Page 98 of The Secrets of a Sin

“And who might you be?” She responds as Detective Pierce gauges his surroundings with intense eyes, glancing over at Charlotte before going back to Sister Mary.

“I think you already know that, ma’am. We’ve met previously from another prior incident at the school.” He continues to point the gun over my shoulder.

Sister Mary chuckles in return. “Ah yes, I do seem to remember your deep voice.” She suddenly removes her hand from my shoulder and moves beside me.

“What’s going on out here?” He questions, calmly nodding towards me. “Why you got Mr. Hale tied up to a chair?”

Sister Mary sighs heavily as her eyes ghost over to Priscilla and Annalise. “I don’t recall you being invited, Detective. As you can see, we have some pressing issues to attend to.”

As they continue back and forth, I try to capture Charlotte’s attention while she’s standing numbly, only a few feet away from me. Slowly, her eyes shift to mine, and I mouth the words ‘come here’. She has the knife, and if she can get to me without being noticed, she can cut me loose.

“Why don’t we all just walk back to the school so we can talk.” Detective Pierce tries to negotiate, but she seems less than willing to do that as she grins. “Whatever’s going on out here isn’t going to continue, so I suggest you listen to me, or things will get a whole lot messier.”

Sister Mary takes a few steps forward, making it more assessable for Charlotte to slowly walk towards me. Her feet carry her slowly until she’s in reach and drops down onto her knees. My heart frantically batters as she begins to cut at the bind on my feet.

“Messier?” She scoffs. “Can’t you see things are already messy? The world is fucking messy, and yet, here you are, threatening to kill me as if I’m the problem. Well, I’m not.” She seethes. “You’re the complication, and I’m the solution.”

Taking more steps forward, she reaches her hand out for Annalise and Priscilla to grab. “Were the solution.”

The sound of the binds releasing on my feet have me frantic then, finally, Charlotte makes work on the ones around my hands until I’m completely free. Before I can even think or process anything, my arms reach out to her, and I pull her into my lap. Her sobs fill my ears as I completely soak her in.

“Do you want to die tonight too, Detective?” Annalise growls, causing both mine and Charlotte’s eyes to take the scene in. “Because I’m sure we can arrange that.”

“Back up.” He jerks the gun, but they continue to move.

With Charlotte still in my arms, I gradually stand to my feet. Hot anger courses through me. “Tell him what you did to my sister. Tell him how you fucking murdered her because she wasn’t the right fit for your cult.”

They all spin around to face me as if they forgot I was there, but none of them come after us. “We’d do it all again if we could.” Priscilla spits as her cheek still pours with blood.

Annalise eyes Charlotte in my arms with such blazing malice that the veins in her head begin to pop out. “You…” She mumbles like a curse under her breath. “You still choose him after everything!” She screams into the air, causing the trees to wither from her intensity. “You think he will worship you like I would?” She tears her hands out of both Sister Mary and Priscilla’s hold. “You think that I will let him have you?” She steps towards us, causing Charlotte to cower into my neck. “Well, you’re wrong, little mouse. If I’m going down, so the fuck are you.”

She runs.

She fucking sprints towards us with mania in her eyes, and all I can do is drop Charlotte to the ground beside me and grab the knife from her hands. But before she can get to us, the sound of a gun going off shrieks through the night sky, and Annalise immediately stops. Her eyes widen in fear, and she peers up at Charlotte one last time before falling onto her knees and then the rest of the way down.

Priscilla screeches at the sight of her death, but Sister Mary screams with fury. “You killed her!” She cries in agony before charging towards Detective Pierce.

Then, finally, another shot rings out, and Sister Mary falls.

Charlotte throws herself into my arms, and I willingly catch her and pull her close to my front, hiding the view of death and blood from her eyes. Both mine and Detective Pierce’s eyes fall on Priscilla as she drops down onto the ground sobbing in complete hysterics as she stares at both of them dead.

It was over. The nightmare had ended, and I finally had Charlotte in my arms to soothe away the anxiety and fury that still lingered inside of me. Vengeance was somewhat mine as two of the culprits who had murdered Phoebe lay dead at my feet, but the chance to live was far more important to me now. My purpose was almost taken from me, and I couldn’t take it for granted now.

I’d live for Phoebe, for the life she prayed for and never got the chance to live out.

But I’d also live for me and try to give Charlotte exactly what she deserved.

And she deserved the whole fucking world.

32

CHARLOTTE

Arsen was alive.

I was alive.

That was all that mattered right now as I sat cuddled into his chest in the back of an ambulance truck. Five stitches later and a headache that rocked my equilibrium off balance, I buried my face into the warmth of Arsen’s neck as he continued to rub light circles on my back. I was safe in his arms. Finally, I felt like I was home, where I belonged.

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