“There’s speculation, and then there’s knowing things that only a select few would be privy to.”
“I know she got involved with things that she shouldn’t have. Stuck her little self-righteous nose in business that wasn’t hers. She should have let it go when the Jacobs property collapsed. Her death is as much her own fault as it is yours.”
“I never told anyone she was investigating that collapse,” he replied. “Did Riddle tell you?”
Audiemar knew all about the history with Phoebe, Riddle, and Mira, dating back to when Phoebe and Mira were new on the stroll. Before Mira decided to take control of the game and flip it to her advantage. Phoebe didn’t want to live that life, as much as she enjoyed the perks of it all. She wanted the money; she was just tired of using her body to get it every single day of her life. So, she used Nayelli to target wealthy men while she did the same, funding an entire lifestyle off it. When the money started to run low, she would run to Riddle for favors, and he had no problem bailing her out, but it always came with a price. Eventually, that got old, too, which is why she encouraged her daughter to marry for money asap.
Phoebe’s silence was the loudest thing in the room. She looked away, and before she could even blink, Audiemar was in her face. Nowhere to run, his eyes raked over her. The shell she’d managed to hide under in his presence shrank before hiseyes. He saw it all. The hesitation. Her fear, and the history that existed between them. Suddenly, twenty years rearranged themselves. Jane and all her questions. The Jacobs dying in that building collapse. His wife felt so bad about that she paid for their funeral and all the flower arrangements for their service. Riddle got that land right after they were killed. Jane figured it out. Her death wasn’t random. It was all connected, and he should have known that.
“She was still my friend. You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it,” he growled, expression hardening.
“Jane wouldn’t stop.” Phoebe spoke up after a beat. “She was relentless in finding out what happened. She even came to me, asking me to poke around. I told her to stop. I told her it wouldn’t end well?—”
“But you didn’t do anything to stop it.” His voice was barely above a whisper.
Phoebe shut her eyes. It was too late to take it all back.
Audiemar stepped back because every instinct he had wanted to reach out and squeeze the life from her. The room suddenly got smaller.
“I buried the wrong fucking enemy.” He thought about all the blood he left on the street for what he thought happened to her.
Only to find out that he was wrong.
“I never wanted her dead.” Phoebe’s eyes filled with tears of regret.
Audiemar’s gaze shifted back to her. Cold. Menacing. For the first time in decades, he saw Phoebe as someone else. There was no friendship left, and now he doubted there ever was.
“No,” he agreed. “You just helped the people who did.”
“Audie—”
“Phoebe, get the fuck out of my house.” He stood at the island, palms pressed against the granite surface.
Bowing his head, he refused to look at her. If he did, he might end up doing something he might regret. He’d done worse for a hell of a lot less. Phoebe had invaded his home. His family. Her daughter had married his son.
“Well, I guess I can see where Kong got his cut off game from,” she murmured as if she was the one wronged in this situation.
Audiemar wanted to squeeze the air from her lungs. She moved around him and left the kitchen to gather her things from the front hall. By the time he reached the foyer, she was throwing on her jacket and slinging her YSL bag over her shoulder.
“I still have things here. Upstairs.”
“Don’t worry. They’ll find their way out,” he assured her.
Phoebe glanced over her shoulder before letting herself out. Audiemar took slow, equal steps to the door to lock it behind her. Bowing his head with one palm pressed against it, he released a harsh sigh. It was taking everything in him not to deal with Phoebe the way he would any other enemy. He’d told himself he changed over the years. Took life and his relationships more seriously, but this… this was something else.
“Son.” Desiree’s voice interrupted the rampant pacing of his thoughts.
Audiemar lifted his head to find her standing at the top of the staircase. Poised, relaxed in her pajamas with her hair covered by her silk bonnet and face makeup free, she tipped her head to the side.
“Not tonight, Mama.”
She hadn’t expected to hear that kind of defeat in his broken voice. Although the conversation between him and Phoebe was tough to overhear, she never believed that woman ever genuinely gave a damn about anyone other than herself. Clearly the same could not be said for him. He’d trusted her, allowed her close to him, and she was the worst enemy he never saw coming.
Turning away from Desiree, he strolled into his living room, eyes on the face of his late wife staring back at him from the painting above the fireplace. An icy wave of air swept his spine, and his thoughts spiraled, thinking about what had been under his nose the whole time. He prided himself on being a man who could see through that fake shit. Somehow Phoebe slipped through the critique.
She was close. Friends with Jane, or so he thought. Now he had to look at that friendship completely different. It was one-sided. Jane was a good friend to Phoebe, not the other way around. As bad as he wanted to kill her, he didn’t get the urge to do so. Maybe he was in shock. He damn sure couldn’t speak for his sons if they ever found out. Now he struggled with telling them or carrying that harsh truth to his grave. If any of them ever found out, they’d never forgive him for not knowing. He had no control over how they felt or moved in the situation. Jane was their mama in every sense of the word. If anyone spoke ill of her now, it never ended well for them.
