Page 132 of For I Have Sinned

“You little bitch!” Joanna screams. “You were so jealous of the attention I was giving Father Keaton that you went behind my back⁠—”

Father Keaton covers her mouth to stop her from saying something she’d regret.

“Calm down.” He demands as she thrashes in his arms, putting up a fight until she eventually gives up, and her body relaxes. With his mouth next to her ear, he quietly says, “Go back to your room, Joanna; get some rest, and calm down. We will talk about this later, okay?”

He slowly unwraps his arms from her and drops his hand from her mouth. Her eyes find mine, an apology hidden behind the anger, but when she walks away, she doesn’t spare a glance at her friend. Bekah has tears in her eyes as she watches Joanna walk further away from her. You can almost see her heart break with the way the pain appears on her face.

“Bekah,” Father Keaton says her name softly, gaining her attention. “I’ll talk to her, and she will be fine. You don’t need to worry.” She nods with a sniffle. “Go to your room.”

“Okay,” Bekah mutters, leaving us.

Here I thought the tension was thick earlier, but now? It’s consuming the air, and I can barely breathe. I don’t look at Father Keaton before I turn and try to enter my office, but then he speaks, causing me to pause.

In a grim tone I’ve never heard come from him before, he demands, “Go get Celine.”

Chapter 42

Celine

Esther and I stare at each other with wide eyes after what we just witnessed. I thought Joanna was furious that day she slapped me, but the look on her face as she stormed through the hall was nothing like the anger I saw that day.

From our spot by the chapel, we heard some yelling but couldn’t make out the words or the voice of the person causing the uproar.

But after seeing Joanna’s face, it was clear that it was her.

Bekah’s face was red, not from anger, but from crying. Her eyes were puffy as tears fell freely as she hurried by us to her own room. Neither of their expressions gave away what happened, and I hated that Alex had shooed us away from where we could have witnessed everything.

We stand outside the chapel, almost too afraid to say anything to each other, when Alex rounds the corner and heads to us.

“Father Keaton wants to see you,” he announces with fear in his eyes.

“He wasn’t arrested?” Esther asks.

Alex shakes his head, eyes remaining on mine. “No.”

“No? What do you mean, no?” I question in disbelief. “The evidence was all there!”

“But it wasn’t,” he informs us, and then his voice fills with worry. “He knows, Celine, and he wants to see you.”

“I was the one who called.” Esther steps forward to sacrifice herself. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“He doesn’t suspect you at all,” Alex tells her.

“But—” she begins to say.

“Esther, I know you said you’d take the fall, but I’m not letting you.” I turn to her and take her hand in mine. “I appreciate what you did, but you aren’t going to be the one getting in trouble for this. Go hide out in your room. I’ll find you after.”

With a tight squeeze to my hand, she nods and then leaves us.

“How mad is he?” I ask Alex.

“I’ve never seen him like this,” he warns.

“Wonderful.” I sigh and roll my shoulders.

I follow Alex down the hall, neither of us speaking because we are both too afraid. I don’t know what I’m walking into, but I try to prepare myself the best I can. When we reach Father Keaton’s door, he is in his chair, fingers steepled in front of his mouth. His eyes lift to mine, and when they do, my heart sinks to my ass.

Father Keaton isn’t mad.