Page 56 of Provoke You

“You do that?”

“Yes. Don’t you?”

“No, I wouldn’t even know where to go.” The realization hit me like a wrecking ball. I didn’t know where my parents rested. I remembered there was a memorial of some sort. Twice. But I had no idea where that was. For sure, my parents were not buried at the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to ask.” She came down the last couple of steps to wrap her arms around my waist.

“It’s fine. I honestly had never thought about it.”

“When I visit, I feel like she’s still here. You know, watching over me.”

I kissed her temple. Must be nice to have someone watching over you. “I’m sure she is.”

Why did it have to be a cemetery? If this wasn’t the biggest way to pull someone’s heartstrings, I didn’t know what was. Ben had another thing coming if he thought he could use Ela the way her dad did. For her sake, I opted to go unarmed, but only because I was certain Kitt would not leave the apartment without his sniper rifle.

“Kitt,” I projected my voice toward the back room.

He walked into the room, tipping his head at Ela. “Yeah, Boss.”

“We’re gonna need a spotter.”

“I can’t just show up armed to the teeth.” He turned to Ela. “Can I?”

“Obviously, not. Is this necessary?” she asked me. “I know Ben. He would never hurt me.”

Fuck. Ela would never be okay with guns. “What if he’s not alone?” I hated not having a solid plan. Normally, if we had the luxury of normal, an operation like this would take at least three days to mount. We had less than hour. “Maybe we should wait a day?”

“But the meeting is tomorrow? If the crypt isn’t the place, we would have wasted a whole day and missed Ben.”

She had a point. We had to assume the last date on the list was the meeting date and move fast. “Okay. What can we bring? I won’t have anything on me, but Kitt and Chase?”

“The back wall. You can see a sliver of it from my family crypt.”

“That’s the same as nothing.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t let you go all commando on the place where my ancestors are laid to rest.”

I nodded at Kitt, and he took off without another word. He’d figure it out. My only hope was that Ben was as reverent as Ela when it came to the family crypt.

The traffic out of the French Quarter was, as usual, crowded with pedestrians and cars rushing through. From the passenger seat, Ela kept her gaze on the passing buildings. Every now and then, she’d glance over my way. After last night, she seemed different. A part of me wanted to think it was the mind-blowing sex, but the better part of me, the smarter side, knew it had more to do with her finally having a shot at saving the Baroness.

“Why is your dad in charge of the LeBlanc fortune if he’s not a LeBlanc?”

She stared straight ahead. “I’m the last one.”

“Is that why?”

“No. I mean, since I can remember, I’ve been the last of the LeBlancs. It was too much pressure. You know the story.”

I knew the old story of Ela LeBlanc, partying and wasting her life away. From the outside, I couldn’t understand why anyone with everything in life, money, family, would spend her days wasting it all away. After meeting the real her, I knew there was a lot more to that.

“I do.”

“So Grans made Dad the executor of my estate until I was twenty-five. She hoped I’d come to my senses by then. I did come to my senses, but Dad always made it sound like I was too late.”

“Too late for what?”

“Make something of myself. Take over the family business, have children. Who knows?”

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