Chapter 29 Adesua Ridley
Adesua Ridley
Adesua gnawed at her hands, nearly causing them to bleed. She thought of Kavita, praying for her safety. Her legs were knocking together, making the car shake.
She turned to Wei in distress.
“Why did Henrik go instead of you? He can barely protect himself.”
Wei looked as bothered as she was over the whole situation.
“Amelia was right. Henrik is tiny and can blend in with any workers that might be there. Way more than the rest of us,” he said, pain in his voice.
She knew it was Wei’s desire to protect them all, and knowing Kavita was sitting there possibly being tortured was enough of a damning thought for them both to be sent over the edge.
A gunshot went off. Adesua didn’t even have time to figure out if she was danger before her sisters and her brother Henrik were there. She ran so fast her heel came off, and she didn’t even look back. She didn’t know if Wei was behind her, but it didn’t matter. She was going to help her family.
She saw Kavita on the ground next to Franklin, all tied up. Her worst nightmare had come true.
“Wei, help her!” she screamed, so loudly that even the gulls shrieked with her.
As she got closer, she saw Wei had passed her kneeling on the ground next to Kavita.
Her heart felt like it came out of her chest. Seeing Kavita and Amelia alive was all that mattered.
But wait, where is Henrik? She looked up at Amelia in pain.
Adesua could see Amelia knew what she needed to say.
“He is behind the crates, Dusie. I think he is in shock over everything.”
Adesua ran behind the crates and found Henrik on his knees, crying.
“Oh, come here, baby.”
He wailed loudly in her lap. “I thought I killed Kavi. Did I just kill someone? Adesua. Adesua.” He struggled to speak through the tears.
She looked into his icy-blue eyes. The innocence and light that was once there was slowly fading away. Her heart was tightening with each and every moment, and she wished she could take this load off his chest.
“What happened? Where are his men?” she asked.
Henrik looked up at her in tearful remorse. “They are gone. I heard him say that he didn’t need a scene and can handle one girl by himself with Franklin. He kept remarking that Franklin would never turn against him because it would be a death sentence for him.”
Adesua nodded, saying no more. Henrik was frustrated with the blood on his hands.
Even if it was to protect his sister. To take a life was to lose some of your life.
She knew he felt that way. As her clarity came back, she started placing the blame on Amelia.
Had it always been her plan to do this? To have her innocent brother become a murderer like her?
Now Pandora’s box was slowly coming open.
She and Wei in the same car made sense to her.
Maybe she was going to do the deal with Lucky anyway.
This concerned her, because whether they brought the cops in or not, things could end very badly, with Kavita dead or, worse, all of them dead but Amelia.
If she had any suspicions that they knew it was her .
. . they could all easily be a sacrifice to protect her.
Adesua grabbed on to Henrik, going back to a now-untied Kavita and a long-gone Franklin. He looked at peace. But Kavita looked far from it. Her heart began to race again as Amelia then turned to look her in the eye. Her voice hardened.
“Adesua, go retrieve Dale’s camera and journals.
They are in the trunk,” she said sternly.
She rushed back with the camera in hand and the black velvet bag filled with evidence against Lucky and Franklin, and Amelia nodded to Wei.
“Put them in Lucky’s car. Henrik, go fetch the police. This ends today.”
Daylight had broken, and workers began to scurry around the scene in shock.
Most walked by and headed to their proper work area as if this was just another normal day to them.
Police came in a hurried fashion, blocking off the murder scene before civilians and reporters could come rushing through.
Any time the words “Ridley” or “murder”—or better yet, both—were used in a sentence, it got around fast in New York.
Flashing lights came shortly after, and they all turned their backs to the cameras.
Who were they kidding, trying to hide? Adesua knew better than the next person that everyone knew it was them.
The infamous Ridleys had truly been caught committing a murder this time.
Nothing anyone could say could change this narrative.
Days passed by, and just like a bad nightmare, it all repeated once again. Each of them was separated to be interrogated for the murder of Lucky Moretti and his nephew Franklin. The investigators and police chief scratched their heads.
“You do see how troubling it is that we are back here, correct?”
Adesua nodded in agreement. She didn’t believe it either.
“We have interviewed your other siblings, and they have all said the same thing. I believe, in my heart, that you have something else to say. A truth we haven’t heard yet,” he said apprehensively.
“One where the story isn’t just your baby brother, Henrik, randomly having a gun and protecting his sisters.
One where Wei wouldn’t just sit there and let it happen.
We know his track record, and you’re telling me he let his baby brother take the fall for that? I don’t think so.”
There was no lie in his statements. Amelia had made sure they all had the same orchestrated story: a frantic Franklin trying to keep Kavita alive, saying Amelia had to go alone, but she didn’t in fear that Lucky would kill her.
Same words, same story. All jumbled up just a tad so each version could have their own personal flair.
One sibling would be in hysterics, the other would be nearly fainting while talking about them potentially dying at the hands of mobsters, and so on.
Adesua thought about how she knew Amelia was Dale’s killer and how she could end the lies for everyone.
Who was to say that Amelia wouldn’t keep them in danger?
Or worse, make sure they all had blood on their hands?
Yes, they had lied and had secrets, but death was another matter she wouldn’t dare step on.
Amelia had motive to keep her title in the company.
If the world found out who she was, even Father couldn’t save her.
“No, my brothers and sisters were very brave to take a risk that could have ended their lives,” she said curtly.
Instantly the police chief and investigators gave up.
They all had an alibi and all had perfect reasoning.
It was self-defense. The police knew, deep down, that something was off.
She could tell in their eyes that keeping their lives was more important than their line of work.
Because messing with a Ridley now seemed like a ticket to heaven or hell.
Another detective wandered in.
“One more thing, Adesua,” he said, bringing out a red envelope.
Damn it.
“You ever seen a little thing like this in your home?”
Adesua wanted to lie quickly, but they had it in their hands. There was no fire she could throw it in and watch it crumble. It was there, alive, almost as if it had its own beating heart.
“Yes, I have,” she said stiffly.
He tossed the letter on the table for her to read.
one signature . . . one shipment . . . should’ve let your sister do the dirty work, but you Ridleys are all the same, thriving off hurting poor people. Your time to come clean is wearing very thin. But that’s what you Ridleys do, take risks until it’s your downfall.
“So can you explain what they mean by this?”
Adesua cleared her throat and then her thoughts before speaking. She was now the one in the hot seat. Maybe she should have told on Amelia, and this wouldn’t even be relevant.
“People have tried to extort our family for many years. Especially more so now that we are adults. We have been blackmailed and falsely accused of things simply because people we thought we could trust were truly the bad guys. So yes, someone thinks that I have done something with politicians, but they couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said in one breath.
Amelia tapped on the door, with the police chief now by her side. Adesua hadn’t even realized he had left.
“That’s enough now, gentlemen. We have gotten confirmation on everything,” he said, pleased.
Amelia walked all the way into the room with the herd of men gawking at her dress. Adesua had never seen her wear a dress with a slit so high, or fishnet stockings with intricate details. It was like she wanted to take the attention away from everything else.
“I have agreed with Miss Amelia here to provide more police protection to keep any aggressors and blackmailers away,” he said with a smile, rubbing her shoulder.
Adesua felt sick watching this exchange happen.
Amelia had morphed into someone she had never seen before, a vixen playing her cards to abolish all the terrible things they had done.
She did have a moment when she thought that she should be grateful they weren’t all behind bars, but it was indeed unsettling seeing her sister in this way.
Adesua and Amelia walked out of the police station together.
She silently prayed, hoping this was the last time she had to do this.
Mr. Pierre opened the car door for them to step in. Adesua sat there silently, with thoughts racing in her head.
“You can say it,” Amelia said coldly.
Adesua cocked her eyebrows at her. “Say what?”
“That I am a terrible person.”
Adesua looked out the window to avoid eye contact with her. She knew Amelia could get her answer by looking at her face.
“Tell me what happened to Dale that night,” Adesua said.