Kelly guided me back to his office with a possessive hand firmly placed on the small of my back. It seared into my spine as he shut the door behind us. Spinning me around, he pinned my body up against it with his massive chest.

My breath hitched as I stared into his seductive eyes.

“Bella, baby.” His fingers clamped around my neck. “We’ll get through this.”

My eyes swayed with his.

I wanted to tell him I’d taken his gun. That Drake Goodman had visited me just before Kelly returned to the office. I needed to share what Drake said and how it had left my insides quivering with unease.

But I couldn’t. I didn’t know what Drake knew—how he could help—or even what it was about.

Kelly leaned closer. His eyes softened when staring into mine. “Bella, did you hear what I said?”

I blinked, sliding my tongue over my bottom lip. “I know we will.”

Kelly brought his other hand to my face as he pushed his tongue over the seam of my lips.

I kissed him back but my mind was still on Drake.

What did he know and what, if anything, should I tell him?

People were coming for me. I could feel it. Though Drake seemed like someone I could trust, I couldn’t be sure. Drake wasn’t the first person to offer me help, and I wondered what they saw that I didn’t.

Kelly’s tender tongue continued stroking mine.

I didn’t know who to believe. Who to trust. Making matters worse, Kelly was an easy target for my frustrations. If I didn’t find a way to suppress the raw feeling of resentment growing inside of me, I would eventually blame him for what my life had become.

Kelly’s hot mouth moved from my lips to my neck.

I tipped my head back, enjoying his opened-mouth kisses peppering their way down my collar as I worried over my current path.

Kelly couldn’t be the dangerous one, even though I was sure that was what Drake wanted me to believe. It was Madam and the people Kelly represented who were the evil forces pulling the strings. It came with the territory of his profession, and I questioned if that was all that this was.

Kelly’s fingers dug deeper into my waist, causing my core to be set on fire.

When my body began to betray my mind I pushed Kelly off of me, needing it to stop before it went any further.

His chest heaved as he gave me a look of disbelief.

“I feel like there isn’t enough time.” I cast my gaze down, fixing my hair.

He planted one hand over my head on the door. “You’re exhausted.”

No doubt, I was. The pressure to find Sylvia was growing inside of me and threatened to blow my top off. His eyes hardened and had me worried. “Kelly, is there something you aren’t telling me?”

He pushed off the door, turned on a heel, and strode over to his desk. “I spoke with Sylvia.”

My jaw dangled. “What? Where?” I followed him to his desk. “When? Why didn’t you bring her in?”

He angled to the side, rooting his hands into his hips. “It wasn’t like that.” He gave me a sideways glance. “I couldn’t.”

Renewed with a fresh sense of hope, I wanted to kill him. Instead I asked, “Is she with Madam?”

The muscle in his jaw ticked as he stared at me.

My insides strained to understand and my ears roared with fury.

He could have ended this. We could have given Madam what she wanted, and we could have finally been able to move on. Instead, he didn’t act. Now I was scrambling to find out why.

His unblinking eyes grew dull as he shook his head.

Shoving my fingers through my hair, I tugged them at the roots until the pain caused me to lift my heels off the floor. Turning my back, my mind bounced off the walls. When I turned to see if he was still standing—he was frozen in place and I needed him to reassure me that we were going to be okay. “We can do this before our time is up, can’t we?”

“I don’t know where she is.” His voice was flat, unforgiving. “She called me.”

“Called you?” I sounded like a parrot.

Falling into his desk chair, his spine slouched. “I was at her apartment.”

My palm hit my forehead.

He lifted his vacant gaze up to me and said, “She’s seeking revenge and your name was on a list of people she was targeting.”

I began hyperventilating as I fell forward. Black spots flashed across my vision. I had the sudden urge to scream. Crumbling to the floor, I knew it. Knew that I was next. Knew that Sylvia would be coming after me despite being the one to give her the massive pay day. I was still Enemy Number One.

Kelly watched me rolling around on the floor, clenching the stich in my side. “Who else was on the list?” I cried.

Kelly leaned forward and stopped my body from thrashing.

“Was your name on the list?” I asked.

His headed nodded.

“And Tonya’s?” I held my breath, waiting to hear his response.

Kelly’s small nods only made me grow more nauseous. “And my client, Mario.”

“Both dead.” A loud thud echoed off the walls when my head hit the floor. I didn’t understand how I’d gotten myself involved in this mess. This was Kelly’s problem. He was at fault. And yet it seemed like I was being punished for the crimes he’d committed. “This is all your fault!”

When I opened my eyes, Kelly was standing over me. Bending down, he took my shoulders inside his hands. I slapped them away. “Get off me.”

Kelly refused, pulling me to my feet in one strong motion.

Moving to his desk, I began packing up my things. I couldn’t stay here. Didn’t want to be around Kelly. I needed to be alone. Needed time to think about what I was going to do. My options were slim. If I wasn’t going to be with Kelly, Madam would make sure that she’d set me up with another man—probably someone worse.

Kelly stood quietly over my shoulder, watching me pack.

Silently, I cursed him for allowing himself to be manipulated by Sylvia. She was the one to have convinced Kelly to go after Nash for Maria’s murder. He’d then kept Wes’s secret from me about where Maria’s body was found. I cursed him for all his flaws, even hating him for having destroyed the lives of his wife and son. I came to the realization that he would eventually do the same to me—ruin me and take me down with him.

How many more lives was he going to destroy before he realized it was he who was the cause of it all?

Tears swelled my eyes as thick drops fell from the corners.

Seeing me break down, Kelly swooped down and pulled me up. Resting my head against his chiseled chest, I cried into his shirt until he finally said, “Let’s take you home to rest.”

Pushing him away, I slung my tote over my shoulder. “I’ll find my own way home.”

Reaching for the door handle, I stormed past Giselle with Kelly chasing after me. “Kendra, wait. Don’t go. Not like this.”

Once I was through the front doors, I hit the wall of media waiting for one of us to show our face.

A camera flashed, and I ducked.

Covering my face with my arm, I couldn’t let them see my puffy swollen eyes from bawling. They would assume it was Kelly’s fault, and I didn’t want that for him.

“Mr. Black, is anything in the article Sylvia Neil wrote even remotely true?”

Holding up his hand, Kelly said, “I won’t be answering any questions at this time.”

That didn’t stop them from continuing their assault.

“Ms. Williams, do you feel safe with Kelly?”

“Are you two in an intimate relationship?”

“Why are you crying? Did he hurt you?”

My hand balled into a tight fist, ready to swing. When I turned to see who’d asked the last question, surprise knocked me off balance. It was the same reporter who’d found us just before my uncle informed me about my mother hiring a lawyer. Kelly must have recognized him, too, because not a second later I felt him standing behind me.

“Mr. Black, is it true that you want to press charges against Sylvia Neil for the murder of Maria Greer? Are you seeking revenge for what she wrote about you? Attacking the press and assaulting our first amendment rights?”

“Careful what you say.” Kelly pointed at the man with anger radiating off his chest.

“No, you be careful.” The reporter discretely pushed an envelope into Kelly’s hands. “And, just so you know, there is more where that came from.”

Maxwell parted the sea of reporters and cleared the way for Kelly and me to hurry into the back of his waiting vehicle. Shutting the door, I turned to Kelly. “What did he give you?”

Kelly’s eyes were full of fire as he flipped through the photos. Then he turned one around to show me.

My hand flew over my mouth as I gasped. “How did he get that? Who could have taken those?”

Kelly’s eyes drifted back to the images of us entering and leaving the nightclub Echo the day Lucky dropped me off, moments before Kelly presented me with the nondisclosure agreement to sign.

“Are they suggesting that’s where you’re going to kill me, too? Otherwise, I don’t get it.”

He breathed heavily through his nostrils, shaking his agitated head. “Even worse.”

My lips pinched, afraid to know what he was thinking.

“I’m afraid he is suggesting that we could have been involved in the planning of their deaths.”