“What?” Clara’s voice wavered, trembling between outrage and disbelief. “That’s absurd. I can’t do that on the altar.”
Ben leaned in, sneering. “Oh, but you can… and you will. Besides it’s an abandoned church. It has been abandoned for decades.”
Before Clara could protest, Ben and George seized her arms and wrenched her down the aisle, the pews rising on either side like rows of silent witnesses to her struggle. She twisted, struggling to break free, but their grip was unyielding.
With a brutal shove, they drove her against the altar. The cold marble bit into her back, and she gasped, half from the shock, half from the electric jolt that shot through her body at the roughness. Her legs buckled, and she slid down hard onto the sanctuary floor.
The impact knocked the breath from Clara’s
