He snags my hand and squeezes it, and I freeze.
Wait. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
Keira’s grin is so wide, it’s in danger of splitting her face clean in half. “You want children, Moses?”
Without hesitation, he nods. “Yes, ma’am.”
When he glances down at me, I stare at his face in shock.
“You really do want kids?” I ask him in a cautious tone.
“I’d love three, but I’d settle for one. I guess it’s really up to you, mama.”
Something I keep hidden deep inside me comes to life as soon as he says those words. “Maybe just start with one and go from there.”
Moses’s smile beams so full of joy—the complete opposite of how he looked only an hour ago when he came into the house after returning from Desiree’s. I wish I could burn this new image into my brain to replace all the ugliness of today.
“It sounds like you two are on the same page then,” Keira says quietly, backing out of the room, no doubt to give us space so we can discuss the topic further. There’s no question in my mind Keira would love it if I started popping out babies tomorrow so she and I could raise them together.
“Here come your bags,” she says as she reaches the hallway. “I’ll let you two get settled. Your guys will just be down the hall to the right. If you hit zero and ask to be transferred to their room, the operator will be able to assist you. If you’re up for dinner, it’ll be very low key, at seven.”
Moses releases my hand, and I walk toward my friend. “Thank you, beautiful. We appreciate all you’re doing for us.”
She smiles. “It’s my pleasure. I’m not letting anything happen to you, Mags. Not if it’s in my power.” Her arms come out, and she wraps me in a tight embrace. As she does, she whispers in my ear. “And that man . . . well, you’re going to have to tell me all about him later when we get some time alone. I gotta hear everything about the guy who wants to give you three babies.”
I squeeze her back. “Thanks, Ke-ke. You’re the best.”
She releases me after a long, but much-needed moment. “All I want is to see you happy. Now, we just need to find this motherfucker and kill him all the way dead.”
The smile she adds to punctuate her sentence knocks a chuckle loose from me, when I could have sworn it would be impossible to laugh for the rest of the day.
“Mount’s rubbing off on you.”
“I’m sure he is, but that’s what real love does.” She pulls back, and her head falls to the side. “It makes you stronger than you ever dreamed and do things you never imagined possible. And now it’s your turn.”
Real love. What a concept.
Sixteen
Moses
Mount sits at the head of the table, with his wife to his right and their daughter between them. I don’t know why that surprises me, but it does. She wears a bib that reads My Dad Says It’s Okay, and I’m still shocked that he’s so openly affectionate with the girl.
Then again, we are in the inner sanctum. If he thought any of us were a threat or would use any of this information against him, we’d be dead before we could make it out of the room.
Jules and Trey are on their best behavior, although they don’t escape Mount’s notice.
“I understand you’re the hacker,” he says to Trey as wine is poured.
“I prefer to think of myself as chief technical officer of our operation, but yeah, hacking’s part of what I do.”
The king lifts his chin. “Most difficult hack?”
“Nothing I can disclose without getting arrested by Interpol.”
Mount looks suitably impressed. “Interesting.” He focuses on Jules next. “And what is your role?”
“Probably a lot like your silent guy. I watch Moses’s six. Do what needs doing. We go back a long way.”
I give Jules a nod. “Jules and I have been colleagues for over a decade. Trey’s been with us for just a year less.”
“Quite the impressive business the three of you have built.”
“Wouldn’t have built it if not for you,” I say.
Mount’s full attention swings to me. “How’s that?”
I glance across the table at Magnolia, wondering if I should have told her this first, but either way, it’ll be good for her to hear. “When you banned me from the state of Louisiana—”
“Of course you would do something like that,” Keira says, shooting her husband a dirty look.
“Different time, hellion. Different time.”
She rolls her eyes and goes back to her salad, and I continue telling my story.
“I was on my way through Texas when I ran into a guy on the outskirts of Houston. His accent was strong and distinctly New Orleans. He was drunk in a bar, talking about starting over. Being that I was starting over too, I moved down a stool and listened to him ramble. I was on my second drink when he finally came out and told me he’d faked his own death in the aftermath of the storm.”
Jules and Trey both grin because they’ve heard this story before.
“No shit?” Magnolia says, curiosity stamped on her pretty features.
“Yeah. He, uh . . .” I squint toward the baby, not sure I should be adding the last piece of the story.
“She doesn’t understand what you’re saying, so go ahead,” Keira tells me.
“Well, he found an unrecognizable body that was his height and weight and coloring, and made sure his wallet was in the pocket and his signet ring on the finger. Left it in his house, which was flooded.”
“What was he running from?” Mount asks.
“Alimony payments,” I say with a snicker. “Bastard had an ex-wife who hated his guts and swore she’d never, ever remarry because she wanted that check from him every month. He was sick and tired of working his ass off only to pay her a huge chunk of the money. So he decided to run and start over.”
Keira bursts into laughter. “Leave it to a man to decide that faking his own death was better than paying his ex-wife.”
As everyone at the table laughs along with her, several people come out of the door I assume leads to the kitchen, carrying massive platters of food that fill the air with the scent of Creole cuisine. For the most part, conversation stays remarkably light for the remainder of the meal, and just seeing Magnolia relax and fucking breathe easy for a few minutes feeds me in ways the plates upon plates of food could never do.
After dinner is cleared away and Keira is lifting the baby out of her seat, Mount shifts toward me.
“Join me in the library for a drink,” he says, not a request so much as a command.
Instead of agreeing immediately, I glance over at Magnolia.
Keira jumps in and says, “Mags, I’d love to steal you away for a few minutes too. I just need to put Rory down first.”
Magnolia pushes her chair away from the table. “I’ll help you with your baby girl. I could use an impossibly sweet distraction.”
As the women rise, Mount kisses his daughter good night and says something to his wife.
I toss my napkin down on the table and stretch. As soon as I do, I remember the box of shit I took from Ortiz’s apartment.