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“The girls are safe. They’re upstairs with two officers.”
He only gave me half the information. Looking at him, I narrowed my eyes. “Where is my sister, Davina?”
“Ms. Adams.” I flinched. It was the way he said my name. Like he was trying to be too calm, too complacent, almost as if he was trying to soften a blow. Shaking my head, I muttered, “He killed her, didn’t he?”
“Let’s go over here and talk.”
“No. Just tell me!”
“A 9-1-1 call came into the station forty-five minutes ago. A neighbor heard screaming. By the time we arrived and entered the house, your sister, Davina Duchene, was already dead. We’ve taken her husband into custody. He is being charged with first degree murder.”
“I need to see the girls.”
The officer nodded and led me into the house. I ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. Running down the hallway, I burst into the playroom to find my nieces all sleeping, an officer in the room with them while one stood watch outside. Seeing their beautiful little faces, I fell to my knees and wept. My sister’s death finally sinking in.
This couldn’t be happening. Not my sister.
Everything was going to change now. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was the spare. It should have been me, not Davy. How was I going to tell my nieces that their mother was never coming back?
“Ms. Adams, the girl’s grandmother is here to pick the girls up,” the officer informed me. My head whipped towards his. Anger that I never knew I had rose up inside me. If that woman thought for one second she was getting her hands on my nieces, she was sorely mistaken. I would rot in jail before I let that happen. “She is not going anywhere with the girls.”
“She is the legal grandparent of the children.”
“No. She is the parent of the man who murdered my sister.”
“She has paperwork stating she has temporary custody.”
Getting to my feet, I looked once more at the girls, steeled myself, and faced the man, knowing that what I was about to say was going to piss off many people and cause a worldwide ripple effect. I may have been the spare, but I knew what my job was. Like Davy, I trained, prepped and prepared from birth to do what needed to be done to protect the lineage of the Duchene line. I just never thought I would have to institute it.
Reaching for my phone, I quickly brought up the document I kept in the cloud, ready at a moment’s notice, if ever needed. Never thought I’d ever use it. I handed the officer my phone as I spotted Mrs. Blackwell walking smugly towards me. The pious glint in her eyes told me she had come prepared. Well, so was I, as I clearly said, for all to hear, “My name is Linsey Amelia Duchene. I am the daughter of Vivienne Duchene and the granddaughter of Victoria Duchene. I am the spare to my sister Davina Angelica Duchene. Upon my sister’s passing, I instantly became the legal guardian of her three daughters and the sole owner of Duchene International until Davina’s oldest daughter comes of age. All matters concerning the company and the welfare of my nieces now solely belong to me and only me.”
“You bitch!” the older woman said. “If you think you are taking my son’s daughters and their birthright away from them, you are mistaken. This isn’t Belgium. Those laws don’t pertain here.”
“Actually, they do,” a handsome man said, as he walked down the hall wearing an expensive Armani suit tailored to perfection, with a woman I hadn’t seen since I was a teenager beside him. Seeing me, he smirked before addressing the officer. “My name is Alexander Galveston, and this is my sister Sarah Galveston. I am the attorney for the children. Per Davina Duchene’s directive, upon her death, custody of the children is to be given to the spare, Linsey Duchene Adams, the sister. The company and all the holdings are being transferred as we speak into Ms. Adam’s name until which time the oldest daughter comes of age. My office has already faxed the documents to your police chief. Now, if you would please escort this woman off the premises. The moment Davina Duchene died, she no longer had a right to enter this place or have access to the girls. This home and everything in it belong totheDuchene’s.”
“You can’t keep my grandchildren from me!”
“Mrs. Blackwell,” Mr. Galveston simply advised, “The children in question are Duchene. They have been Duchene since the moment they were born. They have the Duchene name. I advised your son before the marriage took place, what would happen in this exact instance should it ever occur. He signed the paperwork.”
“My son would never!”
“Regardless of what you believe, your son did in fact sign the paperwork and I can prove it. Now, your son may have fathered the children, but they were never legally his. None of this was. He could only live here by the grace of the Duchene. Now that she is dead, he and you have no rights to this place, the company or the children and considering your son was just arrested for murder, you and your family are not getting anywhere near the children. Officer, please escort Mrs. Blackwell off the premises immediately.”
“My son didn’t kill that bitch!” the older woman screamed as an officer escorted her away. I turned to Sarah. “Thank you for coming.”
“Where are the girls?”
“Asleep,” I said, looking over my shoulder at the door behind me. “Do we have to wake them now?”
“I’m sorry Linsey, but the quicker we get them to safety, the faster we can clean this mess up. Do you have a place in mind?”
“No.”
I honestly didn’t know where to take the girls. I only came to see my sister because I had decided about the move to Tennessee. I was going to take my sister’s advice and go find a life for myself. I couldn’t just leave now. There were three little girls that I was now responsible for. My life would never be my own. I knew that now.
“Linsey, you need someplace where the girls will be safe. Someplace where no one will know who they are. You must decide. You had to have thought about where you would take them if something like this happened. Now is the time.”
“My boss.”
