

Murdered her? Who’s her?

“Yeah, did Alastor a real favor with that one. That woman was ready to risk everything to bring him down for her baby. Hilarious turn of events, seeing Briony so immersed in the very church her mother defied. But he has a wry sense of humor, that fuck. I ended up hiring my own flesh and blood unknowingly, just to end our little determined stray.”

This flood of information is being absorbed into my mind, but the pieces of the puzzle lie inches apart. Alastor. Baby. Mother. Church. Stray.

No…

“He’s lucky he’s agreed to push forward with my proposals, or I’d force my money on his political opponent.”

“But how did you know he’d be here?” Saint asks, clearly bringing the conversation back to Aero. “With her? You don’t think she was in on this, do you?”

Panic travels up my spine at his realization.

“Don’t be stupid, son. That woman may think she’s determined to make a place for herself in the church, but revenge is not in her blood. She’s entirely too soft. Besides, she doesn’t even know her father. There’s no reason she’d play a part in your demise. Her faith would never allow it. It was all a setup from the infamous Aero Westwood,” he says dramatically. “He used her to get to us, but it backfired.”

“How?”

“His so-called friend told us of his whereabouts and his sick obsession with his ‘little doll,’ as he calls her. The owner of the nightclub I told you about? The one you’ll get to visit once you become bishop. Yeah, he works for us. That’s where they’re taking him now.”

Nox. That piece of shit sold him out. I’ll cut his dick off. I swear it.

“Bishop Caldwell is elated to grace his presence again,” Callum continues, amusement in his tone. “They have history, those two.”

My insides shudder at the mention of his name. That man did horrible things to Aero as a boy, and now he’s going to be trapped in a room with them? The demons that run the earth free, using their holiness as an express pass to abuse others. Brady comes to mind, and my heart races as the blood that runs through me burns with fiery ferocity.

I’ll kill them all if they so much as lay a hand on him in there.

“Well, let’s go enjoy the show, shall we?” I hear what sounds like a foot rubbing against the concrete, probably Callum putting out his cigarette.

I rush towards the bathroom as silently as possible, locking the door behind me. Taking the pill out of the bag, I pop it in my mouth and swallow it down with some sink water. I gaze at my reflection, peering into the eyes of an entirely different woman with a past that was snuffed out. My mother stares back at me. The stark blue of my lash-framed eyes, the inky black hair that surrounds my flushed face. Determined as ever to defy the church that took her child.

I may not know her, but her story is ingrained in my blood. Running through the veins of a woman sent here to right their wrongs. The same blood that burns for the vengeance I’m bound and determined to unleash.