Page 178 of Please Open Me
Mason.
He had one arm locked around her chest like a harness, the other holding a silver pistol pressed to her temple. Her eyes were wide, tears carving clean lines through the soot. She lookedso much like her mother.
Dale’s grin widened as my hand dropped, the rock still clutched tight.
“Drop the rock, Father Castillo,” he said smoothly, his drawl twisting around the words like a snake.
I didn’t move. Couldn’t. Fear of the present, the past, and the future held me still.
“I said, drop the rock.” Dale’s thumb cocked the hammer back. Mason flinched at the sound.
She let out the smallest whimper, and I dropped it. The rock hit the dirt with a dull thud.
“Good boy,” Dale purred. “On your knees. Hands behind your head.”
My head shook, not in defiance, but disbelief. The thought of doinganythingother than saving Mason was unthinkable.
Dale pressed the barrel harder against her skull. Mason bit her lip to keep from crying out.
“Get down, or I’ll shoot yourbitch,” he warned, voice low but steady. His smile never faltered.
Dale never talked like that. He was always scripture and sermon, and cryptic messages. But when his finger tightened on the trigger, I dropped.
Grass and gravel tore through my sweats as I knelt, fingers laced behind my head, the obedient sheep he always wanted me to be.
My body shook from adrenaline and fear, but my mind was fixed on her. Mason. Was this the last time I’d see her alive? Should I have let the fire take us both?
Then I felt it.
A gloved hand pressed to the back of my neck.
“Sorry, Father Castillo,” a low voice murmured near my ear. “Orders.”
Something sharp pierced my skin. Fire and ice coursed through my veins.
“No!” I tried to twist away, but my limbs betrayed me. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t stand. All I could do was claw at the dirt.
Mason screamed, but it sounded muffled, like she was underwater. Through the haze, I saw Dale lower her gently to the ground, careful not to touch her stomach.
“You’ve been stubborn as they come, Father Castillo,” Dale mused, abandoning her side to crouch in front of me.
Was she dead? Or just unconscious?
He gripped my chin, forcing my eyes to his.
“Congratulations on passing the test,” he said, breath hot and rotten. “Christ has big plans for you.”
My lips parted, half to bite, half to curse him, but nothing came out. My eyes crossed, the world blurring to black.
And the last thing I thought before darkness took me was this–for the past year, I’d made every wrong decision imaginable.
And now Mason and I were about to pay the price for my hubris.
Epilogue
Sophia
My eyes burned as I sank into Sebastian’s overly soft leather sectional. The lights were off, and the windows were open, letting the far off song of crickets fill the room as I watched the news for the millionth time in the last fourteen days.
