“It’s a long story,” Leon said. “Come with me. I’ll take you to her.”
“Ms. Jezebel told you where she lives?” she asked as she stood.
“She told us quite a bit,” Rett said, holding tightly to my hand. He gave it a tug, turning me to him. “She loves you very much.”
As Edmée and Leon walked beyond the door, I thought about what Rett said. My eyes filled with tears and my chest tightened. “I barely know her.” The dam broke as the tears cascaded down my cheeks. “I love her too. I can’t explain it, what she’s like, but she’s calm. She was in the back seat of the car when they took me. I was never scared with her. I felt...” I searched for the right word. “...home.”
“Your home is New Orleans, Emma. But it’s not in the middle of the bayou. Your home is with me.”
One thought led to another. “Liam said Kyle would take your house and he—Liam—wanted something else.”
“I know what he wanted—who he wanted.” Rett stood taller, his shoulders squaring. “There’s no easy way to say this. William Ingalls is dead.”
“You killed him.” I didn’t ask. I guess I was looking for confirmation.
“No. I wanted to. I would have and when I did, it wouldn’t have been as quick.”
“If not you, who?”
“The layers of deceit were becoming clearer, but the gist of the story is that there were two coups underway. There was Isaiah’s quest to overthrow me, and Ingalls’s plan to come out on top over both of us. This time when two people walked into that warehouse presuming to be working together, the one ready to betray his partner was the one killed. The clues were coming in, but it came to a head...this” —he looked at his watch— “morning.”
“And Kyle figured it out?”
Rett nodded. “It appears so but not until after your mother did.”
My head shook. “This is all so much.” I ran the palms of my hands over Rett’s sleeves, relishing the feeling of his muscular build beneath. The night without sleep was catching up to me. “You’re safe. My mother is safe?”
“Yes. Like Leon said, the bullet grazed her arm. She’ll be fine.”
“William is dead.”
Rett nodded. “He planned to take control of New Orleans. From what Jezebel and we were able to piece together, his plan was to do it with you. Then he realized you were taken.” Rett smiled.
“I am. I’m taken. Very taken.”
“His plan then changed to do it alone.”
“Kyle killed him? But wait, you said he shot Mother—Jezebel too?”
“He thought she was you.”
“Me?” I shook my head. “Is he...?”
“He’s currently alive.”
“Currently?”
“I’ll explain, but first...” Rett’s finger curled under my chin as he wiped the tears from my cheek with his thumb. “I know we’ve been through an ordeal, but we’ve been asked to make a public statement.”
“A public statement?”
“To tell the world that you’re safe and above all that you’re mine.” He smiled. “From what I’ve heard, New Orleans is anxious to see and hear from their queen.”
I let my forehead fall to his chest and sighed. “I don’t know.”
Rett lifted my chin. “While I’m not always up to taking advice from Richard Michelson and the NOPD...regarding this statement, I believe they’re right.”
My eyes opened wide. “Michelson arranged our adoptions. He changed the dates of Kyle’s and my birth. He helped Mother hide us.”