It was like time stopped. I reached for the open box flaps, pulling them apart, and my gaze fell on the head of the only man I’d ever loved. A bloodcurdling scream ripped from my throat and it felt like my soul left my body.
Sterling.
Dead. Beheaded in the way that we beheaded the vampires. Who would…?
Maz? Did Maz catch him sneaking around and … no, she wouldn’t, right? A thousand thoughts smashed around my brain and I must have blacked out, because before I knew it, I was back at the snow cone truck, no memory of even running there. My hands shook as sobs wracked my chest and I looked around the park, lost in my thoughts. The vision of Sterling’s dead face was burned into my mind, torturing me.
A kind older woman with a red snow cone approached me. “Miss, are you okay?”
I was bawling, legit ugly crying in public, and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to stop it.
Sterling.
The memory of the night I first told him I loved him washed over me. I could smell him in that moment, taste him, feel him. And then the guilt that I’d dragged him into this whole thing bubbled up inside of me. He was dead because ofme.
I was halfway down the street to my car, sucking in huge lungfuls of air as cars and bike riders and passersby stared at me like I was a lunatic. I stopped and leaned against the wall of a building, trying to catch my breath.
Then the sobbing stopped as if it never started and then full blown rage consumed me.
How. Fucking. Dare. She.
How dare Maz kill Sterling just for finding out her stupid secret. She wanted to preach about evil and sin and then she went and fell in love with money! The greatest evil of all! She used all of us in the name of God to squirrel away millions. I would expose her if it was the last thing I did. And after that, I’d takeherhead.
It had to be Maz, it had to be.
Using the back of my hand, I wiped my tears and shook myself.
I needed to tell Liv and we needed a plan. Because if Maz took out Sterling … we were next. I prayed Vasquez hadn’t been pulled into this, because even though he was a cheating douchebag, I didn’t want him dead.
God, please help me and protect me. I sent up a silent prayer to the big man upstairs. I might be currently confused about the details on how God worked, but I knew God was real and it wasn’t his fault Maz perverted his word and brainwashed us to kill in His name.
With renewed strength, I pushed off the building and beelined it to my car. I slowed my pace when my gaze fell on the scrawny bike messenger. He looked my age, leaning up against his bike and tapping his phone. There was a manila envelope in his hands. He looked up at me expectantly.
“Aspen? This your car? The guy said you would have bright red hair and drive a yellow Beetle.” The dude stepped forward and I flinched, ready to take his damn head if he tried anything.
He extended the manila envelope to me and I took it.
“Later.” He looked at my no-doubt puffy red eyes and backed up, getting back onto his bike and riding away.
I stared at the top of the envelope and my hands shook as I saw my name scrawled in Sterling’s neat handwriting.
Looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being watched, I slipped inside my Beetle and took off. I wasn’t sticking around here for a second longer than I needed to. The image of Sterling’s head in the box was still flashing in my mind no matter how much I tried to dislodge it. Weaving in and out of traffic, I pulled into the first church parking lot I could find and threw the car in park.
I didn’t know what was in this folder, but I wanted to be alone when I read it. If it was from Sterling, then Ireallywanted to be alone.
Reaching into the envelope, I pulled out a stack of papers, focusing on the handwritten note on top first.
Aspen,
If you are reading this, it means I’m dead and Vasquez activated my fallback plan of sending this to you via courier. He will have gone into hiding, don’t worry about him.
I paused, my eyes becoming too blurry with tears to read any further. A silent sob wracked my chest as I wiped my eyes on my t-shirt and kept reading.
After you and Liv left, I stayed up all night and kept digging. I found out the most disturbing information you could ever imagine. Aspen … I was never a great boyfriend, but I want you to know that I did love you and this information will shake you. Please prepare yourself.
I put the note down, my heart hammering in my chest as fear rose up inside of me. Why would he say that? How bad could it be? I mean, what was worse than finding out your religious leader was a fake and embezzling money? It was not lost on me that the first time Sterling said he loved me was just right now in this letter. Maybe it was something he could only bring himself to do if he thought he was going to die. As sad as that was, it still brought me comfort. I let out a shaky breath, praying for strength as I read the rest of the letter.
After reading this information, please burn it. Then move to another country and forget you ever saw it. This evidence can never be brought to light or it will seal the death of thousands of hunters all over the world.
