Page 86 of Sinful King

TWENTY-SIX

blair

THE NEXT DAY

I handed my jacket,bag and phone to Liam once we entered the church.

“Have you heard from Esi?” I asked, mentally counting the days she’d been gone while fixing the sleeves on my silk blouse. “How long has it been?”

Liam huffed and I lifted an eyebrow in his direction.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, adjusting my coat and bag over his arm before answering my questions. “I haven’t heard from her even though I’ve called.”

Ah.

He was upset because she’d gone missing in action on him.

Typically Esi and I didn’t stay in touch day to day, sometimes we went weeks without seeing and speaking to one another. This life did that to friendships like ours, but with everything happening between our families her silence worried me a little.

“Use my phone to text her,” I told him, moving toward the open sanctuary doors. “Send the same message three times. If she doesn’t respond in ten minutes book me a flight to Miami.”

I could multitask.

Unseat my father, check up on Esi, and be back in enough time to shadow Violet. The church board meeting Blake clued me in on was in full swing when I entered the sanctuary.

“We need answers,” I caught one of the deacons expressing before my father spoke.

“I understand your concerns…” he walked back and forth at the front. “My wife’s passing was a shock. I needed a sense of normalcy and first Sunday was meant to be that. I didn’t plan for—”

He lied so easily.

“You hadn’t planned for the truth to be revealed,” I chimed in, allowing my voice to carry as I approached from the far left aisle. “What you expected was to go on and pretend my mother never existed.”

His eyes were wild when they met mine, the facade I knew all too well cracking for a brief but noticeable moment.

“This is a closed meeting.”

The urge to mock my dad like when I was a kid filled me but I held it together for the sake of what I came here to do.

“Not to church members…” I tipped my head, wondering if he really wanted to play this game with me. “Sure, I can’t vote on anything but what I can do is attend and speak at this meeting. I think the board would love to hear about your affairs, the babies those affairs produced, how you covered up the sexual abuse your nephew—whose really your son—has been inflicting on members since he arrived, including me. Your own daughter. What I think they need is a strong reason to remove you and I’m that reason.”

“She’s right,” Blake said, ignoring our father’s death glare and surprising me. “I love my father, but I’m concerned for the well-being of this congregation if what he’s been covering up manages to leak.”

Mmm.

“Do you think you’ll escape scrutiny?”

The question irritated Blake and while I didn’t want our dad making a point no one could ignore, it was a valid question. And I wanted the answer.

“I don’t intend to hide,” he said without pause. “I’m man enough to admit my mistakes but there’s a clear difference between us. I’m a faithful husband and father, who hasn’t abused the members of this church or anyone for that matter. My only crime is staying silent.”

Why did I feel weird about this, about Blake’s sudden change in behavior?

Between today and first Sunday, it’s the most I’d ever heard him speak.

“Nathaniel Phillips is not fit to be the pastor of this church,” I added quickly, piling it on. “I think now is the time to take a stand. Your silence makes you complicit.”

“You should do what’s right and step away,” Blake threw out there, somehow in sync with me. “If the board votes you out, it’ll look much worse than a… retirement.”

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