Isabella’s POV

My blood ran cold when I saw the shadow moving toward us. For a moment, I thought it was another guard. But then...

“Bella?”

My friend’s voice. Relief flooded me so hard my knees almost buckled.

It was Claire. She’d been the one I came with earlier, but I’d slipped away the second I spotted Dominic near the confessional. Now she was standing there, arms folded, eyebrows raised like she had been circling the whole churchyard looking for me.

“Father Dominic,” she greeted warmly, giving him a smile that was a little too curious.

He returned it with that same steady, saintly look he always wore in public. “Claire. May the Lord guide your steps.” His hand rose, tracing the sign of the cross in the air as he prayed over her softly. His voice was calm, holy, perfect. No one would ever imagine the same lips had been on my skin minutes ago.

I kept my head down. My pulse still wouldn’t slow.

Claire slipped her arm through mine. “Ready to go?”

“Yes,” I said quickly, almost too quickly.

We started down the path. The night air was sharp, and the gravel crunched under our shoes. My body still felt weak, my skin still tingled, but I tried to push it all down before she noticed.

Of course, she noticed.

“Okay,” Claire said, leaning close, lowering her voice. “What was that about? You and Father Dominic looked… I don’t know… weird. Like you two shared a secret.”

My chest tightened. “It’s nothing. He’s just… an old acquaintance. He used to know my father.”

She gave me a sharp look. “An acquaintance? Bella, you looked like you’d seen a ghost. And he looked at you like...”

“Claire, drop it,” I snapped, a little too harsh. Then I forced a laugh to cover it. “Seriously. You’re overthinking.”

She didn’t buy it, I could tell. But she let it go for now, shaking her head and muttering something about priests being strange anyway.

Her words barely reached me. Because the second she mentioned the way Dominic had looked at me… I was pulled backward, into memory.

---

The first time I’d seen him like that.

It was three years ago.

I had wandered into the cathedral one rainy Sunday. My father had insisted I attend, claiming it would “do me good.” I wasn’t expecting anything. Just another dull sermon.

But then he stepped up to the pulpit.

Father Dominic.

He wasn’t the same man I vaguely remembered from my childhood, when he’d visited our home as one of my father’s friends from seminary days. Back then, he’d been quiet, bookish, forgettable.

Now, he was commanding. Strong. His voice rolled through the cathedral, deep and certain, like every word was carved in stone. His presence filled the space, drew every eye, every breath.

And when our eyes met for a second across the crowded pews. I felt it.

A sharp pull in my stomach. A spark that made my cheeks burn.

He had looked away almost instantly, slipping back into his sermon. But I knew he had felt it too.

That was the day everything began.

---

Claire’s voice yanked me out of the memory.

“You’re quiet,” she said.

“I’m fine,” I lied, though my chest was still burning with the memory of that first spark.

But deep inside, I already knew the truth: this wasn’t going to stop.

Claire wouldn’t stop talking.

“…and I swear, if my mom drags me to another Bible study I’ll actually die. Like, hello? Netflix exists.”

I forced a laugh, nodding at the right times, but my mind was somewhere else. My phone buzzed in my bag. Once. Twice.

I slipped it out under the streetlight, heart skipping when I saw the name on the screen.

Dominic.

I opened it quickly, shielding the glow from Claire’s curious eyes.

“ Did you get home safe?”

Another buzz before I could answer.

“Are you… angry about what we did? I shouldn’t have—”

I bit my lip so hard it almost hurt. My pulse was pounding in my ears.

“Who’s blowing up your phone?” Claire asked, leaning over.

“Nobody,” I muttered, shoving the screen closer to my chest.

Claire narrowed her eyes, clearly not buying it. “Nobody doesn’t text like that.”

The phone buzzed again.

> Please, Bella. Don’t tell anyone. I’ll never forgive myself if this ruins you.

My breath caught. Guilt and heat tangled inside me.

“Let me see,” Claire said suddenly, snatching at my phone with lightning speed before I could react.

“Claire!” I hissed, grabbing at her arm.

She laughed, holding it just out of reach. “Relax! I just wanna record us walking home, make a stupid Snapchat, chill...”

Then the phone buzzed again in her hand. The screen lit up with another message.

Dominic.

Her eyes widened as she read the name.

The night froze around me.