Chapter 44
Forty-Four
SEBA
The man in the doorway, dressed in all black with a white clerical collar nestled against his throat, isn’t the same man who preaches on Sundays.
He’s not the same man who toasted a crowd in my name.
Nor is he the same man who flashed warm smiles every time he caught me kneeling in the back pews, praying for mercy.
No, this man fully embodies the Lord’s wrath.
The open maw of the chapel yawns around him, haloing his imposing figure in darkness as his bottomless glare bores into the three of us with cold rage. So cold, it coats the sweltering room in a thick layer of frost. It’s a quiet kind of anger, vastly different than my father’s dramatic tantrums.
And infinitely scarier.
Everything Andrea warned me about comes roaring back. I’m a fool for downplaying her terror. I’m a fool for bringing them here. I’m a fool for signing my soul over to him. Our sweat and cum aren’t even dry and we’re already facing our reckoning.
Blindly grabbing a discarded shirt to cover my nudity, I position myself in front of Cade and Andrea.
Silence stretches on painfully. Behind me, a nervous chuckle starts, rapidly escalating into crazed laughter.
“She was right! She was fucking right. The devout see everything,” Cade wheezes, swerving toward hysterics. “She couldn’t get me to finish it, but he will. He’ll drown the demon out of me with a fucking smile on his face.”
I don’t even have time to register what Cade just admitted as a blinding white light flashes twice.
Pastor Sinclair lowers the camera.
Cade’s laughter escalates.
“Andrea, get him out of here,” I command softly, never taking my eyes off Sinclair.
“You three aren’t going anywhere until we have a long discussion,” Sinclair seethes. His words freeze the blood in my veins. Cade’s breath comes in faster. He’s deteriorating.
This is all my fault.
Knowing I wasn’t meant to keep him didn’t stop me from claiming him.
Knowing I’d only hurt her in the process didn’t stop me either.
If Andrea doesn’t get Cade out of here in the next minute, I could lose him to his mind permanently.
I made the cruel decision to chase the impossible. Now, we’re all suffering.
Despite the garrote of guilt, my voice doesn’t betray me as I challenge Sinclair.
“You and I will have that discussion alone.”
“Seba, no,” Andrea whimpers.
I round on her, hoping she can see how much it breaks me to do this. “Cade needs someone to take him home and I’m not leaving you alone with this man.”
Her lips part in protest. Then close in a defeated line as she glances at Cade. He’s delirious, trembling with a painfully manic grin as he mutters, “Plot 304. She saved it for me. Right next to her. Belleview Cemetery. Plot 304…”
“It’s time to face judgment,” Sinclair seethes.
Cade’s high-pitched cackle makes me jump. “I’m actually gonna die this time.”
My eyes burn. “Get him out of here.”
Tears squeeze out of the corner of Andrea’s eyes. “Seba, please. He needs you. I need you.”
I grind back a scream. “Get. Him. Out.”
“If we don’t leave together…”
What’s left unsaid swings between us like a guillotine. So I step under the blade for her.
“Go.”
Sorrow rolls down her cheeks. She swallows. Nods. Then snatches up the scattered clothes to cover herself and Cade.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Sinclair demands.
She helps my stepbrother into his boxers, ignoring her father completely.
“Andrea, answer me this instant,” he growls, storming toward her.
I jump up, blocking his advance as she drags a frantic Cade out the door. His wild eyes connect with mine. I catalogue every detail of his beautiful face— the drop of honey in one iris, the razor blade of his jaw, the delicate curve of his lips— and wrap it up in my memory.
I wish things were different, baby. More than you’ll ever know.
As if hearing my thoughts, he says something back, but it’s too quiet for me to hear. Then Andrea tugs him into the night.
I’m yanked back by the throat.
Dark bottomless pits of fury bore into me.
“Listen here, boy,” Sinclair spits. “You’ll be punished.
What you’ve done— defiling my daughter’s purity and reducing her to a common whore— is unforgivable.
Unforgivable. But you’re going to repent.
” He nods with a sneer. “You’re going to repent every day until the Lord is satisfied. Until I’m satisfied.”
Despite dying inside, I level an impassive glare, succeeding in pissing him off more.
“And if I don’t?”
“If you don’t,” he snarls with a grin that churns my stomach.
“I’ll show the world how depraved you are.
Tell them how you sodomized your brother and coerced my daughter into giving up her virginity for your sick entertainment.
You’ll lose your scholarship. You’ll be arrested for public indecency and illegal activity on church property.
Your football career will be over. Would you like me to keep going? ”
I close my eyes, my hands balled into fists as I fight the urge to lay him out.
“No.”
“No, sir,” he corrects.
Humiliation rolls over me. My nails cut into my palms as I grit out, “No, sir.”
Sinclair sniffs as if I reek. “You will work under me until I decide your debt has been paid. I’ll allow you to continue your education and maintain the dignity you don’t deserve and in exchange for keeping this between us, you will cease all contact with my daughter and that psychotic brother of yours.
If you break my rules, I’ll not only reveal you for the predator that you are…
I’ll have the three of you eliminated. Am I understood? ”
Blow after blow— I’m crippled and shaking. But I made my bed. I can suffer these consequences. I will suffer for them. Because the alternative is unthinkable. I’ll protect Andrea and Cade until my judgment day.
“Yes, sir.”
Triumph gleams in his eyes.
“Get decent and finish unloading that truck.”
He spins on his heel and stalks out without looking back. He knows he’s got me nailed to the cross. Silent sobs render me mute. Grabbing my jeans off the floor, I dig out my phone and send a text— one final act of rebellion before servitude, even if it makes them hate me forever.
Andrea is bringing Cade home. He’s sick, Declan. He needs help. Professional help.