51 | Lurking Danger

*When I choose love, I choose power. When I choose forgiveness, the world unfolds like spring, and love engulfs the soul the way the sea grows hands and holds to bodies. - Segovia Amil*

**SIENNA**

Somehow the school looked so much better when it was empty. After the long, three weeks of holiday, it was swarmed with pretentious people all around me. Maybe, Gabriel had it all sketched out pretty well.
Rich, spoilt brats.
It was a different story altogether that he put me in that category as well.
Ever since school started, I took a small leeway owning to the coveted relationship between Gabriel and me. I was not too fond of the diner room and always taken the lunch in an empty classroom along with Harper. Except for today, when she had bloody extra classes with Gabriel, and I was dying in hunger.
I grabbed the plate of food, plucking a few grapes off the fruit table, and slid out just like every day before anyone could notice my absence. Not that I made too many friends here, except, of course, for Harper. Everyone else was just an acquaintance.
But, somehow, today seemed different.
When I entered the nearest empty classroom, a stark white envelope was placed on the desk. Did anyone forget their belongings? But it was impossible because this small classroom barely had a few chairs to fit in the strength of the Mount Carmel batch.
I deposited the plate on top of a table and rounded the chairs to grab the envelope. And to my utter surprise, it had my name scribbled on it in big, bold letter.
For, **SIENNA EMERSON**.
*What the hell*?
My trembling fingers caught hold of the item as I flipped it several times to realize that there was no stamp, name, or address of the sender. How the hell did it land up here?
When I tore it open, there were pictures filled inside it. Pictures of me and Gabriel during Christmas. He took me to the town hall to see the decoration and Christmas tree when we had taken the long walk back to Mount Carmel and the way we held each other’s hand.
We were discreet, making sure there was no one around, but whoever took these pictures was acutely aware of us. Odd fear crept into my skin as I struggled to breathe for a few seconds.
Not only were these pictures incriminating, but they could also potentially hurt Gabriel. No one would believe that a student, on her own, tried to seduce a man older than her. And Gabriel could be arrested even. The thought almost clogged my throat, suffocating me.
My fingers constantly shook as I flipped the pictures, and only one of them contained a warning on the back of it:
**THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING YOU WILL GET.**
I did not know if this was a threat to him or me; either way, we were fucked. I was about to slot the pictures inside the envelope when the door to the classroom suddenly opened, and in walked Harper. She held her tray of food and a weary expression from the long hours of homework and projects she was swamped with.
“Hey, what’s up?” She tiredly greeted me as I quickly shoved the things behind me and grabbed the wooden desk tightly.
“Hi…umm…what are you doing here?” I awkwardly asked, making her actually look at me with an incredulous expression.
“I study in the school?” She chuckled. “What is wrong with you? You look like you saw a ghost.”
Not ghost, I saw stars.
Shaking my head, I simply shrugged the worry aside. (At least, I tried to do) “No, I am fine. I am just tired.”
Harper plucked my plate with her other hand and handed it over to me, and took the seat next to mine. Mentally, I could only pray that she would not see what I was hiding behind my back.
“You came back early, and you did not even go for the carnival,” Harper pouted. She requested me a ton of times to accompany her with you for the new year carnival, but I was down that day. Gabriel and I spent an entire day in this rectory on the previous day, and thereby I barely made it out of bed. But, of course, I could not share the deets with Harper.
“What did you do all day?” She queried, taking a bite from her sandwich.
“Studying,” I mumbled, looking down at the food plate. “Father Sullivan stacked me with a ton of homework.”
The statement was not completely untrue. Even though he peppered every skin of my skin with his kisses and hard spanks, Gabriel bloody made sure I was caught up with all the lessons since I had missed out so much during the two weeks of my recovery.
“Ouch.” Harper clicked her tongue. “What did you do to piss him off?”
I scowled at her. “Why does everyone think I did something? Maybe he is an asshole?”
She let out an infectious laugh, shaking her head. “I doubt that. He is good.”
“That’s your problem, Harper,” I lectured. “You think the entire world is good.”
“Who pissed you off?” She laughed again, reading into my mood.
“Nothing…no one,” I mumbled. Uncomfortably, when I tried to shift in my seat, the envelope slid from behind and fell. And before I could simply shove them aside, her eyes landed on it. “Shit.”
Bending down, Harper picked up one of the photos where Gabriel was pecking me on the cheek. His long arms were draped over my shoulders, my body clung to his side, and even though it was a simple picture, it spoke volumes.
“What are these?” She whispered, gaping and incredulous.
However, I remained silent.
“This is…you and Father Sullivan?” She asked again.
I swallowed the thick lump in my throat and slowly nodded. “Harper, it’s not what you think,” I pleaded. My small came out small and whimpering.
“Did someone morphed your pictures?”
I shook my head.
I just could not bring myself to lie, elementarily because I held the relationship between us in high regard.
Harper alternated between the picture and my face. “Sienna, what are you saying?” She whispered.
I sighed, shoving the plate aside, and tucked the story hairs behind my ears. “Look, it is a long story. And I don’t have justification for it. But it is what it is.”
For the next one hour, I bared my heart to Harper. It was not easy to speak about it, especially when I was risking everything and Gabriel. But I trusted her. Harper was one such friend I could confide in with my eyes closed, and she would not betray me.
And the calm, composed, and patient hearing she gave me told me more I ever thought about it.
“So, you and him?” Harper breathed in awe when I finally ended my rant. “Oh, my God. This is unbelievable.”
My teeth sawed over the lower lips in anticipation. “I am sorry.”
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
She leaned closer, lowering her voice. “You said you are sorry, and I want to know why Sienna. He is the best human being I have ever come across. If it was not for him, I would have been on the streets. My foster parents completely abandoned me…because of my condition.”
I was both awestruck with her acceptance and confused. “He is a Catholic priest who broke every damn vow for me, Harper.” Not that I regretted it. I was selfish in a way wanting all of him for myself, but at the same time, I wanted to keep him safe.
“Do you love him?”
Did I? Nobody ever uttered the L word between us.
“What? I…” My brain fumbled for the right words.
“You said you are involved with him,” Harper prompted.
“I am. And he is with me. I just don’t know if we will ever be able to accept each other in public. You know…”
Harper nodded slowly. “And you haven’t asked him?”
I stared at her with wide, incredulous eyes. “You want me to force him to leave the priesthood? I don’t want to be selfish. If ever Gabriel wants to resign from the priesthood, it will be his decision alone. I don’t want to sow the seeds inside him.”
My insides churned with pain and guilt. I knew that the clergy meant something to Gabriel, that it was for his own sanity that he decided to preach, and I could not bring myself to be selfish when it came to his satisfaction.
And yet, I yearned for him.
My heart and conscience were torn in between.
“Don’t you want him?” Harper asked me.
I closed my eyes, and all that I saw was his face. Not the forbidden priest or the headteacher of my school. H e was simply and meticulously, Gabriel. With his sun-kissed greek god-like skin, tall and muscular frame, and his dark hair tousled rakishly over his brow after the long-due haircut — everything about him was a dream.
Even the thought of him caught my breath in my throat.
“More than anything else, I want him,” I whispered feverishly as if he was a prayer - a devotion.
“Then what is stopping you?”
I shook my head vigorously. “Are you listening to yourself? He is both a priest and a headteacher. Besides, I am genuinely afraid for him now.” My head swirled with the worst of possibilities.
“Because of these pictures?”
“Yes. Someone knows. And whoever it is, the person will use this against him.”
Harper stared at the photos before looking up. “And what are you going to do about it?”
“Until I figure out who it is, I will have to keep my distance with Gabriel.”
She nodded slowly. “Is there anything on the envelope?”
“No, there is nothing.” Or else I could have at least trace.
“Whoever it is, the person is inside the school, Sienna,” Harper surmised. “Otherwise, no one would have gotten the access through the gates. The code is only known to Father Sullivan, Father Lucas, and a janitor probably.”
I thought about it for a moment, but the possibilities looked grim. The person is definitely not from school because the pictures were when we went outside.
However, it was delivered to me through someone inside the school.
And that too, when the school has reopened after the holidays.
I jumped to my feet, gathering the photos inside the envelope. “I will have to find out, and I will have to do it sooner.”

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*Phew! It has been a hectic September! You might find a few misplaced words in the last few chapters as I am trying to proofread them quicker. The professional has taken a break; hence, bear with me for a couple of days.
Once again, thank you for your appreciation*.