Page 128 of The Love of Priest

"See?" Priest smirked as he crouched down again. "That was easy."

Britain remained in her spot, wanting to keep a safe distance just in case whatever he was retrieving from the air vent wasn't something she could stomach. She watched as Priest pulled a dusty black leather bag from the vent.

He assessed the bag and its heaviness, satisfied with it.

"What is it?" Britain asked, her ears still ringing from the two gunshots Priest had fired. He stood up, sitting his weapon back into his waistband.

"C'mon. I'll tell you in the car," he said while gripping the straps of the leather bag. He allowed Britain to lead the way downstairs since she was so antsy about leaving.

Exiting the home, Priest locked up behind them. He assisted Britain back into the car before getting in himself. He sat the leather bag down on his lap.

"There's no corpse in there, right?" Britain raised a brow.

Priest chuckled. "Nah," he shook his head. "Can't fit a corpse in here,Gioia," he enlightened her as he began pulling the zipper back on the bag.

Once the bag was unzipped, he widened the opening, revealing it was at full capacity with a hefty amount of money nestled inside. Britain eyes widened at the amount of money in the bag. She was sure she had never seen that much cash in her life.

"How much is that?" Britain asked while glancing from the money and then up at Priest.

"A mil," he announced casually as he zipped the bag back up and tossed it into the back seat.

"Why are you so casually placing a million dollars in your back seat after you shot it out of an air vent at an abandoned house?" She gave Priest a bewildered look.

Priest chuckled at her take of all this. "It looks crazy, but there’s a story behind all this shit." Priest gestured to the money in the back seat.

"So, it's not yours?" Britain asked with concern in her tone.

Priest shrugged his shoulders. "It technically is mine, but I don't want or need it," he explained.

"Then why'd you take it?" Britain asked.

Priest took his eyes off the road briefly to eye her. "When Leonard got locked up, he had everyone in the hood going crazy about some stashed money he left behind. When people started realizing I was his son, they all encouraged me to go find it and shit like that, but I wasn't really interested. Leonard didn't claim me as his son, so why the fuck should I be so pressed over his money?" Priest scoffed with a shake of his head. "It wasn't until a few years back when he got out that Remy gave me this address and told me to go claim what's mine. I found it the day me and J'Ru got fired from our job, but I never told anyone, nor did I touch it. I didn't feel compelled to do so. I didn't want his handouts or anything that ever belonged to him or graced his fingertips. My pride made me leave it all behind," Priest shrugged.

Britain couldn't believe her ears. How could he just walk away from so much when he was in need? Priest was one hell of a man. "I checked in on it occasionally. Just like I never touched it, Leonard didn’t either," Priest stated.

"So, why'd you take it now?" Britain questioned.

Priest chuckled. "He'll take the bait."

Britain sometimes hated when he would speak in code. She almost never understood him. "What?"

"I want him on my trail, make him think I need him for the benefit of his own ego," Priest went into detail. This was the beginning stage of his plan. The quicker Leonard jumped on his trail, the quicker June would be sniffing right behind him. Priest was willing to take them both out if he had to. He was really praying that he got the chance.

Britain angled herself to face Priest. "I don't even want to know what you have brewing in your head." She shook her head at him.

Priest chuckled. "Good," he asserted as he reached over the console to grasp her hand. "I apologize," he said.

Britain’s thumb caressed his knuckles as she eyed their hands that were fused together on her lap. "I'm sorry too. You're not anything near a disappointment. It's just hard to take everything in, especially when things feel good the way they are," she apologized. Britain felt pretty low for calling Priest a disappointment, especially after all he'd shared with her about feeling that way. It was a below the belt blow that she vowed to never utter again.

"You can't use your emotions as ammunition all the time,Gioia," he sighed. "That shit hurt coming from you, but I'm not gonna penalize you for it because I know it was derived out of anger and frustration. Next time, think before you speak." Although his tone came off as if he was chastising her, it was only right for him to express how much her words impacted him.

Taking full accountability, Britain was woman enough to validate his feelings. "I will," she replied.

Priest continued the drive hand in hand with Britain. He wasn't upset with her; he understood and accepted her feelings on the matter and wanted to move past the whole disagreement. The drive wasn't too long, but once they arrived, a light smile stretched across Britain's face.

Looking out the window, she was pleased to see he decided to take her out to the diner when they used to sit and talk when they first met. The diner was the blossoming of their current relationship, and it brought warmth to Britain's heart.

"Is this like a… date?" she asked, causing Priest to chuckle.

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