Leaving Sylvia’s apartment did little to settle my raw nerves.

Over and over, I replayed our conversation inside my head, remembering in great detail what she said and how I responded. Eventually, there were only two phrases I could hear:

Set the record straight.

Take a closer look at Mario’s death.

The first made me think Sylvia was still set on going after Kendra. Just like what she said in her article—the one thing we were all dissecting for clues to understand what she was doing and why.

Pulling into my office, I parked in my usual spot. One glance told me Giselle wasn’t here, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to get inside. Stepping out of my car, I glanced around, not noticing anything unusual. I hadn’t been tailed. I was convinced that only Sylvia knew I’d just been inside her apartment. How she knew, I still hadn’t a clue. I never did see any signs of her.

Entering the building, I remembered the warning that Tonya wouldn’t be the last to die.

Kendra made the most sense when thinking who could be next.

Suddenly feeling dizzy, I reached for the wall to stop myself from falling over. Just the thought of losing my Bella was enough to knock me off my axis. It killed me to think that I was losing the battle.

Blinking away the stars, I asked myself why Sylvia wanted me to look further into Mario’s death. Obviously, she knew something that I didn’t. Naturally, I wondered if she could be the one working for Stone on the outside.

Was it possible I’d been fooled and Sylvia had killed Tonya like Oscar believed? And were she and Angel conspiring once again like they did the night Maria was murdered?

It seemed likely, which only meant that maybe Angel was also working with Stone.

Hearing soft whimpers coming from my office, I hurried inside to find Kendra already sitting behind my desk.

Her eyes were round and she didn’t acknowledge my arrival.

Drinking in her beauty, I loved that she marked my office with her scent. When I rubbed my thumb against my pointer finger, memories of the way her silky smooth skin felt against my rough fingers flooded my head with erotic desires. She had my head spinning as I felt heat spread across my chest. She was beautiful, amazing, courageous, and was the strength that kept me going.

But there was a dark cloud over her head and I was afraid that the media had found her when she was out with Alex. It had been unusually quiet since the story broke. That made me nervous—the calm before the storm.

Moving closer to my desk, Kendra was still lost inside her head. Propping up Nora’s framed photo, the noise made Kendra spin around in the chair. Her eyes watched me put my wife back in place and when my gaze lifted to hers, she quickly turned her head away. I never asked, because I knew she was the one to hide Nora’s face so that she didn’t have to stare at the woman who’d first stolen my heart.

“Bella, baby, why don’t you look happy to see me?”

Jealousy sparkled across her irises, and I could only hope that her suicidal thoughts were just a bump in the road—a fluke that came and went like the passing of a season—and something that wouldn’t reoccur like mine sometimes did.

Kendra lowered her chin and closed her eyes.

Rounding the corner of my desk, I reached my fingers out to take her face inside my hand.

The corners of her eyes flinched and it hurt to see her reject me. I wouldn’t give up on her. She needed me, and Lord knew I needed her. “How did your visit with Alex go?”

She looked up at me from beneath long lashes. “Do you still love her?” She jutted her chin to Nora.

I did, but I couldn’t tell her that when she was this broken. It killed me to see her falling apart. “What makes you ask that?”

She swallowed hard. “Do you love me?”

Silence filled the room. I was afraid to say yes. Even though I knew I did, I couldn’t say it for fear of not being able to find Sylvia. If Kendra knew I loved her as much as I did, and Madam took her away from me, God only knew what she would do then.

She angled her head and looked deep into my unwavering gaze just as I heard Giselle come crashing into her office. “Kelly, are you here?”

“I’m here,” I said, keeping my eyes locked on Kendra. “Have you heard from Drake?”

Kendra grimaced.

Giselle unloaded her bag on her desk as I stood and met her in the front. She lifted her head and said, “Drake hasn’t a clue, other than he and Sylvia met at Ty Lemon’s party.”

“Keep working him, maybe something will spark his memory.”

Giselle’s brows drew together. “Is someone in there with you?”

I nodded, reaching behind me to close the door. “Kendra is here.”

“What did you find at Sylvia’s? I assume the detectives took everything they considered important.”

Dragging my feet across the floor, my fingers grew cold as I told Giselle about Sylvia’s call.

She jerked her head back.

I nodded. “She knew I was there, and I can only assume she was watching me—”

“—or has somebody close to her keeping tabs on you.”

“Yeah.” I scrubbed my face inside my hand.

We let a moment pass to digest that reality before Giselle suggested we might want to keep an eye on Angel. I agreed, telling her about the gala she was throwing tomorrow night, and asked if she’d noticed anyone following her. Her head shook. “The good news is, that means Sylvia is closer than we thought.”

Lowering myself to her desk, I rested on the edge. “Though she specifically stated she’s not interested in coming in until she’s finished setting the record straight.”

“Does that mean what I think it means?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said as we both speculated what Sylvia meant by that. “There’s more.”

Giselle’s mouth slackened as she sighed.

“The notes on Madam and Drake were gone.”

Opening her laptop, Giselle pulled up the photos she took the other day. “No worries. I have all the originals here.”

“Get those off the cloud and make copies, then send a copy to a safe location and don’t tell me where it is. I’ll do the same.” When Giselle eyed me, she knew that I had more on my mind. With an upset stomach I said, “Someone planted evidence in her apartment to make it look like she’s responsible for Tonya’s death.”

Giselle straightened her spine and stood. “Any idea who?”

Turning my head forward, I showed her the photo of the silver bangle on my phone and said, “Something tells me it was Oscar.”

“But didn’t Stone admit to you he was the one who ordered the kill?”

“And it’s our job to find who he gave the order to.”

“This just keeps getting more interesting, doesn’t it?” She handed me my phone back.

I gave her a knowing look. “It certainly does. Especially since Sylvia also suggested I look further into Mario’s death.”

Giselle fell back into her seat, kicking her feet out in front of her. “Why would she suggest that if Mario took the fall for what we know she’s guilty of doing?”

“Again, I can only assume that Stone is somehow pulling those strings as well.”

Giselle openly stared at her desk. “But then why is Oscar protecting Angel?”

“Get her to come in. Have her answer some questions, and if we can get her to confess to being inside of Sylvia’s apartment maybe we can link her to the scene around the time the call to Parker was made.”

Giselle brought her elbows to her desk, beginning to flip through paperwork and notes she had been collecting along the way.

“And if all goes well, we can strong-arm Angel into revealing who is behind this and what it is they’re trying to prove by having the women killed.”

“Speaking of…” Giselle turned to look me in the eye. “What do you want me to work on to prepare for Stone’s preliminary hearing?”

Shaking my head, I muttered, “Conviction is almost certain. What we need to focus on now is finding out who he has working for him on the outside.”

“Do you think it could be Angel?” Giselle asked.

Standing, I paced across the room, realizing how close Angel had been to Kendra. My gut tightened at the thought and I hoped that it wasn’t the case. Since I wasn’t ruling anything out until I had more evidence, the thought was enough to make me realize that maybe Stone would use my involvement with Kendra—and threaten her life—to make sure that he got what he wanted out of me.

Turning to my office door, I opened it and called Kendra to come join us.

“Kendra, I was doing research on the case your parents are making—” Giselle immediately dove in without first greeting.

Kendra flicked her eyes to me, then stepped closer to Giselle. “What did you find?”

“Besides what we already know—” Giselle paused, “—can I ask you which side of the family the inheritance came from?”

“My dad’s side. Why?”

Giselle’s lips pursed as she glanced at me. “That’s what I thought.”

“What does it matter?” Kendra asked.

Giselle fixed her eyes on Kendra. “Don’t you find it weird that your mother’s brother is the one manipulating your mother over inheritance that isn’t related to him?”

Kendra folded her arms over her belly. Shaking her head, she said, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Any idea why?”

“Look, with what that bastard did to me, I wish that I’d never seen him again. And until recently, I’d managed to forget him—and my family. So, no. I have no idea why all of sudden they want what was given to me, other than the fact that that’s how they’ve always been. Greedy, unloving people, hoping to get rich off of the hard work of others.”

When Giselle looked to me, I nodded. “Tell her.”

“It appears your uncle owes a considerable amount of money to some shady people.”

Kendra’s brows knitted. “Who?”

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“Because I’m not.” Kendra flipped her hair and looked at me. “Other than the fact that I thought they needed the money for Dad’s care.”

“Have you seen your dad?” Giselle’s voice softened.

Kendra shook her head.

“Maybe he isn’t sick like you think he is.”

Kendra stepped forward. “What are you saying?”

Giselle stood and took Kendra’s hands. “What I’m saying is, maybe your father is in on it, too.”

Dropping her head into her hand, Kendra whispered, “Because he thought he was entitled to the money his parents gave me.”

Reaching up, I massaged her shoulders, working out the tense balls of stress. “Bella, how well do you know your family? And is there a family secret that they don’t want the world to hear?”

Twisting into my arms, Kendra latched on to my waist. “Please, Kelly. Just make this stop.”

I wished I could, but even I knew that it was another promise that I couldn’t keep.