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Constance smiled through her tears at that. “I’m really glad for you. For all of you.” She rubbed the baby’s wispy hair. “I wish I could be here to see him grow up.”

“Where are you going?” Nyah’s brow furrowed, her features switching from confusion to concern. “Tell me you’re not planning to hurt yourself.”

“No, I—”

Nyah interrupted her. “I know that look, Mom. Because I once stood on a balcony in your house and contemplated throwing myself off it.” She swallowed thickly. “It was the wrong choice for me, and it’ll be the wrong choice for you too. If you need help, I’ll give it to you.”

Nyah reached for her hand.

Constance took it, rubbing it between her own. “No, no. I promise, it’s not like that. I won’t lie and say it didn’t cross my mind after your father died. I don’t know who I am without him, or what I’m supposed to do.”

“You’re supposed to make the most of a second chance,” I murmured. “Have a second life. Maybe a better one.”

She nodded. “I would like that. Truly, I would. But I don’t deserve it. I need to take responsibility for the things I’ve done. And that’s probably going to mean I end up in jail.”

Nyah gaped at her. “For what?”

She sucked in a wobbly breath. “I killed Virginia.”

I froze. Nyah froze. I was sure the entire continent iced over at Constance’s confession.

Constance rushed to fill the gap, her tears rolling freely down her cheeks. “She came to our house. She knew about the baby and begged us to call off the marriage to Carlos. She was going to ruin everything for you. She knew the baby wasn’t of Guerra blood. We couldn’t just let her leave and tell people. If that rumor had gotten around, Carlos would have demanded a paternity test.”

I could barely speak. “So you choked her to death? That’s what the coroner’s report said. That she had a lot of wounds inflicted on her after her death but she’d most likely directly died of asphyxiation.”

Constance looked confused. “No, I didn’t… Your father was glaring at me, and I knew what he expected me to do. I hit her over the head with a paperweight. Jeremiah…” She blinked. “I don’t know. I can barely remember any of it. I don’t want to. But he was there. Virginia fell after I hit her. I thought I killed her. But he…he must have…”

My stomach churned at the details of my mother’s death. Part of me didn’t want to hear it. Wanted to scream for her to shut up and get out.

The other part needed to know. Needed the closure.

Constance bit her lip. “It doesn’t matter who landed the final blow. I had a part in her death, and I can’t forgive myself for it. I have to turn myself in.”

Nyah pulled her hand away, a tear rolling down her cheek. “She was a good woman, Mom. How could you do that to her? And then you framed Lynx for it? How did you even know about him?”

Her mouth twisted into a grim line. “MacGregor called your father after what happened in Scotland. So we knew about what Lynx had done there. It felt like killing two birds with one stone. Lynx was another person who knew the baby’s true paternity, MacGregor was sure of that after seeing the way he reacted to you in Scotland, and we needed to get rid of her body.”

Lynx scrubbed a hand over his face. “I made it possible by leaving the compound. I had multiple alibis while I was inside, not to mention video proof. So you had to wait until I left.” He squinted at her. “Was it you who knocked me out?”

Constance grimaced. “We waited in the woods until you left, then put Virginia’s body as close to the Slayers’ gates as we could, without dipping into range of the cameras. I wanted to leave. I was sure we’d done enough to frame you, but Jeremiah didn’t think so. It was so late at night, and there’s not much open at that time, other than a couple of places on the Strip. It wasn’t hard to find your bike parked outside the all-night pharmacy. He hit you with a tire iron from the back of his car. He wasn’t sure if you were dead or not, but I managed to convince him not to go back and check because even if you weren’t dead, you’d be arrested. We’d planted more than enough evidence, and Jeremiah had at least a couple of cops on the take. It wasn’t hard for him to point them in your direction.”

“Why spring me from the prison, then? Why not leave me there to rot?” Lynx was honestly baffled.

We all were.

Constance sighed heavily. “By that point, Jeremiah had made an agreement with MacGregor. Luca had publicly claimed the baby was his. They had realized that if Carlos and Luca were dead, the baby would be the heir.”

Luca swore under his breath as he put the pieces together. “And that whoever controlled the heir, controlled the empire.”

Nyah was pale. “But anyone who knew the truth about the baby was a liability.” Her fingers clenched in the blanket. “So, what? His plan was to just kill or imprison all of us?”

Constance grimaced but glanced at me and Lynx and Luca. “Carlos wanted you dead, Luca. He knew it had to happen, after the way you’d disrespected him in Scotland. But I got the impression he truly did love you and he couldn’t kill you himself.”

Nyah rolled her eyes. “Let me guess? My ass-kissing father was more than happy to make a deal and do it for him?”

Constance nodded. “Your father was very ambitious, Nyah.”

“Not very smart,” Luca muttered. “But ambitious, sure.”