“I’m just going to light a candle for the baby and some other ones for my brothers.”
“Aye, don’t forget to light some for my boys, too.” She grins widely.
“They’re the first ones on my list.” I smile.
I walk over to the other side of the church where the candles are and begin my ritual of praying for the men in my life. I’m so consumed in my task that I don’t hear someone walk up behind me until it’s too late. Strong hands cover my mouth to prevent me from screaming, and before I can lift my head to see who it is, my attacker strikes a blow to my head that knocks me out cold.
The next time I open my eyes, I’m tied to a large pillar with my arms behind my back. My heart thumps madly in my chest as I see a small altar in front of me, Father Doyle pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself.
“Father Doyle?” I ask, confused, tugging at my binds.
He snaps his head to me, his gaze looking completely unhinged.
“What… what am I doing here? What is this place? Where am I?” I swallow dryly, looking around the dimly lit room, trying to gather any detail that might tell me where I am.
The detailed religious imagery on the windows and the small altar in front of the room tell me that I’m still somewhere inside the church. Probably somewhere underneath it. This room must be a private chamber where priests come to pray. However, something tells me that Father Doyle is going to use it for nefarious reasons—reasons that have my heart shriveling up inside my chest.
“I’m not sure what your intentions are, Father, but I can tell you now, this will not end well for you.”
He marches over to me and grabs my throat, almost crushing my windpipe as he does it.
“I don’t want to hear a word from you, jezebel. Don’t try to seduce me with your wicked tongue, you she-devil. Your kind have no effect on me,” he snarls before releasing me from his grip.
I gasp for air, my lungs burning from being deprived for so long. He begins to pace back and forth again, mumbling incoherent babble. It’s hard to make out what he’s saying, but the few words I’m able to comprehend only heighten my fear.
“The devil must be cast out…”
“Weak men pulled from their righteous path…”
“Adulteress whore…”
“Devil child…”
He’s lost his ever-loving mind.
Ayúdame, Virgen de Guadalupe.
Por favor, te lo ruego.
For el ni?o.
I look around the room, scouring it to see if I can find a way out of here. My purse, which contains my phone, is stashed away on the altar, too far away for me to grab it and call for help.
But then it hits me.
Unlike the men I love, the priest isn’t used to doing this type of thing, which made him sloppy in his first kidnapping attempt. If he lived in our world, then he would have known that my phone and belongings should have been the first thing he had gotten rid of. Colin is too overprotective of me to not have put a tracker on my phone. Which thankfully is a good thing right now for more than one reason. My husband is a possessive beast which means he’d burn the whole city down to find me. If Colin has a tracker on it, then Boston can breathe easy from Tiernan’s wrath. I can’t say the same thing for Father Doyle, though. Once Shay is through flaying him with his knives, I doubt there will be anything left of his body that’s even recognizable. All I have to do is buy them some time to get here and rescue me.
I’m not entirely comfortable playing this role of damsel in distress, but to my bitter resentment, it’s the card this lunatic of a priest has dealt me. I look over to the small stained-glass windows one more time and see that the sun’s shadow on the grass has moved from its position. I must have been out for at least an hour. I’m sure by now Saoirse has noticed my absence and has called my men to warn them. They know I would never leave them of my own accord. Which means I’ve been kidnapped. Unfortunately, by the deranged look on the priest’s face, there will be no ransom asked for sparing my life. That realization chills me to the bone, but I square my shoulders and keep my head held high, determined to not let fear rule over me.
Both my child and my men need me to be strong right now.
And by God, I will not disappoint them.
“Just how do you think this is going to play out, priest?” I smile sinisterly at him, summoning the worst parts of my family behaviors. “You’ve made a grave mistake taking me. Now you will pay with your life.”
“Shut up you worthless whore! I will not let your serpent tongue break my resolve. God is with me. This is what needs to be done.” He rushes at me and slaps me across the face so hard that his rings slice my lip and cheek.
“God has left you, priest,” I spit out the blood in my mouth to continue. “He turned his back on you the minute you tied me up to this pillar. Let me go, and maybe you can still save your soul, if not your life.”
Because that was forfeited the minute you put your hands on me.
“I said shut up! You will not deter me from my calling.”
“And just exactly what is that? What do you think you will accomplish today?”
“I will send you back to the hell that you should have never left. I know the kind of woman you are. The things you let men do to you so they stray away from God’s grace. I heard it with my own ears last night. You let them all into your body and corrupted their souls.”
“Don’t talk to me about corruption, priest. Not when your church has benefited from both pain and misery. I know the Kellys are this church’s main benefactors. You don’t bat an eye at their monetary contributions, knowing full well the blood that was spilled to obtain it.”
“That is different,” he blanches.
“Right, because greed, violence, and murder are a more acceptable sin than sex is.” I sneer sarcastically. “Than love.”