Chapter 13: Clerical Collar, Bloody Hands
The Eden files were massive.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Y3ya0wek6
More than just Silvino. Ella had collected names, patterns, confessions from inside the system.
Some priests had transferred parishes. Others were sent “on retreat”—code for being buried quietly.
Ely wasn’t ready for the volume.
The worst part? Some signatures were familiar.
Fr. Adriano.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiHMMXkliz
Fr. Luis.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDQhS85u6w
Fr. Joel, his mentor.
He stared at his mentor’s scanned letter: “The girl was willing. We were two lonely souls in prayer.”
Ely vomited.
Meanwhile, Ella prepared for the drop.
They had scheduled a coordinated leak: social media, news outlets, and an anonymous YouTube channel dubbed “SACRILEAKS.”
But betrayal had been seeded long before.
That night, while backing up the drive, someone hacked the seminary router.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszl8AKcxUt
A mole—someone close.
And it wasn’t long before Fr. Joel himself walked into Ely’s apartment, flanked by two plainclothes men.
"Ely, you’re under investigation for unlawful possession of private clerical files," the man announced.
Ella had just left.
And the drive—was gone.
But Ely knew what this was. Not justice. Silencing.
Fr. Joel looked at him, weary. “You could’ve been a bishop one day.”
Ely stared at him with broken fire. “You could’ve been a man.”
That night, Ella got the text:
“They took Ely. Don’t come back here. Go dark. Eden lives through you now.”
And Ella—still dressed in a Marian hoodie—melted into the Manila crowds, carrying a hundred broken voices in her chest.
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