Page 32 of Bone

“Don’t tell me. They’re Hawk’s kids?”

“Nope. Eagle’s.”

The men laughed while Tre and Luke worked out a few details of helping the neighborhood. When they left, they left to the applause of dozens of residents, who seemed more than grateful for the destruction.

Slowly driving out of the barrio, the men took note of the number of bodies lying in the street. None of them their own. But it didn’t matter. They were kids. Young men with their entire lives ahead of them and they chose crime and violence. The RP men were happy to end the violence but never happy to end the life of a young man.

With the cargo hold open, they drove the vehicles into the plane, securing them.

“You boys okay?” asked Molly.

“We will be, Mol,” said Cam. He shook his head. The woman who’d once been a badass Marine walked toward him to grip his shoulder. “They were mostly just fucking kids, Mol. Kids.”

“You know better than anyone that kids are used for violence all the time. You did what needed to be done,” she said, hugging him. “I’m proud of you.” Cam nodded at her, giving her a hug back.

“Fly safe, Mol. See you at home.”

Standing at the entrance to the choppers, Evie, Savannah, and Chipper recognized the strain on the faces of the men as they piled in. Chipper, more than anyone, recognized those looks. He’d seen them for nearly thirty years of his life, and they were familiar faces to him.

“Let’s go, boys. Time to go home.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Londyn sat with Skylar, Scout, Lucinda, and Micaela at a large round table running down the center of the upper level of the Sugar Lodge. She’d seen the building from the outside but not from the inside. Needless to say, she was impressed.

The walls were lined with single cots, only far more comfortable than the average cot. There were privacy screens if needed, places for the kids to play, several movie-watching areas, large shower areas, and a massive kitchen at one end.

“This is just amazing,” said Londyn. “What is this place?”

“It used to be the sugar mill for the plantation,” said Lucinda. “I understand that it was falling apart, and Adele and her students rebuilt it.”

“That’s right,” smiled Adele, walking toward the women. “We rebuilt it after we found treasure that had been left here during the Civil War.”

“Treasure! How exciting,” said Londyn.

“It was pretty amazing,” she nodded. “There were a lot of pieces that we gave to museums, but there also were gold bars and coins. Mama and Pops put those in the RP fund.”

“The RP fund?” asked Londyn.

“Yep, it’s the fund that we use to continue growing and building. See, Mama and Pops own everything for as far as the eye can see. Pops, he keeps buying up pieces of land and small islands off our shores so that we can add to it. He’s always off adding landfill to the smaller islands to ensure we can build on them at some point.”

“That’s just amazing, but I mean, why? I mean, I know why. Sort of. I guess I’m just trying to understand why they would do that?” asked Londyn. Adele grinned at the young woman, waving over her sisters.

“Londyn, these beautiful women are all my blood sisters. Marie, Camille, Claudette, Rachelle, and Suzette. You’ve met some of my brothers, but they are Gaspar, Pierre or Miller which we hate, Luc, Gabriel, Jean, Antoine, Raphael, Baptiste, and Alec. Six girls and nine boys. Our parents wanted nothing more than to have their children return home. Not because they felt guilty or pressured by them. They wanted them to come home because they wanted to be here. Because they felt like this was home as well.

“When Rachelle was attacked, I knew that this would always be our safe haven. I never in a million years expected to meet Clay. I thought maybe my time had passed. But there he was, standing in front of me, smiling at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world.

“This place is special to all of us for different reasons. For me, it’s the history of my family. No surprise that history is my thing,” she grinned. “When Pops offered me the opportunity to rebuild the outer buildings of Belle Fleur, I thought it was a handful. I was wrong. It was dozens of buildings that have taken up my career and made me very happy.”

“That’s so wonderful,” smiled Londyn. “I was an only child, so I never had that.”

“Well, stick around, and you won’t feel like an only child,” smiled Marie. “Gaspar and Pierre were both older than me. They smothered me in all the good ways older brothers should. When the others came along, I smothered them. I made the mistake of moving away for a while. Hell, I made the mistake of marrying the wrong man and not calling my family for help. He abused me, beat me, and left me for dead.

“I got lucky, Londyn. I was able to run and correct some of the mistakes he forced me to make, but when I came home, my family knew something was wrong. I just couldn’t admit what I’d done to them. Then Dex walked into my life. That big, handsome, silver-haired fox just bowled me over. I came back here for safety, for family. What I found was more than that. It’s where I belong. It’s where I’ve always belonged.”

Londyn nodded, looking toward the other sisters.

“Mine is easy,” smiled Suzette. “I fell in love with an RP man. Sly and I had been dating on and off for a few years, but at the time, REAPER was located in Virginia, and I was here finishing my PhD. He didn’t want me to have to make the choice to move, so he basically ignored me.”

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