Page 156 of Beast: Part Two

“Alright,” Brooklyn says, walking into the room. “KJ is down for his nap. Mom is watching him. I am free to be of assistance.” She stops and stares at me through the mirror. “You look so beautiful.”

Immediately, tears form in her eyes.

“Oh no,” Trina says, grabbing a tissue for me. “You’re going to start a chain reaction.”

Emory walks into the room in her flower girl dress and everyone coos at how cute she is.

“We should be going,” I say. “We don’t want to keep the guests waiting.”

“Girl, you got three people in that audience,” Trina chuckles. “They can wait.”

She wasn’t lying. I didn’t have any real family. Even though my mother didn’t rat me out to Corbyn, I still chose to distance myself from her. The only friend I have outside of Trina is Shay. Thankfully, she and her husband showed up. James is the third person sitting outside and not in the wedding.

“We should be going.” Malia gets to her feet and grabs Anthony out of the bassinet.

Emory signs something to her. I only catch a few of the signs. I’m learning sign language now.

“You sure can hold him,” Malia says, handing Emory her brother.

Albany holds out a hand and helps Ari off the bed. We all head for the door when suddenly Gabe’s voice comes over the intercom.

“Hulk! Mama! Everybody! Come quick.” As fast as I can, I rush out of the room. We all head into the living room where we pull up short.

I can’t believe my eyes.

With a huge smile on his face, Gabe says, “Look, Papa Priest is back.”

Pope

I would have never guessed what Dominique wanted to speak to me about that day in his office.

“You’re going to need to take that earpiece out for this part.”

Although I still didn’t trust him, I wanted to hear him out. I pulled the device out of my ear and clicked it off.

He took a seat back in the chair he was sitting on and held out a hand for me to do the same.

I retook my seat across from him.

“You were right. There is something else I want from you.” He leans back in his chair.

“And what is that?”

“I want you to run the Church.”

If my eyes could have popped out of my head, they would have. I did not see that coming.

“I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting that. There are protocols—”

“Fuck those protocols.” He waved me off. “Right now, Corbyn has nearly 60 percent control over the Church.”

“And you want that control?”

“No. I want you to have it.”

I’m completely fucking lost. There is no motive here. Why would he want me to control the Church.

“I’m struggling to follow this, Dominique. What do you get out of all this?”

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