It came back to me then. Nautica….she had injected something into my neck. My hand immediately went to the spot and felt a slight lump. Peeling my fingers away, my hands felt so sticky.
A coppery smell hit my nose. I was still slowly registering everything. What in the fuck was going on? Where in the fuck was Nautica? Why were lights swirling outside.
And then I heard it.
A voice with a very commanding prescene was outside of the house speaking to me.
“Ivy Knowles-Scarpetta, please come outside with your hands up!”
What in the entire fuck, I thought.
Shaking my head, I realized blood was all over me. I stood up. My clothes were soaked through with someone else’s bodily liquid. I held up my hands and fully took them in. More blood. But whose blood? Nautica’s?
Nautica was no where to be found.
I heard gasping sounds coming from behind the couch. Looking over, I found Rex. He was there, the tea tray had long crashed to the floor behind him. I hoped over the couch and crouched down beside him.
“Rex, what happened?”
He was struggling to breath and offering no help. Rex was a big man, part of the reason my father had hired him. He must not have seen this coming. Nautica had to have done this and yet se was no where to be found.
The voice from outside peeled through my thoughts once more.
“Ivy Knowles-Scarpetta,” the voice boomed. “We know that you are inside. Please come outside and make this easier on yourself. Come out with your hands up.”
Tibs began to cry upstairs. I would have heard him through concrete because my ears were tuned in to him. My phone was still in my back pocket from earlier. Taking it out, I found a million missed calls from Thierry.
I called him back. Evertyhing else could wait.
“Diamond, what the fuck is going on?” I heard him whisper.
“I …I have no idea, I…I …I woke up. Nautica fucking stabbed me in my throat with a needle,” I told him.
“What?”
“Rex is dead,” I whispered back feeling more afraid than ever before. “The cops…”
“They’re outside,” Thierry said. “The house is surrounded, this shit is all over the news. I’m here to, they wont let me inside.”
“Thierry, I…I don’t know what to do.”
“Is the baby okay?”
Taking a deep breath, I tried calm my nerves. I need to be thinking of the baby. There was a way out of this for sure. My father had taught me that no matter how far down the rabbit hole you went, you could see your way out if you simply used your fucking brain. Whatever Nautica had pushed into my veins was still trying to cloud my judgement.
“I think so,” I replied.
“Stay on the phone with me, Tesoro and go check on our son,” Thierry gritted out.
Listening to my husband, I scrambled away from Rex’s dead body.
“Wait, I’m gonna look and see if Nautica left the syringe behind,” I told him.
Quick as a Fox, I searched the living room over. I found nothing and reported that to him.
“Okay forget the needle,” Thierry said. “Get to Tiberious.”
Climbing the stairs, worry settled into my stomach. How long had this bitch been planning this. Why had she been planning this? Of course, it came down to money and power. As my father’s wife she’d had access to things but upon his death, she’d had nothing. No power. Hardly any money.
