I took a deep breath.
The meeting that occurred with my father and Boudreau hadn’t happened in the large storage facility but in the attached offices. I tilted my chin toward doors on the far side. My men who entered through the front should already be in the offices.
As we continued with our guns drawn, the sound of gunfire reverberated through the large building. Leon, my men, and I rushed to the edge of the room and continued along the wall. Loud voices came from within the office structure.
Leon’s hand was on the doorknob when another shot was fired.
Pushing our way through, we all stopped.
On the floor, lying in a puddle of blood, was William Ingalls.
My breath caught at what I could see in the attached room.
Isaiah II had his gun aimed. Not at me but at the back of my wife who was sitting in a chair. Facing the other direction, her long golden hair cascaded over her shoulders. Her head was tilted to the side as if she were unconscious. And her hands were tied behind her.
“No,” I screamed, my gun aimed at Isaiah as I entered the office.
He didn’t turn or even acknowledge that I was there.
“Drop your weapon,” a deep voice ordered from the shadows to my right. When I hesitated, the barrel of the gun came closer.
I didn’t recognize the man giving the order.
“Don’t hurt her,” I said as I lowered my gun to the floor.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my men who had entered the front. They were close enough to see, but they hadn’t been discovered.
Isaiah spun my direction. “You did this.”
“Fuck you.”
“You set her up, seeing if I’d save her.” He pointed at Ingalls’s body. “Him too. We both got your texts.”
“I didn’t fucking send you a text message. I received one.”
Isaiah’s brow furrowed beneath a crown of hair the same color as Emma’s.
Slowly, I took a step toward Emma. “What did you do to her?”
He shook his head. “This is how we found her.”
“Let her go,” I said, lifting my hands. The words came out before I could give them too much deliberation. They didn’t make sense, went against every sin I’d committed, but I said them anyway. “The city is yours. Let Emma go back to her life. Forget this happened.”
“The city isn’t mine until you’re dead.” He lifted his gun again, this time toward me.
“I know.”
Isaiah’s head was shaking. “Emma won’t go. She wants New Orleans now too, and it’s your fault. We should have left her out of this.”
I moved close enough to touch her hair. I imagined the way her hair created a curtain around us as she rode me, the way her perfect breasts heaved with heavy breaths, and the way she looked as she came apart. Emma was the best damn thing that I’d ever found and I didn’t want to lose her.
From my position, I saw her blouse and blue jeans. I was relieved to know she wasn’t naked as she’d been the last time she was found.
My hands were still raised. “Let my men take her. She’ll be safe with them.”
Leon nodded. The older man’s gun was still aimed at him.
“Let them take her and once she’s out of here, it’s you and I. We settle this once and for all. I’ll even send my men away. You can do the same, or you can fucking outnumber me.”