Vicious Minds (Children of Vice #4)(21)

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t play dumb. I know you—”

“Cordelia!”

I looked to Father Santos as he came back into the church dressed in his blacks. From the corner of my eye I observed Ethan putting the gun away. Smiling, I got up and took his hands. “Hello Father, how are you?”

“As good as I was when I saw you an hour ago, and an hour before that. You’ve been to every Mass today, is something the matter child?” He asked me, concerned. He glanced over to Ethan and then gave me a look, squeezing my hand. I squeezed back and smiled, telling him I was fine.

“Father, this is a friend of mine, Ethan.”

Ethan stood up and took his hand. “Father.”

Father Santos looked him over and relaxed a bit when he didn’t see any visible tattoos and heard his accent. “Welcome, Ethan, how do you know our Cordelia?”

“Childhood friends,” he replied and his attention shifted to me. “She used to hate church though.”

Making up stories, are we?

“You?” Father Santos asked, shocked.

I giggled softly and nodded. “Yes, he always loves telling people that part, and not how he brought me to church.”

“Really?” He smiled, truly happy and no longer worried.

“Yes. When were children, we were playing in the woods, and he fell and broke his leg. I was so scared and I didn’t know the way back home. But he wasn’t moving or waking up. I had to get help, but I didn’t know the way. I held on to my rosary praying for help and all of sudden I saw a woman walking back to the camp. I followed her and found our parents and got back to him. When I went to look for the woman, no one else saw her. From then on, I truly believed mother Mary helped me then…though Ethan here…” When I faced him, he was doing his best not to glare but I frowned. “He thinks it was the adrenaline. I keep telling him to come to Mass, but he’s not very big on church.”

Father nodded, completely enraptured. “Sometimes, the miracles we are shown are meant to bolster our own faith so that we may be a light to others. Just your presence here brings him to church and that’s a beautiful thing.” He gave his attention to Ethan, who was completely over this conversation. “I know it may seem a bit out there for you, but I hope you open your heart and see the blessings that have been set out for you. The fact that you are here is proof that the Lord is trying to you use for great and beautiful things.”

“Thank you, Father,” Ethan said to him and then added, “I’ll try, and I’ll come back to talk to you for sure, however my aunt told me to come get Cordelia. I think she’s worried she’s planning on joining the convent.”

He laughed and nodded, “Well, if you’re serious, Cordelia, you and I could talk later. But even nuns rest. Go home before you end up staying for Monday morning Mass too. Goodbye.”

“Yes sir, have a good day.” I took my purse and linked hands with Ethan, following him back out the door. When we got to the doors, I could see the downpour outside. “I hope all this rain helps those fires.”

His jaw tensed, giving me a little thrill. I leaned in closely. “If I was here, how the hell could I cause a fire two hours away?”

“You make it seem like it’s hard to pay off a priest,” he muttered.

“There are cameras in the church,” I lifted my phone to show him. “Let’s pray no one saw you pull me on a gun on me. That was sloppy on your part, don’t you think?”

He didn’t reply, just kept watching me. I stepped out into the rain shivering as the water hit my skin and drenched my clothes. I was making my way to my car when…

BANG!

I jumped and turned back to see him pointing a gun at me.

“I’ll kill the priest and burn down the church after I kill you,” he growled.

“Sloppy. You’ll never know how your fields were found, how they were burned, or who burned them. Not knowing would drive me crazy but maybe that’s just me. Hold on.” I brushed my wet hair behind my ears and straightened my blouse a bit. “Okay, go ahead now, I’m ready. Wait…one last thing… check your phone.”

He just stared.

“I promise, you won’t think I’m as rude,” I answered. He didn’t move. “Ethan, this rain is cold. Either kill me or read the damn news so I can move.”

Eyeing me warily, he slipped his phone from his pocket. He holstered his gun, allowing me to climb the steps towards him. “Does it say twelve corrupt cops burned down cocaine fields to hide their involvement in the illegal drug trade and over 12 tons of cocaine, with a U.S. market value estimated to be around $432 million, is missing?”

“It does.” His jaw was set and he stalked towards me. “But it’s not missing, is it?”

“I’m sure someone is missing it…just not me.”

He pulled the trigger.

I looked down at my stomach then back to Ethan. Reaching down, I pulled out the needle and held it up between us.

“You have a strange way of saying thank you.”

“I don’t say thank you at all. The poison you used, I was able to get it too,” he replied. As I closed my eyes and collapsed into his arms the last thing I heard was, “Payback is a bitch, isn’t it.”