“No, Em.” Kyle’s expression was puzzled. “My men would never touch you. I wouldn’t allow it.” His blue eyes went to Rett and back to me. “Listen to me, don’t stay here. Come with us and learn the truth.”
As I tried to grasp what Kyle was saying, Rett’s men surrounded him and Liam, pushing them through the double front doors out into the yard and driveway. As the volume rose, the air filled with Rett’s orders.
If Kyle’s men didn’t take me, who did those men work for?
My stomach lurched at the only other possibility—one I couldn’t bear to entertain.
Rett stood in the doorway. Turning, he looked back my direction. “Emma, remember what you said.”
My expression must have asked for clarification.
His dark stare bore down on me. “You said you’d trust me.”
There was too much.
I needed clarification.
I hurried past Rett and yelled to the outside for Kyle. “Who isus? Who should I listen to, you and Liam?”
Kyle turned my way.
“You’ve both lied to me.”
Kyle’s voice came over the dull roar of the commotion. “Em, I’m sorry. I’ll tell you the truth. Us doesn’t mean Liam. You should listen to our mother.”
“She died,” I reminded him.
He fought as he was being pushed into the back seat of an SUV.
“Kyle,” I called one last time.
“Jezebel, Em. She’s alive and I swear, she can explain.”
As Kyle disappeared into the SUV, I stepped back and back, into the foyer. My heart beat in overtime against my breastbone as the bodice of the dress grew tighter. Breathing became difficult as too many thoughts clouded my mind and I sank to the stairs, sitting on the bottom step. Beyond the double doors, Rett’s men disappeared, taking away my brother and my first love.
When Rett stepped back inside, he closed the double doors. With a deep breath, he ran his hand over his hair, pushing it back from where it had become disheveled. I looked up, wondering who was telling me the truth.
Rett offered me his hand. “Come, we need to sign the marriage certificate.”
I didn’t budge. “Jezebel is alive?”
He nodded. “I never said otherwise.”
I shot to my feet. “So you lied by omission?”
“Miss Guidry told you. She speaks of Jezebel in the present tense.” He reached for my hand.
I pulled it away. “She speaks of your mother in present tense too.”
Rett continued to offer his hand.
Refusing to reach for it, I held the banister and stared back up to his gaze. “Tell me who took me.”
“I have their names if you want to see them. Their identities are irrelevant, Emma. I won’t allow them or anyone else to harm you. They’re dead.”
Just like Greyson and now Ross.
The finality of his statement cooled my skin. “Who hired them?”