Page 65 of Sin

“Sounds good,” I tell him and head inside. “Mom,” I call out.

She doesn’t answer. I walk farther into the house until I reach the great room. She’s sitting on the couch in histrionics, watching television. Sin fills the screen. I walk closer, trying to hear what he’s saying over my mother’s crying.

“The truth is the crimes he’s committed are much worse and include manslaughter. I’m posting here today to announce that my father, the Reverend Gideon Brandt, killed my mother.”

“They keep playing it over and over,” she cries. “Everyone will have seen it. He’s ruined us. What will people say?”

“Mom,” I go to her side and grab her arm to lift her up off the couch. “We need to get out of here. “I don’t know what caused Sin to post his reveal now, but it’s sure to set Gideon off. We both decided his indictment against his father would include a revelation about our true relationship. We knew that with the intense scrutiny, the media would discover our secret, and this way, we could at least have control of the narrative. I don’t want to be anywhere around him to witness his reaction. You need to come with us. It’s not safe to be around Gideon right now.”

“You’re on his side.” She yanks her arm away from me and slaps me hard. “You believe Sin’s lies.”

“Of course, he does, Sheila.” Gideon Brandt walks into the room. “Haven’t you listened to the entire video?” He’s overdressed for a weekday. He’s wearing his Sunday black suit with diamond-studded cufflinks. My whole body freezes when I spot his other accessory. He’s carrying a pearl-handled gun. “Our two sons are fucking like the sinful beasts they are. They’ve conspired to bring shame and destruction down upon us. The only solution left to me is to rid this house of the pestilence they’ve brought to it.”

The front door opens, and I hear Mercer’s footsteps along the hall.

“Run,” I yell, but he must not hear me, and he walks into the room. A loud, horrible bang fills the air, and Mercer falls to the ground, blood spreading out beneath him.

My mother runs at the sound of the gun going off. She doesn’t even look behind her to see if her husband just shot her only son.

Gideon looks at Mercer unconscious on the floor. “Wrong one,” he says unconcernedly. “We’ll have to wait for his comeuppance. You’ll draw Sin here eventually.”

I dive to the floor and yank off my Thurston sweatshirt and put pressure on Mercer’s stomach wound. Then I grab a throw from the couch, hoping to stave off him going into shock by keeping him as warm as possible.

“You’re going to be okay,” I keep repeating, but I don’t know if Mercer understands me; his eyes are glassy and far off.

“You should stop wasting your limited time with him,” Gideon says coldly, watching me try to save Mercer’s life. “You should use your time to atone for your wrongdoings against me.”

“Let me call for medical care for him, and I’ll make amends,” I promise. “I’ll do anything. Just don’t let him die.”

He aims the gun at me, and I instinctively flinch. The table lamp shatters above my head, sprinkling Mercer and me with shards of glass. “That’s for your lies.”

I begin to breathe heavily. My inhaler is in my backpack—which I left in the car. I try to calm myself down by moderating my breathing, but stress has always affected my asthma attacks, and being held at gunpoint by my deranged stepfather while I’m desperately trying to save my friend’s life is definitely triggering.

“Looks like you may not make it until Sin gets here.” Gideon takes out his phone and begins to film me as I struggle to breathe, while still trying to help Mercer. “My son is not the only one who can make a video. Let’s see how he likes watching you die.”

Chapter 41

Sin

I hit post on the video, and within a minute, major news feeds are picking it up. I turn my notifications back on, and several messages come through.

The first one is from Evan Kelly telling me I did a great job on my post. He also says his hacker found some information, and that he’ll call me later with the information once he’s pieced it together.

There’s one from Cassidy, telling me he aced both his tests.Of course, he did.I’m gonna have a really nice time rewarding him for his accomplishments later.

Then there’s one from Mercer telling me there has been a change of plans. Cassidy’s mother needed him, so they’re swinging by the house to see if she’s all right.

Fuck no!I call Mercer’s phone immediately, but there’s no answer. Then I call Cassidy’s, but again, no answer.

My phone beeps again. It’s Gideon. He’s sending me a video. I open it to find a shaky feed of Cassidy on the floor, his chest heaving as he tries to offer first aid to Mercer, who I think may have been shot. In the background, I can hear Gideon’s voice delivering one of his hellfire sermons on the wages of sin.

I share the video with Oliver and Hirsh, and am in my SUV racing toward Cassidy before the video finishes sending. Oliver calls me immediately. I hit accept on my steering wheel and his rough voice fills my vehicle. “Let the police handle this, Sin,” he bellows. “The way to get Cassidy and Mercer out of this situation alive is to let the professionals handle this.”

He's wrong. They don’t know Gideon. The police aren’t willing to give up their own life to make sure my father doesn’t murder another person I love. I am.

I hang up on him and turn off my phone. I don’t need the distraction of Oliver trying to convince me I’m doing the wrong thing. I need to figure out how I’m going to save my lover and my best friend.

I can hear sirens in the distance by the time I pull up to the house. Good. I’ll need them if my plan goes off the way I want it to. I drive around the back of the house and watch the video one more time to make sure I know precisely where Cassidy and Mercer are in the room. I put the Land Rover in first gear, aim for the large, glass bifold door my father replaced the French doors with on his last remodel, and put my foot down on the accelerator as far down as it will go.

---