I moaned into the kiss, losing myself in Rhodes, Rhodes, Rhodes.
No, I didn’t have ten years of dating, living with, and raising a child with Rhodes to say I knew him. But I did have ten years of dating, living with, and thanking fate that I didn’t have a child with the string of bastards in my past.
I knew a bad man when he was oozing his slime on me, and that wasn’t Rhodes. Because he was here.
Rhodes endured the hell I knew my sister put him through and stuck by her untilshetold him she wanted out. He obviously had the patience of a saint, because if he was going to snap and kill anyone, I had a feeling it would’ve been my sister.
He broke away, resting his forehead against mine. We were quiet breathing each other in.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have accused you. I’m just in a weird headspace right now. I see now how lonely, isolated, anddespisedmy mother was. First, she marries a misogynist who controlled her even after his death. Then she gets cancer, and instead of allowing her to pass away on a cloud of morphine, she’s violently murdered in her bed.
“It feels like this house and everyone who lived in it is cursed,” I rasped. “Cursed and haunted by evil everywhere we go until we lose the battle. It scares me, baby. I’m scared.”
“Hey, don’t talk like that.” He stroked my hair—his hand heavy but comforting. “Our home isn’t cursed and our family isn’t cursed. It’s not, because we have each other, and together we’re going to get through this. I promise.”
“Promise what?” Micah walked into the kitchen, turning our heads. “You guys okay?”
“We’re cool. Sue was just grilling me on where I went when I left the party.” He smiled at me to take the sting out of it. “Thankfully, I’m accounted for. All of the usual suspects—those closest to Omma—are. Even Reynard had a rock-solid alibi.”
“Reynard?” I said to his back as he crossed to the stove, getting ready to plate dinner. “Why? Because he was out with his friends?”
“No, because he wasn’t. When I was up in my office, I looked out the window and saw him in the garden—sneaking a cigarette. I remember thinking that boys’ night couldn’t have been that wild if it was over before ten o’clock,” he said. “But the point is, if he was three floors down smoking a cigarette at nine forty, he definitely wasn’t also upstairs hiding the evidence and cleaning up after committing murder at nine thirty-seven.”
He gave me a sweet smile. “He didn’t do it. I didn’t do it. No one who lives in this home hurt your mother, baby, so there’s no need to be scared. The evil is not in this house. It’s not in your family, so don’t push us away. We’re here for you, and we’re going to discover the truth together. That’s the promise.”
“Then it’s one I’m one hundred percent on board with,” Micah said. It was his turn to hug and kiss me. “Let us take care of you now. You and those sweet lager nipples are in safe hands.”
Irolled my eyes, but he got a little smile out of me anyway. “Thank you, guys. I really needed to hear that.”
“Of course.”
“We mean it.”
“We love you.”
I just smiled, my gaze drifting up.Yes, my lovely, hot borrowed husbands. I really did need to hear that on the night my mother was murdered, Reynard Agassi was not where he was supposed to be.
Chapter Seventeen
The next morning, I caught Reynard coming out of his room. He turned the key in the lock and pocketed it before glancing up and noticing me.
“Oh, Sue. Good morning,” he greeted. “Are you here to see me?”
It was a fair question. The only rooms in this particular hallway of the east wing were Reynard’s room, my mother’s office, and my mother’s bedroom. Since I couldn’t be there to eat breakfast with my mother as had become our little ritual, then I had to be there for him, but—
“No,” I said lightly. “I need to look through Omma’s office. Apparently, three days is long enough for a lawyer to wait before bugging a grieving daughter for the documents he needs to settle my mother’s affairs.”
“I’m sorry.” He squeezed my shoulder. “If you need my help with anything, please let me know. It’s the least I can do as thanks for you and your husbands letting me stay here until my next patient is ready for me.”
“Of course. You were by my mother’s side till the end.” I studied him, and his constant steady smile, through my lashes. “Which is why I think I will take you up on your offer and ask for your help.”
“Absolutely.” He didn’t hesitate. “Whatever you need. It’s yours.”
“Can we talk in her office?”
That was another yes. Reynard trailed behind me, following into the light, airy, never-used room.
My mother had always been a style-over-function person. So while the antique vases on every surface, six-foot-long glass desk, and shelves filled with first-edition classics were all nice to look at, it didn’t make for a space anyone would feel comfortable working. You’d be too afraid to touch, dirty, or break something.
