Read Online Beverly Jenkins by Destiny's Surrender - Free Book Online Page A

know women like me always learn the truth. Christian Bible says an eye for an eye.” She enjoyed watching his attempt to mask his reaction even as his hands shook. “Chassie was my only child,” she informed him in a matter of fact voice. “Can’t decide whether the murderer will die slowly or like”—the sharp clap of her hands made him jump—“that.”
    A fine sheen of sweat glistened on his nose and brow.
    She looked into his scarred face. “Any other questions for me?”
    He intimated a hasty no.
    “Then you might want to head on back to the city and let me get on with my day.”
    He left without further word, and as he drove away, she watched him go with a knowing smile on her lips and a blazing hatred in her eyes.
    Handling the reins, Prince hated himself for shaking, but she’d scared him badly. All this time, he’d thought her just another old woman, good for nothing but seeing to the occasional sickness, washing clothes, and bringing his mother her tea. Today, she’d let him know she was more, much more, and if his intuitions were right, she also knew he’d killed her daughter. Why didn’t I know Addy was her mother? a voice shouted inside. Being from Louisiana, he had a healthy respect for those who worked the arts, and in spite of his education, wasn’t stupid enough to chalk such beliefs up to superstition. When the girl’s body was found, he’d been interviewed by the police, but with no solid evidence linking him to her death, they’d never returned. Why would she reveal her familial ties after such a long passage of time? And was his mother really dying? She certainly appeared to be. Had the old woman been slipping something in Pearl’s tea? His first thought was to go back and slit her throat so as to forestall anything she might try to do to him, but he was afraid of what her death might unleash. If she knew he killed her daughter, he felt right in assuming that she’d be looking for revenge, and in light of her startling revelation would the day of reckoning be soon? It was imperative that he locate Billie and the child because the sooner he did, the sooner he could take care of the old woman, even if he had to journey to New Orleans and hire a witch of his own to even the odds.
    F rom the seat of the wagon, Billie studied the massive iron gates with the letters DESTINO scrolled across the top and asked the driver, “This is it?”
    He nodded. “Yates been living her for years. House is up this road apiece. Want me to drive you to the door?”
    The gates were open as if in welcome, but she guessed Drew was going to wish they’d been locked tight as a virgin’s chastity belt once she made her appearance. “How much more will it cost me? I don’t have much money left.” She’d met him at the Stockton train station. The price he’d quoted to drive her there had taken almost all of her remaining coin.
    “Nothing.”
    “Then yes and thanks.”
    So he moved the two-horse team forward on the gravel road. Having been a city girl most of her life, Billie found the wide-open landscape surprising. Did Drew’s family own it all? she wondered. She knew he was wealthy, but if the expansive vista unveiling itself before her eyes were a true indication, she hadn’t known the half of it. There were orchards and outbuildings, small herds of cattle, corrals, horses in pens, and off in the distance mountains still holding winter caps of snow—not that he owned those, or at least she didn’t think he did. Dusk was falling as the big house came into view up ahead. The area around it was lit up like a birthday cake. Faint strains of music wafted to her ears carrying with it the sound of happy voices. “Is there some kind of party going on?” she asked.
    The driver didn’t know.
    Anxiety took hold. Every ounce of her being screamed turn around and flee, but she held on to her resolve. No matter what she might find inside the Yates home, it paled in the face of being confronted by Prince