Page 56 of Billionaire's Sins
"Or maybe you came, knowing if you confessed to me, it would push me over the edge. Maybe you hoped I'd lose control enough to grant you eternal redemption. After all, it’s thanks to what you did that I found my faith. So, it's only right that I use the authority conferred on me to grant you eternal peace."
His gaze widens.
"Normally I take the vow of confidentiality during confession very seriously, but in your case, I'll be making an exception."
He tries to speak, but only a choking sound emerges.
"By the power vested in me my by the Church, I absolve you of your sins, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." My vision tunnels. Anger thrums at my temples. I release the grip on his throat with one hand while I continue to choke him with other. I raise my right hand. "In the name of the Father." I squeeze his throat, as I lower my hand. "Son." I increase the pressure on his throat as I swipe my free hand to my left, "Holy Spirit." I bear down with every last sliver of strength left in me. "Amen." I complete the benediction by moving my hand to my right.
When I loosen my grip on him, he slumps down to the floor. I lower my arms to my sides, then glance up at the figure on the cross above me. "So, this is what you wanted from me? This is the answer to my prayers then, my Lord?"
I stare up at the face of Christ, rake my gaze across His features frozen in agony.
"Tell me, my Lord, is this the way You repay me for the years I spent in Your service, in making sure I did everything that was my duty to You, in ensuring that I would leave no stone unturned in my loyalty to You? It was all a test, wasn’t it? Every single thing I did has led up to this moment, and I am helpless to stop it. For I am not in control… You are…or so You’d have me think?" I tip up my chin glare at He who does not speak to me anymore.
"Well, guess what? Not anymore. From this day on, I am no longer in Your service. No one controls my destiny. Not him—" I stab my finger in the direction of the figure on the ground, "not You, not anyone else. Me, I am the master of my destiny. Me, Edward Chase, from here on, I renounce my association with You."
The wind blows in through the open side door, which slams shut. The sound ricochets around the space, coils into my guts. "Oh, no, you don’t." I smile up at the figure on the wall. "You can’t stop me, not now. You had Your chance and You lost it. You lost me, my Lord. This is where we part ways."
I snatch the collar from around my neck and drop it on the man on the floor.
Then walk out the side door, through the garden, to my cottage. I pick up my phone, stare at it, then dial the one number I’d sworn never to call.
24
"Earbuds firmly stuck in her ears, my mum dances around the lawn, backlit against the sinking sun. Her weights are in her hands, swinging dangerously near to her head every time she raises her arms. She’s supposedly working out, and as she launches into the chorus of Prince's Purple Rain, I can see her face light up."
-From Ava's diary
Ava
Thunder booms outside and I sit up with a gasp. It’s dark in the room and I reach for my lamp and flick it on. The light illuminates the room but doesn’t dispel the unease that gathers in the pit of my belly. I snatch up my phone, check the time. It’s two am, the dead of night. Goosebumps pop on my skin. I rub my hands together, blow on them, then stare at the band-aid Edward had placed on the scraped skin at the base of my palm. I peel off the bandage, find the wound is already half healed. That didn't take long. Some gashes heal quickly. Others—well, others only fester over time.
A shudder runs down my spine.
It’s freezing and not even being under three duvets is keeping me warm. Ugh. The temperature must have plummeted outside, as it sometimes does in London. It was sunny yesterday, the warmest day in March for the last fifty years, or so the media headlines had proclaimed. Which is why, no doubt, the mercury dropped the other way today. I roll up the bandage toss it into the wastebasket near the bedside table. Just then, lightning flashes outside. Rain patters against the window at the same time that the doorbell rings.
Huh? Who can it be? I’m not expecting any of the girls to come by, and anyway, they’d never drop by unannounced. In the middle of the night. I pick up the phone and check my messages. Nope, nothing.
The doorbell rings again, then someone bangs against the door.
I stiffen, clutch my phone in my hand like it’s a weapon. Shit, I don’t have anything to defend myself with. But thieves don’t ring doorbells, do they?Not unless they want to take you by surprise when you opened the door.My pulse rate ratchets up. I slip out of the bed and the cold wraps around me. I shiver, walk to the kitchen, glance around, then grab the first thing I find. A wooden spoon. Shit, that’s not going to help.
The banging on the door resumes again, and I pivot, walk toward it and peer through the keyhole.
Golden eyes glare back at me. I gulp; my fingers tremble. The phone slips from my hand and hits the floor. Shit, shit, shit. I snatch it up, then juggling the wooden spoon and the phone in one hand, I open the door to find Edward framed in the doorway.
"Wha…what are you doing here?" I gulp.
He rakes his gaze down my features, to where I’m holding the phone and wooden spoon, then back to my face.
His hair is mussed, droplets of water dot his face, trail down his beautiful throat, down the demarcation between those sculpted pecks. Goosebumps pop on my skin for a second time in a few minutes, this time for completely different reasons. I rub one bare foot over the other and he jerks his gaze down my chest, to my hips, to my bare legs. Shit. In my hurry to get a weapon, I’d forgotten to wear something warmer, so I’m still clad in my camisole and the knickers that I’d worn to bed.
His nostrils flare. He glances up, meets my gaze. His irises blaze a gorgeous golden. I see myself reflected in them and shiver. Thunder cracks outside again and I jump. The phone slips from my hand. Again. He swoops down, grabs it before it hits the ground, then straightens. "Invite me in," he commands.
"Wh…what?"
"Ask me in, Eve," he snaps. "Now."
