Page 91 of Pregnant By A Rich Demon 2

It didn’t bring the twins back.

And it didn’t fix what their deaths had done to our family.

We didn’t talk about Elias and Silas anymore.

It was an unspoken rule. A wound too deep to touch without risking complete collapse.

Odette couldn’t hear their names without breaking. Kaisen carried guilt that was slowly destroying him from the inside out.

The only person who ever brought them up was Amai.

And he only did it to make a point.

To remind Kaisen of his failure.

To hurt people when he needed leverage.

To wield their memory like a weapon when nothing else would cut deep enough.

That’s who my son was.

A man who understood that the dead could be just as useful as the living if you knew how to use them.

The car slowed as we approached Victor Baptiste’s estate.

I straightened my tie. Composed my face into the mask of control I’d worn for decades.

But inside, I was calculating.

Amai had chosen Truth over everything I’d taught him.

Had chosen love over power.

Had chosen to burn down the empire rather than sacrifice the woman carrying his child.

And now I had to figure out how to contain the weapon I’d created.

Before he destroyed us all.

The car stopped.

My driver opened the door.

I stepped out into the heat and humidity of a New Orleans afternoon.

And walked toward Victor Baptiste’s front door to discuss how we were going to survive the war my son was about to start.

Chapter 8

VICTOR BAPTISTE

Winston Landry strolled through my front door like he owned the goddamn place.

That confidence—that swagger that saidI’m bigger than you, and we both know it—made my ass itch every time I saw him. Always had. Even back when we were young and hungry and building our empires brick by bloody brick.

Winston had always acted like the rules didn’t apply to him.

Like his money was longer, his reach wider, his name heavier.