Maxwell’s knuckles were white on the wheel as he raced us back across town.

Sylvia hadn’t given me much time to get to the location she suggested. Never mind that I had to collect my illegally-acquired evidence that Sylvia was being framed before taking my own car uptown.

I held onto the handle on the ceiling to keep from flying across the back seat each time Maxwell sped around a corner.

My mind was on Kendra and how, after Sylvia saw the facts, this would prove that she was being set up. I hoped that she could then shed some light on who Angel was and why she had killed Tonya. With her corroborated alibi, there would be enough for a grand jury to indict Angel—allowing Sylvia to only go to trial for Maria.

Maxwell hit the brakes and we came to a sudden stop outside my office.

“I’m going to need that gun back.” I draped my arm over the front passenger seat.

Maxwell leaned across the console, opened the glove box, and handed the weapon back to me without saying a word.

I hit the ground running. Giselle was inside, busy working at her desk as I tucked the gun behind my back. “I need the evidence we collected at Sylvia’s.”

“What’s this about?” Giselle dropped her pen and leaned back with an arched look.

“Just hurry.” I pointed at her as I scurried past. “I don’t have much time.”

I heard Giselle digging out the key to the safe as I beelined it straight for my desk. I yanked the drawer open with a crash and immediately found the box of bullets I had stashed in the back. Then I grabbed my Audi key fob somewhere in the midst of my mess on top when suddenly Nora’s eyes caught mine.

Everything stopped.

The sense of urgency vanished.

The only thing still alive were the words Kendra left me with—how Nora won, how she always would.

My chest tightened and my abs flexed. Laboring through restricted breathing, I realized Kendra might be right. Maybe I was incapable of loving another woman. Maybe my heart was only meant for one woman. Maybe what I felt for Kendra wasn’t even close to how much love I had showered Nora with.

I stared into Nora’s gaze until she sparkled.

I missed her. Wished I could go back and change the way things were. Because of her, I wasn’t the man I was supposed to be. Or, perhaps this was all my fault. Just like Angel said the other night. Trouble followed me no matter where I went. It all started when my family began dying. First Patrick. Then Nora. Now this.

“Anything else you need?” Giselle’s voice carried into my office, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I blinked, told Nora I still loved her, and stepped out. “Sylvia is Stone’s contact on the outside.”

The whites in her eyes widened.

“I’m meeting with her now.” She handed me the prints. “This will prove to her that I know she didn’t kill Tonya.”

“So, who did?” She cast her gaze to the box of bullets.

“Still working to find that out.” I lifted the box up to the line just above my waist. “But Angel is still at the top of my list.”

Scooting herself back to her desk, Giselle said, “I’ve been digging into what we know about Stone’s operation, and there’s enough evidence to suggest he was actively involved in the transportation of narcotics across international borders and even on federal lands.”

“Good, keep on it.” I started walking to the door. “We can’t let Stone catch wind of this, otherwise we’re fucked.”

“Kelly,” Giselle called after me.

I stopped to look back at my assistant.

“Be careful. This is almost over.”

I held her gaze for a second before running out. Diving behind the wheel of my Audi, I fired up the engine and was off. Fifteen agonizing minutes later, I parked beneath the overpass, loaded my gun, and looked around.

The cars rumbled overhead but silence found a way to still haunt me.

Dirt and grime littered the streets as I waited anxiously for Sylvia to show.

A minute passed.

Then five.

Where are you? My fingers drummed nervously on my thigh.

I flicked my wrist and checked the time, again. The gum I chewed started to lose its flavor.

Leaning forward in my seat, I double-checked the cross-street with the address Sylvia told me to meet at. I was right.

Suddenly, my heart leaped into my throat when my phone started ringing.

Fear left my eyes wide and dry.

I watched my phone continue to buzz around on the leather passenger seat as my heart thrashed in my ears. Taking it into my sweaty palm, I answered, “What can I do for you?”

“I thought now would be an appropriate time to remind you about the details of our contract.” Madam’s voice slithered through the line and into my ear.

“I’m fully aware of what the contract states.”

Madam crowed. “I thought you might be.”

“Why are you really calling?”

“Darling Kelly, do you remember why I allowed you to be with Kendra?”

Glancing around, keeping an eye out for Sylvia, I remembered how I’d set up Madam with Emmanuel. At the time it had seemed like another request by my client, but now… “I do.”

“Sweetie, tell me the truth, did you really think that it would last?”

I grinded my teeth and pulled by brow into a sharp V.

“One hour to go, Kelly,” Madam sharpened her tone, “before I decide whether or not I should allow you to keep your sweet Bella.”

“You’ll get what you want.”

“Oh?”

“I’m meeting with her now. I’ve done it.”

“Then I guess you haven’t heard.” Her voice perked up.

I scanned the street in front of me. “Heard what?”

“Meet with Sylvia. I’m sure she’ll tell you.”

Madam killed the call and my phone immediately rang again.

This time it was Sylvia calling on the burner phone she had given me.

“Where are you?” I answered, thinking the timing of both calls was too much of a coincidence for Madam not to have something planned. I wondered if they were in on this together. If that was the case, for how long had they been dancing this tango?

“You shouldn’t have done it Kelly.” Sylvia’s voice was a mix between panic and anger.

I cast my gaze to my gun resting in my lap. I clicked the safety off, feeling my temperature spike. Pellets of sweat formed on my brow as I adjusted my grip on the handle. Feeling like a sitting duck, I unbuckled my belt, repeatedly checking my mirrors.

“Things will soon get bad.” Sylvia shook her head aggressively enough to send the vibrations through the phone.

“I’m here. Where you told me to meet.” I paused for Sylvia to respond. When she didn’t, I continued, “Don’t you want to make your case?”

“I warned you to not believe everything you read,” she scorned. “Yet you still did it. Was I not clear in my delivery?”

The lines on my forehead deepened. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” she spat. “I’ve been leaving you clues.”

I thought back to the notes that had led me to Stone. I silently went over the messages others had received before replaying the conversations I’d had with Stone, Angel, Oscar, Madam, and Kendra.

“I misjudged you for being clever. You think that what I wrote about you was true? I had nothing to do with Mario’s murder. Oscar was the one to do it. I told you straight up, so if this was your way to draw me in and have me arrested—”

“—I know you didn’t have anything to do with those murders,” my words came out fast and furious, “and I believe Oscar killed Mario.”

“Then why did you release that story?”

Suddenly, it hit me. Sylvia had never believed what she’d written. She knew I wasn’t guilty of Tonya’s murder and would never hurt a hair on Kendra’s head. That was all to distract Madam. To make her believe that Sylvia was against me when, actually, she was recruiting me to strike Madam—just like Stone. “Relax, I’ve been meeting with Stone. We’re in this together.”

“I don’t give a shit about Stone.” Sylvia’s words had a deadly edge to them. “My beef is with Madam, as yours should be.”

“But I thought—”

“You thought wrong, Kelly. I’m not Stone’s outside contact. Shit, what happened to you?”

Scrubbing one hand over my face, a numbness expanded inside my chest. Blankly, I stared over the hood of my car, realizing she was right. I was a failure. My greatness gone. “The DA is moving forward with formally naming you as the top suspect in Tonya’s death.”

Sylvia huffed out a disbelieving breath of air. “We both know he’s been covering for Angel. Now do you see the bigger picture, Counselor? If I’m not Stone’s outside contact—”

My heart barely beat as I felt my cold blood slow in my veins.

“—then Angel is.” And had been all along.

How had I missed that for so long? Of course, Sylvia couldn’t just come out and tell me. She had to make sure that I could be trusted. She’d laid out all the clues and it had taken me too long to put them together. Now the stories were piling up and the secrets we wanted hidden were being revealed. Because I’d been too dense to see what was really happening.

“Maybe once Kendra is out of your life, you’ll start seeing clearly what has been laid out before you.” The line clicked dead and, with it, my belief in myself.