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When I reached the bottom, I burst through the door into the lobby and saw no one. I looked at the elevator, and it was on “L,” which meant Lily had reached the bottom floor before me. Not wasting anymore time, I ran out the front door, the sun blinding me momentarily.
There were no parking lots here. It was all grass, trees, gardens, and sidewalks. Wherever she’d gone, it was on foot, so she couldn’t have been far.
The moment I heard the loud, rumbling growl of a motorcycle engine starting up, however, my hopes were dashed. I took off running in the direction of the sound, only to see her take off from behind a large sculpture of an open book. She looked back at me briefly, but I couldn’t see her face because of the full helmet she wore.
I stopped running, my lungs burning, and my mind swimming. She’d rode in here on a Harley. How the hell did she even get through the gates?
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I rushed to find Rick’s number. My thumb hovered over thecallbutton, but I paused.
The trunk…
Lily was gone. I couldn’t catch up to her without my car, and it was across campus in parking. It wasn’t like Rick could catch her, either. Deep down, I knew I was trying to justify waiting. I knew I should make the call, but I kept telling myself every reason I could think of to make waiting okay.
With a groan, I put my phone back in my pocket and ran as fast as I could back inside, taking the elevator this time. The scent of her perfume still lingered inside, and it reminded me of her holding me in the hospital. How she’d soothed me, made me feel better. How could a cold-blooded terrorist be so kind?
Maybe she was a narcissist. Damian had fooled me pretty good back at his house on the beach, so it wasn’t like my radar was working well. I wished I could give it a good kick to see if it would start behaving.
When I got back to my apartment, I grabbed the trunk and set it on the bar.
“It’s either something important… Or it’ll explode in my face,” I said to myself.
Logic told me I should hand it over to Rick and Javier—let them deal with it. But my gut, the very one I shouldn’t have been trusting, told me to open it.
There was a piece of paper taped to the top, and I pulled it off. It saidTemperanceon the front. I turned it over, and there was a combination on the back. I quickly used it and popped the lock. Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened the trunk. When I didn’t hear any ticking, clicking, or anything else alarming, I opened it the rest of the way and let the lid hang from the back of the box.
The trunk was packed with what looked like papers, pictures, and envelopes. There was a large stack of them—unopened—tied together with a beautiful red ribbon. The name on the front of the envelope on top saidTemperance. I swallowed and untied the ribbon. I flipped through them, andevery last onesaid my name on the front.
I put them aside, shaking. Looking inside the box again, I found another bound set of letters. These had Pastor Montgomery’s name on them. The handwriting matched on each set of envelopes.
What the fuck is happening?
When I looked in the box again, under where the two stacks of envelopes had been, I found a photo, and once again, my eyes widened. It felt like my heart stopped in my chest. I lifted it from the box, my breaths coming fast now as I stared at Lily’s face.
But it wasn’t just Lily in the photo.
She’s with Pastor Montgomery.
Trembling, I turned the photo over and saw a message written on the back.
Temperance,
I think it’s time you learned the truth.
- L