bat.
What else could it be? And the poor thing was hurt. Probably starving to death.
I hurried after it without a plan. I just didn’t want it to get stuck somewhere and die. Bursting into the dark room, I flicked on the lights and paused.
Another classroom. Smaller desks. Lower ceilings. But the ambiance was the same, all dark woods and worn surfaces, aged with doom and gloom.
Like Father Magnus.
Why would a self-made billionaire become a priest?
Money didn’t buy happiness, but the almighty dollar sure as hell kept this school running. Five-figure tuitions and million-dollar endowments, all that glorious cash pouring in from wealthy families like mine.
So here was an elite school for rich girls whose parents sent them away to be babysat by a priest who practiced corporal punishment. Given what I’d just overheard, Father Magnus had a past. Was he a predator? Like a pedo who preyed on girls in Catholic school uniforms?
I shuddered, scrubbing my hands over my hair. Jesus, my thoughts had taken a grisly turn.
I was just here for the bat.
Moving on silent feet, I zigzagged around the rows of desks. Where had the little stinker gone? There were no sounds, no movement, not a single sign of it.
Then my gaze snagged on a life-size statue of a woman in robes. The Virgin Mary? I couldn’t see her face because it was covered by a trembling winged furball.
“There you are.”
Clinging by feet and forelimbs, the tiny brown bat hugged the statue’s head. I approached slowly, trying not to frighten it. A few paces away, my heart melted.
“Awww. You’re just a pup. Look at you, with your tiny mouse ears and baby snout. You’re lost, aren’t you? Where’s your mama?” I had no idea what to do, only that I needed to do something. Except… “You wouldn’t, by chance, have rabies?”
If I had my phone, I would look up the symptoms. Without it, all I knew was that rabies was one hundred percent fatal.
“Just to be safe, maybe don’t bite me, okay?”
The pup twisted its neck, fixing me with an alert, beady stare as it held on tight to the Virgin Mary’s face.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.”
It was already hurt. A cut sliced across its little head, probably from its dive-bomber maneuvers in the hallway. It didn’t look sick, but that didn’t mean I should touch it, which made for a tricky rescue.
Just like the first room, bars hung on the outside of the windows. But the spaces in between were wide enough for a bat to fit through.
Shifting two steps to the closest window, I turned the latch and pushed the casement upward. It didn’t budge. Another attempt, same result. Exerting all my strength, I shoved harder, again and again, and broke a fingernail.
“Fuck!” I threw myself at the glass, grunting, straining, and gritting my teeth. “You ancient, stubborn piece of shit! Why won’t you fucking o—?”
“What are you doing?”
His sharp voice ran through me like a sword, puncturing my lungs. I lowered my arms, dropped my brow to the cool glass, and steadied my breaths.
Then I turned to face Father Magnus. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Attempting an escape.”
“Ooh, good idea. I’ll just use my bionic arms to bend the bars out of the way. After I break all my nails trying to open the damn window.”
He stared at me like I was an idiot. If it were possible, that scowl looked even meaner than before. Spine-chilling. Malicious. Beneath the cloud of disapproval, his eyes tapered, and his expression creased with disgust. Pure, unconcealed abhorrence. As if the mere sight of me made him want to inflict bodily harm.
If he had any secrets, an attraction to young girls wasn’t one of them. But I wasn’t ruling out abuse. Or misogyny. From the way he continued to glare at me, he was giving off some serious homicidal vibes.
Maybe he just hated his life and didn’t know how to be anything but a salty, miserable dick.
With perfectly shaped lips.
He ambled toward me, his gait slow and threatening. A thrum of unease beat in my veins as I sidestepped, blocking his line of sight to the bat.
Too late. He’d already spotted it.
“Don’t hurt it.” I held up my hands, warding him off. “It’s just a pup. I’m just going to let it out through the window and—”
“You want to save it?” He pulled up short, his brows a heavy mantle of suspicion.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Bats carry rabies. Did you touch it?”
“Not all bats, and no. No