“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything I know!” Darcy belted. “Just… stop.”
Kong turned to her, looking her up and down.
“Where is Neo?”
“He’s upstairs in the nursery,” she whimpered, tears filling her eyes and spilling down her face. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t.” She cracked hoarsely. “I was going through some papers a few weeks ago. I found them buried in the closet. Something didn’t look right, and when I brought it to Emeric’s attention, he tried to deny it. But I knew… I knew something wasn’t right. The adoption agency had never even heard our names. All the paperwork was fake. He said I should just let it go. That if I wanted to keep Neo, I wouldn’t say anything.” She broke and crumbled to her knees. “And I wanted him so bad. I didn’t want to lose him…” She squeezed her eyes shut, and more tears spilled.
“I want my fucking son,” Kong growled.
“You ain’t getting shit,” Emeric grumbled, sitting up.
Pow!Kong sent a bullet right through his leg.
“No!” Darcy wailed. “Okay! Please, don’t do this.”
She crawled across the floor to check on Emeric. With his back against the sofa, he sat up. Blood oozed from his leg,and sweat beads gathered at his forehead. Wincing in pain, he grabbed his leg and threw his head back against the couch.
“Baby, I’m sorry. What can I do?”
“Go get my son and bring him to me,” Kong ordered.
“Fuck that! You don’t come up in here barking orders. I paid for that little bastard?—”
Kong sent another shot through his arm.
“Argh!” Emeric bellowed.
“The next one takes your life,” Kong warned.
Darcy scrambled to her feet, and her husband called after her, but she was determined to save him. The only reason she wanted a baby was that she thought it might make Emeric a better man, a better husband, but he seemed to only get worse when he realized a lot of her attention went to this baby. Darcy was more concerned about her marriage than motherhood, and that was the ultimate red flag. Mothers put their children’s needs ahead of their own, and she didn’t seem to be in that place.
“You think you gon’ get away with this?” Emeric chuckled.
“Like you thought you did,” Kong pointed out, squatting in front of him with his pistol hanging between his legs.
The cocky smile on Emeric’s face wilted. Moments later, Darcy descended the stairs with Neo in his car seat and a diaper bag packed for him. He was still sleeping when she carried him to Kong.
“I packed a few things he likes,” she whispered, holding the bag out for him to take as well.
Kong appreciated it. He slid the strap over his shoulder and held the car seat with his other hand. Darcy hated to see them go. Trembling and utterly sick to her stomach, she stood between Kong and the doorway, watching him take away what she thought was going to be the remedy to her marital problems. Hands steepled over her mouth, she wept into them.
Pow!
The shot fired was meant for Kong, but it pierced Darcy in the chest instead. In the doorway, a few inches from where the bullet should have landed, he watched her hit the floor and struggle for her last breath. Emeric still held the smoking gun in his hand, eyes wide as he listened to the blood gurgle in her mouth while she fought for what was left of her life.
“Shit, Darcy! Baby!”
Boom!
Kong sent his next shot through Emeric’s skull. He wanted to spare Darcy, because he genuinely believed she was dealt a bad hand dealing with a man like that. He guessed fate had other plans. Maybe she was better off right where she was.
“Come on, man, your mama can’t wait to see you,” Kong told Neo with a mile wide grin.
“Hey!” Inari hugged her sister when she and Moose entered the Bellamy Productions building.
The lighting was low, the music was too, and the crowd mingled while devouring Ayla’s delicious recipes. In a corner, a table was set up with a display of her cookware set, utensils, aprons, and dish towels. Everything pink with the Palate Pleasures Kitchen logo on it. There was another table where she’d personally hired a chef to try some of her recipes live and prepare them with her spices in her cookware for live examples.
Tonight everyone would receive a discount code with their first purchase. Since her interview on the Sarah Paul podcast, her viewers had gone up significantly. The preorders for her cookbook had skyrocketed right along with the launch of her spices and cookware. She was blown away by the numbers that she was producing.
