Secrets And Sins Part 3: Happy ever after

Chapter 72

***Sorry for the wait guys, I changed my mind about the ending so had to rewrite my plan to make sure it all worked still. Thank you to anyone still reading, hopefully it's worth the wait.***

~Ava~

She hated waiting.

The room they waited in was one Ava had never been in before, not that it mattered, all the meeting rooms in the Vatican were practically identical.

There was a large ornate fireplace taking up the entire wall behind them in the rectangular room, but the heat pump tucked away in the corner to the left of the door meant it had probably never been used. A square window to the left flooded the room with late afternoon sunshine and gave a rather intimidating view of one of many private courtyards that surrounded the Basilica. It was intimidating because of the sheer number of guards that had gathered outside.

Ava couldn't help but think they were onto them.

Bea squeezed her thigh then, pulling Ava's attention away from the window, and Ava met her eyes. She was looking back at her with an expression as grim as Ava felt but gave her a reassuring nod anyway.

Ava's stomach churned, she didn't understand how Bea could always be so brave all the time, usually it helped to steady her, but this time, not so much. She forced out the smallest smile even though the bad feeling skittering over her skin didn't lessen. This was the only play they had left.

This has to work. It has to.

On the drive here she had read the rest of the Church's contract, it didn't make for pleasant reading. In exchange for pardoning Bea, they were basically going to take control of her life. Sure, she would be 'allowed' to be with Bea and help the OCS, but it was only because they allowed it.

Ava wasn't just going to lose her freedom; she was going to lose her autonomy.

What the hell was I thinking...?

The thing that was the scariest though, was she would do it all again if it meant saving Bea.

Stupid leather loafers clacking down the hallway outside heralded the arrival of the Church officials and Ava couldn't stop her nerves from spilling out. Her leg bounced despite Bea's palm pressing down on it.

Three Cardinals entered, the favorites to take over the papacy after the late Pope Marcus, and took their seats opposite. A pile of papers was placed down on the darkly stained table.

"Will Ms. White be joining us?" The Cardinal directly opposite Ava asked. He was a tall man with piercing and fiercely intelligent grey eyes that she'd definitely met before but was completely drawing a blank on his name.

"She is not required," Bea answered curtly but not impolitely.

The three men shared a look, but it was the grey-eyed man opposite Ava that again spoke. "That is rather unusual..." He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "For the lawyer not to be present."

"I don't see you lawyer," Ava said, a defensive frown tugging at her lips.

"Cardinal Russo," he nodded toward the man closest to the door, "is the Vatican's resident lawyer. Though we don't really require one for this meeting as we aren't the ones signing..."

There wasn't anything particularly smug about his words, if anything he laid it out as a simple fact, but Ava still felt a flare of anger at the assumption. They truly thought they'd won.

They should do it now; she wanted to do it now...

As though she knew what Ava was thinking, Bea's hand tightened on her leg. "With all due respect Cardinal Bernardi," she started, addressing the man by name because Bea always remembered everything about everyone. It's what made her such an excellent strategist. "Ava hasn't said she's signing anything."