Page 67 of When Sinners Rise
“Yes.”
“I’m Shaw Cortez.” Recognition of my name dawns on his face, but other than that, there’s no movement or offer of conversation. “I need your help. I’d prefer you gave it freely.”
Light blue eyes narrow at me, and he looks back at Miri and Naja before swinging those same, now pissed eyes, back at me. “This is a house of God, Mr Cortez. Be careful with your manners.” He walks off the way he came and heads down to the front of the church, slowly putting out the candles rather than engaging any further in the discussion.
“House of God or not, I need your help, and I’ll get it whichever way I can. Don’t make me threaten you,” I call. He puts the snuffer down and switches off some lights on the wall near him before turning to walk straight up the aisle towards me. In that moment, something about his stride changes. If I didn’t hope better for a priest, I’d think he was about to pull a gun on me. Didn’t even dawn on me that he might be as fucking hostile as Logan.
I back up a few steps, shielding Miri and Naja, and chastise myself for not bringing my goddamn weapon. Not a word comes out of his mouth, though, as he keeps walking and passes us. We turn, and he eventually stops at the door and inclines his hand like we’re supposed to leave.
I stand my ground, sure as shit ready to have a showdown if need be. “I mean it, Samuel.”
“I’m sure you do. Come. Please.”
Frowning at the pleasantness in his tone, I walk on and guide the girls towards him and out the door. We cross a small courtyard area after he’s locked the place up, turning along some paths soon after, and eventually find ourselves outside a smallcottage on the grounds. He opens it up and walks inside, almost dismissing us but for the open doorway.
“What help do you need?” he asks as he moves for the small stove. I hold my arm across Miri as she tries to enter and look around the space from outside. Humble and shabby furniture fill the small room and corners, and a battered, old rug lies on the tile floor under a coffee table. Doesn’t look to me like the type of place a guy that’s fucking Logan Cane would live in, but what would I know, I guess. “You can come in, Mr Cortez. At least have some manners in that regard.” I look at him as he fills a coffee maker and watch him look back at me and smirk a little. “He isn’t here if that’s what you’re looking for.”
I nod and usher the girls inside, following them and breathing a small sigh of relief at the information. Both Miri and Naja sit on the couch as I rest my back on the door and keep watching him move. He chuckles about something quietly at one point, making me feel fucking small for some reason. Considering I’m not, compared to him, and I’m damn tired of being made to feel that way, my back starts getting real damn prickly.
“Well?” he says as he puts a tray of coffee down on the table. “I assume if it’s enough for you to mention threatening me, it’s relatively serious.”
“These girls need to get back to London.”
He pours the coffee for Miri and Naja and smiles at them. “And I presume you’d like Logan to make that happen.” I nod as he looks at me. “Perhaps you should ask him. I hear your family is working alongside him now.” I frown and look at Miri as she sips coffee and tries to stop Naja opening her mouth. Doesn’t work.
“We just need to get home,” Naja says, facing Samuel. “I don’t know why he’s brought us to you, but I need to get Miri back to London, and we need passports. Maybe Landon can dothat, or maybe we need Logan, but either way, we’ve both been through hell, and now we’re here, and we want him…” she shifts and points at me. “…gone.” Miri looks up at me for a second or two, a loose kinda smile settling like she’s not completely on board with her sister’s sentiment. Feels more like ten minutes in my head. I’m just staring, maybe beginning to understand why she was the right girl at the right time in the right place. Pretty as hell.
My arms fold at the thought, and I look back at Samuel for clarification on what he’s gonna do about this situation.
“Landon Broderick? How do you know him?” he asks.
“I was living with him,” Miri says. “And Willow. After the last time Cortez took us.”
“Took you?”
“Yes. Took us from the streets to sell as some fucking object to make money,” Naja spits. “And then, after I’d got her safe, she's here with this asshole again and…” She blinks and pulls her mood back in, trying to calm down. “I’m sorry. I’m just … Please. We can’t be here anymore and …” Tears form in her eyes, and within seconds, they’re streaming down her face, and it’s Miri who’s trying to hold her together by taking her hand.
I look back at Samuel, chin still high, regardless of what’s been said. He glares under his calm demeanour, like all that just pissed him off past sense. “Yeah, I get it. Let’s not, though, shall we? Killing a priest isn’t on my remit today, and I’m tryin’ to do the right thing. Can’t, though, not without your help. Logan’s not gonna listen unless it comes from you.”
He offers a box of tissues to Naja and sits himself down on the opposite chair. “You’d like me to make him do as you want him to?”
“Yeah.”
“Logan rarely listens to my influence.”
“I doubt that’s true. Especially with you fucking him and the world not knowing about that.” Both Miri and Naja look at me in shock, then flick their stare at him. “I’m guessing he’ll do just about anything to make sure you don’t get caught in that headline shitstorm. Wonder what his kids would make of it. And, I guess. This whole situation would be screwed for you. Priests don’t fuck criminals in their recreational time.”
His face barely changed through all of that. He just stayed steady and composed, like the words landed but didn’t cause the reaction I was after. He does lean back, though, and sips his coffee, never once taking his eyes off me. “Threatening Logan with my ruination won’t work, Mr Cortez. I told him I’d be ready one day. I’m not far from it. And he won’t mind the headlines. Neither will his wife if anyone dares publish.” Well, shit. That’s not what I was hoping for. I frown and look around the place, unsure what the hell to do now. Beg? “Am I to assume you’ve gone against your family’s wishes by bringing these young ladies here?” I look back at him.
“I guess.” He laughs at that, chuckles quietly even, like he did earlier.
“You’ve grown a conscience then.”
“Somewhere near it.”
He looks at the girls again, especially Miri. “Quite a tangled web you’re in.” He pulls in a breath and keeps staring, sipping more coffee like he’s thinking. “The pretty ones always do get us in trouble, don’t they, Mr Cortez?” Yeah. This one did, at least.
Standing, he goes to his coffee maker. Another cup’s poured; this time offered to me before he turns back to the girls again. “You both look like you could use a hot bath and some fresh clothes.”
