Page 129 of Please Open Me
Normally I’d argue, but Mom was in the middle of making chocolate chip cookies, and I wasn’t about to risk my place in line for the first batch out of the oven. I could circle back after my meeting and grab one then.
The hallway to Momma’s office always felt colder than the rest of the house, and it fit. Momma never really matched the warmth of everything else here. I smoothed my skirt, squared my shoulders, and knocked once before pushing the door open.
She didn’t look up, leaving me with a perfect view of her side profile, the one we shared. Her black hair was pulled into a low bun, her fingers flying across the keyboard like she was conducting some silent symphony.
“Sit,” she said, sharp and simple, like I was a dog.
Instead of arguing, I sat.
For a minute, I tried to mimic her, back straight, chin up, hands folded neatly in my lap. But my foot started tapping, my fingers twitching, and within seconds I was leaning back in the chair, slouching like myself again.
“Speak.” Finally, she stopped typing to look at me.
“Sebastian isn’t a crazy cultist!” Everything smart I had planned vanished, because that’s what it all boiled down to.
Her frown deepened, so I rushed ahead. He hadn’t gone back to Hartwood once since we pulled him out. Cult members didn’t just leave their cults. He was too gentle when he cleaned my hands. If he wanted to hurt me, he could’ve. And more than that, he looked appalled by blood, by killing. That used to never bother him, but now? He was a changed, non-threatening man.
But Momma didn’t even blink. When I ran out of words, she folded her hands neatly on the desk.
“No matter what you think you’ve seen, I have someone else in Hartwood feeding me real evidence,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact.
My stomach flipped. “You–what?”
The corner of her mouth twitched like she was amused. “You didn’t think I’d let you be the only agent investigating, did you?”
“I…” My lips pressed off to the side. “Well, yeah. I kinda did.”
Momma shook her head, leaning back in her chair like the conversation was already over.
“Sophia, I’m letting you play detective because I love you. But nothing you’ve found so far outshines the evidence stacking up against Sebastian.”
My fists clenched, but I hid the anger with a smile. She thought she’d just shut me down. But really? She’d handed me exactly what I needed.
Now I knew there was another agent. All I had to do was find them, scare the life out of them, and make sure they left Sebby alone.
The only problem? I had no idea who the heck they were.
Chapter 31
Mattie
The last time I saw Mason Albright, she told me never to talk to her again. Normally, that was a pretty good indicator of when someone doesn’t want to speak to you.
But, future favors the bold, or whatever the fuck that saying is. So, our lack of conversation wasn’t from my lack of trying. Still, I was a little more than shocked when she randomly asked me to pick her up from the airport in Portland.
Never in my life would I have said no, but, unfortunately, I was with Dale when she texted. And, he was a little more than excited to see her name flash across my phone.
I hadn’t necessarilywantedto tell Mason about the murders Sophia and Sebastian committed, especially because my hands weren’t clean in that aspect. All I’d wanted to do was scare her out of Hartwood and put distance between her and Sebastian.
Dale was beginning to spiral, thanks to his desperation to see his twisted gospel come to fruition before the end of his life. He wanted me to keep an eye on Mason because, to him, she had become the missing piece to the puzzle of creating the second coming.
She survived when he had one of his lackeys drug her to the point of heart failure. She not only recovered after a short month-long coma, but shethrived.No one had any idea how she did it, especially without any lasting repercussions.
But she was supposed to die when they pulled her off life support. It was Dale’s lastfuck youto Cameron. And now that she hadn’t? To him, she and Sebastian procreating would be the key to Dale’s eternal life and the Sons of Christ’s eternal salvation.
Worse than all of that, he thought Mason was already pregnant, which she was. And that wasmyfault for bringing up the pregnancy tests. But! In my defense, I thought those were for who I now know is Sophia. You know, because Mason just had a fucking baby. Why would she get pregnant again?
And the last thing I was going to do is let Dale get his withered hands onmygirl.
