22 | Name The Price

**GABRIEL**


I sat behind my desk and stared at Sienna. No matter how hard I had tried, it was difficult to keep my gaze off hers. At times, and every other moment after she had left, I felt guilty. Instead of guiding her towards the light, I drew her towards my darkness. I had been unable to fixate on anything other than her mouth while we were talking the entire night.
I was a *priest*.
I have sworn to God not to know another’s body while I lived, not even a shred of pleasure for my own if the seminary education were to be followed. It was not justified to think the kind of thoughts I had about Sienna.
She sat on the first row, working on the paper I had prepared for her detention time with full concentration. I gave her two days to regain her wits, given how she was overwrought with the grief of losing her mother's pendant. It was one topic that she has carefully avoided every time, even though it was clear that she was extremely attached to her mother.
And the way she despised her father and the rest of the family.
In these past two days, Sienna was the epitome of an obedient student. Her uniform matched the dress code, her behaviour was impeccable, and her test papers were bloody good. She mostly spent her time with Harper, avoiding any other company and kept her head down.
However, I was not a man of illusion who readily accepted her sudden compliance. It would just be a matter of time before she would bounce back to her old self.
But I was getting comfortable with this version of her - obedient and pliant one. It stirred the man within me that I had buried years ago, but I could not help it. Her fierce character was something I have secretly admired, and having a girl of her calibre pliant to my demands and dominance was a heady experience.
The day she came running to me, asking for help, I felt proud and worthy. *Worthy of her*.
While there was nothing wrong with the thought, it was wrong of a priest to crave a woman the way I desired her. Also, I was her teacher. In every shade and hue, it was a sin. Yet, my eyes levelled with her breasts. I noted the swell and contour of them, my eyes slowly trailing upwards where her teeth relentlessly bit on her lower lips.
*Fuck, Gabriel, don’t.
Do not sin.
Do not let your thoughts stray*.
I cleared my throat as her attention snapped to mine. “I am thinking of putting you in advanced classes,” I said because I was in desperate need to start a conversation. At least my gaze won’t slide down and remain on her face where it should be.
“Not interested.” Sienna scowled. “Bad enough, I am attending a school that looks like a prison; I am not doing any more extra classes.”
For someone who scored such high grades and with ease, she was extremely moody when it came to exams.
“These are no ordinary tests. I have specifically designed them for students who wish to go for university admissions. And you have performed exceptionally well in all of them.”
At first, I could not believe it. Sienna had a recent history of failing academic years, but she has aced the tests here. It requires quite a high IQ to achieve it, and given she wrote her papers in front of me, I knew that she could not have possibly cheated.
“I got lucky with the questions.” She shrugged.
“Nobody gets lucky with the question paper I have set. Even in my limited years of teaching, I have never seen a score this high.”
Sienna looked more pissed than pleased, making me wonder what had gotten to her this morning.
“Well, thank you. Can we chug out this topic now? I am not interested in classes.”
“Your high school grades were impressive, definitely more than average. And suddenly, they had dropped. Why? What was holding you back?” I asked out of genuine curiosity.
“Life.” She uttered the word with such disdain, I knew that there was more to it than she would ever reveal. “I did not want to be the closet girl from the high society, you know. I wanted to explore my life in a certain manner and with certain kinds of guys until, of course, my father and my bitch of a stepmother got in my way.”
“Now that you are here—”
“Not for very long, though.”
Sienna leaned back on the chair and crossed her hands in front, a gesture she often repeated whenever her guards went up.
I fixed her with a stern look. “I am sorry?”
“Just because someone decided to lock me in a cage and separated me from my life doesn’t mean I am going to stay that way. I have had enough of bullshit, and I am done giving a damn.”
Her nose flared in palpable anger, but I knew that it was misdirected. But I have tolerated enough of her attitude for the day.
“That’s thrice already, and I am even not counting the earlier ones.”
Sienna gave me a puzzled look. “What?”
“The swear words,” I pointed out. “I have made it abundantly clear from the first day itself that such colourful language is not tolerated here in Mount Carmel. I have given you long enough a grace period to settle down but no more.”
She squinted her eyes so hard that they had turned into slits. “Well, I have already given you a solution for this, but you were an asshole about it. Just send me back home, and both of us will be spared.”
What is wrong with her today? She was straining my self-control, a quality I had honed in the past six years, and yet it was slipping out in her presence.
“Your desperate attempt at provocation is getting monotonous. But be careful, I am good at breaking bad habits,” I warned gravely that seemed to have no effect on her at all.
“That tone might work on these silly girls who drool over you and also get intimidated by you, but not on this girl.” He jerked a thumb in her direction. “I have a spine, unlike some of them.”
“Your contempt never fails to amuse me.”
Sienna pursed her lips and turned her face away, but even then, I could see the irritation etched all over her features.
“What will it take?” She snapped at me. “How many zeros?”
“I am not sure what you are talking about.”
“The endowment,” she clenched her teeth and ground the words. “Someone paid you to keep me here, and I am ready to negotiate my own terms. Name the price for you to send me back home.”
Until now, I was dealing with her with patience and strictness, but not anymore. I didn’t care what prompted this outrageous behaviour of hers, but if she did not tamp it down, she would have to pay for it.
And the payment would not come in zeroes.
I did not care how much money she received from her trust fund, knowing rich kids always resorted to the option. Money was never an issue for me, having an empire already to my name.
“That is never going to happen,” I said with finality, abandoning the chair to cross the distance between us. “And I will warn you, Miss Emerson, that if you ever try and bribe me again, you will be subjected to the harshest punishment I have ever dished out for any student at this school.”
Her eyes met mine challengingly as she faked a yawn. “Threats and more threats. When does it ever stop, huh?”
I grabbed her jaw, forcing her undivided attention. “You are in a particularly notorious mood. Is there a reason?”
“Well, duh. It’s you and your goddamn asshole self.” Her hand attempted to swat away mine. “You have no problem accepting money to ruin my life, but you have a problem when I want to buy out my freedom?”
I straightened my back, my voice solemn. “Pride is one of the seven deadly sins of the mortals. Clearly, you need more religious training as well as the advanced classes, now that I know what you are capable of.”
“Can you stop fucking with me for a second?” Sienna shrieked, rising to her feet.
Even though my height almost towered over her, I believe she wanted to be on the same level as mine as her temper crackled and hissed.
“This is your last warning, Sienna.” My voice dropped dangerously low while my patience hung by a thin thread. “Do not dare push it any further than this.”
I watched her face scrunching up in disgust, ready to launch a flurry of expletives. And I hoped against hope that she would not.
Because if she did, I would have to punish her. And it was a delicious temptation. *Disciplining Sienna was like the stuff of dreams*. A thousand ideas were swarming inside my head in order to bring her to heel, except none of them was decent.
I was so fucked.
But the devil on my shoulders salivated.
Sienna titled up her chin and sneered, “Go fuck yourself, Father Sullivan."

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