13.The attic

13.The attic

I was in the church mopping the floor, headphones in my ears but not listening to any music, I was in spy mode engaging with the nuns and staff to see where our target was.

Killer.

He was mopping a hallway when I then heard murmurings from some nuns inside a room, I stopped for a moment to listen better.

"...I don't know, but it's very strange." I heard one of them say.

"Haven't you thought that when he sleeps in the attic it's because he wants to be with the rats?"

Penthouse?

"It's very weird." another of the girls murmured.

The voices were lost no matter how hard I pressed against the door, so I entered, the two nuns were silent for a moment when they saw me, but I pretended not to understand while I hummed with my headphones on as if I were listening to music.

"She can't be normal," they continued their conversation, lowering their voices, "that she hides on the fast day and goes out at night to pray because God supports her, ugh! It seems more like satan is backing her up."

They left the room and I stopped what he was doing, catching my breath while I analyzed his words. Could they be talking about one of the new nuns? the one we were looking for? Was she hiding? That would explain why we hadn't seen her.

She would hide in the day when we were here and she would come out at night when we were leaving, as if she knew we were hanging around her, or possibly watching our movements from afar and then attacking.

My skin crawled at her, that woman was crazy.

I went out looking for the boys, the first one I met was Angelo, he was dressed in his police uniform drinking water, I couldn't help but notice and highlight the way his black shirt fit, he had well-trained muscles, veins of His arms were visible, his chest was muscular and his broad back and those pants cupped his butt, wow, seeing him simply drinking water made me thirsty. He seemed to sense my footsteps as he approached me, so he turned when he looked at me I noticed his slightly reddened gray eyes, he looked exhausted with dark bags under his eyes.

"Are you OK?" I asked curiously.

"I come from an exorcism." h rolled his eyes like it would have been torture.

"Does it bring back memories for you?" I asked with some irony remembering when he was the priest.

I pursed my lips, my mind going back years to when we went to an exorcism and he had to release a demon as the father of the church. I always wondered how he was successful with those things if he was never spiritual.

He finished drinking the water from him and thought about it for a moment.

"Bad guys, yes," he frowned and let out a sigh, "were you going to tell me something?"

He seemed to be in a better mood than this morning. He poured himself some more water from the dispenser.

"I heard the nuns talking," I said, getting closer to him so as not to speak so loudly, "they say there is a nun who hides in the attic to fast during the day and comes down to pray at night."

He kept his frown and stopped.

"Which attic?" he replied and drank the water again, a drop slipped from his lip and he wiped it with the back of his hand, I shouldn't be looking at him this way, much less after how badly he had been treating me the previous days full of resentment. and anger, but... here I was, admiring his beauty and wondering if our son would be just like him when he grew up.

I thought about it for a moment, clearly there were a lot of attics here.

"Don't know." I admitted honestly, but I still felt like I had discovered something.

He nodded at me.

"Come on."

He turned around and started walking, I followed closely behind. We went to the first attic we found inside the cathedral, I closed the door while he slid the ladder up, he went up with a flashlight and I followed him covering my nose, the whole place was full of dust, there was no one, just old boxes and many cobwebs.

It was obviously not here.

We went down to the living room again.

"There must be another attic," I commented, "it would be better if we ask one of the priests for a map of the place or directly ask someone who knows where she sleeps..."

"You're just wasting my time." Angelo interrupted me with that rough tone that he already knew, being that son of a bitch that irritated me so much.

I let out a sigh, and he turned back around the ladder while he brushed off his hands.

I couldn't take it anymore, I was fed up with his attitude.

"Listen," I said, turning to him, "I know you can't stand my presence, but enough is enough, okay? Stop attacking me whenever you can, I'm not here of my own free will and you treating me like this only makes me feel worse."

He looked at me without saying anything.

"Why you hate me?" I continued, "Do you want me to apologize for something I did more than 6 years ago? Well, I'm sorry, but you know very well that it was for the best."

I saw a wry laugh on his lips, his eyes flashing with rage.

"For whom? "he faced me, "ah? For whom Celeste?!" He raised his voice, taking a step towards me as if he were on the edge, "for me? Was it okay for me that you left without a trace?"

I blinked a few times, surprised by his angry outburst, and he took another step towards me.

"You don't know how desperate it was to love you and have you disappear," he continued saying with her gaze fixed on mine, "or how much I always longed for a child and you took everything away from me, you just disappeared any possibility."

"You never told me you loved me," I whispered, he swallowed heavily as if he had realized what he had just said. "And I... I'm not to blame for everything..."

"Oh no?" he replied mockingly.

"No," I replied, "you were never honest, you never told me about your wife or your feelings, I never knew you, now I'm getting to know you and I only see someone bitter who reproaches me for how horrible his life has been."

He clenched his jaw but I didn't back down.

"I'm not to blame for your decisions," I continued saying. "And you know what? Maybe, you don't want me to be with your brother because you hate seeing me happy or someone being happy because you're a bitter bastard."

My breathing was a mess by the time I finished speaking, my chest rising and falling, and I swallowed heavily as he narrowed his eyes and said:

"I don't want you to be with my brother, not so you won't be happy Celeste," she took another step towards me, being just one step away from touching me, "I don't want you to be with him because I still like you."

I blinked a couple of times without being able to believe that what he had just told me, the shell that covered him began to fall in front of my eyes, the idiot treated me badly apparently because he still liked me and possibly that's why he hated me; because I caused him a lot of damage.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't find the words, I had been left breathless by his confession. Angelo licked his lips and, avoiding my gaze, headed towards the door as if he hadn't expected to reveal such a thing either, however when he turned the knob it was stuck.

Fuck.

We were locked up.