Chapter 7.
Gabriel.
There are nights when nothing in the world feels real, when the silence is too thick, and the shadows move in ways you can’t trust. Tonight is like that. The city is shrouded in rain, heavy and relentless, beating against the rectory windows and pooling under the streetlights. I haven’t bothered to undress for bed. I’m stretched across the thin mattress, half in my clothes, staring at the cracks in the ceiling, thinking about Mara and all the lines I’ve already crossed.
Every time I close my eyes, I see her; her mouth parted, hair a wild halo, skin flushed from our last encounter. I tell myself I should pray, should beg for forgiveness, but the words don’t come. All I want is her. It’s a hunger that grows every day, until it’s not even guilt anymore, just need.
Th
