Where Love and Fear collide

By Their Fruits

First Chorinthian Church

She went back to the church. The stench of incense and hypocrisy hit Lena like a fist as she slipped through First Corinthian's side entrance.

Dax's grip tightened on her wrist. "Remember—we're here for the safe, not for salvation."

She adjusted the blonde wig and oversized sunglasses on her face, it was Sister Veronica's idea of a disguise. The church hummed with pre-service activity: the choir was rehearsing "Amazing Grace," volunteers were arranging the floral displays, and security guards pretended not to recognise her.

A hand grabbed her elbow. "Bathroom. Now."

Pastor Williams shoved them into the handicapped stall, his clerical collar askew. "Are you trying to get lynched?" The old man's breath smelled of peppermints and panic. "They've got armed deacons at every—"

Dax pressed a finger to his lips as footsteps approached. Through the gap in the door, Lena watched her father's polished Oxford shoes pause outside.

Charles Carter's voice carried through the door: "—ensure the Wilkins merger goes smoothly tonight. Natalie's virtue must be above reproach."

The second voice turned Lena's blood to ice: Bishop Wilkins. "We'll perform the purity test before the ceremony. My son expects... unspoiled goods."

---

Carter's POV

Natalie Carter stared at her reflection in the bridal suite mirror, fingering the lace neckline of her long, modest white dress.

"You look pure," her mother said, adjusting the veil. "Like the Virgin Mary herself."

Downstairs, five hundred guests were arriving for what had been billed as a "Celebration of Unity"—though everyone knew it was a coronation. The merger of Carter Ministries with Wilkins Broadcasting would create the largest evangelical empire east of the Mississippi.

Natalie's hands trembled with nervousness as she reached for the perfume bottle—Lena's favorite scent, Chanel No. 5. A petty rebellion.

The door burst open.

"They're here." Tyler's ankle monitor blinked beneath his tuxedo pants. "Some i***t, useless usher just spotted Lena near the choir loft."

Deborah Carter dropped her daughter's hairbrush. "No, She wouldn't dare—"

Charles straightened his tie in the mirror. "Lock down the sacristy. Move the purity examination up." His smile chilled Natalie to the core. "Let's give my wayward daughter a front-row seat to real family values."

---

Lena crouched behind the organ pipes, watching Dax pick the sacristy lock.

"Your sister's getting tested?" He whispered the word like it was poisonous. "What century is this?"

Lena's stomach churned. She'd heard whispers about Bishop Wilkins' archaic practices—the "bridal inspections," the signed chastity pledges. But seeing the examination table draped in white and wheeled into the bridal suite made it horrifyingly real.

A crash from the vestry. Dax emerged waving a ledger. "Jackpot. Your dad, has been laundering through the building fund."

Lena barely glanced at the pages. "We have to stop—"

"Mission first." Dax grabbed her shoulders cutting her in between. "We expose this, Natalie never has to—"

The organ suddenly blared to life above them.

Pastor Williams' voice boomed through the pipes: "DEARLY BELOVED!"

---

Natalie lay rigid on the examination table as Dr. Schrader snapped on latex gloves.

"Just a quick—"

"I know what it is." She stared at the ceiling mural of the Ascension. The cold stirrups bit into her thighs.

Bishop Wilkins leaned against the wall, sipping communion wine from a Styrofoam cup. "Jeremiah needs assurance your... precious garden hasn't been trespassed."

Natalie thought of Matt Reynolds in the church van sophomore year. The way her father had paid him $10,000 to disappear.

The doctor's cold speculum clicked.

Downstairs, the wedding march began.

---

Lena moved before she could think and realise what she was doing.

She burst into the examination room just as Dr. Schrader was dictating notes to a nurse. Natalie's tear-streaked face turned toward her with something like relief.

"Get out!" Wilkins hurled his cup. Red wine splattered the wall like blood.

Dax appeared behind her with a gun drawn. "Everybody freeze."

Natalie sat up, her modesty gown slipping. "Took you long enough."

Lena's brain short-circuited. "You knew we'd come?"

Her sister's laugh was bitter. "I leaked the security schedule. Figured even Mercer couldn't miss a safe and a damsel." She tossed a

USB drive. "Father's offshore accounts. Password's Mom's birthday."

Wilkins lunged for the panic button.

Dax's bullet shattered it. "Bad choice, Bishop."

----

Chaos erupted.

Lena grabbed Natalie's hand as they sprinted through the sacristy. Behind them, Dax covered their retreat with precise gunfire—taking out cameras, door locks, anything that could slow pursuit.

"The tunnel!" Natalie yanked them toward a hidden panel behind the baptismal font—one Lena had played hide-and-seek in as a child.

They emerged in the cemetery, where Sister Maria idled a stolen church van.

"Move your asses!"

As they peeled out, Lena saw her father burst from the church doors, his tuxedo splattered with wine or blood. His scream carried across the gravestones:

"YOU'RE DEAD TO ME!"

Natalie flipped him off through the rear window.

---

The third safe house smelled like stale pizza and gun oil.

Natalie devoured her third slice of cold pepperoni while Sister Veronica hacked into Wilkins Broadcasting. "Their firewall's weaker than the bishop's morals."

Dax cleaned his Glock at the kitchen table. "You set us up."

"Please." Natalie wiped some grease off her chin. "You think I wanted to marry that nerdy, incel Jeremiah? I needed an extraction plan." She nodded at Lena. "And you two dumbasses were the only ones crazy enough to try."

Lena stared at her sister—really looked at her for the first time in years. The carefully cultivated Carter perfection was gone.

Natalie's manicure was chipped, her updo half-fallen, and she looked free for the first time in her life, no longer a caged bird.

Maria slapped a new map on the table. "Wilkins will retaliate. Your father's already spinning this as a kidnapping."

Natalie snorted. "Wait till the purity exam video leaks."

Lena choked on her coffee. "There is a video?"

"Duh." Her sister tapped her temple. "Schrader's nurse was Sister Veronica's niece. We've been planning this for months."

Dax looked equal parts impressed and terrified. "Remind me never to cross Carter women."

---

That night, Lena found Natalie on the fire escape, smoking a stolen cigarette.

"What, You don't smoke."

"Today I do." Natalie exhaled toward the moon. "Dad will disown us both now." Lena leaned against the railing. "Is it worth it?" Her sister's smile was the most genuine thing she'd ever seen. "The look on Wilkins' face when you stormed in? Priceless." She stubbed out the cigarette. "Besides, someone's got to keep you from turning into a total martyr."

Inside, Dax and Maria were arguing over the assault rifle modifications. Veronica was live-streaming the first batch of evidence to the New York Times. Natalie nodded at the chaos. "So what's next, Saint Lena?"

Lena reached to touch the USB drive that was in her pocket—their father's sins had been condensed into just sixteen gigabytes.

"We burn it all down."